The humans of Nerrus are ruled by a group of ‘noble families’ that each control a city-state. The nobles control the populace with their guards, trained cultivators given some of the best equipment and skills that the noble family has. For every noble family there is a story about how one of their descendants discovered some form of powerful Martial Skill which serves as the source of their power but what isn’t mentioned is the number of lives lost in search of these techniques which is invariably high.

-Excerpt from Telram’s notes on the world of Nerrus.

“Hey Dad,” called Telram as a large blonde man walked through the door closely followed by a large white wolf, which ran up to Telram and sat looking up at him with amber eyes her long pink tongue hanging out of her mouth as she grinned up at him waiting for his acknowledgement.

“And hello to you too Willa,” Telram laughed.

Willa was what was known as a Mana Beast. Mana Beasts were animals that had gained the ability to absorb Mana form the atmosphere much like a cultivator. Mana beasts were broken up into three Realms, the first two of which were further broken up into ten Ranks, after which they could evolve into the next realm becoming far more powerful and more intelligent. The different Realms the beasts were broken up into were Ordinary Mana Beasts, which had stronger bodies than normal animals, and one or two special abilities. Elemental Mana Beasts, which had an Elemental Core within their bodies that allowed them to control the Mana within their bodies and use powerful innate abilities which were dependent on their species. And finally, Sage Mana Beasts, which had a human level of intelligence, as well as the ability to take on a humanoid form and use Martial Skills.

Willa was a Rank Seven Mist Wolf which was an Ordinary Beast with the ability to produce mist from their bodies which they could use to hide their presence and make it easier for them to ambush their prey, this ability was also what gave Mist Wolves their name. When she was just a pup Telram’s father Aran had used a Soul Energy Skill called Soul Contract which had linked their souls together giving each party some of the others attributes explaining Aran’s white hair and making the two inseparable which is why Aran was currently complaining.

“Willa! Why is it that you treat Telram like he’s the one who you have a Soul Contract with!?”

Willa turned her head to give Aran a flat look even as Lily started laughing at their usual antics.

“It’s because I feed her,” Telram said drily as his father put down the spear that he was carrying, before turning to glare at his son.

“Huh is that so? I always thought it was because the two of you had the same eye colour!” giggled Lily even as the other three turned to stare at her, hearing her laugh like that was why they acted the way they did, ever since her illness had gotten worse she had smiled less and less so this was their way of keeping her spirits up. It was true that Telram had eyes the same colour as Willa’s, but they were pretty sure that wasn’t the reason she was so fond of him, though they weren’t entirely sure of the real reason, but everyone had to admit that Telram was right; it was because he was usually the one who fed her.

“…Anyway, what did you get for dinner dad?” Telram said, deciding to change the subject before it got any weirder than it already was.

Aran was a hunter that, despite his large frame specialised in Stealth techniques. He had been given a higher cultivation technique years ago, when he invented a Martial Skill based off Willa’s movements. The skill had ended up being named ‘Graceful Mist Step’ by Lily who had been the Scribe that had added it to the city lord’s collection, this was how the two had met.

Martial Skills were broken up into ranks; the Human Rank, the Ascendant Rank and the Immortal Rank, all three Ranks were further divided into three parts based on both the difficulty of learning the technique as well as their power; Low, Middle and High could grow into higher ranks depending on how they were used especially if you happened to be the one who created the Skill. Graceful Mist Step had started off as a Mid-Human Ranked Skill but as Aran had gotten stronger the Skill had evolved as he added insight he had received throughout his life. Aran planned to teach his son this Skill in its most basic form, so that Telram could develop it his own way.

“I kept a Silver Hare for us,” Aran replied placing the meat on the bench next to where Telram was working. Silver Hare’s were weak in comparison to most Mana Beasts, but their meat was delicious making it a valuable commodity. It also happened to be one of Telram’s favourites which told him that his father knew that Lily had given him the cultivation manual.

“Excellent, I’ll cook us up a stir-fry then.”

