Chapter 8- Breaking Body Stage!

I excitedly walked towards the training grounds with mother trailing behind me. I had weathered through a year of once again sitting in a room reading words that barely makes sense to me. I had apparently hurt my body more than I believed when I first went training with Jared, and I was forced to become bedridden by mother for a couple of days.

After mother had given me that long speech she has lost most of her previous overprotective attitude, but she still refused to tell me why she disliked nobles so much. My learned a little of our kingdom of Thant. Which shares the same name as the city the royal palace is located is at. At times it can become confusing however mother says it makes sense after awhile.

"Mother can you teach me about magic and mana now?" I had been throwing hints at mother lately pertaining to teaching me about the two. She had always glossed over the matter and started to compliment my genius.

"Why do you care so much about magic when you can become such an astounding swordsman?" Mother replied however I could see her avoiding my eyes.

"I guess I'll just ask another mage when we get back to the city of Thant." I purposefully give up the matter while watching my mother's body language. She has a sour face that seems like she wants to say something. Differing from my predictions she stands up and leaves the library that we were in.

I feel bad that I made mother sad and I feel the need to go and make it up to her. I leave the room and chase after her. When I exit I find Harold walking around with his book.

"Hey Harold do you know where my mother is?" I make sure he acknowledges so I know that he isn't stuck in his book.

"Hmm, shouldn't she be with you all the time? What'd you do?"

"I don't know I was just pestering her about teaching me magic again and she left."

"Well there's your problem." Harold gives me a weird smile and gave an understanding look over to me.

"What? What is it don't just keep me in the dark." I grow annoyed at the smug look he has.

"Hahaha, don't look at me like that. Alright I'll tell you, but don't tell your mother I told you. You know that your mother is strong right? Well the king and queen are supposed to be the strongest in the kingdom, as such fear and awe is spread simultaneously with their names. However your now peaceful kingdom used to be at war with a neighboring king a couple years before you were born. It is written that both sides lost too many soldiers and had opted for a peace treaty to avoid further destabilization of their kingdoms, but that is only the disguise they made for it. Do you know why?" Harold held a face that presented him as an educated scholar. I felt the need to punch him, but I held myself back and urged him to continue.

"Well the reason was because of one single battle. Or to be more specific a single person. Your mother, the current queen, she had indiscriminately eradicated both side's armies in the battle of Alms Pass and this led to both kingdoms fearing further conflict. This is all I know as I heard from a higher up in my guild and he didn't completely hear the specifics either." Harold shrugged and spilled everything and I sucked in a cold breath of air. I thanked him for the explanation and wandered the halls again.

I was still looking for mother, but my thoughts were stuck on the glaring details in the story. Apparently mother was strong to the point where even entire kingdoms had to recognize her as a threat. However I remember mother telling me she had to take medicine to suppress her special physique to bear me. Although I don't know the specifics as to why mother keeps refusing to teach me magic, I can give a pretty good guess now. As for why the Jeffrey and the knights didn't fear her that much when they came was because mother is probably injured from the medicine...

I grow further drawn into my thoughts and end up in my room. By now I've realized that mother doesn't want to be found, so instead of wasting time I get onto my bed and expect my body's constitution. It has been a full year and now that I am five I should be able to start to create my foundation for cultivation!

Although I cannot absorb Qi into my meridians or dantian, I can still strengthen my body. Finally I can start to climb to the peak! I throw myself into a deep sleep to recuperate for tomorrow's agenda.

When the morning came I opened my eyes to mother standing in my open doorway with a wooden box in her hands. She has a rare serious expression on her face.

"I know what Harold told you yesterday. I just I didn't know how to tell you. Magic has definitely been honed through the ages, but it is just a tool for killing." A deep self loathing was seen on mothers face. She held so much compassion, yet why did she kill even her own soldiers?

"I'm sorry I've been holding you back from your true potential. I just didn't want you to find out your mother is a murderer." Mother put her hands to cover her face as to hide her shame.

