Chapter 5 - Birth of a Legend

"House Lord, here are this quarter's financials."

"House Lord, here are the innate records for this year."

"Reporting to the House Lord, this year's Young Wolf Celebration dinner was a great success! Aharon Abasi took first place, while second place fell to Levi Magnolia. The third place was Hathor Lukman. They will both enter" However, the second young mistress made her tutor cry again.

In the main office of a luxurious mansion, Osiris Trilleck sat behind his desk buried in official documents. Behind him, an elder butler with white dreadlocks appeared from the shadow of the window's drapery.

In a small bedroom in a beautiful palace sat a little boy in white clothes. His long hair was braided to the back, and his brows were furrowed as if he were contemplating something.

"It seems in this world, there truly exists multiple planes of existence. An intriguing concept that for me is somewhat reminiscent of a certain train of thought in my old world's philosophy. Our corporeal bodies, as well as the raw energies of the earth, exist in the physical plane. Whereas the raw energies of the heavens exist in the ethereal plane. Furthermore, these two planes combined are only the first layered sky. There exist several different layers of sky and forms of energy in harmony with one another." Jodye Trill was sitting with his legs crossed on the bed, muttering to himself. "Through deep meditation, in addition to a sufficiently powerful soul, it is possible for one to sense the existence of these energies. If one was able to then direct those energies inside their own body, then they could refine their bodies with the energy!"

Body refinement was the starting point for all arts. A common saying was that, before having a sharp mind, one must first have a healthy body. Fighting was, after all, mainly reliant on how efficiently one could control their body to attack and defend.

Back on 21st century Earth, most martial artists spent their entire lives strengthening their bodies, to improve their power in small increments. One could pretty much use their eyes to see how many bulging muscles a fighter had, and they would be able to determine their approximate level of strength. There were legends of men training until their bones were as hard as refined metal.

After fusing with the Ancient Titan's memories, Jodye possessed an innate disdain for such boastful men. There was so much more to be obtained on the path of pure power. The homeland from his memories was far behind in the trends of power. They were missing one crucial element.

Knowledge of the void in the sky and the heavenly powers within!

The energy of the heavens was far different from the energy of the earth. The energies of the earth come directly from the natural laws produced by the world. These laws all possess a bit of the world's essence, so they exist in the physical plane. On the other hand, heavenly energy lived before the universe came into existence! This mysterious power of the void could reshape the mortal body to make it capable of extraordinary things.

The ancient Titan clan was capable of tempering their bodies using the energies of the heavenly void! Jodye never knew there was a heavenly void or any sort of magic within. He almost felt like this was a video game world. How could there be something so good in real life? He told himself that he must learn this ability! However, this was easier said than done, as it seemed to require a very high level of comprehension.

"Refining the body first is fundamentally correct. Mn, after all, the meta-human training was the same right? We were forced to go through torturous experiments and training, just to improve the conditions of our bodies so that they could better withstand our abilities. Abilities, it seems, we did not understand in the first place. Laws and force...well, no matter what, to gain the true internal might, the Titanic Rage force, I must first endure the pain of tempering my physique."

Little Jodye held the serene sound mirror in his hand as he closed his eyes in meditation. During the last six months, he had repeated this posture every night, as he tried with all his focus to sense the energies of the earth and the heavens. Now, he would begin to attempt to perceive the mysteries of the serenity glass as well. It was a nifty device, but he couldn't even use it on his own, as he had no understanding the powers that move it. He knew that he would need a deep understanding of the laws that created this material in the future though. Best to study early.

Jodye Trill was searching for a supernatural feeling. At first, he felt nothing but bored when he meditated. However, with time he begins to feel a mysterious tingle ran through his body after he contemplated for a few hours. Almost as if he had just run out of something he was using, causing him to become irritable and lose focus after.

This feeling became an addiction. Jodye knew that this was his spiritual power. By expending it, he was trying to discover his spiritual senses. Every time he felt the little tangle of supernatural feeling; first, his head would ache severely, and then his spirit power would rapidly deplete. He could detect some type of mental barrier preventing his progress. It felt as if he was driving straight into a concrete wall with a Ferrari.

Jodye was pleased to discover that every time he recovered from exhausting his spirit power, his power reserves would increase noticeably. It was taking him much longer to run out of spirit than when he first started meditating. Finally, the day came when that wall he crashed into every night had finally collapsed! His rickety old bust down Ferrari sputtered its way through at last.

During his meditation, last night, right as his spiritual power was running out during his meditation little Jodye managed to have his first breakthrough in this life! He successfully reached the first level of Spiritual Force and discovered his spiritual sense.