After they had finished dinner Telram started to ask his father about the Ascendant Realm.

“Dad, why do you need to get a new cultivation technique after you finish forming your Mana Core?”

“Well son,” replied Aran with a smile, he was pleased to see his son taking an interest in cultivation at such a young age, most people didn’t even think about thing s like that until much later in their lives. “There are two reasons, one is that you begin to be able to separate Mana into the four Elemental Mana types.”

The four Elemental Mana types were Fire, Water, Earth and Air, which could be combined in various ways to form other types like Metal or Nature.

“The other is that you have to start cultivating concepts as well. Concepts are essentially the things that we use to make new Martial Skills, the more of these you understand the more powerful the Skills you use will become.”

Telram nodded, these were good reasons for leaving out information on later Realms as it seemed that each person’s cultivation technique was partly something they developed themselves.

“So, what does that mean when you have to get a new cultivation technique from the city lord? Can’t you just make one yourself?”

Aran stared at his son briefly before shaking his head, “Cultivation techniques serve as a framework for your cultivation base, they channel your development. I don’t know what would happen if someone made a mistake while trying to make their own cultivation technique from scratch, but I suspect that they could cripple themselves if they made a mistake.”

This was worrying, even if there was danger involved Telram had no intention of using one of the cultivation techniques that the city lord gave to commoners as he was sure that they would be weaker than the ones that he or the other noble families kept for themselves. After all that always seemed to be the way that those who had power stayed in power.

“What’s your cultivation technique like dad?” Telram asked redirecting the subject to something that wouldn’t worry his parents so much.

“My cultivation technique is called the Deep Forest Stalker cultivation technique, it focuses on Earth and Water Mana as well as concepts relating to stealth and sensory techniques,” Aran explained. “I also have some powerful Air based skills and a spear Martial Art.”

Telram nodded, he knew his father was a skilled tracker and hunter, so this was a good cultivation technique for him, and the addition of the spear Martial Art would give him a method of bringing down his prey. Martial Arts were collections of various Martial Skills that had been combined with a fighting style, their strength was measured by the average rank of the Martial Skills that they contained.

“Well I’m going to go to bed,” Telram said as he got up, causing his parents to stare at him in surprise, it was far earlier than he would usually go to bed.

“I’m going to go for a run first thing in the morning,” he explained.

“Oh, I was going to start teaching you some Martial Skills,” Aran said sadly, he had been looking forward to teaching his son some of the skills that he knew.

“I won’t go for a long one, I just want to get in the habit,” Telram quickly replied, he too was looking forward to learning Martial Skills and having his father teach him would hopefully help him learn them faster.

“Why have you suddenly decided to start going for runs?” Lily asked warily, Telram had gone out running in the morning before but he had never made a habit of it, so she was a little worried by this sudden change.

“Well, part of it is that I think a stronger body can handle more Mana, but also because learning Martial Skills takes a lot of stamina, so I want to increase mine,” Telram replied.

“I see… Well then good night,” Lily said with a slightly troubled look on her face as Telram left the room followed by Willa, who usually slept at the foot of his bed.

The next morning, true to his word Telram got up early and fed Willa before getting himself some breakfast and heading out on his run.

He hoped that he was right that increasing his body’s strength would decrease the negative effects of absorbing Mana without a Mana Core. Telram planned on spending as much time as possible training in Soul Energy Skills, as he believed that was the key to having as powerful a cultivation base as possible.

There weren’t many people out this early in the morning but those that were, were surprised by the sight of the boy running through the streets, a familiar white wolf running at his side. Telram was a well-known shut-in, an antisocial boy who refused to spend time with children his own age. But he wasn’t someone who would do something with no reason or waste his time doing something pointless, to them this only meant one thing. Telram had become a cultivator.

Telram decided not to go far, this was just a warm-up, he knew his father would be training him hard from the moment he got home before going hunting once more after which Telram would be training his Inner Vision technique. Rounding the corner back into his street he put on a burst of speed surprising Willa who quickly matched his speed he rushed back towards his house.

