Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 224. Letters and Uninvited Guests.

Stressing over what to do, Sebastian ended up heading to the entrance of Laien and Yin’s underground training chambers. He had been unable to calm down for a good while while waiting at the door but managed to enter a shallow meditative state after about ten minutes. Still, he had to do his best not to allow his mind to wander freely as just the thought of all the coins melting away with every passing second was enough to raise his blood pressure to an unhealthy level.

Roughly four hours later, Sebastian was woken up from his meditation just as his accumulated anxiety was close to spilling over. What caught his attention, however, wasn’t Laien and Yin finishing their training but one of his honorary disciples walking towards him. The youthful-looking man with an ever-present relaxed smile on his handsome face nodded at him once their eyes met, then handed him a stack of letters.

“Master, those arrived from the capital. Apparently the friends of those two little monsters sent them and asked for them to be delivered if possible or burned if not.”

The youthful-looking man, having said what he had to say, turned around and left just like that. He hated annoying things and he could tell that if he stayed, he would get involved in a mountain load of those. He much preferred to relax in his own quarters, sipping on good wine and reading books espousing upon the newest magical theories and hottest young, unmarried spiritual masters. The only regrettable thing was that he would have to work harder to even enter those women’s eyes.

Unaware of the thoughts of his honorary disciple, for better as it might be for his heart, Sebastian was about to sigh when he sensed the runic formations of the Academy depowering. Knowing that Laien and Yin had to have released the elemental energy within their training rooms consciously and thus he wouldn’t be disrupting any potential epiphanies, he sent a mental request of entry.

The very next moment the runic formation blocking the door was released, proving that Sebastian’s choice of timing was impeccable.

“Hello again,” Sebastian greeted the two youths without hiding an awkward smile on his face. He had gone up the stairs to the central hall of the training area at Laien’s mental invitation, yet he unexpectedly found himself too embarrassed to say what he had to. A week ago he had bragged about the resourcefulness of his Academy City but now had to ask his guests to restrain themselves from using those resources. His face wasn’t thick enough to spit it out as-was, but the Academy wouldn’t be able to bear the mad expenditure either, so he had no choice.

“Those are for you,” he began by handing the letters to Laien. “By the way… Did you two perhaps overload your elemental chambers?” he asked, trying and failing to sound natural.

“Thanks and yes?” Laien said, smiling wryly. If he couldn’t guess that Sebastian hadn’t come here to hand them a few letters, then he would have wasted his soon-to-be thirteen years of life. That said, if he counted the dates right, then the next day ought to be the 8’th of the seventh month – his birthday. “Those two should be able to make it, right?” he wondered. He had half-expected Raphael and Mikaela to already be here, but probably some formal stuff must have held them back.

“Are you…” Sebastian began saying. Then, finally noticing the knowing looks on Laien and Yin’s faces, he stopped hesitating and proceeded without beating around the bush. “Are you planning to repeat similar training sessions often? Just so you know, if we convert the amount of energy needed to placate the elemental energies and protect the walls of the training chambers that you two used up today, it would come along to roughly 10 000 platinum coins.”

“Mind you,” Sebastian continued. “If the results you are achieving are worth the price, I’m willing to negotiate. As sorry as I am for questioning you in this way, I can’t help it when such huge amounts of money are being used up,” he said apologetically. He didn’t think that this matter would lower the boys’ opinion of him or of Academy City, but all geniuses had their quirks. He simply assumed that it wouldn’t hurt to be more polite if it meant avoiding an unpleasant situation.

“One quick question.” Yin said, seeing how Laien’s attention temporarily landed at the names of those who had sent him letters. Anyway, from what he could tell of Laien’s inner thoughts, Sebastian was apparently being too wordy and should be more straightforward, just like Alexander. “You mentioned that the formation is not only protecting the walls, but also smoothing out the elemental energies. What is the energy ratio for these processes?” he inquired with a smile.

“Why do you-” Sebastian could be accused of many things, but being slow wasn’t one of them. “Are you telling me you want to turn off the control function of the formation? I admit that it would lower the energy expenditure by over 70%, but it’s too dangerous! It’s one thing if you cultivate using the elemental energy provided directly by the runic channels, but you should know how volatile elemental stones are. All it takes is one spark to throw all of their energy into an explosion. Without insulating and stabilizing all that elemental energy, those rooms turn into expensive coffins,” he elaborated. He was about to justify it to himself that no matter how much Laien and Yin had defied his expectations before, it had to be impossible for them to do what Yin suggested.

