Chapter 6: The Legendary Ingenium

Orion’s arms trembled as he swung down the sword for the 717th time. Sweat soaked through his clothes and dripped off of his chin and hair.

“Almost there!” Atira yelled, notifying them of their progress.

After a month of rigorous, physical training, they shortened their 5 mile run to a good 33 minutes. With that, they had more time to train other parts of their body, as well as learn actual hand-to-hand combat.

Atira gave them the option to choose what weapon they wanted to learn, Orion and Caelus chose the sword, Kai chose a double-bladed dagger, Lilith wanted to learn how to use a bow, whereas Eve… wanted to learn how to use a hammer and mace - both of them.

A shiver ran down Orion’s spine as he watched the young girl swing the hammer around as if it were nothing. She was even laughing.

An hour or so later, Atira told them they were done for the day. Orion completed the day with over 1,000 swings - he lost track after 1,000.

“Good morning!” Brent greeted, holding Ley who was reading a complex book about the art of magic circles.

Today he made a mushy-like substance called ‘oatmeal,’ it was surprisingly good. Orion had it with honey - a lot of honey.

“Geez, Orion,” Atira pouted, “we’ve been spending a lot of money on your honey lately. You keep using three bottles a day!”

“My bad, my bad,” Orion chuckled. “I’ll cut down.” He didn’t mean it.

“Good.”

Honey was his motivation.

After breakfast came world-domination lessons, as usual Brent gave them a good time, always introducing new tactics and assassination techniques. For a cook, he knew a lot - suspiciously a lot. The children assumed he used to be an assassin in his previous life, or a military general.

“...And you can see, if two allies on opposite sides attack the enemy in the middle, you can cut the enemy off from retreat and additional support. They call this the pincer movement, it’s fairly easy and one of the basics, if I do say so myself,” Brent explained the tactic for the day - the pincer movement.

So the day rolled on, after lunch, break, and dinner, finally comes mana lessons by Ezra. The lesson they wait for each day.

“We’re doing mediation again today,” Ezra told them. Simple enough.

Actually, Lilith, Eve, and Ley were very close to breaking through to intermediate - they would be the first ones. Ezra concluded that they were more talented in mana, rather than in ki or physical activities. Although, Orion would like to object, after seeing Eve swing her hammer and mace around as if it were nothing, her special smile on her face.

She’s a monster, Orion shivered.

Thirty minutes into the session, a feminine voice grumbled.

“Ezra, I feel weird,” Lilith told him, frowning as she meditated.

Ezra jumped up excitedly. “Lilith, don’t stop meditating! Quickly now, concentrate even more.”

She yelped, “yes, sir!” Although she had no clue what was going on, she calmly followed his orders.

Another thirty minutes in, she let out a small scream and started panting heavily.

“W-whoa?” Lilith paused, and looked at her body, as if she saw something miraculous.

“What’s wrong, Sis?” Eve asked, peeking at her with one eye.

“I think I might’ve.. had a breakthrough.”

So we celebrated and congratulated her.

Like this, another month passed by fairly quickly. Orion, Caelus, and Kai had a breakthrough with their ki (they were now intermediate) - although they’re very close for their mana. On the other hand, Eve and Ley quickly followed Lilith and had their breakthrough to intermediate.

Surprisingly, Ley was the first one to break through with his ki as well as his mana. In the morning, by himself, he was doing secret activities to help himself along. Right now, Ley could be considered the strongest - only in terms of ki and mana, of course. He knew of no techniques or spells.

And so the day for the testing arrived…

Brent turned to look at them, “when we get there, ignore everyone else. Got it?”

“Got it.” “Why?” Of course, Kai was the one who asked the question.

“Listen to him,” Ezra laughed. “He’s up to one of his evil plans already.”

“Moron,” Atira muttered.

“We’re going to make you guys the coolest kids on the block,” Brent said cheesily, winking at them. A shiver passed through every living organism within a 2 mile radius. “Well, I am, at least.”