"Spiritual Sense*..." for a moment little Joe was too excited and lost in thought, "I bet my dad would shit himself if he knew I had already reached level one spiritual sense. How old am I again? This is awesome. Soon it's a must that I gain access to the family library. There is too much I'm unfamiliar with. Knowledge is the base of power and the key to advantage, I must learn about the customs and cultural norms of this land. Otherwise, I may end up inviting a calamity on to myself."

The first step for any path to power was to awaken the spiritual sense. The spiritual sense was the first level of soul development. Without arousing your spiritual sense, it was impossible to sense the energies of heaven and earth. The ability to feel or 'see' such energy is known as the Mind's eye. The Mind's Eye had various cool functions.

These were powers beyond the restrictions placed on the physical world, and most mortals typically had no way of coming into contact with them. Only those who chose to pursue the heights of power, and abandon the mundane, are considered worthy.

Tonight, when Jodye Trill closed his eyes and re-entered his meditative state, he felt as if he was suddenly sitting in the middle of the dark void, surrounded by some cloud-like lights. These lights were like multicolored, layered, oceanic waves, that floated all around in the air the same way gas would. It was like looking at another world while existing in the original.

"The ethereal plane..." Jodye Trill marveled at this feeling.

There were myriad different lights, and this confused the little boy a lot. He had presumed that spiritual sense should be the so-called 'sixth sense' that humans have always been said to possess. He couldn't see, hear, or taste the energy around him. He could only feel it through his soul. This "feeling" however was different from touch, and yet a little similar to all five of the senses at once. It felt almost as if he was adding an additional layer of skin that operated identically to dozens of eyes that only saw energy flows. Of course, this was likely due to his low power level.

Spiritual Sense gave one the ability to sense with one's spirit and transmit the information directly to the soul. The Mind's Eye technique allowed the mind to perceive this information with vision akin to sight, but also not sight. After all, if Jodye opened his eyes, he would no longer be able to 'see' these energy flows. However, his spiritual sense could track the movement of these energies.

As Jodye Trill grew more familiar and adept with his manipulation of spiritual discernment, he discovered that he could use this formless sense to wrap around energy and guide it into his body. Merely, he could only identify a couple of them from his auxiliary memories, although he could sense many more energy flows than he knew to recognize. It was like his perception was constantly slipping between worlds. He also found that wrapping his spiritual sense around these energies was incredibly tricky.

The energy would basically have to be touching him already. Even though his spiritual sense could dip into many different layers of the ethereal plane, it could only extend four inches from his skin. According to his memory, Jupiter Titan the T'Zhane was only able to detect about a third of these energy flows even at his peak. At the height of Jodye's inherited memories, the Titan only had access to the first through the fourth sky. Not only this, but it took Jupiter two years of meditation to make his spiritual sense extend four inches from his skin. Jodye Trill felt wondrous while surfing through the layered waves of energy, but was baffled while pondering what this could mean.

Could he be a natural-born genius? Capable of unlocking the real mysteries of the universe. Then again, he was also one of this universe's mysteries. Reincarnation would never be ordinary!

Jodye naturally didn't doubt the possibility of him being a mega-genius. He was, after all, able to speak in two languages before turning one. Being amazing was essentially predetermined in this life.

Maybe this planet was superior in terms of the number of energies in harmony?

However, this seemed unlikely to little Jodye. Here in Pangaea, the civilization was far behind even the lowest of the worlds dominated by the Ancient Titan Clan. The grand and amazing scenery imprinted into his memories was countless times more impressive than anything he had ever seen for himself. Thus, he was able to conclude that this place should not be within the Legendary Realm.

"It seems that to explore that vast and starry skies I will need to reach at least the fifth or sixth stage of the Titanic Rage Law. Maybe even the seventh! Merely, the amount of astral might here seems to be far less than in the upper realms. In fact, all of the energy here is much thinner than those from the memories of the T'Zhane. Who knows how many years it will take to reach the seventh level under these conditions?"

Jodye Trill let out a heavy sigh. He decided to discard these thoughts for now, as he didn't have enough fundamental knowledge of this planet. For now, he had to focus on sensing the energies necessary for his body tempering practice. The Titanic Rage Law taught one how to use Astral Might to refine the body. This ultimately transformed the body completely, making the power in the body more explosive than the strength in a star.

