Blue Wind City was a small city in under the rule of the Emerald Empire, one of the Kingdoms in Shandra. It may be named a city, but it can only be considered a small town at most. As the location of the city itself is at the remote corners of the Empire, the ruling classes of the Empire generally don’t bother with the problems in the city. Only when some major problems occur or if any treasures that may catch the interest of the nobles will the gaze of the Empire will be on the city.

It was still early in the morning and the sky has not fully brightened. In the courtyard of the Wheld Family, several children in the age range of 8 – 12 years can be seen exercising. Some of the younger children are throwing punches and kicks while shouting loudly, while the older children sat at the corners cross legged, closing their eyes and entering a meditative state.

Wheld Family is one of the three big families of the Blue Wind City, contending with the Reran Family and Phantom Wolf Guild. But of these two parties, only the Reran Family can be considered the main opponent of the Wheld Family as the Phantom Wolf Guild maintains its neutrality without encroaching on the disputes of the two families.

At this time, two middle aged men stood on a stone pedestal in one corner of the courtyard, silently surveying the exercise retinues of the children. Occasionally one of them will change the posture of one of the children or answering the questions of the older children on the doubts they pose.

One of the middle aged men is a muscular man of about 2 meters in height. His chest rippling with muscles, arms looking strong enough to tear apart a man into two, legs like tree trunks rooted into the ground, making him look like a moving stronghold, while his scarred face that twists whenever he moves his facial muscles, gives him a menacing atmosphere. This man is the 4th elder of the Wheld Family, and he is the third strongest of all the family members including the Family Head.

“This generation of our family has some children with good potential, especially that Delius, son of the First Elder. He is only 13 years this year, but he has already advanced to the 3rd level of the Spirit Sense Realm. Moreover his Spirit, the Black Talon Hawk, is ranked 310 on the Spirit Beast Ranking, proves his future potential. In my opinion, he will be able to join one of the prestigious academies that will start their selection process 3 years later,” he said with a deep voice containing the explosive energy of his body.

The person next to him can be considered to be the dead opposite to the 4th Elder. He is of medium height, with a lean physique, and his drooping eyes and the small smile ever present on his mouth, conveys a scholarly air to the man. But the man is nothing but a scholar. He is the 2nd Elder of the Wheld Family, the fourth strongest of the family just below the muscular man standing next to him.

“I hope so. If he can reach the 9th level before the selection process of the Academies, maybe he can get admitted into a good Academy. If he can manage to join one of the powerful Academies, then our Family can ride the wave to reach a new height. We have to nurture him with care,” he said softly so that only the person next to him can hear his words, as his eyes gazed at a child sitting under a tree in a meditation position.

”*Sigh* if only that boy was not that unlucky, with his talent he would surely be selected by one of those big Academies of the Empire. He could have even become a small noble, but the heavens are unfair to give him that much potential but giving him a Petrified Spirit at his Awakening. The Family Head was heartbroken at that incident. But it can’t be helped; after all, that boy is his only grandson.”

“Yes, I have never seen who could reach the peak of the Spirit Novice Realm in just a year. Even Delius took 16 months to reach the peak of the Spirit Novice before he managed to breakthrough to the Spirit Sense Realm.it is a pity that he can only live his life as a trash that can never reach the heights of cultivation. With his intelligence, maybe he will be assigned as the managers of one of the business houses of the Family.”

As the two Elders were talking between themselves, at a distance from the Family Manor, a 10 year old child is walking in the streets with his hands behind his head, with a small smile on his face, and a small pouch tied around his waist. If one can observe carefully, they can see a small rock the size of an ostrich egg in that pouch.

Even though he is of 10 years of age, no one can believe that this small physique contains a power to lift almost 1000 kilograms of weight effortlessly, the limit of what one can achieve without the support of Spirit Energy.

