Sorry about the delay, since i have a job and i now get more hours, it means i get less time to make chapters but that doesn't mean i have given up on it just yet. Hell i barely have spare time in my packed life, once again sorry about that.

other than that, enjoy

-------

Chapter 9

In a faintly lit room with four candles at each end of a square tatami mat, one metre by one metre, as the flames created a scene of silhouette dancing along the walls. The faint crackling of paper being burnt pervaded the air.

A small square table, flanked by four tatami mats on each side was placed a metre away. atop the table, there are a bamboo scroll that is half rolled out with only a few writing on it with a brush laid neatly next to it on the left while the ink is on the right side of the scroll.

Atop the tatami mat is a strongly built and muscular young man, with his body covered in perspiration while continuing to utter numbers after each successful handstand push-up.

Chiselled abs as if made from a sculpture adorned the man’s body, muscular yet not overly muscly, just enough to compliment the body the man possessed. A loose fitting black pant that is tied to his hips by a small rope that cuddled it before it turned into a knot form in the front.

With that one look at his pants, one would immediately associate the person with a person of a poor background. However, appearance can be deceiving as he isn’t wearing it because he was poor but because it was practical for him when training.

After all, when one trains, wouldn’t one occasionally get rips on their clothes or even stain the clothes in perspiration that could fade the colours. Therefore, it was very practical of him to use a loose fitting and cheap clothes as he could easily replace them without losing too much in the financial aspects.

“7,341”

He bent his arms sideways, this then brought his face so close to the ground that he could almost touch it as the bead of sweat rolled down his nose and straight towards the front point of his nose before it touched the ground. This connected both the nose and the ground through the small sweat before it dropped off the nose when the man pushed his face away.

Before he descended his face close to the ground, he held his breath and when he pushed his body back away from the ground, he breathed out and then repeated the breathing process.

“7,342”

His hand extended into a straight line, aligned with the body straight and firm line before he repeated the process of bending his arms again.

Knock knock

Before he could continue any further, suddenly a knock echoed from his door. He shifted his eyes towards the door in front of him and he saw a faint silhouette, due to low light visibility.

The man stopped and bent his legs forward before he tilted his body weight forward. This made him gracefully have his legs touch the ground without moving his hands, and then he lifted his body up and straightened up. This elicited small cracks coming from his body while he spoke to no one in particular.

“Who is it?”

He lightly twisted his wrists while the person behind the door responded.

“Kusan would be the name.”

The man wasn’t surprised about Kusan appearing, he knew Kusan would eventually come to him.

“I see. I can delay my training for a bit.

Come inside Kusan.”

He muttered to himself about doing night stretches before he ushered Kusan in. Who was the shadowy silhouette who was behind his shoji screen door.

Shwiiii

The screen door opened; suddenly the flames dimmed along with a bone-chilling aura came gushing into the room like a tidal wave. The flames of the candle flickered as the deadly shadows revealed its invisible hand as it doused three candles before it disappeared, leaving only one candle to meagrely light up the room. Despite all this, Dray didn’t seem the least a bit affected and even then, he didn’t frown due to the hostility he received when he was receiving Kusan but smirked a little.

‘Looks like Kusan is back to his old self.’

He has always admired Kusan’s strength. Even his aura is powerful, bloody, domineering and a stoic mercilessness that would normally make a seasoned general pale in comparison with only a select few being a match for him in terms of aura oppressiveness.

Due to that, Dray couldn’t help but want to have a fight with Kusan. Even if he knew he would lose, he still didn’t care because what is the greatest desire of a warrior? Testing their limits to the extreme, even if it meant their death.

Unlike Kusan who wished for vengeance and his lack of wanting absolute power. Dray was, in contrast a battle hungry man who, if it weren’t for his complete control over his desires and emotion. He would have inevitably have become a berserker warrior rather than his outward appearance and reputation of being a powerfully strong future minister of the Empire.

As quick as it came in to dominate the room, it left in the same speed the instant Kusan walked in.