“What’s the plan, General?” Kai asked, a serious look on his face.

“In order to conquer the world, you must first conquer your local peers, then the town, then two towns, until finally you can conquer the world.”

“How do we conquer the world like that, General?” Eve played along, tiny smirk peeking through.

“If everyone looks at you favorably, they won’t be as inclined to resist your rule or your.. coup d'etat.”

His logic, in a way, made sense. So they decided to follow him, after all, he was the smartest around here - discluding Ezra, who seemed to always be holding back knowledge.

“Ah. Atira, you have to be left behind.”

“Why?!”

“You’re not… well, yeah.”

“Shut up!” She huffed.

“Face is plain,” Brent muttered.

“Fine, go along with your stupid plan.”

“You can watch in the shadows?”

“Hmph.”

The testing place was actually a temple-like building in the midst of the skyscrapers and modern homes. It was placed in a high area within the city, in order to get there, you had to walk up a long staircase - although it wasn’t as long as the one they had to run up and down to every morning. It was around half a mile, and it took them no time to walk up it.

Once they reached the top, a long line of children and young adults alike stood, waiting for their turn to come up. As they passed the gate that looked similarly like a torii, a bell sound echoed throughout the place -signaling new arrivals.

People turned to look at them, but they followed Brent’s plans to ignore them. This made them look either arrogant, or cool - they couldn’t tell. But judging by the looks of it, people were quite enchanted by the group.

“The baby is even cute!” One woman muttered to her friend, licking her lips. “Ah, but those adults are also very good…”

Whispers about them caused the children to shift around somewhat nervously. They disliked being stared at. People were openly staring at them, gawking - they found it rude and awkward.

“I hate this,” Lilith muttered.

“Sis…” Eve tugged on her shirt, hiding behind her.

“You can’t handle this?” Caelus teased.

“Shut up, Caelus,” Eve stuck her tongue out at him.

The line passed by rather quickly, they were moved to the front in no time - perhaps within a span of ten minutes. An old man sat near the gate, a book in his hands.

“Names and ages of those taking the test?”

“Orion, seven years old, Lilith, seven years old, Caelus, six years old, Malachi and Evangeline, five years old, Ley, two months old,” Ezra listed off.

In this world, nobody was born with a last name - there were only titles. In order to distinguish yourself from another man with the same name, you had to do something special or at least a great enough feat to earn a title. People with titles are held in higher esteem than those without.

The old man raised an eyebrow, but said nothing else. He jotted down a few notes in his tiny book and told them to go through.

The room was pitch black and the only things noticeable were a pair of stairs that lead up to an old man and a large orb - the orb was around 10 feet wide and long.

“Welcome,” another old man greeted, albeit he looked younger than the one at the gate. He had a long beard and no hair - the average old person. However, he looked wise.

“We’ll be going in orderly fashion… by age. Ah, that’s right, my name is Eldrick the Wise II, I’ll be the operator of today’s test.”

“Ahem, Orion - yes, please come up.” Eldrick ushered the boy, who jogged up the stairs to where the man was. “Place your hand on this orb and let your mana flow through.”

Orion hesitated before placing his right hand on the orb - it was warm and sometimes a spark of energy would reach up and touch the area where Orion’s hand was at. He closed his eyes and concentrated on letting his mana flow to his right hand.

“Ah… let’s see- eh?” He heard Eldrick stop talking. Orion opened his eyes to see a black orb and three large, bold numbers hovering above the orb.

“R-rare e-element darkness, potential 100,” Eldrick gaped at the young boy. A rare element as well as full innate potential? He would be a monster.

“N-next,” Lilith came up, a little worried about her element - although she had no trouble when it came to her potential.

“Ha- huh? What?” Eldrick paused again. The orb was a light purple hue - almost violet. “Element… arcane, unable to identify. Potential, 96.”

“N-next,” Eldrick calmed himself, he deduced that the children were are monsters in terms of potential and element. He would stop acting surprised.

