Chapter 41: I'm nineteen.

"Well, if you must know, I am nineteen." Roah sighed as she saw the look of shock form on Kalon's face as he learned the truth. Kalon couldn't guess her age, but he thought she was around twenty, so it was a bit of a surprise to find out that she was a little bit younger.

"Oh, no. How old did you think I was? Do I look like a granny already?" Roah asked, concerned about the look that had formed on Kalons face as he looked up at her.

"No, not at all. I just thought you were a little bit older by how you acted and how strong you are. You look really young, that's why I asked. I really couldn't tell." Kalon quickly corrected himself and tried to reassure her that he wasn't saying that she looked old, but the damage had already been done.

Roah massaged her temples in an attempt to rid her face of any wrinkles that might have formed before continuing to explain.

"So, as I was saying. Cultivators can live for a really long time depending on how strong you can get and how much lifeforce you can hold within your dantian.

But as you store Qi within your dantian, it will expand, and just like any part of the body, it can only extend to a certain point before it struggles to grow anymore. That is what we call a bottleneck. It's like a fast-flowing river that comes to a dam. The water will keep flowing, and if there is nowhere for it to go, it will eventually break through the dam and overflow.

The same theory applies to the dantian. When you store more Qi than your dantian can handle, it will destroy itself and then use the Qi you have stored to build a new one that can hold more lifeforce. That's what we call a breakthrough.

Therefore, a cultivator's strength is measured by how many breakthroughs they have and how many times they rebuild their dantian to store Qi we call those stages.

The Qi refining stage is the starting point for cultivators and the most accessible stage to reach, but as time goes on, it will become harder to progress. When you first absorb Qi and establish a connection with your dantian, you will feel a pop or an explosion within your body, followed by a warm tingling sensation that will absorb your whole body. That is what we call the foundation establishment, and that is what tells you that Qi can now flow through your body.

So that will be the thing that we will focus on while we travel to the capital. I want you to establish your foundation and begin to cultivate. You might be well in swordsmanship, but the children at the school I am enrolling you into have already established their foundation. So if you don't want to be left behind, then we had better get started soon." Roah explained and then told Kalon that he was a little bit behind the other children.

Although his father's plan wasn't for him to become stronger and join a school, he figured that it would be an enormous help to the empire if he could look at the military plans from the inside. Kalon slightly smirked as everything seemed to be going smoothly and then nodded his head.

"Then can you please teach me, Miss Roah?" Kalon asked while holding his fist to his palm as a show of respect to her. Roah looked out of the window for a moment and then smiled as she looked back at Kalon.

"Of course. I will even help you circulate your Qi no come over here." Roah shuffled back in her seat and spread her legs slightly before patting the chair in front of her.

It might have been a strange thing if Kalon wasn't used to sitting like that when Luna brushed his hair whenever they met, so he quickly hopped up and sat in the gap between her legs.

"Okay, now close your eyes and rest your hands on your lap. I want you to try to imagine a small pea-sized ball inside your body just slightly above your belly button. And once you imagine it, I want you to try to feel it.

I know it might be hard at first, but it should be easier as I used my Qi to stimulate your acupoints. But make sure that you don't open your eyes no matter what. Even if you feel like your body is shaking or your heart rate is increasing. I just want you to breathe and focus on that tiny little ball.

If you lose concentration before your acupoints get stimulated, we will have to start all over from the beginning, and we are a little short on time, so make sure you don't lose focus." Roah instructed before putting her hands on Kalon's back.

Kalon took that as the sign to close his eyes. His hands trembled a little as he wondered what he should expect. He didn't ask her many questions about how it would feel because he wanted to get it over with, but as Kalon closed his eyes, a little bit of regret sank in as he prepared for the worst.

The inside of the carriage suddenly erupted with a faint blue glow that made its way through the cracks in the wood and the glass in the windows. The trees were painted with blue light as the driver to the carriage looked back for a moment before deciding not to question what was going on.

Kalon's worries seemed to be for nothing as a feeling of calmness enveloped his body like a warm, but gentle breeze drifted through the inside of the carriage. It almost felt as if he was standing in a meadow on a sunny day, and he was tempted to open his eyes, but he remembered what Roah had warned him of and thought it was probably better if he listened to her.

A few seconds went by until he felt a sharp pain at the top of his left shoulder that slowly began to spread along with his collar bones until it reached his right shoulder. The pain then travelled to the top of his spine while still leaving pressure in both of his shoulders. Suddenly the pain became sharp in his shoulders once again as it moved down to his elbows and then to the palms of his hands.

It felt as though someone was dragging a sharp knife across his body, but he trusted Roah. She could have killed him at any moment, but she never showed any hostility towards him, so he knew that she wasn't up to anything sinister as the pain once again shifted. But this time to his spine.

Kalon screamed out as the stabbing slowly ran down each one of his vertebrae as his spine felt as though it was being ripped out of his body.