The boy’s name is Azalon Wheld, the so called trash of the Wheld Family with the Petrified Spirit. Oh Yes, the ‘rock’ in his pouch is his Spirit that he obtained in the Awakening procedure, as such destroying his potential as a cultivator and henceforth labelled as a trash and cripple. As he walked in the streets, the vendors opening their shops for the day called out to him warmly.

“Hey Azalon, you are up early today. Come in for a quick bite and maybe you can grace me with some of your jokes that never run out.” The owner of a small food stall called out from across the street.

“Haha, sure Uncle Naam, but not right now. I will visit you on my way back.” He replied with a wave of the hand with a

small laugh.

“Oye, Azalon, I kept some oranges away for you, make sure to collect them when you go back to your home.” A fruit stall owner shouted.

“Azalon, come and have some cakes…” a bakery owner…

“Azalon, care for a cup of tea…”

“Azalon…”

“…..”

Azalon waves or responds to everyone who calls to him as he keeps walking before reaching a two storied building at the end of the street. Almost everyone on the street knows this boy who walks by the same route for the past 2 years. They know about his status as the grandson of the Family Head of one of the three Great Families of the City, as well as his Petrified Spirit. Moreover, they appreciate his good spirited attitude, as they know the emotional blow one takes as they learn of their destroyed potential.

The building he reached is the City Library, maintained by the Emerald Empire, so as to encourage the population to increase the knowledge of the common people through books. But the project has been a failure as the response has been not as grand as the Empire expected it to be. But he was happy that the Empire decided on such coarse, as it provided an opportunity to him to study about the continent in detail as well as a myriad of things that seemed important or interesting.

As he walked into the building, a happy cry came from inside before a small figure jumped into his chest before he managed to catch her and lift into his arms. It was a 6 year old girl with a cute white face that became red with the flush of happiness as she tightly hugged him. Her big black eyes that felt as if they took up half of her small face were brimming with excitement as she asked.

“Big Brother, you have come today. I missed you, you know. You did not come to talk with me for 2 days. Aahh, that’s right. I am angry at you. I will not talk to you.” her cheeks puffed up as she pouted before turning away from me while still staying in my arms.

“Haha Haha, I am sorry, Nina. I went to the Desolate Forest to train, so I couldn’t come to talk with you. Alright, today I will tell you one extra story as a punishment for making you angry. Ok?” he responded with a laugh at her cute antics.

As soon as the word ‘extra story’ left his mouth her expression immediately changed into happiness with a trace of pride in her eyes. This kid… she did that on purpose… Azalon laughed again as he walked deep into the bookstore while talking with Nina in his arms. The smile on his face is not his usual expression but a carefree and genuine happiness, and he laughs this freely only with Nina.

He made his way to the second floor of the store, where a laughing voice greeted him just as he entered.

“So she found you, huh? If I was not here restricting her, she would have really rushed into the Forest searching for you, you know. I had a massive headache yesterday calming her down, as that girl threw a tantrum for your stories, as my stories were nowhere good enough to satisfy her.”

The owner of the voice is also the owner of this bookstore, named Chad, and he insists everyone call him ‘Uncle Chad’. He is a man in his forties with slightly greying hair, a potbelly which was a result of his indulgence in wine, and a pudgy face that vibrates every time he speaks. He is the one who took in Nina under his care, when he found her frozen and starving in front of his store one winter night. It was a pastime of Nina to poke his face and see the movements of his facial fat.

Azalon was, what you can call, a regular customer of this store ever since he found out about his Petrified Spirit. He was researching in this library about the various theories and experiences of various cultivators about the Spirits in the hope that he can come across a way to Awaken his Petrified Spirit. You can say, what does a 10 year old child know about the intricacies of the cultivations and Spirits? Yes, I have a body of a 10 year old child, but my consciousness or what people of this world call ‘Soul’ is not of a 10 year old boy. I came from another world, a world called ‘Earth’, 10 years ago… this is my biggest secret which I have been always keeping close to my chest an intend to keep it that way…