Chapter 11

In a brightly lit hall, with jade coloured pillars protruding from the ground as it held up the roof of the place, there stood six people nearby.

The pillars, as if a contention ground between two beings, were two platinum dragons that coiled around the pillar from each end as they converged at the middle. Where both had their mouths opened as if readying itself to use the signature ‘Dragon Roar’ but instead in between the space where their mouth were about to touch, a small golden ball was embedded.

The smooth walls alongside the large hall that was a hundred metres wide and four hundred metres in length were emblazed with many different artworks of many kinds. Vague figures that gave the illusory feeling as if though they were actually there, fierce and formidable poses of various beasts and monsters that made one shuddered at how immensely real life like they were. Even the light gleaming of some of the platinum sculptors that were partially coming out from the walls also brought cold feelings.

Three giant jade dragons wriggled in and out, with the tail starting from the entrance of the hall and the heads were turned around to face the hallway, finally revealing itself at the other end of the hall accompanied by strange symbols that glowed faint misty green colour. The atmosphere the dragons brought was one of overbearing and majestic aura that a mystical beast would naturally possess.

Under the middle dragon head, a giant throne was placed. Its edges were covered in platinum ornaments, leaving the part seat and back part plain, so as not to make it uncomfortable for whoever sits on the domineering throne.

Two extra yet smaller thrones were seen; both flanked the majestic throne sides and placed a step lower. Although it was lower in terms of how awe-striking the designs were, but it was nonetheless threatening.

This grand and imposing hall is the ‘Grand Hall’ situated at the top of the mountain peak. Higher than the Core Dojo area that is located just a few kilometres below, in between is the residence of all the powerful figures of the Dojo.

Thirty steps lower was the ground level and where six people are standing ramrod. Each was familiar people that Kusan would recognised if he were here.

On the left to the right were Serenity, Kayle, Nage, Saole, Dray and a new disciple that was out of the place as he stood next to the touted ‘The Five Clawed Dragon’.

This is the black sheep of the seven-man team, besides Kusan who also qualified and not with them at the moment.

The young 19 years old teenager named Fenit, a blue-robed disciple with short spiky hair and a face wracked with nervousness. It was obvious that he was in extreme anxiety due to the combined expectations of not shaming the name of the Dojo and the invisible pressure exuded from both his fellow disciples and the Hall.

Fenit, who has weathered through countless trials and battles to take the last and coveted seventh spot in the ‘Green Dragon Team’, he was also famous within the circle of the blue-robed. However, compared to the five great ones, his fame was as if though it was being compared from a peasant’s fame to a world-shaking general whose name would inspire fear into everyone.

Seated on the largest throne is Master Kenji. Likewise, on the two smaller thrones are Luca and another unknown man who is also of the same level as Luca, Manil. This man is well-known by many as the ‘Red Eyed Saint’, a toned muscular man adorned in a fiery red robe.

The name is due to his blood red eyes that have never been seen before until Manil came into the world.

Short black hair, eyebrows that were shaped like swords and fierce unyielding sunken red eyes that have seen many battles, firm triangular face with a smooth goatee, along with a three-clawed scar that extended from his right cheek and curved down to his right side of the neck.

He is well-known for his combination of fire magic and his deadly swordplay that was tempered after many battles.

His eyes are currently covered by a red bandana, for what reason? Nobody knew, despite so everyone knew he wasn’t blind.

Both him and Luca are the ‘Twin Pillars’. Their authority is unmatched in the Dojo, only inferior to the Head Master himself, Master Kenji and unofficially, his wife as well.

Kenji, Luca and Manil stared down at the spot next to Fenit, an empty spot that was supposed to be occupied by the last and seventh person.

‘Where exactly is he….oh’

Kenji was thinking why Kusan would not be here at the moment when he suddenly detected Kusan through his Saint Sense, from afar and stopped staring at the empty spot as he moved his gaze towards the entrance.

Likewise, Luca and Manil did the same. The six disciples that were in full alert saw the three head honchos switch their gazes and all followed their gazes towards the entrance. Each disciple displayed different emotions and actions, Serenity fiddled with her fingers as she had complex emotion running through her after what her mother later told her regarding Kusan.

Kayle gazed at the door with a smile, Nage was deep in thoughts while he shifted from the door to the floor, seemingly having a very hard time contemplating about something. Dray too smiled but it was something akin to a carnivore gazing at his prey while Saole, was the only one who was having a hard time trying to open his eyes as he was extremely tired for some reason.