“I’m home!” He shouted running back into the house.

“Alright then,” his father laughed seeing the excitement written over his son’s face. “Let’s get started. Go get your cultivation manual and anything you need to take notes, I’ll meet you out in the yard.”

Telram did as he was told and when he got outside his father tossed him two more books, one was a copy of the Graceful Mist Step movement skill his father had created and the other was called the Flowing Palm Martial Art which was a Mid-Human Ranked Martial Art, “The first thing I’ll start teaching you is the movement technique I created, so start reading and when you’re done we’ll get started.

Telram did as he was told. The Graceful Mist Step was an evasive movement technique, so it didn’t increase speed much, but its smooth movements made it seem like the user was shrouded in mist, slowly fading into the background.

As soon as he finished reading he looked up at his father who nodded at him before beginning to demonstrate the technique, his muscular body seeming to fade from one position to the next as he moved sometimes Telram almost lost rack of his father before finding him almost half a meter from where he expected him to be showing that even the lowest form of this skill would be difficult to master due to its complexity. Telram took notes as he watched, not wanting to waste his father’s time and soon was attempting to use the Skill himself, his father correcting any mistakes he made.

“Right, I want you to practice this technique when you go out running, and if you have any further questions about it for me you can ask me at a later date, but right now we have to get a move on, we’re wasting daylight,” Aran said. “Next we’re going to move on to the Solid Fist Martial Art, there should be a copy in the back of your cultivation manual.”

Telram nodded, the Solid Fist Martial Art was a Low-Human Martial Art that was somewhat similar to boxing, it was a straightforward way of fighting that provided a good base for anyone who wanted to become a cultivator to start from.

Telram quickly explained that he had read the whole manual the other day and requested that his father started to demonstrate the Martial Art.

Aran agreed and took the basic stance described in the cultivation manual and began moving through the forms. Each punch was swift and compact causing brief bursts of sound to echo throughout the small courtyard they were practicing in as Aran showed that mastery of even this comparatively weak Martial Art was still more powerful than anything that a human from earth would be able to match, although this was admittedly partially due to Aran being an Ascendant Realm cultivator. As with the previous technique Telram continued to watch for a while before getting up and mimicking his fathers’ movements as well as possible.

“Not bad, keep practicing that as well, it’s a good base for most of the other Martial Arts you can learn. Now let’s move on to the Flowing Palm, this one is a very different fighting style from the one we just practiced, so don’t worry if you don’t pick it up right away.”

Telram nodded picking up the final manual and starting to flip through it asking his father questions as he did so, as his father took a much more in depth approach in this martial art as he knew himself just how difficult it was to master, showing him the various stances, strikes and parry’s that this flexible style used, once they had gone through this together Aran came to a decision.

“We’ve gone over everything now, and we seem to have a bit of time left, so why don’t I show you what you can do if you combine these different skills together,” Aran said taking a strange stance and starting to use a familiar form of footwork as he threw out a series of punches and palm strikes that seemed to just suddenly appear at the end of their arcs his body smoothly flowing from one to the next.

“This style is called the Waterfall Mist Martial Art, it combines the evasive footwork of Graceful Mist Step, the powerful strikes of Solid fist and the flexible defence of Flowing Palm,” Aran explained before suddenly disappearing from Telram’s sight and appearing right in front of him his fist sending a blast of wind into Telram’s shocked face.

“And that last move is called the Hidden Shadow technique, it’s a Soul Energy Skill, when you have mastered the Inner Vision technique let me know and I’ll teach you this as well.”

With his demonstration complete Aran headed back indoors even as his son sat there stunned at what had just happened. Telram’s brow firmed as he took his notes and started to write down what he had just experienced and learned. While he knew Aran would never hurt him he was determined that he would become even stronger than his father and make anyone who wronged him, or his family feel the same helplessness that he had felt as he watched his father.