Chapter 5

A Monstrous Talent

As Rana rode away with Vanrus and his guard, Ornias sat there in puzzlement, wondering exactly what she meant by the secret they all were keeping from him. He was not aware of any secrets big enough to be kept from him. Unable to wrap his head around her words, he just shrugged it off and put it in the back of his mind to later ponder.

Ornias was unlike any other child his age and had a very strong mind. His analytical and contemplative prowess would be considered simply outstanding. Whether it was his actual latent potential or not, couldn’t yet be determined. He was after all born as a living divine artifact, which might account for his powerful mind.

Regular divine artifacts would allow the user to integrate it with the mind of the user enhancing their cultivation capabilities. This also increased their mental skills of thought and comprehension. But like all things, divine artifacts do not last forever.

After a year or two the artifact will be completely assimilated into the mind. Even though artifacts don’t provide infinite enhanced cultivation capabilities, they still were considered extraordinary treasures, and were heavily sought after.

For Ornias however, he was born shrouded in a divine artifact, so who truly knows what merits he could have gained from the artifact. It was very possible that he might have an advantage over regular divine artifact users if he could gain enough information at a young age.

This is because, presumably, the artifact he contains within his body also will meld with his mind once he starts upon the path of cultivation. However, he has still yet to walk upon the path of Cultivation.

Truth be told, his powerful mind was a hidden talent that even he didn’t fully comprehend. If he was taught something however, he would quickly understand the concept. This was a double edged sword for him in his young age though. As a result of the neglect of stimulation through education, he did not understand many things, and instead squandered his hidden talent.

If he wanted to be a truly terrifying person he would need to quickly gain insights before he started on the path of cultivation. The easiest method for this was to be taught by others. Luckily with Rana’s departure, Ornias had resolved himself that he wanted to be taught to read, so it was only a matter time.

When Rana was around he was not able to grab anyone’s attention. Because Azon had been focused on training her body and Cecilia was intent on teaching her to become a proper woman. This left little room for Ornias, and the only time he had to learn was during his regular nightly reads from Cecilia.

But now that Rana was gone, it would be an opportune time to steal some attention from Cecilia, and get her to teach him to read. He steeled himself for the next several days after her departure allowing her to relax over the fact that Rana was not around anymore.

After all, it was understandable that she would have to sort out some feelings out before Ornias could wiggle his way into her vision. She had known Rana since her birth after all, and they were neighbors from the same village. But more than that, they were blood and kin through being from the same clan.

Although their village was long gone now, for the past four years, they had bonded with each other unlike they could ever have as neighbors. Cecilia had treated Rana almost like a daughter as well as a friend. She had persevered in helping Rana cope with the changes besetting her, and taught her many womanly things.

Upon reaching eight years old, Rana had in fact reached a woman’s adolescence, and had to learn what that meant, the hard way. Although now ten years old, it was rather lucky that she had the wonderful support of Cecilia to guide her in her transitions.

Now that several days had passed since her departure, Cecilia had begun to get a new hold on things without her around. By the fourth night of her absence, it was then that Ornias decided to make his move.

Like always, Cecilia urged him to his room after dinner so she could read to him and put him to sleep. Plopping down on the bed, he sat there with his legs crossed listening intently to her read a new story that he had never heard before.

Given his hidden intellect, he had already put together meanings of the words from the books she read him and understood the stories, but he was never officially taught anything.

After concluding the short story, she closed the book and stood up, approached his bedside, and said, “Okay, it’s time for bed now.”

But before she could tuck him in for the night he suddenly asked an abrupt question that stopped her movements.

“Mother, can you to teach me to read books?” He said, as his bright blue eyes twinkled hopefully.

Stunned by the sudden request, Cecilia was quiet for a moment as she processed what she heard. Then finally she came to the conclusion that he was too young to place meanings to the words at his age, and decided to refuse him gently.

Wearing an apologetic face, she said, “I’m sorry little Ornias but you are still too young to be able to fully grasp how to read.”