"I don't mind mother. You did what you had to do, and if you hadn't done that then even more people would've have to die. Do not hate yourself because I never will!" I rush to my fragile mother and give her a hug. I have a wry smile on my face. If she knew how many I had killed to rise to the immortal realm she might be even more distressed.

However something doesn't add up. Even if it was to stop a war I doubt mother could even bring herself to kill one enemy. Something fishy definitely going on behind the scenes, but I don't have enough information or sources to pinpoint any conclusions.

"Alright I don't consider myself knowledgeable in magic or mana mainly because of my special body it has always made it easy for me. I'll persuade Harold to teach you then." Mother regained her usual demeanor quickly whilst in my hug and then stated what I believed to be the impossible.

"Wait, I thought guild mages can only teach mages in the guild?" I voice out what I had heard from Harold.

"Don't worry about that~ He owes me one for telling you something without my permission." Mother shows a mischievous look and gracefully leaves while bidding me a good day.

I am glad that mother is ok and not at my constant pestering, but I'm a little worried about the circumstances surrounding mother's feats. I get up and wash my face with some fresh water that was in a bucket on one side of my room. And I look at my reflection in the water.

I have fiery red hair and light blue eyes that don't match up to my mother at all. I realize that I have taken more of the characteristics of my father. I have an average face for a five year old, and based on how I'm growing I'm pretty confident I'll grow up to be not too handsome, but not too ugly. I'll be perfectly normal.

While I imagined my future appearance I had traveled to the training grounds. I saw three different men training in the courtyard and greeted them before heading over to the two barrels in the corner and picked out a well balanced wooden sword. I gave a few lazy swings off to the side to get a feel for the weight and I found that it was too light!

I replaced the sword and pulled out a larger wooden sword. The same result! I have a large grin plastered on my face at this point. This was good; the higher my base strength the stronger my body can become through breaking my limits!

I arm myself with a wooden sword that fits my size and stand in front of a wooden dummy. I close my eyes and concentrate on my surroundings. The light breeze rolls across my skin. The smell of sweat mixes in with the aroma of nature. The dirt under my feet feels soft, yet compact. The memories of my multitude of enemies appears in front of my eyes. My muscles tense and relax violently like I am lifting a great weight. Then everything falls silent.

No wind scrapes across my skin. No smell invades my nose. No enemy approaches me. No ground is beneath me. I open my eyes and the information of my surroundings flood back to me. I give a light swing of my sword at the wooden dummy. The sword traveled diagonally and by the time it reached the dummy it's speed had slowed to a crawl. Then with an uncharacteristically loud thwack the wooden sword connected!

I was sweating constantly throughout the entire process. I had to control all my muscles and weight and bring it all into the sword at the point of contact. This was the method described in the [Heavenly Bodies Transformation] manual. And I doubt I could accomplish the same result more than once in a row right now. Since it focuses on control of the body more than anything, and even though I have my experience from my past life it is still beyond difficult to control my body to perfection.

However despite the difficulties of just completing the first new layer it didn't deter my determination. In fact it further proved my idea that this cultivation method was definable heaven defying.

I sense some gazes in my direction and I raise my head out of my thoughts to find Jared had come to the courtyard and was standing by the three knights who were outside as well. He had a smile on his face that seemed to be extremely strained.

"Damnit why do you get more monstrous every time I see you!?" Jared suddenly yelled and turned towards his subordinates,"You lot need to take from his example! Everyone, back to the basics!!"

Jared started to become hysterical at this point. He was taking his anger out onto the poor knights. Still I think I wounded his pride a little. However I don't mind that and walk up to the four of them.

"If you don't mind we could spar a little bit." I express my thoughts with a smile. I look towards the knights and plead them with a smile. I am confident I can reach my First Limit if I spar with them.

"What?! You're still five! Although I acknowledge you as a talent, you're not ready to challenge me or even one of them!" Jared is still angry about me showing his subordinates up.

"You're right so if I can't fight one, how about all three?"

"Hey if you get hurt you do know the queen will have my head." Jared seemed to acknowledge my determination and stated the obvious.

