Chapter 34: Hidden Compartment

The unchanging inner world mysteriously changed from what it was before. The sun disappeared, replaced by a large moon.

Soft moon light illuminated the world and distant stars twinkled in the night. The pond reflecting the moon upon its surface and the cool breeze from before turned cold.

Teo headed for the pagoda door, he tried to push it open but the doors were tightly sealed. He banged on the door but as expected, nothing came from it.

Alone within the inner world, the atmosphere was beautiful and yet a little eerie.

Teo sat down on the floor, his back against the doors. His memories of the old man flashes before his eyes.

Just as when he accepted the old man as his master, the old man disappears on him. After a long time waiting for the old man to come out, he felt a little lonely.

Sure the old man was petty, an addict to gambling, but Teo enjoyed his company and appreciated all the things he had obtained because of the old man. He considered the old man as his grandfather.

Teo didn't know any of this grandparents. They all died before he was even born. The closest thing he had for a grandfather before the old man Cien was Wirn, but Teo spend almost 2 years with the old man Cien so it could not be compared.

He quietly practiced his breathing technique until morning, while hoping that the old man would come out soon.

A few weeks passed

Teo could freely enter the inner world by himself. Although his Qi control improved, he had a slight problem. He did not know how to transfer items into the inner world. He would pour his Qi into the tattoo but all that did was send his consciousness in, as for the items, they would be left outside.

He could only practice making arrays within the inner world with what he remembered since the array book was sent outside before his master went inside the pagoda.

He stopped going back to the Martial faction. He told his sister that it wasn't working as they could not see any improvement on the quantity of his Qi. Although he would sometimes visit, he went back to his old route with a minor adjustment.

When he slept, he would go into the inner world to practice gathering elemental energies, but like world Qi, the amount of elemental energies he absorbed was not detected by his eyes.

Elementalists could gather and absorb either world Qi or elemental Qi. When they gathered world Qi it would fill up their container slowly stretching it and increasing the amount the elementalist could hold, but when an elementalist gather elemental energy, they had 2 options. First was to use their personal Qi to meld with the elemental energy that they gather. This allows them to control the element their Qi melded with. This was also the main reason why elementalists with multiple element experience a delay when switching between elements. As for the second option, the elemental energy also goes into the elementalist's container and acts as personal Qi. By mixing elemental energy with their personal Qi, the melding process of their personal Qi with the elemental Qi's time reduces.

During class he would practice his breathing techniques and stances. As for the rest of the time, he studied the array book in his room. He did not want to slack and get lectured by his master.

The second half of the book spoke about vague concepts about arrays. It was not an instruction for how to build them, but rather how to understand each arrays. Teo studied it quite slowly as the concepts were very advanced.

….

Teo arrived at Emerald Road

He browsed one store after the other, looking at the various items being sold. There were people haggling for the prices, employees attracting attention to their stores. It was quite a busy place.

A store that showed many different leather products caught Teo's eye. They sold leather clothes, shoes, canteens and even bags. They also sold several wooden items.

Teo was browsing for a bag. His current bag was only a small sack. He wanted to bring the array book with him so that he could read in the library as well, but he remembered his promise to keep arrays a secret. He had to bring it with him without being easily noticed.

He looked through the several leather bags for sale, he wanted a large backpack made of wood and leather. If it was possible, it could be made with metal and leather so that it would not break too easily but those were too expensive.

After some time searching he found a suitable backpack. The leather used to make the backpack was stained dark brown. It was large enough to fit the book and more. He could easily add a hidden compartment in the backpack to conceal the book as well.

Teo bought the ordinary looking backpack from the shop.

Although his business in the Emerald Road was finished he decided to look around some more.

As he was walking around, he felt a light tap on his right shoulder. He turned his head right to look but saw no one. As he turned his head left he felt something poking his left cheek, preventing him from completely turning.

-Giggle- -Giggle-

The owner of the finger giggled loudly as Teo's gaze saw the person who was giggling. The owner was a short orange haired styled in twin tails with sweet smile on her face. It was Riss.

“Little brother Teo, you finally came to visit me” Riss acted all lonely but it was clearly fake. Whenever she saw Teo she would always lovingly tease him

Teo was already used to Riss' antics. Riss would often visit him at work but often accompanied by his sister Rowen.

“Sister-in-law, of course I would visit”

He often played along, but clearly knew that he should keep calling her 'sister-in-law'.

Seeing Teo playing along, she gave a grin

“Oh you bought something?” Riss saw the bag that Teo bought

“Yes, I bought a new bag to replace my old sack”

“Aw, if you bought from our Emerald Pavilion, I would've given you a much better price”

No matter where, Riss would advertise the shop where she worked. It was not only because she could give Teo a discount, but she also had a cut that accumulated for her total sold items.

As both of them talked on the street, the a commotion slowly approached towards them.

Six fully armored guards escorting an old man. The armor shinned with white steel, their helmets, covered their head and neck, everything but the face. These guards looked battle harden from the aura they produced. A thick intimidating aura that forced other people on the street to give way. An insignia of a golden winged dragon carved within their armor.

The old man being escorted by the guards was refined but stern. He was clearly an important person.

The group of men entered the Emerald Pavilion

Riss and Teo looked towards them, and both became curious

Riss seeing Teo gave a mischievous grin and pulled Teo's arm and ran after the group

As they entered the building, they saw the group being escorted into the upper levels.

Riss dragged Teo and approached one of the attendants.

“Who are they?” Riss asked

“No idea, but they are heading to the third floor” an attendant said

“Judging from the insignia on their armor, the guards should be guards from the Imperial City” another said

“Imperial City?”

When Teo heard their conversation, he was shocked. The Imperial city was too far from Mirth city.

'Why would they come all the way here?' Teo thought but at the same time Riss also asked the same question aloud

“It must be something to do with the up coming tournament” another deduced

It has almost been 1 year since Teo enrolled into the academy. The yearly ranking tournaments would be held in a little over a month.

As Riss and other attendants chatted, Teo slowly realized that his first year was almost over.