Smiling with warm motherly kindness, she followed by saying, “How about in a year I will teach you, by then you will be five and will be able to understand it easier.”

Dissatisfied, Ornias wrinkled his nose and formed a pouty face. He immediately, jumped off his bed, stood up, all the while throwing a tantrum, and stomping his feet on the ground.

Like any young child wanting their way, he said, “You taught Rana to read! Why can’t I?”

He slumped back down on the bed and said in begging tone, “I can understand it so please teach me!”

Persistent in his pursuit to read, she finally shrugged while rolling her eyes and said, “Alright I will teach you.”

Ornias couldn’t help but let out a big smile, after accomplishing his goal, and ran to hug Cecilia.

He was rather earnest in his pursuit to learn, and said, “I promise I will study hard and I won’t disappoint you.”

Ruffling his brown hair, she said, “Alright… alright… I believe you. But, Ornias, it’s already late and we need to get you to sleep. So, I will start teaching you tomorrow okay?”

He looked up at her with his dazzling eyes, and said, “You promise you’ll teach me tomorrow?”

Laughing and patting his bum in the direction of the bed, she said, “Yes Ornias, now off to bed with you.”

Without pestering her any further, he hopped into his bed and pulled his blankets over him. He turned onto his side and closed his eyes, while Cecilia quietly left his room. A satisfied smile curled onto his face and he soon fell asleep.

The next morning, after he woke up, he quickly found Cecilia in the kitchen and had a hearty breakfast before she would teach him. It was just the two of them since Azon, was on yet another mission. The political situations between the kingdoms were not faring to well lately, and it was normal for him to not be around too much.

Disregarding Azon, they ate in silence between the two of them and upon finishing their meal Cecilia cleaned off the table of any crumbs. After cleaning the table, she brought out a stack of papers, a quill, and an ink well.

Following that, she took time to first teach him each letter of the alphabet, while writing it down on a paper, and showing him how each letter sounded. He audibly repeated her and quickly memorized the sounds. Within a week he could say the alphabet from memory and he was able to recognize what the symbols were with each corresponding letter of the alphabet.

She was surprised to say the least, but recalled as a child she often read to him on her lap. This could possibly account for his easy understanding of the alphabet. Taking it up a notch, she decided to teach him some basic words and how the letters worked together in a word to pronounce those words.

Yet again, he was able to gobble up that information at a fast pace, memorize it, properly pronounce it, and be able to say the words with ease. Over the course of a month and a half, the size of his vocabulary instantly skyrocketed, and he could now talk and communicate without any clear audible discrepancies.

Apparently he understood the alphabet perfectly when he put together the symbols for letters as far as what they meant and how they sounded together. Altogether, his understanding to read took the span of two months. One week in order to learn the complete alphabet, and a month and a half to be able to read it proficiently.

Truth be told, the reason he was able to quickly gain a grasp on everything so fast was because of the divine artifact that had melded with his body on birth. If not for that has level of understanding would be just a stagnated as a regular child’s and could have taken half a year instead.

Cecilia thought that he held monstrous cognitive and memorization capabilities which far exceeded anyone or anything she has ever heard about. But not only that, he was also able to get rid of any form of dialect in his speech. In all respects, his speech could be considered complete perfection.

This left Cecilia with nothing more to teach him regarding reading and she ushered him off to bed after dinner. He had basically left her reeling on how quickly his mental capabilities were growing in such a short amount of time. But she resolved herself to continue to teach him and ended up falling asleep herself dwelling on it.

That very next day, a letter from Rana had arrived, regarding her journey, and trip to Valburg academy. A bandit, called Framor, from the Fengle’s Grove encampment would usually pass on messages in Azon’s absence but this time he had mail that he delivered to Cecilia. Deciding it would be good practice for Ornias, she decided to ask him to read it aloud to her.

So discovering, the little bookworm, trying to read what little material they had around the house, she handed him the letter. He took the letter, and smiling, realized it was from Rana.

