Book 1. Shifting Winds. Chapter 13. Schemes and Living Steel. (Part I)

Just outside the northern gate of Neil City, Genzie stood alone and waited for a certain person to make his appearance. He has already been standing there for over an hour, but he didn’t stop pondering over what was going to happen for even a second. He understood how much his family owed to Fohan Cail and knew that only because of his influence did they obtain the exalted position of the keepers of Neil City.

He didn’t doubt that his father made the correct choice in life by marrying into the Cail Family all these years ago. Thanks to that, he had been born and thanks to that, he lived a luxurious life. In exchange, his parents acted as eyes and ears of the Cail family in Neil City. He himself had once very much wanted to prove his ability to the grandfather, to Fohan Cail.

After making the request, he had been told to make himself familiar with all the important youngsters of Neil City and hone his skills during that time. He had been doing so for the past five years and finally, the time to show the results and start a real job was upon him. Yet, he couldn’t be happy about it… not with the kind of news that shook the city this morning.

“Why did it need to happen now? Why not just a few years later?” Genzie thought bitterly. It wouldn’t have been a problem if Laien and Siana remained unimportant members of the Valius family. The storm wouldn’t have hit them! However, given the siblings’ new position… they would end up being in the very middle of it and sure enough, there would be no eye to hide in.

“What should I do? What can I do?” Genzie murmured, feeling totally helpless. He very much wanted to help Laien, but it wasn’t like his position in the Cail family would allow him to do so. He also needed to consider the safety of his own family, of his parents and his recently born little sister.

“There really isn’t any other choice is there?” he thought with a sigh, his gaze slowly turning resolved. Just now, he made his choice. As for what kind of decision did it involve on his part, only he knew.

“That will be for the best,” he said quietly and took a deep breath, no longer beating himself about the matter. He decided which path he would pursue and since he did, he needed to go through with it to the very end. Regrets, worries, uncertainty… he no longer could afford a place for them in his heart, or else he would risk losing everything he had.

Fohan Cail… he wasn’t a man to forgive failures and give second chances.

A few moments later, Genzie spotted what he thought to be the carriage he was waiting for. The moment it got close enough, he could confirm; there was a pitch black sigil of a crow on the front of the carriage. Only the highest-ranked members of the Cail family were allowed to travel under the sigil of the black crow, so Genzie could be certain that the carriage was indeed the one he had been told to await.

The coachman glanced at Genzie and nodded slightly, pulling on the reins and causing the horses to slow down for a second. He didn’t stop the carriage completely, but it was more than enough for Genzie to jump up at the step, open the door and slip inside. The coachman murmured something inaudible, after which a series of strange gusts of winds spread in many directions.

“It’s great to see you, Uncle Luren,” Genzie bowed his head, greeting the man who was often called ‘the master of shadows’ within the Cail family.

“It’s good to see you too, nephew,” Luren said with an enigmatic smile, just as always his words and expressions making it impossible to guess what he was really thinking.

“I have many things I want to speak with you and your father about, but first things first. Let’s listen to the report, shall we?” Luren suggested, his gaze causing Genzie to feel a shiver run down his spine. It was simply too hard to say whether the man was being amiable, or if one wrong word could end up with you parting with your head on the spot.

Genzie nearly jumped up when Lure looked to the side, at a seemingly empty spot in the carriage, only to have a black-cloaked man materialize therefrom within the shadows.

“I will never get used to it,” Genzie groaned silently. He had seen this particular martial art in use many times, but having a person appear out of nowhere had always been rather startling to him.

“Master,” the black-cloaked man clasped his hands while kneeling on one leg. “Nothing major outside of our expectations happened in Neil City, apart from one thing,” the man spoke very respectfully, the tone of his words and his body language showing an absolute obedience.

“Yesterday, two children of the Valius family got accepted as the Great Master Rudford’s disciples. The boy’s name is Laien, the girl’s is Siana. The two are the siblings whom Tei’ru had adopted three years ago,” the black-cloaked man delivered the pure information, keeping any subjective thoughts and opinions out of the report just like he had been taught to. He remained kneeling, waiting for Luren to either request further, more detailed information or to dismiss him.

“Return to your tasks,” Luren ordered and flicked his hand slightly. The black-cloaked man obeyed immediately, his figure dissipating back into the shadows.