While Fenit, gave the door a threatening gaze as he internally cursed the seventh person who he forgot to memorise. He was extremely angry at the newcomer, because of him they all had to wait despite all coming earlier than the appointed time that they will all depart to go to the capital city, Lin for the tournament.

‘Fool! How dare you hold everyone back. I would love to see the look on your face when Master punishes you, you imbecile’

He raised his head, conveying the message of how much he holds the newcomer in contempt.

When the giant thick golden door opened, it revealed the comparably small figure in between a large door that overshadowed it. The small figure is Kusan, the last and seventh disciple that everyone was patiently waiting for with only one disciple being the exception.

The silent footsteps grew in volume the closer Kusan walked in an unhurried fashion. This went against the action that Fenit thought Kusan would do and it puzzled him. It was because he thought that since Kusan was late; he ought to run all the way here flustered and come bearing many excuses so as not to be punished by the Head Master for being late.

But Kusan was not only not affected at the least by the fact that he appeared late before the Master, which means he isn’t giving any face to the Master by appearing earlier than the time.

“You finally arrived.

It’s time we start the introduction regarding the ‘City Selection’ tournament. You seven are the elites of our Dojo who have been chosen to take part in the competition.”

Fenit couldn’t help but look blankly at Luca, who was the one who spoke the moment Kusan took his spot next to Fenit.

He thought Kusan would surely be punished but not only did that not happen, he noticed they just dismissed Kusan’s action as something trivial and went straight to the point regarding the reason everyone is assembled here today.

Luca noticed Fenit was not himself anymore and singled him out.

“Fenit, are you listening?”

He was suddenly jolted back into reality when Luca’s piercing gaze penetrated straight though Fenit’s mind that it forced him to notice Luca.

“Huh?......oh sorry sir, no”

Fenit quickly apologised and bowed deeply, staying like that to hide his red face that abruptly formed from his shame and embarrassment.

‘Damn it, how could you shame yourself like that!’

Fenit internally chided himself for not paying full attention like everyone else was.

Luca continued even though Fenit still hasn’t broken from his bow.

“The ‘City Selection’ is very important for our Dojo; this tradition has always existed for many years. It can be said that ever since we have joined this tournament, we have never lost a single tournament ever in our history and we intend to keep it that way”

Luca intentionally pressured the seven before him, this was to emphasise what he meant when he said ‘never lost’. Every disciple elicited a slight grunt, not even Kusan was an exception as the pressure is from power and not aura born from blood.

Seeing that everyone got the message, Luca dispelled the invisible pressure and resumed.

“Although it may be a small thing compared to the overall purpose of the Tournament, it doesn’t mean we will not meet people who have armed themselves against you. Especially you five, since you are all well-known in the continent that only a person who has lived under a rock will have not heard what element you are proficient in.”

Luca glanced at everyone except Fenit and when he landed on Kusan, a mysterious glint appeared before it disappeared just as fast before he retracted his gaze.

Everyone solemnly nodded because one’s fame can be instrumental to one’s power but it can also be detrimental in that what they can use is already well known. Although they were the regarded as the most powerful Dojo, it doesn’t mean other Dojo’s, clans and schools have their own power. As the power of the juniors is what determines the reputation of that person’s affiliation and not the seniors and Masters.

And despite being taught to be humble, there are always the arrogant types that managed to slip in. Likewise, if it weren’t for Kusan, Fenit wouldn’t be the only one who is arrogant against others even if they were stronger than him.

Serenity cared naught for anyone except one person. The other four were once arrogant beyond redeeming in the past until Kusan came along and utterly crushed them as if though they were nothing time and again.

“You have been warned.

Here are your official uniforms”

Luca waved his hand and out appeared seven clothes from mid-air as it landed neatly on the disciples who were quick enough to catch it.

A metallic green robe with a descending golden dragon embroidered at the back and a white inside that expanded to cover only the edges of the robe. This is the official uniform Luca was talking about.

Everyone hid the folded uniform inside their robes or rings.

“We are now leaving”

As if by tacit understanding, all three head honchos stood up at the same time and descended down the stairs. The seven disciples wordlessly parted ways for them and followed behind in two orderly lines.

When the group neared the giant door that was shut after Kusan entered, silently opened without anyone actually touching the door. What appeared was the waking red sun, steadily stretching its gaze as it slowly rose to the sky to bask the world in its warmth.

