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 of the trials arrived.

Chapter Three –

A bright light shone through the window onto Kiso’s bed, yet a body was not present.

In the training courtyard a shadowy human figure could be seen seated in a crosslegged position, waves of white lightning flowing up and down the body. Occasionally, a bolt of white lightning would strike a large boulder a dozen meters away from the seated figure.

If Mord could see this scene, he would be stupefied. The white bolt stage, which had taken him seventy years to reach, had been conquered by a mere ten-year-old, in just six months.

Kiso had actually woke up early this morning for some last minute cultivation, as he had been feeling he was at the bottleneck of the blue bolt stage for several weeks now. Much to his surprise, he had needed only one final hour before he felt his body heat up like the sun. Every pore on his skin and vein in his body burst with white hot energy and for the first time since that first day of cultivation, his core felt full.

Kiso had a similar feeling before when he broke through into the blue bolt stage. The feeling returning to him caused an immensely excited grin to paint his face.

“I wonder how much stronger my lightning is..” Kiso mused to himself before fixing his eyes on a large boulder he had placed several meters from him earlier in the year.

Raising his right hand to point at the boulder, still seated on the ground, Kiso urged his spiritual pressure into his fingertips until they were numb. With a short yell, “HA!” Kiso released the energy and stared on as the white lightning struck against the boulder time and time again.

When his blue lightning bolts had struck against the boulder before, he would leave behind a thin layer of black ash wherever he struck. However, now, with his ascension into the white bolt stage, after ten bursts of energy the boulder was beginning to crack and fall apart.

Pleased with his results, Kiso thought to himself, “If I were to strike a human body with this, surely they would perish…”

Indeed, outside of the Thunderblack clan, who were resistant to lightning, most people would find it very difficult to survive even a single bolt of lightning from Kiso. At the white bolt stage, its power can be compared to one billion volts of energy. In other words, it would be as powerful as a true bolt of lightning created by nature!

Satisfied smile still stuck on his face, Kiso stood up and turned to find his father walking into his training courtyard.

“Did he see it?” Kiso wondered to himself.

Han’s lack of surprise gave him the answer as he called out, “Kiso! Do you have any idea what time it is?! Your already late, the trials have already begun! If you don’t get there in ten minutes, even grandfather will have no excuse to let you participate!” Han urged Kiso, before they both sprinted towards the inner palace.

– – – – –

The Youth Trials consist of two parts.

First, the children would be made to exert their energy, striking a strange black pillar at a distance of five meters. This would determine what level they had obtained in their months of cultivation.

Second, they are placed into groups based on the results of the first stage. Each group would be placed into the care of the clan’s various cultivating teachers.

The trials would always take place in the inner palace main courtyard, which was around a thousand square meters in size, capable of comfortably accommodating the two hundred plus youths and their parents.

Aside from the clan leader Mord, ten nobles were seated on an elevated platform overlooking the testing grounds.

Clearing his voice, Mord spoke out loudly with authority, his voice seemingly aided by some sort of amplification magic, “Children! I’m sure all of you know today is our clan’s annual Youth Trials! Today, you will be evaluated based on your progress in cultivation then placed into the care of a teacher. The trials may end quickly, but you should not feel complacent just by passing this little test, the truly hard work still lies on the road ahead!”

That same elder noble, who was with Mord when visiting Kiso at birth, then stood up and yelled, “Children, please line up and prepare to begin the first test with elder Julian at the Black Thunder Pillar!”

Scanning the children present, Mord frowned, “He’s still not here yet? Don’t tell me he’s not going to come…”

Seeing his father’s concerned gaze, Mord’s second son Ulquin smiled and consoled him, “Father, little Bo will not let you down!”

Ulquin had thought that his concern was directed at his own son, to which Mord could only offer a thankful smile in return. Mord had three sons, first born Nolan, followed by Ulquin and Han.

All of Nolan’s sons had already undergone their trials and were talented indeed, but nowhere near Kiso. Although Ulquin’s only son Bo was celebrated throughout the clan as the top genius, that was only because Kiso was extremely low-key and never participated in family events.

At the back of the line, another concerned gaze was shuffling through the crowd in front of her. Yuni’s brows were knit tightly together. She had worked extremely hard for the sake of her secret love, cultivating non-stop for the past six months.

“He better show up! I cannot bear to have wasted all that time for nothing!” Yuni was like a walnut, hard on the outside but soft on the inside. She had toiled for months in seclusion, much like Kiso, all in hopes of roping him in. To Kiso, the bet they made must be avoided at all costs but to Yuni it was her greatest dream.

As panic began to seep into her heart, a familiar voice rang out behind her, “Yuni, I hope you haven’t forgot what you promised me, should you loose.” The voice was calm and serene with a hint of unmovable confidence.

That same voice always seemed to force her to act in a way that made her hate herself as she spat back, “HA! It’s you that needs to remember YOUR promise!” She spun around and stuck her pretty little nose in the air.

Yuni is the same age as Kiso and is the daughter of the castle guard’s commander. The two of them had spent a lot of time together growing up due to her father’s house being placed among the core family member’s houses. Among all of the girls in the clan, although underdeveloped due to age, she is still considered among the most promising in terms of looks. If it wasn’t for her harsh outer shell, many young masters would have already attempted to win her favor.

Long dark hair, worn in a ponytail, with beautiful silky skin, her rivals in beauty can be counted on one hand.

Kiso also had to admit that she was a beauty among beauties. Even though she always spoke harshly towards him, he could always see a hint of regret in her eyes every time she spoke to him in such a way. Thus he truthfully didn’t hold it against her too much, and just lined up behind her and waited for his turn.