The last candle that was dying and being oppressed as it hanged onto its last thread of fire, instantly brightened up and mysteriously, the other three doused candles lit back up. The four candles illuminated the room, bringing back the scene of flames dancing along the walls and the almost undetectable warmth.

Dray motioned to Kusan to sit with in at the only table in the room. Contrary to Dray’s indifference to Kusan’s hostility, who coupled with his instant oppressive aura and his half burnt face; any normal would have immediately been frightened to death.

Dray knew Kusan would sooner or later come seeking him out due to the reason for him using various secret mechanisms to make Kusan become the seventh person to come into the competition. He wasn’t surprise Kusan was awake as he was already notified about Kusan being awake a few hours earlier.

He knew Kusan all too well.

There was no greeting that would normally be exchanged when one meets another or being courteous. They both cut the chase and went straight to the point that every meeting should be, sit around a table.

Kusan sat opposite of Dray, who was seated on the side with the bamboo scroll and as if by mutual understanding, both looked at each other. Dray waited for Kusan and sure enough, he didn’t wait long as once Kusan finished sitting down, he opened his mouth.

Dray was prepared to answer the question Kusan was most likely going to answer; he still couldn’t help but stare blankly at Kusan.

“What do you know about items being in your meditative state?”

The reason being was that he was expecting Kusan to ask him about his involvement in the plans to get him into the Dojo team. But that wasn’t what Kusan was here for so it wasn’t strange for him to stare at Kusan with confusion. However, having been through many life and death battles, even battle of brains against his rivals of the Empire had to dish out at the future minister of the Empire.

With that he had a strong mental strength and his confusion only lasted a moment before it disappeared. Nor his expression changed, which would normally give himself away or else he wouldn’t be the stoic future minister.

‘Items in your meditative state?’

Dray’s forehead creased into wrinkles, frowning while he thought deeply about what Kusan meant about his question. His mind raced through all the information that his brain could contain, with an astonishing speed that, if it were classified into how fast a runner can cover within a span of a moment. It would be that the amount of distance the runner covered would equal one thousand kilometre distance that is how fast the brain power of Dray is.

With such speed, Dray naturally found the answer in a moment.

He looked at Kusan with shocked expression because from what he remembers, this is something that should only happen to Saints. Even for extremely powerful families, it would be considered a prized treasure and never be used unless they have the power to back it up or showcase such a thing.

What Kusan is asking about, is the coveted blood items. This is the only thing that came to mind when Kusan asked about items appearing inside one’s meditative state.

“The only thing that comes to mind that would relate to an item being in your meditative state would undoubtedly be those rare blood items.”

Kusan looked at Dray with his right eyebrow slightly raised.

“Blood items?”

“Yes or more specifically, blood bound items. They’re the only ones that could appear inside a person’s meditative state considering blood bound items can be called as part of your soul.

These things are extremely rare. You can say they are one of the fabled indestructible blood items of legend. You probably never heard of something like the term like ‘blood items’. However, I believe you have heard of the legendary ‘Red Killer’ that was wielded by the Saint ‘Jun’ who was believed to be the founder Zhan continent.”

Kusan nodded, of course he has heard of the story of Jun. The man, who was so strong that, with just one swing of his sword, he slayed an army of Saint Monsters and beasts that was rumoured to be numbering in the hundreds and thousands. His attack didn’t stop there as they were all roasted instantly and therefore created another legend where, supposedly you find all the cooked Saints, you will instantly advance to the Saint rank and may even get to have the same level of power as Saint Jun.

The legend was called the ‘Roast land of Saints’. At first, this legend attracted many experts to find the fabled land but centuries have passed without any hint of someone having supposedly found such a thing. As with everything, soon the legend faded into obscurity and into folklore where it was turned into a fairy story.

As for the legendary and indestructible ‘Red Killer’, it was believed to have been made from a shard of the sun that fell down from the sky, a shooting star. For that reason and the coincidental elemental affinity that Saint Jun had, which was fire, combined with the innate fire power the sword had. It made Saint Jun one of the most powerful elemental Saints in the world and considered the strongest in the Zhan continent.