Beneath the beautiful sight of the sun, a giant mounted eagle that was the size of an Oliphant was seen busily fluffing its feathers. Silvery feathers with a white belly, a fierce beaker, it gleamed with such prowess that would shame many swords and shields in terms of defensive and offensive powers.

Even the talons were not inferior in terms of deadliness as it dug into the ground like it was made of water.

This is the ‘Platinum Eagle’ of the ninth rank, an eagle that is unmatched by many of its own kinds, with only a select few that could contend for the title of the ‘King of the Sky’.

On the back, a specially designed saddle was placed. It was so large it could handle fifty people standing side by side. There was no need for chairs as every single person can use energy or magic to glue themselves to the spacious saddle. This was enough for the ten man group, until when they all jumped into the saddle, the number of people increased.

Already inside the saddle were four ‘Judge’. They were coming along for extra protections, since only Luca is the only one coming along to supervise the seven disciples and Kenji and Manil will be staying behind.

Despite it being a very big event for the Dojo, it doesn’t mean the Master should neglect to still train his core disciples. As the path of a warrior and mage is one without an end.

Master Kenji gave each and everyone one of the seven disciples a meaningful gaze. A look that conveyed what every disciple was expected to do, win the tournament.

When each met his gaze, they all couldn’t help but have their fire lit. a fire that contained the desire to win at any and all costs. Unlike everyone else, only two people were not affected, or more accurately, didn’t bother to meet his gaze. They were Serenity, who was busy sneaking glances at someone and Kusan who was already in a lotus position, deep in his meditative state.

The giant eagle gave out a piercing cry that resonated throughout the entire mountain. This unexpected bird cry caused the six unprepared disciples’ off-guard to swiftly cover their ears as they tried to re-organise themselves from the dizzy spell. Most of them bent down, with only Nage and Serenity being the only ones standing. Obviously their resistance was higher than their peers. The only ones not affected were the four ‘Judge’, Luca which is expected and Kusan, due to being too immersed in the meditative state.

Without waiting for the disciples to gather themselves, the eagle swiftly shot into the air. It left behind in its wake, howling winds that burst everywhere. Kicking up a small dirt storm before it dissipated the further it went but this event had no effect whatsoever on Kenji or Manil. Both just stood there as if though the little storm didn’t even exist as they watched the eagle rapidly disappear into the horizon.

“Hopefully everyone will know the power of the outside world.”

Manil looked at Kenji, who sighed and spoke solemnly. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hah, more like you wish to see the carnage that Kusan would most likely bring about, in the wake of his fame.”

Both of them smiled. For a wish every Master wanted, was their disciple to shock the world with their powers. This would indirectly elevate their Master’s status in the elite world and most likely inflate their egos. A powerful disciple is the pride of every Master, as they have invested blood and sweat to create a disciple that could surpass them.

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Standing on top of the eagle beast, five of the disciples stared at the receding ‘Grand Hall’ with mixed emotions displayed on their faces. It has been many years for them to actually be leaving on a real journey and will never return until the tournament is over.

All have left the Dojo at some point in their life but that only went as far as visiting their family or going to the forest for training. But this time, they are leaving to enter not only the capital city but also the designated city to host the tournament finals that will have both the Empire and the Kingdom participating in it, which is located more than thousands of kilometres away from their current location.

Luca sat down, unfazed by his white robe fluttering about due to the fierce wind gliding through and stared at all the disciples.

“When we arrive, we only have one hour before the tournament starts. Do not be late. That is all”

And the next moment, Luca positioned himself in a lotus position and quickly delved into meditation. The five disciples nodded, expressing their silent affirmation before they too joined Luca and Kusan into meditation. This left only Serenity alone, besides the Judges who has never moved from their spot.

She gave Kusan a longing look before she looked at the sky, her mouth moved and due to the fast wind, nobody was able to hear what she said.

The eagle bird glided elegantly through the air, swimming through the clouds. A beautiful scene suddenly appeared, smooth clouds with magical beasts flying in the air, some eliciting bird songs of what appears to be joy and familiarity and the blue clear sky.

----

Meanwhile inside a meditative state, Kusan is profusely sweating while he scrutinized the air cupped between his hands, as his hands are layered over the top of another in front of his stomach. More sweat started to form and Kusan couldn’t help but shake a little as he struggled intensely.

