Chapter 14: The old man

Lucky for us it was not that far to the place Sensei had described to me. All we had to do was keep traveling south west towards the human kingdom Vamon. The place he described was on the edge of the beastkin woods where the plains towards the human kingdom started. There was supposed to be a small wooden house but when we exited the woods exactly where my Sensei had described it (well seeing that there was only one way leading out of the woods in that direction it was hard to miss the place where we were supposed to exit the beastkin lands.) But no matter where i looked i couldn’t see anything resembling Sensei’s description. Strange. I don’t think my teacher would lie to me therefore something should be here.

While i was looking around taking in the nice wide and green planes as far as the eyes reach i suddenly hear a voice behind me. “Good afternoon young ones. It is a nice day is it not? How about having some tea with this old man?” Shocked i turn around. Not once since i have been reborn has anyone been able to sneak up on me but from the old man that came into my view as i jumped around no presence whatsoever could be detected. I was shocked. That around 160cm small old man with a white robe, a long white beard and two grey cat ears could have attacked me anytime and i wouldn’t even have noticed.

Talk about scary. Flabbergasted i could only mumble: “What? How? Who are you?” Mia feeling my distress hid behind my back looking at the old man worried. That old cat on the other hand only laughed: “Hohoho, who i am? Just an old man passing by and seeing that i hardly get any visitors these days i invited you to tea. Is that so bad?” he asked curiously. It took me a few moments to gather my thoughts. This was no ordinary old man!

Therefore i couldn’t hurt to be polite. “Senior, i apologize for my lack of manners. We were looking for an old friend of my Sensei Ka’ahn and it seems we got lost. If this senior could forgive my rudeness and maybe point us on our way after, we would gladly join you for a cup of tea.” See? I can still do it. Back in my own world i didn’t have that many noteworthy skills. But talking? Yeah that’s definitely something i am good at. My answer seemed to amuse the old man to no end.

“Hohoho so that brat Ka’ahn is still around. Wouldn’t have hurt to send a message or two no? Oh well cease your futile search if i don’t want you to find my home you won’t. But seeing i have already invited you to tea i might just as well hear what my old apprentice has to say.” That shocked me even more. Old friend? Screw this it seems i have Sensei’s master in front of me. No wonder no wonder. I bow. It is common courtesy to bow to a master and this was without a doubt a supreme master.

“This junior greets his senior Sensei.” While hitting my right fist into my left hand. The old ways of paying respect. I did listen to my master. Sometimes. “hohoho it seems you at least know how to behave yourself. Good good. So who is that lovely young lady there with you young one?” I answer without hesitation: “That is my younger sister Mia. We are both the dragonkings children but to be honest i am sick of that place and so is Mia.” The old man was stroking his i gotta say amazing beard. He was only like 150cm big, quiet small to be honest but his presence was amazing.(When he was not hiding it) and his beard fell over his belly. Amazing beard right?

“hooooo? Interesting, interesting. Well then come on over don’t be shy, don’t be shy.” I liked that old man. From the get-go i had a feeling that was someone i could relate to. I took Mia’s hand and went over to the old man sitting on a stone near the road. “And who is the lovely young lady hiding?” That shocked me. He can even feel Caro’s presence. Before i could answer i heard a voice in my head. Seems like Caro wants to introduce herself. “Greetings old one. I am Caro reincarnated Shadowspider. A pleasure.”

“OHHHHHH” Like having found candy the old man got excited: “ohhhh reincarnation is it? I thought that you felt strange. Now that explains a lot. hmm hmm” In a swift motion that i couldn’t follow at all which shocked me again greatly the old man stood up. “So then lets head out to my home. I have some refreshing herbal teas and i guess maybe i even have some cake left.” Cake? Here, oh well seriously? Nothing surprised me about that old car anymore. With that we headed off to what i would soon discover to be my new masters home. Well i planned to travel the continent but i never thought just how much time i would spend here.

Well the next three years can be actually described very easily. It seems like the old man had left his name behind long ago. He was not just my masters teacher, it seems back in his days he was the leader of the sect my master belonged to. And i finally got my explanation. My masters sect was a sect dedicated to the entire continent of Vamon. It was their responsibility to maintain the barriers between Vamon and the Abyss. The Abyss. A world of pure power. Your physical appearance mattered little, it was your souls strength and your magic that would help you there. Well anyone sucked into the Abyss would already die just from the turbulent energy between the worlds.