Nobody knows who made it, not even Saint Jun himself knew it but everyone knew one thing, that the sword is an omnipotent weapon that is unrivalled by anything under heaven except its other six counterparts who represents each element.

“Yes I have heard about such stories, but what are you saying?

That the ring that could rival the legendary weapons is inside my meditative state?”

Kusan gave Dray a piercing gaze, before he came here. Knowing how intelligent Dray is, it was impossible to not have him deduce the fact he possessed such a thing should it ever be something of powerful or dangerous level. So for that reason, he decided to change the fact that it’s a book to a ring to throw Dray off course about what the thing really is.

“Not technically, besides the power, there is one thing that is in common with those legendary weapons and your question and the mystery behind the ring.”

Dray intentionally stopped, trying to agitate Kusan into asking him to hurry but he realised straight away that Kusan wasn’t even fazed by anything as he stared patiently at Dray. So he just gave up and continued.

“It is that once these blood items get imprinted and bound by the blood of its master, there are no way anyone else could use them, no matter how hard they try to use that weapon or in your case, a ring with special powers. This makes it the best things in the world, it comes in many forms and sizes such as weapons, rings, grimoires, shields, armours and so forth.

With weapons, it can be stored inside your own body or summon it out like how magic can instantly appear by a person who can do it chant-less. For warriors, it is one of the most coveted weapons, even if they don’t have special powers that are omnipotent like the ‘Red Killer’. It would still be powerful, think about it, if one can instantly summon a weapon when your enemy is very close and has their guard down……..well the benefits is very obvious.

For rings, the only kind would be the interspatial rings. It is the best place to store treasures. Of course, there was one way to open an interspatial ring; kill the owner. Once the owner died, the interspatial ring would revert to being an un-bound item. At that point, one could imprint and bind it to one’s self and gain access to the treasures within.

It is the same for any other blood bound items. Like you, I have one.”

Dray opened his right hand out and instantly the air above the hand, a plain faded silver coloured ring appeared. There were no crystals or anything of value that would normally be decorated on the ring to showcase the owner’s rich background.

The only thing of notice is black patterns wiggling the whole way around the ring like a snake. The patterns are something that to the untrained eye would seem like a bunch of scribbles. But to Kusan, he knew it was magical rune as it faintly glowed but he could not recognise such runes.

Faint blue smokes coated the ring. This created an eerie deep black sea aura, along with the magical runes giving out deadliness like a hidden tentacles of a kraken.

“This ring here, is my own interspatial ring.

Another perk besides nobody being able to use this equipment, is the ability to change the appearance of the item.”

The ring in a flash, changed to a battered old copper ring. Such an appearance would have immediately made most nobles that if they were told this was the interspatial rings of legend, would instantly have that person killed.

Kusan opened his eyes wide at the new information on this so called ‘blood items’. He has never heard about such things despite being 16 years old, because he has mainly been focusing his attention on training himself and finding methods to help him increase his chance of finding his enemies.

He’s never bothered about small matters like interspatial rings that have enormous spaces inside such a small ring but due to that, he didn’t read further into it or else he would have known about the weapon’s advantages over normal weapons and carefully hunted for them and the fact that they are categorised as ‘blood items’.

However, sadly he didn’t have the weapon inside his meditative state but a book. Since he has already lied to Dray about the item he possessed being a ring, he decided to still ask about the prowess of a book but in an indirect way.

“Besides weapons and rings, what other things is there that can help benefit people in terms of power”

“That would be the armours, even powerful robes that are equal to warrior’s armour in terms of defense out there in the ‘blood items’ category. The armours possess different abilities that are all strange and unknown, but this item will greatly benefit whoever possesses such equipment.

For the special abilities of each blood items, a perquisite must be met and as for how many abilities that item has, nobody knows except the previous owners or the normal occurrence is that one must discover such thing themselves.

Another thing to note would be the grimoires; this can help immensely for mages because the grimoires has the special ability to record everything that the previous owners have made, into the book. This is a priceless possession for any mages.