“I want you to read it to me,” Cecilia said.

Ornias nodded, and then opened the letter and proceeded to read, “Don’t worry everyone, I made it safe and sound to Valburg academy, here in Caelestis.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Cecilia said, “Thank goodness, I hope the journey wasn’t too dangerous.”

Smiling he continued to read Rana’s letter, “I never had been so scared in my life on the way here. We had encountered two separate bandit attacks, and encounter a terrifying monstrous beast that killed more men than even the bandits.”

Furrowing his brow in concern, Ornias looked at Cecilia as she clasped her hands over her mouth. Then looking back at the letter he continued, “Luckily, Vanrus was able to kill the beast with the help of the other men he brought along. I’m truly glad uncle Vanrus was around to keep me safe.”

“I need to remember to thank him the next time we see him,” Cecilia said, looking into the distance and feeling grateful towards Vanrus.

“Mmmm…hmmm,” Ornias grunted in return.

Hunching over the letter he read the remainder, “We arrived at Caelestis and I got fully enrolled in the academy. Don’t worry, Cecilia, due to Vanrus noble status, we are staying at a rather luxurious mansion that is just as large as the buildings in Domington. Hopefully, I will start school here in the next week, so please everyone wish me luck.”

“Noble…” Cecilia said, rather shocked.

Recovering from her surprise, she said, “Well I’m just glad things worked out. I hope she sends us another letter detailing what the academy is like when she starts.”

Ornias said comfortingly, “I’m sure she will mom, and you don’t need to worry too much about her, she has Vanrus there to keep her safe.”

Smiling and nodding, Cecilia said, “I suppose your right, I’ll just worry about your father now. He might want to read her letter when he comes back home, so keep it safe.”

Unfortunately Azon was always busy with his exercises or on missions for the Azarasi Kingdom so couldn’t read Rana’s letter. Naturally, he also had no idea that at this very second Ornias was easily one of the most intelligent four year olds on this planet.

Several days passed since Rana’s letter had arrived, and at the speed that Ornias gobbled up information, Cecilia decided she wanted to teach him how to write. Given that he could now read, writing was the next step. So that following week Cecilia approached Ornias.

Warmly, she spoke to him with a smile, and said, “Ornias, I know I had you recently recite the letters of the alphabet and you can read pretty well now. So although you can read, I want you to learn to write them next.”

Giving him a scroll of paper, and an ink quill, she prompted him to draw the symbols of the alphabet himself.

Disappointed, Ornias looked up at her and said, “Mom, this request is far too easy.”

Looking down at the paper in front of him, he quickly drew perfect forming letters of the alphabet in one go and then showed it to an astonished Cecilia. He had for the past two month, photographically memorized these letters, and paid close attention to Cecilia’s hand movements as she had wrote them.

He was simply a genius that paid attention to every detail. This made her jaw drop, and made her unable to form words, as her mouth just kept opening and closing while she stared at the perfectly formed letters.

Quickly she gathered herself back together, and clapping her hands in excitement, she said, “Well done! Now, I want you to put letters together to form words, and put them into a sentence next.”

Ornias nodded and began to write in earnest again. Lifting up the paper, he had written on the paper, “I would very much like some books to read, so I can learn more about the world.”

With that written sentence, Cecilia shuddered, and thought to herself, “What a genius this child is that his mind was so powerful, it is almost disturbing.”

Instead of mouthing her thoughts however, she presented him a warm smile, and said, “I will bring you some good books to read then.”

She finally concluded that she didn’t need to teach him anymore. So taking his request to heart, she requested a favor from Framor, the man who delivered them Rana’s letter. She asked him to purchase several books from Domington that a growing boy would need to learn.

It took a week to get the books, but Framor went to Domington and brought back several books on all sorts of different subjects regarding the planet of Yeshir. Looking over the stack of books, Cecilia was quite satisfied and handed Framor some silver coins.

Azon had entrusted her with some money so she could purchase any needs she would have, which came in handy every now and then. Quite pleased with herself over the selection, she brought them in front of Ornias and plopped them down.