“It looks like two troublesome factors appeared,” Luren mused aloud, tapping his finger against his leg. “They are just children, though. There are countless ways to get rid of them without leaving any traces,” he said with an evil smile while seemingly looking down at the floor, but in reality paying attention to Genzie’s face; just without having his nephew realize the fact.

Genzie sighed and looked out of the window, trying his best not to show any emotions. The reason wasn’t important, if Luren deemed that he was untrustworthy, it would be over for him. Showing concern for their enemies was likely a very good shortcut to an early, untimely death.

“Genzie, do you have anything you want to tell me?” Luren asked, for some reason appearing to be fairly amused.

“That is…” Genzie said hesitatingly, then closed his eyes for a time slightly longer than one would normally do. He obviously needed these few seconds to calm down. “No, it’s nothing. I used to play with those siblings and I didn’t even know they were so exceptional. I was only surprised,” he said straightforwardly, the natural expression returning to his face. He was still just as nervous inwardly, but on the outside, he kept his cool. He was merely eleven years old, but all the training he did prove not to have gone to waste

Luren raised his eyebrows, not convinced one bit. However, he wasn’t looking to be persuaded by the act of his eleven years old nephew anyway. He had his own information network; how could he not have been aware of the close friendship between Genzie and Laien? He only wanted to see if this nephew of his had enough skill to properly disguise his emotions. Well, at first he might have had utterly failed, but at least he redeemed himself later and did a good enough job.

“Now if only he can prove that family is more important to him than anything else, he will be worth becoming a useful tool in the future,” Luren thought resignedly. He wasn’t fond of outsiders for that very reason, he just couldn’t trust them! Were it not for Fohan taking a liking to Genzie for some incomprehensible reason, he would have never agreed to take him under his wing. However, even Fohan wouldn’t complain if Genzie failed his tests and thus ended up gotten rid of; such were the conditions he had given Fohan to begin with.

“Any suggestions?” Luren asked with a straight face. “How would you deal with those two?” he added with a slight smile, clarifying what he meant.

Genzie wavered before giving an answer, unsure what he should say. He had no read on his uncle’s thoughts at all, so in the end he went with what he considered to be the most level-headed option. “I don’t think they are an immediate danger to us. From what our intelligence reports say, they have moved to the Red Dragon School permanently. I know for a fact that neither of the two is fond of the Valius family, so instead of taking a risk of eliminating them and potentially getting a Great Master furious, why not get them to come over to our side?” he suggested, hoping that Luren wouldn’t reject the idea outright.

“Honestly, I’d rather have them disappear quietly,” Luren said with a sigh, causing Genzie to tremble inwardly. “The risk is very minimal, too. However…” he continued speaking; to Genzie’s relief. “Like you are saying, I am also aware of the bad blood between those siblings and the Valius family. If we could get them as allies, it would mean that the entire Red Dragon School and its military might would shift to our side! It’s worth taking the risk,” he stated admittedly.

Getting the help or at least content of the Red Dragon School would solidify the plans of their family and guarantee that nothing would disrupt them. Thus, he objectively made the decision that it was worth taking the risk and allowing Genzie to do as he liked. Worst case scenario… he would need to get rid of both those siblings and this nephew of his.

“Go, talk with them. You know those two best, so you are more suited to this task than some random agent of ours,” he ordered casually, then added overconfidently. “If they don’t agree, we will simply need to have them disappear.”

“I understand, Uncle. I will make sure to convince them,” Genzie said with a relative calm, but happened to reveal a slight trembling in his voice. He quickly bowed his head and asked. “Is there anything else…?”

“Not right now,” Luren shook his head and flicked his hand. “Go find those siblings and talk it over with them, then report back to me. You know where I will be staying,” he said and knocked twice at the wooden wall behind him with his knuckles. The carriage slowed down soon after, allowing Genzie to jump out of it.

“Be well, Uncle,” Genzie said briefly and left the carriage. After landing on the street, he led it away with his gaze for a moment or two, then swept the street with a quick look. He smirked and breathed out, allowing the pent-up emotions to come out and even shook his whole body lightly in order to relax.

“I guess I did a good enough job, eh?” he mused with a satisfied smile. “I still can’t read Uncle Luren, but he can’t read me either, not anymore,” he chuckled, but his smile soon turned dark. One day, his uncle would end up having the rug pulled out from below him if he remained so overconfident.