Astral Might is the energy produced by the third layered sky of the divine ennead. The Ennead is the nine celestial clouds of energy masses remaining from the primordial chaos energy that facilitated the birth of the universe. Though these things existed in his memory, it did not mean he was able to instantly understand them.

They weren't his actual memories, after all.

Plus he was plagued by memories of his past life. As for the memories from the Titan, it was more like a long dream he could remember in precise detail. In this dream, he was a heavenly scholar named Jupiter.

This is how Jodye was able to understand that after the Divine Universe was formed, the primordial chaos that existed within the void to began to separate again into these nine celestial clouds. These celestial clouds are known as the Nine Layered Skies, or the divine ennead and are ever-present in the universe. Merely, they exist in different planes of existence. The energy these heavens produce, facilitate the stability of the different realms.

The warriors of this land cultivate their bodies with the energies of the second layered sky called true worldly essence. For now, although he had some fragmented information on true essence, Jodye Trill didn't have enough information to practice this method, nor did he completely understand the many memories he had inherited. Luckily, Jodye wouldn't be expected to start training for another couple of years. He could take his time and study.

All ancient Titan clan cultivation techniques, or supplemental law practices, and even their technology was centered around the utilization of the energy of the fourth layer of heaven, Astral Might. Giant stars are indirectly born from, and then produce astral might naturally. Astral Might can be considered as the might of the stars! Based on the memories of the T'Zhane, Jodye Trill was using his spiritual sense to sift through the layers of energy until he found a sparkly layer that made his spiritual sense feel some kind of high-level heat pressure, and gave him a natural feeling of suppression when he entered this layer. It felt as if some part of him was swimming in an ocean of starlight. It was an indescribable magical feeling.

"What a wonderful feeling," said little Jodye Trill with a content smile on his face, before his brows tightened as he focused once more.

This bright, star-like, and partially invisible power had an ancient and desolate feeling. This was none other than Astral Might! After six months of dedicated practice, he had finally succeeded in sensing the legendary Astral Might. The third layer of heaven! Most humans had to reach the skies before having a chance at detecting this heavenly layer within the void. Using his spiritual sense as the line of a fishing rod, Jodye Trill attempted to guide the formless, night-sky-like energy towards his skin.

The Titanic Rage Law was separated into 13 stages. Jodye Trill's current goal was to break through into the first stage, the Wimpy Man Stage. Once this happened, he would officially become a Stellar Titanic Warrior, like the Titans of old! Though the name of this stage was rather unflattering, Jupiter seemed to believe it was the best foundation in history, outside of the body tempering methods of the Draco Volos race, whom in his memory was basically a race of super dragons in humanoid form. Only the most powerful of the world's essential characters could even speak of them. Why would anyone compare themselves to such a race? They were an enigma.

Osiris Trilleck had told him briefly about the Sage magicians and Saint warriors of this continent, but Jodye strongly believed that these Sage magicians and warrior Saints would pale in comparison to the ancient Titan race. This was a civilization of colossal powerhouses, capable of collapsing stars and annihilating entire races! Their path was the path to immortal strength! Everlasting rage! Mountainous physiques! The way of supreme might!

The aspect of immortality was what made Jodye Trill obsessed with practicing this Titanic Rage Law. With a Titan's level of strength, lifespan, and ability, he would be able to confidently search for Sansa and Lulu's whereabouts in the future. If there was such a thing as reincarnation, he just didn't believe there was no way to see the two of them again!

That said, young and motivated as Jodye may be currently, he was confident that humans couldn't easily possess such prowess. The memories of Jupiter Titan the T'Zhane were mainly centered around his life of cultivation and battles, but his first 100 years of experience were different.

It was as if Jodye had personally lived those years as the young Titan before he earned the title T'Zhane. A title which meant 'To see through the heavens.' Ancient Titan clan members would only receive their titles upon reaching the Ancient Lord Realm of the Titanic Rage Law. T'Zhane's given name was Jupiter. At this moment, Jodye Trill decided to provide himself with a title only after breaking through to the Ancient Lord Realm.

This could be considered his piety to his estranged master Jupiter.

All Jodye knew for sure was that the Titan, in his youth, had extreme disdain for humanity. Of course, that is if you can consider someone older than a century youthful. Nonetheless, they were like little ants in the face of Jupiter's supreme might! It was for this reason that Jodye chose to focus on the Titanic Rage Law. As a human surrounded by humans, becoming a Titan seemed to be the best way to be able to travel unhindered throughout the world. It sounded even better the more he thought about it.