She formed a wide smile on her face and said, “I know it’s a little late, your birthday was three months ago, but happy birthday Ornias!”

A grin so big it seemed it would fall off appeared on his face, and swiftly he ran over and hugged Cecilia tightly. She was glad he liked it, and hugged him back.

His eyes sparkled, and he was so overjoyed as he said, “Mom, you’re the best! Thanks so much, I didn’t think you would be able to get books for me until dad got back home.”

“Ha… Ha… your right, I would have had to wait for your father if it wasn’t for Framor,” she said truthfully.

Looking puzzled, Ornias let go of Cecilia and said, “Framor got these books for me?”

Smiling Cecilia nodded and said, “Yes, I’m glad Azon entrusted him to help us.”

“Indeed…” Ornias said, while shifting through the pile of books.

Laughing, she backed off and said, “Well I leave you be, as I’m sure you want to read in peace.”

Quietly leaving his room, Cecilia left with a big smile, and thought to herself, “I can only imagine greatness awaiting him when he grows up.”

Now all alone, Ornias looked over the stack of about twenty books. In the stack of books there were many books that had descriptions on the histories of the continents and the rise and fall of their empires. It also contained books on all known beasts living on each continent, and their respective power levels in each area.

Some of the more intriguing books were regarding military strategies, forbidden and lost knowledge, and lastly the Laws. What piqued his curiosity most was the Laws, and so he grabbed that pile first. Within the stack of books regarding the Laws, there was a book on the Magical Laws and the Laws of a Warrior, but what caught his eye was a small ten page bound book that had red lettering titled, Laws of the Spirit.

Quickly skimming through the book he learned that it was one of the lost Laws, and there was only evidence in the book to reference that at one time it was prevalent. But now only secluded high level experts or secret organizations currently hold the knowledge on the Laws of the Spirit.

“Perhaps the Church of Ascension was one of the organizations that hold this knowledge,” he thought.

This caused him to sigh and he picked up a different book. The first book he picked up was the Laws of Cultivation. After all it was important to first get an understanding for how cultivation works.

Flipping through the book he got a general understanding for how the laws of cultivation worked and set the book down. In this way, he started to read the books one by one and began to quickly enhance his understanding of the world and the Laws which dictate it.

Several months passed by and Ornias had already turned five years old. Like clockwork, he woke up early every day and went to bed late every night in the pursuit of knowledge. Honestly, he had studied and finished all the books long ago. The only reason he was still reading some of them was because, after memorizing an entire book, he wanted to cross examine particularities from one book to another.

What he was doing now was formatting his brain almost like a computer, so if he thought of something he would be able to pull out that information and everything regarding it. With such a powerful mind, he had a monstrous gift, and he was trying to use it to its upmost.

After feeling smug about how he sorted the information in his head over the span of those months, he had another agenda instantly pop into his mind. While he was rather knowledgeable now, he had no physical strength. On that note, Rana had trained with Azon, so why couldn’t he train with him.

Things have settled down between the missions and the political issues between the kingdoms, so right now Azon was living back at home. While the pressure that the Tolboud kingdom was exerting on his force of bandits within the region seemed to only be increasing.

But with Azon no longer needing to leave for long extended periods of time anymore, he could focus on commanding the Crimson Claw Bandits. In this way it was almost a last ditch attempt to rectify the situation that was only getting worse and worse.

Calming his nerves, he would still train outside early in the mornings and forget about all the problems he had to deal with. This left Ornias a wonderful opportunity to speak with him.

Nodding to himself, Ornias left his room and walked outside to where Azon was presumably performing morning exercise, like he did every day. However, today was different.

Instead of exercising he was sitting down meditating outside and he seemed to have a pained expression on his face. His eyes remained closed and his brows were furrowed. Every now and then he would wince in pain and the veins in his forehead show themselves.

