Han didn’t even ponder for a second before spitting back, “Of course not! I will try every method to dissuade Kiso’s participation, I do not wish for him to be stuck in this valley for the rest of his life!”

Chapter Two –

Kiso, upon hearing his parent’s words, couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about.

Hearing Han’s words, Celes smiled and turned back to Kiso, “If your grandfather learns just how talented you are, he will want to nurture you personally, in order to become the next clan leader!”

Kiso raised an eyebrow and replied, “But wouldn’t that be a good thing? Does mother not wish for her son to bring glory to our family?”

Celes’ heart warmed up but she shook her head, “Kiso, the world is a big place! Our small valley cannot possibly offer the best cultivation environment for you. It is mother and father’s greatest wish for you to go out and make your name one that will survive the ages!”

Han added, “Kiso, you have learned a lot about training, but little about the world. Let me put things into perspective for you. Our clan’s valley, which stretches for hundreds of miles, is but a drop of water in the lake that is the world! Not only that, but there are also countless different types magic and physical techniques. Our lightning magic may be an innate ability that’s fairly powerful, but there is a reason we don’t rule the continent. Simply put, our clan cannot hold a candle to the power of the great families that rule the various realms.”

Celes listened and nodded her head adding, “My family, the Winyon family, is a mid-grade clan, while the Thunderblack clan is a low-grade clan. We are known for our skyshadow magic, which is an extremely powerful type of speed magic. You should have an affinity for this magic from my side as well. Your offensive type heat magic from your dad’s side and the speed type magic from mine should be a combination that will separate you from your peers, at the very least!”

As Kiso listened to his parent’s words, he could hear his heartbeat ringing in his ears. He thought to himself, “With such talented parents, I cannot bear to let them down.”

Han and Celes finally calmed down a little before Han asked, “Kiso, do you wish to go on an adventure with father? I know many profound spiritual locations in nature that would be greatly beneficial to your cultivation.”

Kiso knew his parents didn’t wish for him to participate in the Youth Trials, but he had already made a bet with his neighbor Yuni. His bet with her two years ago was that, at the trials, not only would he beat her, he’d take first place. If he lost the bet, he’d have to marry her, even if it was against his will.

Yuni is a stubborn girl with a harsh personality, none of the children in his generation like her. When she set the terms of the bet, he had been considerably shocked at her request. Thinking at the time, “Why would someone with no interest in other people want to marry me?”

Little did he know that her harsh personality and cold outer appearance were just a protective shell, covering for her true feelings. Much less that she had secretly loved him since she met him two years earlier.

Remembering this bet, Kiso looked at his father and said, “Father, I know you and mother do not wish for me to participate in the Youth Trials, but I have a bet with Yuni I must not loose. You must allow me to participate in the trials! Even at the risk of grandfather’s smothering, I cannot afford to abandon this bet. Not only must I participate, I have to win!”

Kiso’s face showed resolution beyond his years.

If those words had come from his mouth even just two days ago, his parents wouldn’t have had much hope for his success. However, now they believed not only was it possible, they were confident!

The only problem would be finding a way to convince Mord that Kiso’s borders must not end at the edges of Thunderblack valley.

“Very well Kiso, your mother and I will speak with your grandfather. We will try to come to an agreement with him prior to the trials, so you just focus on your cultivation.” Han finished speaking and the three of them proceeded to begin eating dinner.

– – – – –

The next day, back in the courtyard Kiso always did his training in, he was seated in the meditative position gathering nature energy.

“Cultivating nature energy into spiritual pressure makes my entire body feel like it is both ice cold and on fire…”

Kiso’s eyes were closed as he was forcing the energy around him into his core. Yesterday it had taken him only a few hours to fill his core. Today however, it’s already been twice as long as yesterday and he still had no signs of starting to feel full.

“I’m starting to wonder just how beneficial this cultivation will be for my lightning…perhaps I should go ask….” Just as Kiso was thinking of asking his father about the various stages of his lightning magic, he heard a voice ring out behind him.

“Kiso! My word! So it is true then..” Mord was currently staring at Kiso’s body giving off those small sparks, wide-eyed.

Kiso opened his eyes and turned to look at Mord, “Grandfather, why are you looking at me like that?”

Sighing, Mord walked in front of him and sat down, then stared into his eyes and began to speak, “Kiso, to be at this level after only a day and a half… If I hadn’t heard from your father and then seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. Do you have any idea how rare it is for a child to be able to enter the spark stage so quickly?” Mord asked sternly, then continued without waiting for Kiso to respond, “One in a million! It has only ever happened once before in the entire history of our clan!”

Kiso was beginning to grasp just how significant his talent truly is.