Members of the heaven slaughter race are actually weaker than humans when they're born. Far weaker, in fact. These heaven slaughter babies are born with brittle little bodies that can barely withstand a force as strong as sunlight, absolutely no physical strength, and no essence compatibility. What they did possess was an abnormally powerful spirit, a high affinity to calamity and serenity law energy, and high-level sensitivity for astral might.

This body transformation law system focuses on opening what was called the eight inner gates of power and then turning every gate into a Stargate by resonating with a constellation in the heavens.

From the Wimpy Man Realm, all the way to the final stage the Cosmic Supremacy Realm, the body undergoes earth-shattering changes. Despite this, Jodye was nowhere near close to the level of Cosmic Supremacy, to the point that he couldn't even fathom such strength. Jupiter's memories unfortunately only go up to when the young Titan broke through the sixth stage. What the view was like beyond that, Jodye would have to discover for himself.

The first stage of the Titanic Rage Law was all about body refinement. To enter the first stage one first had to refine their skin with astral might, making the body suitable to cultivate astral powers with. The Titan clan members didn't need to do this, as they had a natural affinity with Astral Might that was more powerful than the rest of their race.

Jodye Trill, on the other hand, was a human. His body had a natural affinity with spiritual energy and pure essence, but not astral might. Because of this, Jodye could only start with refining his skin like the low talent individuals of the heaven slaughter race who existed outside of the leading clan.

The moment the astral energy touched his skin, the one-year-old Jodye felt like he was on fire as he swallowed his painful wail before it could manifest. The pain was excruciating, he felt as if he was literally being burned alive at 350 degrees Celsius. Jodye's face was twisted and grim, as he focused on enduring the pain. His outer appearance quickly went from brown to purple, then deep red with steam rising out. If his mother were to notice this, she would surely be terrified!

Anyone who knew what Jodye was doing would consider this baby suicidal.

Jodye Trill's body looked swollen as if he was about to explode like a balloon with too much air. All this from a tiny amount of astral might! In spite of all this, however, little one-year-old Jodye sat steady like a 10,000-year-old rock. Although he had indeed been too anxious, vastly overestimating his weak little body, he wasn't too shaken. Back in the 21st century's earth, he had endured far worse pain than this during a particular mission's torture. He maintained his meditation posture, his face the epitome of stoicism.

Jodye focused all his being on repeating the mantra of the first stage in the Titanic Rage Law,

"The night is long and dark, though my heart is darker."

"The river is endlessly dropping, unaware of stopping."

"The light gives us life, and the dao creates the heart."

"The Heaven's call to the sky, if they fall it was mercy's fault..."

Two hours later, Jodye Trill looked like a lump of coal in the middle of the bed. Every bit of his skin was blackened and burnt, as he sat in the exact same position as if a painting, unaffected by the passage of time. He continued to wash and refine his skin with the astral might. After four more hours, Jodye Trill's spirit power was running out, and he started to feel faint. It seems as if he had overestimated himself, due to his excitement.

Unfortunately, this was a process that could not be stopped once started, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous. If Jodye were to end before making progress, there would be a backlash of astral force that would likely destroy his body. This equaled death, as he was just too weak currently. Jodye was still too young, and far too fragile. There was no way he would survive through a rebound.

At that moment, Jodye felt like somewhere in his mind something cracked. He felt a weird fluctuation from what seemed like his soul itself, before a cooling sensation ran across every inch of his skin, leaving him exhausted. Jodye was familiar with this cooling sensation, as he had felt it many times in his past life. Anytime he received a fatal injury, but withstood the pain until this feeling came, he would suddenly begin to recover rapidly! Sometimes it was even visible to the naked eye!

His body would also end up becoming a little tougher than before!

Suddenly, as if it was in tune with his thoughts, the pain gradually resided. In its place came a warm but comfortable sensation. After another hour, his burnt skin started to fall off of him on its own. Underneath appeared smooth, shiny, and tender caramel chocolate skin was revealed. His skin looked angelic and soft. If one were to touch, however, they would discover it felt like resilient and supple, just like some rubber.

Jodye Trill was slightly caught off guard. He instantly activated his Mind's Eye and cast his senses inward to check the condition of his body. Due to having low-level spiritual force, the keen ability of his Mind's Eye could not expand more than a few inches outside of the body. However, seeing the condition within was easy enough.

Of course, what Jodye didn't know was that this, too, was abnormal.

His first time using the mind's eye to inspect his body immediately left him in awe. The human body was indeed a marvel. It looked like a miniature galaxy. There were 12 light spheres throughout his body with many more tiny lights all around them, like 12 planets in a starry expanse. This was different from the heavenly slaughter race's body composition, but there were similarities. Titan's had only 10 of these spheres.