“Either way gotta see Laien. It would be great if I could convince him to join us,” he thought with a sigh, doubting that Laien would agree. He would surely be asked to tell him more about the Cail family… and if he answered truthfully, Laien wouldn’t ever go over to their side.

“Have to do what I can,” Genzie shook his head, then swept the street with one more quick glance. To begin with, he needed to find out where Laien was at the moment.

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“The ‘District of Steel’, as impressive as ever,” Laien said to himself, looking at the hundreds of workshops at the main street of the district and at the thousands of workers delivering the materials from huge warehouses to the various smiths and metallurgists. There was something special in this air which smelled of coal, steel and sweaty muscular men. Simply watching all these people pour their soul and heart in their work was filling him with respect for their profession, be it the normal physical workers or the master smiths like Dan’s father.

Soon, he reached the large complex of buildings owned by Duaran, in the middle of which was the best smithy in the Sarkcente Kingdom; named very simply ‘Duaran’s Smithy’.

The whole place was bursting with life with well over a thousand people working non-stop, including dozens of smiths and six master smiths, all of them apprenticed to none other than Duaran.

It was very rare for someone who was recognized as a master smith to still work under someone else… but those six apprentices of Duaran’s, even after rising in rank had chosen to stay with their master and keep learning from him. From that, one could tell how immensely skilled Duaran was as a blacksmith! There were even people who compared him to the Grandmasters of ancient times and claimed him to be superior to the self-proclaimed Grandmasters in the north of the Starlight continent.

Passing by one of the many carriages carrying heavy ores to Duaran’s smithy, Laien noticed his good friend picking up two large bags, each at least one hundred kilograms in weight. Right beside Dan stood his father, who was well over two meters tall and appeared to be made out of ninety percent muscles.

“Good day, Uncle Duaran!” Laien called out, approaching the massive man with a smile. He had visited Dan a few times at his home and even ate a few dinners with his whole family. One way or another, he started getting along pretty well with Duaran and ended up being told to call him ‘uncle’. There was also the thing with Duaran trying to make him his apprentice… but he really had no time for learning how to forge metal.

“Laien! It’s good to see you, kiddo. But what did you come here for?” Duaran asked, but didn’t even give Laien time to answer. “As you can see, we are busy. If you want to play around with my lazy son, you can come in the evening. That is if he will still have any strength left to move by this time, hahaha,” Duran laughed loudly, to what Laien couldn’t help but chuckle. What was considered ‘lazy’ per Duaran’s standards was so absurd that possibly no one would be able to meet his expectations.

There was always an abundance of work around the Steel District, of which the most basic one was physical work. Although long-distance deliveries and trading would almost always be carried out with the aid of interspatial rings, it was just too inconvenient to use the same method on the regional scale. Taking the large object in and out of an interspatial ring required adequate amounts of Qi or spiritual energy; as long as the distance wasn’t too great, it was more effective to have people transport materials in an old-fashioned way. After all, it wasn’t like martial masters would go out of their way to help with delivering goods around the city day after day, would they?

“Hey, Dan! Keep up the good work!” Laien shouted after his friend. Dan looked at him from afar and gave him a sour look. Laien and Duaran chuckled simultaneously, exchanging an amused glance.

“Hah, okay, enough fooling around. Tell, what do you want? Or did you come only to waste my time?” Duaran asked, a hint of impatience appearing in his eyes. He was a great man, faithful husband and caring father, but he hated to have his work interrupted for no reason. ‘Eight hours for work, eight hours for your family, eight hours for sleep’ was his motto which he had strictly followed throughout his whole adult life.

“I came here to get a new weapon forged for myself, the last one you made me has broken, Uncle Duaran,” Laien explained briefly and withdrew the hilt of his old sword from his interspatial ring to empathize the point; a little scrap of metal still attached to it.

Duaran shook his head and sighed. Seeing his own weapon broken was one of the worst feelings for a blacksmith. In a battle, what was a weapon worth if it broke? Its wielder would end up being in a mortal danger because of it!

“Ah, kiddo, your sword wasn’t made out of best materials, I hope nothing happened to you?” Duaran said apologetically, but what he referred to as ‘not the best materials’ was already enough to make an average, high-quality weapon. It was just that… he really would have wanted to make a better weapon for Laien, but the truly best ores were just too rare and thus, too expensive! Not to mention that as a child, Laien would quickly grow too much for the weapon to suit him. There was no good way to compromise between quality and price.