"I'll throw in some words for your safety, so it doesn't matter I just need them to not hold back. Oh, and if you decline I'll get my mother to 'persuade' you to accept." I assure them of my protection as well as close off his retreat with a direct threat of mother. He seems to give up at the mention of mother and sighs.

"Alright you wimps! You are all to fight Prince Glen, and if you hold back don't blame me if the queen comes and takes your head! Also Prince Glen, if you are in danger or feel the need to stop I will intervene." Jared warned both his subordinates and me and I started to stretch my body and loosen my muscles.

The knights grow serious at the mention of mother, but they are taking me too lightly. Their stances are lazily built and their wooden swords are barely in a defensive position. I get a little angry because despite their warnings they still look down on me.

My eyes narrow and I shoot forwards at them. They had been watching my moves and the one who I was rushing at gave a quick horizontal slash aiming to make me halt my charge. I quickly arch my spine in response and as the sword passes over my chest, and then as quickly as I bent back I snap forward while maintaining my momentum. The sword in my right hand had been like an arrow shooting forward from my body that was the bow.

The man reacted too late, but he showed his experience and brought his wooden sword in front of him to block the blow. A loud crack followed by the man falling down astounded the other two. Other than his numb arm and broken sword the man on the ground wasn't harmed in he slightest.

"Please don't underestimate me." I said and he gave me a wry smile without responding. The other two strengthened their stances and corrected their postures. The man who had broken his wooden sword replaced it and we once again faced off against each other. This time a new ferocity hung in the gazes of the three. They had finally recognized me and we stared each other down waiting for a good moment to strike.

Then we all moved at the same time. Two different horizontal strikes came my way in an instant and the third man circled around to my flank. I turned my body to receive one of the strike and used the force of the blow to propel myself into the direction of the man flanking me. A series of my stabs are parried by the man and soon I was surrounded on all sides. I rush at the man I had been attacking earlier and he gives a blinding downward swing. I flip my hips while kicking off my right foot to dodge the blow and send myself back. Then I drag my left foot on the ground to stop myself while carrying the momentum through to my sword arm and connect with the man who was standing behind me.

He gets knocked back two steps and I rush in to attack him. The process repeats, but every now and then I'll throw in a feint to confuse them. They had impressive teamwork and I was hard pressed to retaliate sometimes. However the end result was unclear since we all ended up in a pool of our own sweat. Bruises littered our skin and one of the men had a broken rib or two.

We all we grinning from ear to ear because of our hellish fight. Jared was muttering something about returning to the basics as I struggled to sit up. I crossed my legs and calmed my breathing. Now was the best time to start building my foundation. It was time to start cultivating Qi! The essence of the world, it is what normal people would begin with instead of immediately beginning to even understand what mana is.

I had felt the Qi in the air swirling around me earlier; trying to break through my skin and invade. I simply had to open the wall that separates them through pushing my body past it's limits. I felt a cooling sensation run over my tired body. The rejuvenating air swept into my body as I guided the Qi into each of my cells. I noticed a nine colored flame burned brightly every time a bit of Qi entered.

The flame was almost nonexistent and if I wasn't paying close enough attention I wouldn't even have noticed it. I examined it while pulling more Qi into my body and I felt the wind start to swirl around me the faster I absorbed. The flames didn't change and as a feeling of being full set in the flames extinguished without a trace. A feeling of immense power rushed through my body and I felt like I could fight a couple more rounds!

I had finally reached the Breaking Body Stage! Although I had only reached the first limit out of five, the power that came with it was substantially larger that my previous strength. I didn't start to train again because I needed time for my body to digest all the Qi in it or else it would lead to the Qi becoming volatile. And in turn harming my body.

There was a proverb that went along with this stage: To build, one must first break down. If one related this to growing a plant then this would be to till the soil.

"Prince Glen!" I hear a shout coming from the door leading to inside and Harold appears looking very feverish. He was sweating and his face was pale. My guess was mother's persuasion was effective.

"I've come to teach you magic! Hurry up, bring your book as well! We don't have all day!" Harold spoke rapidly and didn't even wait for my reply before leaving the courtyard. I gave a light laugh to his disappearing back and made sure my body was stable before walking after him.