Inwardly scolding herself, Yuni thought, “Ugh! Why must I always speak before thinking?! Never mind that, Kiso seems to give off an aura of boundless depth, don’t tell me I’ll really have to serve as his slave for the rest of my life….”

Confidence shattered, she continued to ponder, “That might not be so bad though, at least then no matter where he goes, I’ll have an excuse to follow him!” Much like Kiso, she rebounded very quickly from a moments despair.

As Kiso gazed towards the Black Thunder Pillar, he could see that most of the other children were at the spark stage. Their energy resembled thread like lightning and could be considered considerably weak.

What caused Kiso’s eyes to widen, is that every time the pillar was struck, there wasn’t even a hint of damage to be seen. Even some of the stronger spark stage children couldn’t cause a crack or a burn. Instead, where they struck, the pillar would change a certain color which elder Julian would announce to the elders seated on the platform. The colors so far have been mostly light yellow, indicating weak spark stage apparently. Only three children out of the hundred that have been tested thus far, have produced a dark yellow color, corresponding with late spark stage.

Each time one of the students produced that dark yellow color, Julian seemed to announce the result in a much more excited manor. Those children were segregated into a different part of the courtyard around an extremely large burly man named Isaac. Isaac was the only late spark stage cultivation teacher.

The rest of the children were split among the other numerous spark stage teachers. Each spark stage teacher would be responsible for ten students.

A hush ran through the bustling courtyard as a notably tall youngster stepped up to the line drawn on the ground in front of the pillar. This youngster was Bo Black, son of Ulquin, and he wore a rather smug smile on his face as he knew he would likely have the greatest talent among his generation. Bo had been spoiled by his father and pampered by the clan elders, causing his head to grow almost too big for his shoulders. Despite his arrogant attitude, Bo truly was hardworking, perhaps even more so then Yuni. Thus he had some ability supporting that big head.

Bo raised his hand while calling out to Mord, “Grandfather, please watch closely!”

Bo summoned forth his spiritual pressure and released it towards the Black Thunder Pillar. From his fingertips, a bright blue bolt of lightning zapped the pillar and a bright red color shone from where he struck.

The entire courtyard was silent, Kiso looked around as everyone’s mouths were wide open. Julian was the first to come back to his senses as he stuttered, “E…early blue bolt stage!”

The courtyard erupted with cheers. Ulquin turned, expecting to see Mord’s pleasant surprise, only to see the same hint of anticipation shining in his eyes as before. Bo showing that he had reached the blue bolt stage in just six months was definitely a one in a thousand type talent, so why was Mord not excited? Ulquin was extremely confused. Only Kiso’s father, Ulquin’s younger brother, could match his son in talent.

Rushing up to meet Bo was a twenty-something pretty female named Veronica. Veronica was a bolt stage teacher and she quickly ushered him away to begin her introduction.

The rest of the children’s results were the same as the first hundred, all spark stage, as to be expected.

After almost all the children were scattered around the courtyard chatting with their new teachers, a bright light once more filled the courtyard. Instantly, everyone looked towards the Black Thunder Pillar, upon which they saw a bright red spot which was notably darker then the last one they had seen just a few minutes earlier.

This time Julian could not seem to regain himself as Yuni spoke out, “Elder, the result?”

Snapping out of it, Julian announced, “Middle blue bolt stage!”

Yuni spun around and smiled at Kiso who was currently nodding in approval, yet seemingly unconcerned.

“It seems he truly is the man worthy of my attention, I wonder what level he has reached after these six months of cultivation…” Yuni thought to herself, before she called out to Kiso, “I look forward to you honoring your end of our bet!”

Kiso nonchalantly strolled up to the testing line before glancing up a the platform. Mord had already raised his head from his hand was seated on the edge of his chair, causing his sons and the elders to be startled.

Ulquin wondered to himself, “This Kiso is Han’s son. I’ve never heard to much about him, could there be something special about him?”

Kiso bowed slightly towards Julian before raising his right hard towards the Black Thunder Pillar. He gathered his massive spiritual pressure into his fingertips, urging his core to continue to pool energy into them. The air around him grew dense and dust began to scoot away from his feet as he suddenly shouted, “HA!”

A blinding light filled the courtyard as a single white bolt of lightning struck the pillar causing the pillar to crack from top to bottom, along with the minds of everybody present.

Julian stared wide-eyed a the pillar, eyes full of disbelief.

After a few short, yet seemingly forever seconds, Mord shot up along with everyone else seated on the platform, before jumping down directly in front of Kiso.

“Early white bolt stage, Kiso, you didn’t disappoint me! No, in fact, you surpassed my wildest dreams! As promised, you will not be required to stay in this valley.” Mord spoke to Kiso in a voice that everyone could hear.

“Thank you grandfather.” Kiso replied simply, before turning his head to see everyone still staring at him.

“This Kiso is nuts, how can he be so powerful? He must have had some kind of magical treasure assisting him, I refuse to believe my hard work was any less then his!” Bo was both bewildered and angry. The spotlight had been removed from himself not once, but now twice. He could somewhat get over Yuni’s power, as he knew how hard she had been training. He was secretly very fond of Yuni and had thoughts of making her his wife.

Kiso’s display of power was simply too great though, and his spoiled and arrogant mind could not accept it.

Another person currently staring at Kiso was Yuni, “Oh no. I knew he was confident, but this…” her big green eyes were raised to her eyebrows as she quietly turned and wanted to slip away.

“Hold on just one second, slave!” A voice rang out behind her that caused Yuni’s entire body to shudder as she halted and slowly turned to face the voice.

To be continued!