“It happened during a sparring, so it was okay,” Laien said quickly, not wanting Duaran to worry about him. The man did him a great favor and forged him a very good weapon without requesting a payment for it, how could he fall so low as to complain about it?

“At least that much,” Duaran said, appearing to be quite relieved. “I will forge a new sword for you, it should be ready tomorrow morning. I will use as good of materials as I can, but you understand I can’t get you a cream of the crop blade. My business is doing good, but I just can’t spare this much money,” he informed, once again apologizing for a strange reason. This overly honest and well-meaning character of Duaran’s… it really impressed Laien.

However, despite being impressed Laien couldn’t not laugh. He raised his hand and pecked at his shirt, then said with a wide smile. “Uncle, you sure care only about steel. Had I carried an impressive weapon on me, you would have noticed immediately, yet when I change my clothes you don’t see it at all!” he stated merrily and chuckled, wondering what Duaran’s reaction would be.

Duaran rolled his eyes and covered his face with the palm of his hand. “Kiddo, stop saying things like my wife does… What about your clothes…? Wait… oh, Rudford’s sigil,” he hummed in understanding, but contrary to Laien’s expectations didn’t pay much mind to this little revelation. He was happy for Laien, yes, but he wasn’t anything close to being shocked.

“Kiddo, even if you got some money from Rudford, do you realize that best top-quality weapons will cost you over a hundred crystal coins? You should tone down your expectations a bit,” Duaran stated without beating around the bush, pretty sure that Laien wouldn’t be willing to part with so much money just for a temporary weapon; even if he had happened to have gotten a large sum like one hundred crystal coins from his new master. “Either way, we got a special delivery today so before we can settle what exactly do you want me to forge, I need to complete the trade. It shouldn’t take long, though, so come on with me,” he said and once more, didn’t wait for Laien’s response as to not waste any time. He just headed inside his smithy, sure that Laien would follow behind.

Faced with such an unexpected reaction, or rather the lack of it for the matter, Laien needed a good second or two to come back to his senses. Having someone simply brush aside the whole fact of him becoming a disciple of the Great Master Rudford was just too shocking for him. “Uuu, maybe I was becoming too bigheaded… I should tone it down a little…” he murmured, somewhat ashamed of his excessive attention seeking.

“I’m going with you, Uncle Duaran!” he called out and hurriedly ran after Duaran. The two of them walked all the way to the back of the smithy, then entered a rarely used room; Duaran’s office.

Inside, they saw an average-looking, skinny man wearing a greyish cape. The man snorted and looked at Duaran. “Highest time, I was getting tired of waiting. I brought you something amazing and that’s the treatment I get, eh? Do you want me to sell it to someone else?” the man said angrily, treating Duaran without any respect at all. It surprised Laien considerably, as Duaran was not only the best blacksmith in the Sarkcente Kingdom but also a martial master of the third rank! There were very, very few people who would dare to be so disrespectful to him!

“You are as grumpy as always,” Duaran shook his head, ignoring most of what the skinny man said. “I needed to finish my current order so I could have enough time to bargain with you. This time, I won’t let you rip me off like you did last year,” he said with a merry laugh, repeatedly slapping the skinny man’s back with his hand. The skinny man took the slaps without budging, what once again came as a surprise to Laien. Those slaps might have appeared casual, but Duaran had once managed to send him flying with one of them…! He really had difficulties controlling his strength.

Curious, Laien once again released his spiritual sense without meaning it. He probed the man… and discovered that he was a dual practitioner. The man’s spiritual cultivation was much weaker than his own as he hadn’t even formed a Spiritual Core, but as for his martial cultivation… he couldn’t tell at all. “It looks like it’s impossible to tell with a large difference in strength unless the other person rouses his Qi and shows off,” Laien assumed in a quick thought, at the same time getting a hang of using his spiritual sense a bit more consciously.

“Tch,” the skinny man clicked his tongue and gave Laien an angry look. “Oi, Duaran. Tell this brat of yours to stop probing me with his aura or I’m going to get angry,” he warned, but truthfully already appeared to be ticked off by a large degree.