There is also a warrior version of the grimoires called the sanctus proelium……”

Kusan zoned out and focused on what Dray said about grimoires. Although he isn’t knowledgeable about blood items, he does know the basics about grimoires. Grimoires are in the form of a book, at first Kusan didn’t think that the book would be a grimoire but when Dray brought that point up.

Kusan couldn’t help but associate it with the book, because that is the only thing that could possibly be in the form of a book. Unless it’s a sanctus proelium, which is a book that acts the same way as a grimoire and records everything that the previous owners has trained in terms of battle techniques and skills.

Kusan brightened up at the thought of the book being a sanctus proelium, but then remembered the name of the book and how the title doesn’t fit with a warrior descriptions and leaned more towards the grimoires.

‘The Over---Necromancy Book.’

Kusan remembered how when he cautiously read the title of the book, he remembered that the title was incomplete as he noticed a patch between the readable word of Over and Necromancy being worn off. Probably due to the passage of time, this caused the title to be incomplete, he couldn’t quite remember where he heard the word necromancy but that is currently irrelevant.

Having realised how the word necromancy could not elicit any action other than familiarity to the name meant that the book had to be of grimoire origin as he knows nearly every name that could ever be associated with warriors.

‘So it can only be a grimoire’

Kusan was slightly down-heartened about the prospect of getting a grimoire but decided it was still better than getting an interspatial ring.

“…..and that’s about all I know.”

Kusan finishing his train of thought about the possibility of getting a grimoire coincided with when Dray was just ending his introduction that Kusan was obviously not interested in.

“I see”

Dray stopped as he went into deep thought; likewise Kusan was doing the same albeit both were thinking of different things.

Dray was curious about Kusan’s silences and what exactly Kusan really wanted to know. Even though he was off-handily told that Kusan had a ring, he couldn’t help but have a feeling that there was more than just a ring. It was as if he felt Kusan was trying to hide the real mysterious ‘blood item’ using the ring as a façade while trying to get information on something.

Dray was suddenly interrupted when Kusan spoke up.

“What’s the chance of the item having traps?”

‘Traps? Oh now I see’

Dray now realised what Kusan really wanted, information on weapons. Knowing the deep rooted cautious nature of Kusan, it wouldn’t be surprising to know that Kusan upon discovering a weapon of some kind would not immediately try to claim it like many other warriors would. But would actually first instinctively try to destroy the weapon, once he realises it is futile he would then come seeking a very knowledgeable person regarding weapons being inside someone’s meditative state.

Dray’s supposition is indeed spot on, down to the very last detail on the assumption with only one flaw. It wasn’t a weapon Kusan was trying to get information on but a book.

“It’s impossible for there to be any traps once you have claimed ownership of it, one example of it being yours is that it will appear inside your meditative state.

However, it doesn’t mean that it is safe. Just like a warrior, blood items too have restrictions.

One must have sufficient strength or it requires a large amount of whatever it needs in order to use that ability.

So you don’t need to worry about the blood item being a trap when it’s inside your state. The only time you should be cautious of it, is when you are about to blood bind it.”

“I see, thank you”

Kusan seemingly content with the information, decided to slowly change the subject of their conversation to something else so as not to arouse Dray’s keen intelligent.

------

A black streak appeared in the sky before it swiftly descended down atop the roof of a building. Without waiting, it continued to jump as if bouncing off from tree to tree like a frog.

Faint howling winds followed behind the black figure, along with light tapping sounds made each time it lightly touched the roof.

The black figure finally stopped moving on one rooftop. It saw from afar, a couple of red figures atop a rooftop as they looked downwards. Clearly not caring about this mysterious figure, however the figure wasn’t alone on spectating on roof top as many other rooftops were occupied by others just like him, spectating at the red figures.

It wasn’t because they were in red that it attracted every disciple in range attention. The reason was because of what they represented, unlike the red robed disciples who are low level in the whole Dojo and their attire was in a completely different fashion than a disciple.