A weak white glow emitted from between his hands, when he saw this, a split second happiness flashed passed before he resumed his resolute look. Clearly he is in deep concentration.

What Kusan was currently doing is testing whether he has the aptitude for necromancy. The book is like priceless treasure which is good and all, but if he cannot even use it, what use is it? It’s like having the key to a vault full of gold but you do not know the location of the vault, so it would be useless.

To test for aptitude is for him to through a special means, test the purity of his soul, no matter how talented a person is, if their soul is weak in purity then they cannot train in the three rare magic. This is the reason why they are rare as the world has only a very miniscule amount of pure soul beings, the higher the purity, the more talent the person would possess.

The ability to use the three rare magic isn’t only limited to humans, other beings such as elves, dwarves, magical beasts and so forth can also use it.

The faint white glow that was emitted in Kusan’s palm, showed the current level of purity his soul is. So Kusan was extremely lucky enough to have a barely passable level of purity to be qualified to practise such a rare magic.

This special magical aptitude is divided into three parts – the strength of one’s magical affinity for certain elements, the strength of one’s mental energy and the level of the soul in terms of purity. If the three conditions are met, one had natural talent. In the magical aptitude test, the real test is actually the level of his soul and it doesn’t matter for the first and second part. Because they will only be necessary only if the third is met.

If he couldn’t even emit a single glow from his palm then he would immediately throw the book out. But lady luck was definitely on his side. Once he found that he was qualified, he started to withdraw the soul power from his palm back to where it belonged, the soul.

When the perspiration stopped reproducing on Kusan’s head despite being soaked, he quietly took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes.

‘So a barely passable level of necromancy talent?’

He wore a strained smile, when he had his magic aptitude test when he was 7; he had an exceptional level of fire and water elemental affinity. Which was considered a genius level talent but due to Master Kenji’s quick thinking, he managed to suppress the news because he wanted Kusan to be the new secret weapon. This was easily done since the test was supposed to be conducted at the age of five but Kusan was a late tester due to various reasons that has happened in his life.

Kusan already knew this as he was informed about the reason for not telling anyone his exceptional affinity when he reached ten years old.

The ranking system for magic is split into three ranking system.

Average Affinity

High Affinity

Exceptional Affinity

Most Magus had average elemental essence affinity. People possessing high affinity & exceptional affinity are quite rare. By way of explaining, an ordinary magus might take ten hours to produce a certain amount of magical powers, but Exceptional would only require a single hour to get the same result.

Since Kusan was a dual magus, it wouldn’t be surprising that with his talent, he would have already entered the late 8th ranked magus in either water or fire. Unfortunately he was more focused on being a warrior and so he was still at the late 6th ranked magus in both elements.

So if Kusan were to compare his level of affinity to necromancy, it would barely have reached the threshold for average affinity for it and for that, he was thankful despite the low talent. He wasn’t mad or anything about the result. In addition, he now has a grimoire that would pave the way for him towards the path of a Saint necromancer.

Plus the book has very precise and concise description that does not beat around the bush and goes straight to the fundamentals of each spell.

If the knowledge of the grimoire in regards to spell is to be compared to a normal teacher in a Mage Academy. It would like the teacher teaching an elementary spell to be one of the hardest spell to learn, on par to a high school level while the grimoire works the opposite, it breaks down even the most toughest and profound spells that would normally require over a week of lectures down to a ten minute easy to learn guide.

Such is the difference between a real teacher and a grimoire, also another reason why it is priceless.

‘So with my average affinity, I should be able to use that ‘Soul Clone’ spell after I cultivate enough black magic and find those items required for this process.’

This was the first necromancy spell that piqued Kusan’s interest. This spell wasn’t so ordinary or else it wouldn’t have attracted his attention, the reason is because it is similar to other elements’ clone spells with only one difference, it’s a live clone made of everything that makes a human, human. It is far superior to the magical clones that would dissipate under attack from magic power.

This clone of his will be like another version of himself, there’s no difference in the soul between the original and the clone with only one exception, the strength is greatly weaken compared to the original soul in terms of strength. However, there is a price for this choice. The soul will be divided into parts and this process will elicit a very painful and if not careful enough would immediately spell death for that magician.

If he could have a clone of himself, not only would it not constantly drain or require any magic to be pumped into it in order for it to stay materialised. This could greatly benefit him as he could have his clone could train in the necromancy while he continues to train in the path of a warrior.