The sect is dedicated to the seven spirits of this world: light,darkness,wind,water,earth,fire,lighting. And those two spirits that called me master? Well guess what: They are the great spirits avatars!! The spirits themselves vanished long ago but their powers were left behind at certain places. After a long time they had formed a consciousness and were waiting to find someone able to wield their power. They called themselves the spirit emperors. Basically reaching rank ten! Yes rank ten!! would grant you the power of a spirit emperor freely wielding the power of that element.

For example i don’t need spells or anything to cast wind or darkness magic. As long as i can imagine it, it can be done. It kind of feels like cheating. Not that i complain! But there were severe conditions for someone to be able to wield their power. You remember how magic is cultivated right? You need an incredible amount of magic to be able to use their powers and you cannot have any affinity!

Before you cultivate your element that power core of your magic center is empty. Now then to completely and utterly fill those parts up (with solid elemental power) would give you rank ten. But imagine a room. If you try to put something into a room that has exactly the volume of that room it would fit right? But what if there is already something in there no matter how big? There are only two outcomes for that: either it doesn’t fit or the room gets destroyed. Hence if anyone with affinity would try to bond with the spirits. It either wouldn’t work or… well you get the picture exploding room and so on you know? Not a pleasant experience!

So to sum it up: my masters order has waited all these years for someone to control the emperors and seal the Abyss away for good. Guess who the lucky guy is who is supposed to do that. Yeah. Hell no. Who wants that kind of responsibility? But whenever i would say that i have no interest master would only laugh. (I called Ka’ahn Sensei most of the time, so now i started to call the old man master. In my book master > Sensei oh well i used to be a book worm you know?) “Destiny will always get us my young young pupil. The only question is: when the time comes are we up to it?” and with that he trained me.

You have no idea what kind of training that was. He would bind my eyes and then attack me with lighting fast strikes telling me to dodge or block them without using my eyes. On top of that he completely erased his presence. Seriously what a nuisance. He would continue to beat me up until i couldn’t stand anymore. At night i would of course continue to train my shadow arts. Why would i do that you ask? I know that i have immense power with my spirits but what good does that if i can’t use it effectively? In the first place master could only teach me fighting and shadow arts and its not like i wasn’t training in my magic. It’s just that the shadow arts are most familiar with me and i like them.

And my master showed me one thing very clearly: There is always someone stronger. A lesson that i thought i had learned here but... I was way too young and arrogant back then. Because even in a mock battle where i go all out even calling my two spirits my master would get the better of me. The next problem with my magic was understanding. For example a spell that creates an illusion to make something to look like something else, uses water magic in order to bend light rays in a specific way to create the looks of whatever you want. Well i had no idea how that worked! Hence even if i’d control the spirit of water i could still not use this spell because i don’t understand it.

But Mia on the other hand, who practiced water magic, could use the incarnation to use that spell. She didn’t have to understand it she only had to understand the spell. So everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Mia and Caro obviously weren’t idle either. Caro was the most surprising. When master heard her story he asked her: “So why do you stay a small little spider?” We were all surprised but he just said: “You form is only bound to your soul and you strength. Maybe you can’t escape being spider like but you can alter your body. At some point with enough patience and training, taking on a kind of human form should be possible.” So Caro was cultivating her magic over and over. By the way not surprising that Caro was best in darkness magic but she did have a strange affinity with lighting as well. Her telepathy was a combination of darkness and lighting basically sending electricity directly into the darkness of our brains transferring her thoughts. That’s the basics but i don’t understand it completely hence yeah you guessed it i can’t copy the spell. Mia as well kept cultivating and master taught her tons of useful healing and defense spells. She never would be an attacker that much was clear but she had a strong desire to protect her loved ones. Namely me and Caro. And that’s how we spend our days. Until that one fateful encounter that would start my story.

Yeah sorry about that but this is the point where it really starts: I got my first two spirits, I got to rank 8 in the shadow arts (youngest prodigy ever! Reincarnation rules baby.) and i really felt there was nothing to fear. I mean we even had a rank 6 darkness/rank 5 lighting mage and a rank 7 water/earth healer! That is some serious fire power. Not even talking about master. Oh boy i would regret my arrogance. Deeply.