“Hello~,” Caelus greeted, his eyes half open, but his icy blue eyes still peeked through.

“Uncommon element is sky - holy variant detected. Potential is 99,” Eldrick sighed. “Next.”

“Good morning,” Eve greeted happily, her eyes gleaming at him with a certain devilry. She placed her hand on the orb.

“Morning,” Eldrick greeted back, gaining his senses. The orb was purple with a hint of yellow and white. “Element arcane - unable to detect. However, certain light elements can be seen. Potential 96.”

“Boring,” Eve muttered. “Yay, I’m the same as big sis!” Eve exclaimed, running down to meet her peers.

“Next.” This time, an overly excited boy came up, causing Eldrick to smile a bit. He reminded him of his grandson.

“Hi, Eldrick!” Kai grinned, although his manners needed work.

“Element wind - epic variant detected. Potential 98.”

“Boo, I have less potential than Caelus,” Kai frowned.

“Nex- what?” He swore to not be surprised, but he couldn’t help it with the baby - who was being carried by a blonde-haired man.

“What?” the baby growled.

“N-nothing… R-rare element thunder - rare variant detected. Potential 100, full innate…”

This baby is a monster! Eldrick thought to himself, gaping at the baby who glared at him.

“Wooow, Ley!” the kids below whistled. “You’re so strong!” It was obviously Kai and Caelus.

“Hmph,” Ley pouted, before being carried downstairs. Ley turned to stare a the man and mouthed to words, “watch yourself.”

A shiver ran down his spine.

Unbeknownst to the children, because they were ignoring everything besides each other, their results were announced in public. As soon as they walked outside, people gaped at them. Academy scouts wanted to approach them, but saw two men walking with them - they were probably their teachers.

“Alright, next month we have the spirit test…” Ezra muttered. “Back to more training! This time we’ll teach you how to incorporate your elements into your combat and I’ll teach you how to strengthen it. Brent will teach you about the different types, as well as the variants.”

“Master,” Eve tugged on his shirt.

“Yes?”

“Lilith and I have arcane, what do we do?” Eve asked, worried.

“You two will have separate lessons with me, we’ll discover your element. There’s no need to worry.”

“Okay…” Eve said, unsure of herself.

That day, all of the children watched in awe of the group of six. They were both good-looking and extremely talented! Not only that, but they were all friends. The six children and their caretakers came to be known as the ingenium.

However, unbeknownst to even them, Brent was the mastermind behind the entire event. He, next to a group of hand-chosen children, whispered words of praise and the word ingenium. Satisfied, he left with his group, knowing the kids probably impacted those around their age.

Rumors spread throughout Skystead of a group of six people called the ingenium who will become the rulers in the entire world, including those overseas...

Of course, this rumor followed people who went outside of town and spread it to others. Eventually, it reached a royal spy who, in turn, reported it to the king himself...

“Oh? Ingenium, was it?”

“Yes, sir…” the spy said, kneeling down.

“And what about them?”

“Apparently two out of six of the group had full innate potential, while the lowest amount of potential was 95. They all had uncommon or above elements with variants, they even had two arcane elementals. One even had a rare element, with a rare variant, and full innate potential.”

“Hoh… that’s… well, talent.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And their caretakers?”

“Unknown, but they should be strong if they’re the masters of the six.”

“Hm.. I want you to search for these individuals and bring them to me. If they’re not real, dismiss the rumor.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, the legend of the six ingenium and their masters started - it spread throughout a small portion of Gwydion. Of course, rumors were rumors, therefore only those in Skystead truly believed it…

_________

Thanks for reading, remember to comment! :) (I really want to hear your opinions so far, criticism goes a long way.) Also, if you could tell what kind of mistakes I made, it would help a lot. (Even after proofreading myself, I find it hard to catch my own mistakes).

Ah, almost done with the first volume/arc - just a couple more chapters. I'm planning something exciting for the next few arcs. :) This arc was kind of slow (apologies), but we had to introduce the characters somehow. Also, I had to explain what kind of world they lived in.