Mord continued, “You should know who that other person was. The founder of our clan, Boro Black’s son, Magnum Black!”

Magnum Black was a legend. Everyone in the clan knew who he was, he had lived for thousands of years, during which the Thunderblack clan was one of the top three families in the human realm. His power was said to be able to fight against the gods, vaporize mountains, even split the seas! It was also his lightning that the clan was named after, as it had reached the legendary level of black lightning.

Taking another deep breath Mord continued, “Kiso, you should know by now what I truly wish for your future, but that is just an old man’s desire. I wouldn’t dream of containing you to this valley! In fact, I would rather you regain our families lost status as a top family in the human realm.”

“Grandfa..” Kiso didn’t know what to say.

Cutting him off, Mord smiled and gently shook his head saying, “Kiso I know you were willing to stay and serve the clan, however what your parent’s told you is true. We simply cannot offer you the best cultivation environment or spiritual techniques, it would be a waste of your talent to stay here.”

A light went off in Kiso’s head and he stopped his grandfather from continuing, “Grandfather, I won’t let you or the clan down, but I’m a little lost right now. Could you tell me a little bit about our lightning magic? What levels are there? How long will it take me to be able to produce a bolt of a lightning?”

Mord smiled and explained patiently, “There are five levels of lightning magic known to our clan. The first is the spark stage, every member born to the clan begins at this stage and is capable of emitting electricity when upset or agitated . Next would be the bolt stage, in which you would be able to consciously send forth your energy from your fingertips in the form of a bolt of lightning. I’ll mention here, that in order to reach the bolt stage, even your father, a one in a thousand type talent, took five years of cultivation to reach this stage!”

Kiso listened intently committing every word to memory.

“After that, the only changes are in the quality of the lightning bolt, which is represented by its color, and the manor in which you can manipulate it. The lowest level of lightning is blue lightning, which is what most members of our clan are currently capable of producing. After that would come white, then purple, and finally black.”

Mord let loose a sly smile before beginning to speak again, “There have been a few variations to the quality of lightning before, with someone producing red lightning and another producing yellow lightning. It has only happened twice but both of them were very powerful, although not as powerful Magnum had been of course.”

“As for how to manipulate your lightning, you truly don’t need to worry about this yet. Not even I, at the white lightning stage, have grasped how to manipulate lightning other then a few basic tricks.”

Kiso digested what Mord told him and thought to himself, “Father took five years to reach the blue lightning stage and even grandfather is only at the white lightning stage despite cultivating for almost seven decades! Can I really surpass them so easily? I’m beginning to think perhaps they’ve set their expectations for me a little too high…”

Another thought creeped into Kiso’s mind and he asked Mord, “Grandfather, I was able to fill my core with nature energy after only three hours yesterday but today I cultivated for twice that and I still don’t feel full. Why is that?”

Mord was looking at Kiso with a satisfied smile before he heard this question, however when he heard it, he seemed to loose his mind. He was silent for several tens of a seconds before replying, “Six hours and still not full? That cannot be. Never mind the three hours yesterday, if you are still able to absorb nature energy after six hours today, I cannot even begin to imagine how quickly you will cultivate. Most children after grasping the method to cultivate, will only be able to absorb energy for an hour a day max, and that persists for years! The limit to energy absorption is the reason it takes most people years to be able to produce their first bolt of lightning…”

“Kiso, I have told you what you needed to know. I cannot bear to keep you from your training any longer, I will return now. Just keep cultivating for these six months and show me how far you can go at the Youth Trials!”

Mord, with a look being completely overwhelmed, stood up and walked back the way he came.

Kiso could hear his grandfather muttering something to himself as he left, but he could not be bothered by it and returned to training.

– – – – –

One week later…

BZZZZZZT!!!!

A tree in the courtyard was smoking and a large portion of its bark was charred black.

“That was…easy.” Kiso looked on as his hand lowered back to his side.

Although the bolt was thin and weak, it was still a bolt of lightning. He had reached the blue bolt stage in one short week of cultivation. The method for exerting the energy into a bolt of lightning only took Kiso a few short hours to fully grasp.

“All I have to do is push all of the spiritual pressure from my core into my finger tips and visualize a bolt of lightning hitting my target.” Kiso never thought it would be so easy, and truthfully it wasn’t.

What he made sound simple took most members of the clan several months to put into practice.

Smiling and feeling satisfied, Kiso sat back down and continued to cultivate. By now, no matter how long he absorbed nature energy, he would never feel full. From dawn until dusk, with the exception of eating meals and taking bathroom breaks, all he did was cultivate.

This routine continued for a full six months, until finally the day before the trials arrived.

To be continued!