The two red figures wore identical attires. Red thin plated armours encased the chest and back, tied by a flexible metal straps. Hardened bracers with three spikes protruding out backwards, aimed at the owner of the bracer adorned his arms. The spikes gleamed with deadliness and it made the disciples who saw it, feel threatened and dense aura of how much blood it has soaked up despite the spike being clean and without a trace of blood.

Metal round helmets with six curved plated folded, layered over the other to form a neck guard and a metal mask that covers their entire face, leaving only the eyes to remain unprotected.

Plated greaves overlapped all over the legs as it covered from their toes to their thighs. Loose plated skirts melded into the hardened leather clothing. The entire purpose of the deadly red armours these mysterious men possessed is to allow ease of movement for these special warriors.

These men are part of the punishment corps of the Dojo, known as the ‘The Judges’. The main purpose of the punishment corps is to bring law and order inside the Dojo, they only follow the laws made by the Dojo and not the outside world. Therefore, anyone found guilty, regardless of background, will be judged according to the law of the Dojo and not even the Warch Empire can tell them to pardon a particular person just because they said so.

Even if one is from a powerful family, they would not receive any help from them because, unless they are asking for death, no one would want to be an enemy of such a powerful entity. The Dojo has such power that they would even dare to execute a relative of the Warch royalty if they are found guilty according to the law of the Dojo.

For that reason, there is a visible fragile relationship between the Dojo and the Empire. The Empire once almost declared war on the Dojo because the Emperor’s brother was executed despite objection by the Empire to pardon him.

However, when the Dojo sent a ‘small’ unit of thirty Saints to knock on the Emperor’s front door regarding the rumour about the Empire declaring war. Suddenly the Emperor did a three hundred degrees turnaround and asked for forgiveness and saying how foolish he was.

The amount of Saints the Dojo sent over was three times larger than how many the Empire actually had in reserve.

Owing to this very nature of their extreme impartial on passing judgement, this has made them loved and hated. Loved, by the common people because they can sleep peacefully knowing that the Dojo is not biased and even influenced by money. Hated, by the nobles because they can never be swayed by money or force and should they take actions against the witnesses’ family, they would know the true meaning of ‘Dragon’s wrath’.

The ‘Judge’ on the left as he stared at the recently made small tunnel, spoke up, breaking the silence that had lingered for a few hours between them. Their voice was so low in volume that it was barely called a whisper with only the two Judges themselves being able to hear the code-words each spoke that would normally confuse any keen hearing disciples as they conversed.

“Judging from all I have gathered so far, there are only two possibilities for this. However, even I cannot discern anything from this besides this criminal being a fire mage, while his enemy was a powerful earth magician with four unknown suspects”

They both deduced that there was a fire mage involved due to scorching marks appearing around the scene. As for the earth mage, it was because they could see the ground was unstable and how it created a lump and the scattered earth magic that was still lingering around the area.

The right ‘Judge’ voiced his opinion.

“Indeed but what I do not get is this, there are four footprints of different sizes over there…”

The Judge pointed accurately at the four spots the deceased disciples where hidden before they sprang into action.

“..and there.

And the angle of them jumping from the way the dust was blown back, shows they were jumping forward as if all four were converging to one point. Exactly at the same point the earth magician was at.

The marks of three different crash sights means three of the hidden enemies were taken out during the chaos.

It’s as if there was either a three way battle or a group of hired hands to deal with one particular enemy.

The only possibility of the identity of these culprits would be a senior earth mage facing off against the new disciples who are powerful and arrogant enough to cause trouble inside our Dojo”

The left Judge nodded his head.

“Exactly----“

Suddenly both of the Judges were interrupted mentally by a deep, overbearing voice.

‘All Judges, convene at the Judgement Hall now’

Without question, both darted away despite their mission to inspect the crime scene, leaving behind after-images of red light behind them. Obviously the order by the mysterious voice is more important that their normal job.

Both lingered with thoughts of why they, the Judges need to convene. The only reason they could think of is to choose which Judges to go, to provide safety for the disciples that will participate in the event since it is a very important event for the Dojo.

Not far away, one particular unknown figure in the darkness stared intensely at the two Judges before it retracted its hostile glare and then jumped away.