Chapter 10 – The First Lesson

“Boy, do you want to inherit my Legacy?”

It was a simple question, but the words reverberated throughout the darkness of the night.

Two figures stood in the open corridor, as a gentle wind breezed past them. No sounds could be heard and it seemed as if all life quietly waited to hear the response of the boy.

The world seemed to stop, and time slowly trickle as it froze the scene of the two figures: an old man solemnly looking down at a shivering young boy with blood smeared across his face.

Calron’s mind was blank.

What he had just witnessed should have been impossible, unless it was an expert of the Vajra Stage. But the old man clearly did not even have any essence to begin with.

Moreover, he was blind.

No matter how one would look at it, this situation should have been impossible. However, Calron was clear of one thing: that this man was definitely a Martial Master.

Accept it, boy. You need a Legacy of your own and seeing as you have no other blood relatives, this is a fortunate opportunity for you.

The Voice quietly sent his thoughts to Calron.

Elias stood still as he patiently waited for Calron’s response. Not a hint of emotion flickered across his face.

Calron was on the verge of collapsing, as this was his first time experiencing cold murder and the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He knew he should be afraid at the gruesome sight of the massacred corpses, but deep within his soul, a feeling of hope started to bloom.

If the old man in front of him could easily kill men like those assassins, then he would be able to teach Calron his Martial Arts and give him the strength needed to avenge his family.

Power.

That was the only thought running through Calron’s mind.

“I, I accept…Master.”

Right after rasping those few words, Calron lost his consciousness.

…………….

Elias grinned while gazed down at the unconscious boy.

Carefully picking him up from the ground, Elias quickly located Calron’s hut, and after soundlessly opening the door, he gently placed the sleeping boy on the mattress.

If any of the other disciples or Gretha had seen the previous scene, then their jaws would have immediately dropped. This old man was supposed to be blind, but yet he could clearly see where the boy was, and even the exact location of the bed.

This was simply too shocking.

But, how could anyone know that Elias was a practitioner of the God Class Technique, known as the Divine Perception!

This was a technique that had even shocked the Voice in Calron’s body, so how could it be so simple?

Divine Perception was an omnipotent ability to sense essence in nature, and in all cultivators. This was how Elias knew that Calron was a Lightning elementalist, even though he could not physically see him.

Everything in the world has traces of essence, including inanimate objects such as chairs or rocks. Elementalists could normally detect essence if it was released by another cultivator, but if the cultivator chose not release his essence, then it would be very difficult to determine his true cultivation rank.

The Divine Perception technique was an exception to this rule.

With the power of the God Class technique, one could detect every kind of essence in nature, and know the exact cultivation of any elementalist. Its main ability laid in the fact, that practitioner of this technique did not even have to use any form of energy or essence to activate it.

This was the secret of how Elias was able to see, and if the fact ever got out that he practices one of the God Class techniques, then there would be countless elementalists at his doorstep trying to glean the information out of him.

God Class techniques were a mystery, and in a league of their own, as even ninth rank techniques could not compare to them. Not much is known about what the various God Class techniques were, but traces of their vast power were recorded in the books of history.

Each of the God Class techniques had their own limitations and requirements to activate them, and it was unknown what the conditions were for the Divine Perception.

Elias carefully covered Calron with a warm blanket and quietly left the room. Stepping out into the open night, Elias tilted his head up, as he looked at the bright moon floating in the sky.

“Sigh… the boy already made enemies on his first day. This will be troublesome… ”

Elias murmured as he looked back down at the blood stained ground and the cold corpses spread there.

………………..

—The Next Morning—

Calron groggily woke up from his sleep as the sunlight burned through his eyelids.

Standing up from his bed, Calron lightly yawned as he felt the essence in his body recover from last night.

Smelling something rotten and vile, Calron slowly sniffed around the room as he tried to locate the source of the smell.

Suddenly, he realized that the pungent smell was coming from him. Or more specifically, from the blood soaked robe he was currently wearing.

“Ugh!”

Calron exclaimed with disgust as he looked down his robes.

In a sudden daze, he abruptly remembered everything that had happened yesterday night, from the ambush to the brutal killing by Elias.

No, his Master.

Calron quickly discarded the robe he was wearing and looked around to find his old clothes. Although he was supposed to wear the grey robes every day, he rather not let anyone know about yesterday’s bloodbath.

Searching for his old clothes, Calron soon spotted a mysterious bundle under his bed and slowly placed it on top of his bed. There was a small note next to the bundle, so Calron grabbed it and started to read the eloquently written handwriting.

“I found a spare robe for you, so wear it and burn the other one as soon as you can. I will teach you to how to not get blood on you, later in the future. Meet me at the back of the Foundation building after you finish your breakfast.”

Although the handwriting was very neat, there were still several words overlapping with each other, and Calron assumed that even though Elias could see through a mysterious technique, his actual eyesight was nonexistent.

Even without any signature on the note, Calron knew that this note was from his new Martial Master.