‘For now, I can’t train in anything since my necromancy channel is empty, at the current speed of absorption. It wouldn’t be full until after the first day’s tournament is over.’

Kusan gave up on the prospect of training in the necromancy for now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use the necromancer spells to be a fire or water version of that spell.

One such spell he had in mind to be possibly trained in other elements is the ‘Silent Death’.

Silent Death, 4th ranked spell

Difficulty - Low

A spell that materialise in the form of a thin needle and should it ever touch someone, no matter how tough their defence is, will immediately have their veins and channels invaded by the necromantic magic. The magic would swiftly erode all that it touches inside the body of the target, leading to a slow and painful death for him/her.

It acted similar to how an army of termites with speed, devour a large wooden pillar into nothing within a moment.

However, since he is going to try and use it through fire element, it wouldn’t be devouring the targets but burning him/her, leading to a grisly death.

‘Ok, so first I must…..’

Having memorised the instructions needed for the spell to work, he closed his eyes as he peered inside his body. The originally quiet fire magic now suddenly surged. Like the current of the torrent sea, a flood of red magic was endlessly surging through his soul. Next, he used his energy to wrap up and consume the fire magic to try to make it have its own consciousness that is linked to him. But no matter how hard he tried to change it, the magic would find a gap to escape; he was unable to control it.

This was a normal occurrence if one does not have good control.

The vigorous magic, after many trials and errors, finally dimmed down. He temporarily controlled his own energy to stay near the soul. He wanted to see what exactly the force of magic was up to.

He suddenly felt funny with the added information gushing through his mind.

This phenomenon happened due to the connection that has formed inside the fire magic, the connection linked with Kusan’s mind. Thereby getting more information from a different perspective, it was the same as getting a new pair of arms at the back.

He already had control of his magic but compared to the required control the spell needed over the spell, it was like trying to compare heaven and earth.

He concentrated on the new connection to control the fire and used the newly made self-awareness inside the magic to do the work. Upon exerting control, Kusan felt himself as if though his connection was transformed into a limb, a surreal experience since the real body of this invisible limb was actually made of fire. It travelled from the soul to the heart vessels then it went upwards, dividing and moving through different channels.

This further increased the difficulty of control as it split into many arms. Kusan started to sweat profusely again, if it was only a single stream of energy, with some planning he could eventually fuse it together into one again. At this rate, there were simply too many channels for him to stop that his mind had trouble straining to control the ever increasing thirty arms.

The magical arms continued without the slightest pause, continued flowing upwards through multiple channels. Its task was to go through certain channels within his body in order to use the spell without experiencing any backlash when using it.

Finally inside Kusan’s mind, the magic travelling in different channels converged together. In-between the eyebrows lay an important meridian point. If by chance magic invades that area, it will be difficult to expel it. And trying to control the magic that has already invaded the meridian point will be a difficult task. Kusan then made the single arm split into two as each raced towards his eyes.

Momentarily, his eyes flicker a crimson red before it disappeared. Two silent and almost undetectable red needles shot out from his eyes as it impaled the white ground.

A moment later, the thin flame burst into a giant flame the size of a small pond before it dissipated under Kusan’s command.

The originally ramrod Kusan couldn’t help but break out of his lotus position as he fell back. At the same time, as if a dam broke out, sweat came rushing out from Kusan’s forehead without signs of slowing down.

He inhaled and exhaled excessively, he couldn’t help but mumble about the difficulty and high amount of concentration needed to actually use it. That was something he clearly overestimated himself on.

‘If I’m going to use this new……hm…..let’s call it ‘Burning Death’, I would at least need to have an extremely large amount of concentration to be able to use this spell while fighting at the same time.’

He involuntarily let loose a sigh; he would never have expected a silent and good spell to have such a massive drain on him. For that reason, it is pretty much useless until he gets to a higher rank in magic.

Little did he know that it wasn’t because the spell was such a massive drain but because of the element property that was required. The reason why it was a 4th ranked spell was because the necromantic spell was to not only erode but also to absorb the life force within the target, hence the supposed ‘low difficulty’ to learn and utilising it.

Because he changed the property and the fact that the fire couldn’t absorb the life force of the target, it inevitably required more concentration in order to continuously keep the spell lit within the target as it rapidly devoured him/her.

‘Well, times up’

And so Kusan intentionally woke himself up from his meditation since they should be arriving at the capital city around about now.