After investigating for a while, Jodye slowly figured out what the main difference was. Different organs! Heavenly slaughterers had two hearts, and the only other common organ between their races was the stomach. He then observed his skin and found some remnant astral energy mingling with his own blood energy. It was almost as if...

"It seems that after the astral quenching, some of the energy remains. In that case, I should continue to quench my skin. I feel incredible!" thought the baby boy Jodye Trill. Previously, he was worried about explaining his injuries. Now, he was shocked that he had recovered so swiftly and this seemed unreal, "It seems my previous life's ability has world-traveled with me? How strange...yet excellent."

In the following three months Jodye would spend his days accompanied by his mother or his sister Kamila. Whenever his father joined them at dinner or visited his mother and himself, he would take every opportunity to spam his old man with questions relating to the outside world. After all, Jodye was never allowed to roam much further than his mother's courtyard, unless the creepy butler was the only one around.

The House Lord took great pleasure in his son's thirst for knowledge, for this was the mark of a truly born sage! Thus, he continued to pour knowledge into the mind of his son. Eventually, Lord Trilleck begins to allow the first lady to bring the little boy on the estate's main grounds, so that he could be with his son more.

Thus, Jodye Trill became acquainted and familiar with all the essential officials and delegates of the house. His daily schedule then shifted to accompanying his mother as she handled her affairs around the estate. At night, he would resume his practice. Whenever his mother expanded her spiritual sense to check on her son, and saw him deep in meditation, seemingly cultivating, she would be greatly shocked.

Lady Isis didn't fear her son to be an imposter. She could see that he was under the impression that no one could see him and he was utterly defenseless. An imposter wouldn't behave this way, for this was ignorance. As the Frozen Night Master, how could lady Isis not be aware of her son's actions if she chose to be? Merely, when bringing this oddity up to Lord Osiris Trilleck, the latter laughed boisterously in praise of his son. Lady Isis felt helpless.

"To think, the boy sees me meditating a few times, then he constantly asks about it in great detail. Now, he is meditating himself! You should...wow... you should not worry, my beautiful muse." Lord Osiris held lady Isis' chin while he spoke to her gently, making her blush and avert her gaze. From the opposite side of the desk, one would only be able to assume that lord Osiris was speaking into a serene sound mirror in his lap, "Yes, my wife, this is good for little Joe. What level of spiritual strength could the child possibly have? However, now that he is meditating so early perhaps that may change!"

Lord Osiris Trilleck was back in his main study, reviewing the house's financial reports. Reclining in his chair his eyes occasionally seemed to drift into a daze, as he stared out of the window at Kamila and Joseph Trilleck who played in the courtyard below.

"I am merely worried, my lord...mmm, he is just a small boy, and I fear he's developing a bit to fast," came Isis Trilleck's voice from under the desk. After a few breaths of pause, she continued, "You even gave him a stalk of Morning Spirit Grass! Are you trying to worry me?"

"It is merely one stalk, and just my conservative explanation would not be enough to teach him the method of refinement. It is good that he shows such competence and interest in the martial way so early. This...ah. This child of ours is simply a true... a true genius, I say. He will be an incredible warrior Sage one day. The credit is, in fact, yours. It seems necessary to give you another child..." Lord Osiris gave lady Isis a lascivious smile, making her blush deeper.

Meanwhile, Jodye Trill was oblivious to the private matters of his parents as well as being spied on. Later that night he sat in the lotus position in his bedroom, his mind buried in cultivation. Through his mind's eye, he was able to see different energy flows floating around his room lately. Anytime the energy went through his pores, Jodye would feel like he just got covered in a layer of ice. The child didn't hesitate to guide the silver-pink power into his skin, constantly tempering his flesh with it, along with the medicinal force coming from the stalk of Morning Spirit Grass his father gave him.

Jodye Trill had noticed that by doing this the amount of astral might that fused with his flesh after each quenching nearly tripled! Such medicinal herbs were like gold, and Jodye would have probably smoked it if he was older. Jodye could tell his body was changing, slowly beginning a transformation. Due to his unique ability to withstand the torturous pain of tempering his flesh with pure energy, and somehow avoid death, he was becoming more abnormal by the day.

Unbeknownst to anyone, this simple daily lifestyle would one day be responsible for the birth of a legend. Though Jodye Trill was acting impulsively due to his inexperience, his instincts were leading him down a road no human on this planet had traveled before.

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Sky Fall Legend