His breathing pattern was regulated but a weird thick breath would disperse each time almost like the air was chilly, even though it was rather warm and pleasant. After a while his face relaxed and a dim white light enveloped him as a gust of wind blew outwards from his body.

Opening his eyes, he smiled, and then stood up as the light and wind died down. Just then he noticed Ornias watching him and turned to stare at him. But his eyes were rather strange and dilated.

This was because Azon had just ascended to the sixth rank of a warrior. Upon reaching the sixth rank, an individual can achieve full control over the chemicals and hormones injected within the brains system. His eyes were dilated due to the fact of being in fight or flight status using the chemical enzyme acetylcholine.

After reaching a certain understanding of the laws of the sixth rank he immediately enlisted certain chemicals to enhance his chances to succeed in passing to the sixth rank. Slowly his eyes returned to their normal hazel color and a wide grin appeared on his face.

Excited for his father, Ornias ran up to him, let out a big smile, and said, “Father, did you just pass your trial and rise up in rank just now?”

Azon was shocked, and said, “You know the signs of a trial?”

Ornias nodded, which caused Azon’s brows to wrinkle in wonderment. Curiosity filled his mind as to how Ornias could tell the signs for a trial, when he has never been spoken about them.

Quelling the current confusion spilling from his heart, he said to Ornias, “I figure the reason you sought me out this morning wasn’t to congratulate me in my passing of my trial. What can I do for you Ornias?”

Acting suddenly fidgety, Ornias shrugged and with a smile said, “Well Papa, I had hopes that since you trained Rana, you will train me as well.”

Letting out a short burst of laughter Azon smiled, thinking that he was joking. After all, Ornias was still very young. But then seeing the seriousness engraved on his face, left Azon flabbergasted, and he had no choice but to think that he actually meant it.

Thinking back, Rana had been eight when he started training her and although he was really tough on her, she had good cultivation for the laws, and persisted through. On the other hand, Ornias was only five, so how could he do half what Rana did. This made Azon slightly scoff at the idea and thought he might as well dash his dreams now.

He cracked an evil smile, and said, “Alright, if you can run ten kilometers around the encampment edge’s and back to here in an hour and a half, I will train you like I did Rana.”

Truthfully, Rana had taken two hours the first time. So in reality he was putting up an impossible goal for Ornias.

However, Ornias nodded and asked, “As long as I run it in that time frame, you’ll train me?”

Laughing at how naïve Ornias was, Azon flashed his devilish smile, and said, “If you can, I will not only train you, I will teach you all I know.”

What he said was not a lie, because he had a vast knowledge of techniques, and even understood hidden aspects of the Laws of a Warrior. All his knowledge he had desired to pass to someone eventually, that person most likely being Ornias.

With that Ornias started to jog, and then he turned around yelled, “Remember you promised!”

Watching him jog a ways, Azon chuckled, and then looking down at his body, he said, “Huh…I actually made it.”

Flexing his body and smiling, he said, “… The sixth rank, I finally achieved it after all this time.”

It was imperative for him to understand the new changes, so he sat back down and started meditating to better understand his improvements. However, only after two hours of meditation he could hear the slight pitter patter of feet and looked up.

“What… the…,” He said, but what he saw left him breathless.

In the distance, he could make out Ornias jogging at constant pace and saw him as he was getting closer. He was startled to the say the least. Because the time it took Ornias to jog was almost the same as Rana, albeit just a tad slower. Yet unlike Rana, when Ornias arrived in front of Azon, he didn’t have any shortness of breath and didn’t seem weary at all.

Instead he just smiled and said, “I didn’t make it in time. Guess I will try again tomorrow.”

Stopping him, Azon said, “Wait where did you learn to…”

Cutting him off, Ornias smiled wryly, and said, “Books.”

With that Ornias went back into the house leaving Azon sitting there in a daze. Pondering exactly what sort of monster Ornias was to be able to accomplish that feat.

“Books…” Azon muttered, with his brows pointed down and a scowl appearing on his face.