“Aura? What is it?” Laien asked, rather interested in learning something about the active use of his spiritual sense than concerned with the man’s anger.

“Talk about audacity… wait a second, that’s Rudford’s sigil?” the skinny man chortled in disbelief. “Why would a martial master accept someone who is a better spiritual practitioner than a martial practitioner?” he wondered aloud, but at the same time changed his attitude towards Laien.

“Kid, you curious about aura? No wonder, those blockheads from the south rely so much on martial arts that they forgot how to distinguish between the battle sense of a martial master and an aura every practitioner possesses,” he said in a ridiculing manner, but was a bit disappointed to see that Laien kept his calm or just didn’t care. Those from the south tended to be so short-tempered, it was always fun for him to mock them and watch how they boil with anger.

“Eh,” the skinny man sighed bitterly. It wasn’t like him to do favors without being paid for them, but just this one time he would make an exception. “You ever wondered why even martial practitioners can sense the strength of others’ Qi even though they don’t have a battle sense?” he asked rhetorically and without wasting any time, followed through with the explanation.

“It’s actually pretty simple. A battle sense of a martial master and a spiritual sense of a spiritual master have little to do with the ability to sense other person’s strength. For the purpose of actively doing so, one needs to employ his aura and probe the other person with it, just like you did a minute ago,” he smirked at Laien, then added as a warning. “Be careful, though. Unless you are a lot stronger than the other person, your aura will be sensed and you can piss some guys off,” he said with a laugh but still ended up frowning. Was there really no way to provoke this kid a little? Why was he listening so attentively and not rebuking at all? If he did talk back to him, he would have had a pretext to cut this stupid lecture short or at least demand something in return for it…!

Resigned to his fate of providing a free service, the skinny man decided to put the last few details in the open. “Admittedly, it’s easier for spiritual practitioners to employ their aura. As for martial practitioners, it’s usually impossible before they reach the sixth mortal realm. It’s no wonder that the southern martial freaks forgot about aura, given that it’s perfectly possible to sense the strength of one’s Qi after he rouses it on his own. If you ask me, however, I’d say it’s a sign of their stupidity,” he said bluntly and shrugged his shoulders. “Any questions?” he asked, intent on having this lecture be over with as soon as possible.

Laien considered the question very seriously. From what he understood so far, spiritual sense and battle sense could give one special benefits, but they weren’t required to sense other practitioner’s strength. Thus, what he did with his ‘spiritual sense’ in reality, was him employing his aura…? “How to distinguish between a spiritual sense and aura?” he asked, wanting to know if he had this ability of spiritual masters or if he had wrongly assumed that he awakened it.

“It’s hard to say,” the skinny man replied with a frown. “Aura is easier for spiritual practitioners to awaken exactly because it’s deeply connected with the spiritual sense, which spiritual masters practically always merge with their aura and use alongside it. It can be said that a battle sense is an ‘instinct’, while spiritual sense is an ‘awareness’. For obvious reasons, the first one doesn’t work well with aura, but the latter one does,” the skinny man clicked his tongue, annoyed at himself for going into these minute details. He had wanted to pursue the path of magic in his youth, but had failed miserably… however, the knowledge was still there.

“Basically, spiritual sense can be called an upgraded version of aura. When you become able to sense the flow of natural energy in the air and the Qi in a practitioner’s body, then you can be sure that you’ve awakened a spiritual sense… but even if you are talented, it won’t really appear before you reach eighth or ninth mortal realm; sorry to break it to you,” the skinny man tried to provoke Laien one last time, but again was left with no response from him. He cursed in anger, wondering if this kid really was a southerner. How come his temper was so good?!

“If that’s how spiritual sense works, then…” Laien smiled, totally excited for himself. He had ‘seen’ the flow of Qi in Cran’s body, he had used the same ability to guard against the barrage of Tin’Long’s attacks. He had not overestimated himself, he really had awakened a spiritual sense! Compared to learning all of that, he couldn’t care less about the skinny man being rude in a stupid, shallow way he probably wouldn’t be bothered by even in a normal situation.

“It would be nice to get my spiritual energy tested, though. I still don’t know at which rank I really am at,” Laien mused, guessing that this skinny man was incapable of telling how strong his spiritual cultivation base was; at least when he wasn’t using it actively. If so, then it needed to be quite high, right?