Quickly opening the bundle, Calron grabbed the new clean robe, and immediately donned it. After doing so, he washed his face with the pitcher of water outside and started walking towards the gathering hall for a quick meal.

When Calron stepped out his door, not a trace of blood appeared on the ground.

It was absolutely spotless.

…………….

“Good Morning, Gretha. May I please have some breakfast, please? Anything is fine.”

Calron enthusiastically greeted the cooking lady, and cheerfully requested for some quick food before finally meeting up with his new Martial Master.

Responding back to Calron’s greeting, Gretha quickly prepared his tray as she hummed to herself.

She also seemed to be in a pleasant mood as she patted Calron on the head while handing out the nearly full tray to Calron. She playfully shooed him away before handing out the trays to the disciples behind Calron.

Finding an empty table to sit down, Calron quietly ate his meal.

The tray had a plate of warm eggs with some mushrooms, along with a loaf of bread and a small glass of milk. Munching on this delicious food, Calron happily greeted the Voice in his mind.

Piss off, kid! Let me go back to sleep!

Wondering if ghosts could even sleep, Calron decided not to ponder on this matter and immediately gulped down the entire glass of milk, before setting off to meet Elias.

……………

Going around the Foundation building, Calron tried finding any sign of Elias being there, but could not find any traces of the blind old man. While walking, Calron heard many of the disciples whispering amongst themselves as they shot quick glances towards him.

“Hey, I heard this kid was a lightning elementalist, is that true?… What? They actually let those kind of people in this school?…. This school’s reputation is going down the drain…. But, he is kind of cute though…”

Ignoring all the whispers around him, Calron continued walking towards the back of the building. The number of disciples slowly started to decrease, the further along he went, and once he finally reached the end of the block, the scenery in front of him, completely shocked Calron.

It was a forest.

Calron was utterly puzzled, as to how a forest could appear here, when he had not once saw anything resembling wildlife, while he was walking around the building.

“It is one of the precious Artifacts of the school, Calron.”

A calm voice sounded out from behind Calron.

Turning around, Calron was faced with the sight of Elias leaning against the wall, with a walking stick in his hand.

“Master.”

Calron greeted Elias, as he gave a slight bow.

Pleased with the inherent respect of this young boy towards his Master, a faint smile spread across Elias’s face.

“Come, your first training will start inside the forest. Do not worry about anyone disturbing us, as it is a separated spatial plane that even the Elders are not allowed to enter. I was only given special permission by the school’s Head, as he was worried about the discrimination I would face, so he temporarily allowed me residence in here.”

Elias calmly stated as he tapped his wooden stick against the ground, and started walking towards the forest.

Calron soon followed behind him, but just at the moment that he stepped into forest’s entrance, Calron suddenly felt a sharp jolt and stumbled back onto the ground.

What was that?

Calron curiously wondered. It did not hurt him in the slightest, but the sharp jolt certainly surprised him.

“Ah, I forgot. Here, hold on to this and enter again.”

Elias turned around to face Calron, as he flung out a circular wooden token towards him. Calron quickly caught the small disk, and slowly got up back onto his feet.

Observing the token, it appeared to be a regular wooden disk with no special features. The only abnormal thing about the wooden token was its texture.

It felt too soft to the touch, unlike any wood Calron had felt before, as it was almost like caressing a piece of velvet.

Calron placed the token in his pocket and tried entering the forest again. Just as he took his first step into the forest, Calron felt a small tendril of essence emanating from the wooden token, but it quickly disappeared.

Looking around the forest, Calron was in a complete daze.

This was too real, as the sound of birds chirping echoed in the surroundings. There were countless trees spread across the forest, and even a small lake in the distance. Calron had never heard of an Artifact with a shocking ability to contain an entire dimension within it! But then again, in his world Artifacts were objects of legends, and not many people even had the chance of seeing one, let alone experience it.

“We have wasted too much time already. Hurry up, as this place has no small amount of magical beasts and with the lake nearby, some of them are ought to be around. I can that tell you are curious about this Artifact, so just wait for a while and I will educate you in everything you need to know from Artifacts to Martial techniques.”

Elias calmly conveyed to Calron, while throwing away his wooden stick to the side, and walking with a confident gait.

His Master emanated the same powerful aura that Calron had witnessed yesterday.

This was his Master’s true identity.

Since there was no one around, Elias hardly saw the need to pretend to be a cripple and started walking towards the lake, while Calron quickly followed behind him.

Calron continued to stare at the marvel of the forest while walking, and he was sure that he saw the silhouette of a magical beast, but he was not certain. Calron burst into a sprint as he realized that his Master was way ahead of him.

After a while, a small shape of a hut could be seen in the distance. The hut was small in shape but looked extremely well taken care of. It was surrounded by a lush garden with a small behind the hut.

“Calron, come sit here. It is time to finally begin your very first lesson.”

Elias stated as he gestured Calron to sit on the grass in front of him.