He shook his head and said, “Just books can’t teach you that sort of talent, Ornias.”

The fact of the matter was that Ornias was almost five and a half. Yet, he ran what Rana did in same timeframe. On top of that he did it without Azon even telling him to train his breathing to be in sync. But he already seemed to be using a breathing technique, and it seemed to be a far better technique then Rana used.

So utilizing a superior technique, his muscles still felt fine after running that distance. The only reason he didn’t reach the distance in an hour and a half was because he wanted to get a feel for how it felt to practice the methods he read about, and try them out a bit.

The breathing technique he used was from his book on a more comprehensive version of the Laws of the Warrior then what Rana had read. It offered a decent insight to a high level breathing technique used to make your muscles supplied with oxygen so they don’t get tired.

He had practiced this technique for several days beforehand, and felt confident in it, so he decided to ask Azon to train him. In fact Ornias was confident that the next day, he could sprint the ten kilometers easily, and would reach Azon before an hour and a half was up.

Flowing with his overconfidence, Ornias greeted Azon the following day, and proceeded to run this time intent on reaching the goal of an hour and a half. He had this confidence because according to the book, he could focus his mind on his extremities, and exert more force from them.

So by focusing his mind, and thinking about his legs, he envisioned himself soaring off the ground in short burst with each foot covering greater distances. He surged that mental thought into his mind, and pushed down into his legs, thereby telling them to use more force.

It was a similar effect as when you send an electrical impulse of adrenalin through the brain to your muscles, in order to make your muscles exhibit extraordinary strength. Adrenalin was instead, a short lived burst of energy, and could cause you to be in a weakened state afterwards, and what Ornias was doing was slightly different. So unlike adrenalin, there was no risk in what Ornias was doing.

He was unknowingly making his muscles contract or tighten with quick force. This is just like when adrenalin is used, except without the unnecessary burning of carbs. All the while, he still allowed plenty of blood flow and oxygen with his mental thought of sending power. The total combination of these things allowed him to exceed the natural human limits.

It did not have a large effect however, since he was not completely in tune with his body yet, but there was indeed a significant difference. Every time when Ornias kicked down with his right leg, it exerted a larger amount of force, and he was propelled forward further. Then using his left leg, he would touch back down as he put the same amount of force into it, and again he launched forward.

For the duration of the jog, he continued his high level breathing technique. He would seemingly inhale large quantities of oxygen, yet not truly take a deep breathes of air to get that much oxygen. The entire premise behind this technique was that there are impurities in the air, and he only wanted oxygen, so he would not inhale anything but the purest form of oxygen.

Being able to separate out other impurities and only inhaling oxygen into the lungs was regarded as high level breathing technique. All this he could do, as a result of him trying to practice these techniques, from what he read in the book of the Laws of a Warrior.

Making it look easy, he simply cruised around the encampments perimeter like a gazelle and within an hour reached back to where Azon was. Quite pleased with himself, a smile cracked on his face as he stopped in front of an open mouthed Azon.

Dumbfounded, Azon tried to speak, “You…”

But he was shocked to the core and struck speechless. He saw that not only was Ornias moving at a fast speed, he was only inhaling with small short bursts, and looked not even a bit tired.

Trying to size Ornias up, he could only reach the conclusion that Ornias had already mastered the breathing technique to an extremely high degree. In addition to that he recognized that Ornias could even do the basics of the Laws of a Warrior by enforcing more strength into his limbs.

It was a fact, Ornias, was a peerless genius that Azon had the pleasure of being able to teach. If Rana was considered to have excellent talent in cultivation, then Ornias would be in fact considered monstrous.

But what had Azon confused was where Ornias learned these techniques, and how he could already enforce them, at the age of five. To be frank, he hadn’t even truly taught Rana any techniques, and just gave her hints about the breathing technique. The possibility that Ornias had mastered the breathing technique and could even use the first stage of empowering his limbs at five years old was utterly impossible.

However, he recalled what Ornias said the day before, clenched his fist and murmured, “Books…”