And yet, an irksome gut feeling made him belatedly halt that train of thought. He hadn’t seen Yin fight an opponent of his own element, but he did see what Laien did to someone with a water-element cultivation base. He had heard and even seen some unnatural cases when spiritual practitioners exhibited a far higher control over their element than should be possible. However, for it to extend to martial practitioners like Yin or to be potent enough to suppress elemental energy released by elemental stones at large quantities and at high quality – that should be impossible.

“…”

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Sebastian let out a heavy sigh. “If you feel confident enough, hand me over your Core Rune for a second. I’ll add the necessary permissions. Just promise me that you will remove the restrictions step-by-step so that in case anything unexpected happens, they will be able to quickly kick back in,” he requested. Subsequently, he gave Laien back the now tweaked Core Rune which the boy had tossed to him as soon as he had asked for it.

“And one more thing,” Sebastian added, this time throwing pretentious politeness out of the window. “If you’ll be staying here for three months or so, then do limit the daily training expenditures to under 5000 platinum coins. In other words, as long as you get a receipt for it, you have a budget of 400 000 platinum coins. The cost of those elemental rooms, you should be able to count yourself,” he stated, choosing to compromise. He had limited Laien and Yin’s usage of training facilities, but instead gave them a blank check of almost half a million platinum coins.

It should be a good deal for them and if their content expressions were anything to go by, the boys were satisfied by it. The only catch was that they couldn’t directly ‘withdraw’ all of that money and instead had to spend it on services or items related to their cultivation. Nonetheless, Sebastian was confident that Laien and Yin had caught onto that from his explanation from just now.

“Until tomorrow,” Sebastian said, nodding his head towards the two youths. Once the two did the same, he smiled and left. He still had the whole mess related to those daily duels to handle, so he couldn’t afford to waste any more time. He would have loved to delegate those responsibilities to his subordinates, but this issue was too important for him to not oversee personally.

“Let’s go,” Laien said. He and Yin headed upstairs, having already agreed wordlessly to take a short break to read the letters. Afterwards they would go back to their standard schedule, doing the kind of training they were in the mood for at any given moment. Basically, nothing special until Azuresky and Emeric would return in three weeks or so and keep their end of the deal they had made. Regardless of whether the two Kings would agree to support them more substantially or not, just the spars with experts as powerful as those two Kings would be of immense value.

A moment later, Laien and Yin seated themselves on a large sofa in the room the living room they had chosen from amongst many others in the large Heaven Quarters mansion. Laien then laid out the letters on the table in front of them, trying to choose which one he should read first. Looking at the bottom right parts of the envelopes, he once again read through the names of the senders.

- Siana -

- Rudford -

- Shire -

- Alen -

- Friends -

- Sinra -

Since the letters weren’t placed by him in any particular order, Laien assumed that he might as well read them from left to right.

Dear Older Brother

I’ve asked Master Rudford to send me to the Black Rose Academy right after you left.

He agreed and so did the Academy.

I still don’t know what my love for you is.

But I decided not to think about it until you come back.

I apologize for asking you to send me letters every month.

Don’t do it.

I won’t do it either.

I found a good teacher in the Black Rose Academy.

I’ll get stronger so that I won’t be a burden to you anymore.

Love you,

Siana.

PS: I’ll only write if I have to. Do the same.

The content of the letter from Siana was anything but expected for Laien. However, after recalling his complicated relationship with his little sister, he smiled happily. It looked like Siana had chosen to be independent from him for the next few years. No matter the results once they met again, he supported this course of action. After all, it was only for so long that they could pretend that nothing unnatural was going on. The older they got, the more serious the issue would become. Thus, any course of events that led to a proper confrontation of their feelings and intentions was desirable.

Going ahead, to the second letter…

Little Martial Brother

You’ve been stirring up quite a ruckus in the Anarchic Lands.

Not to mention the rumours of what you did in the Iron Fort.

I understand that gaining experience is necessary.

But please, remember to be at least a bit careful.

There won’t be anyone to help you if you bite more than you can chew.

Well, let me end the nagging here.

The situation in the country is stable.

Your friend, Sinra, is doing a good job growing his faction.

However, neither my Red Dragon School nor the Twin Phoenix School

are willing to throw everything behind him at this time.

As for why, you probably know.

I hope your time in the Eclipse Academy is fruitful.

On a similar note, the group you sent me over was a huge surprise.

We settled them down within the grounds of our school.

They are building an estate for themselves.

I’m looking forward to working with them.

Rune asked me to tell you that he’s working hard.

He said that he will write to you once he achieves good progress.

Personally, I think we can only hope.

His martial talent is less than mediocre.

He’s not good at comprehending insights, either.

Same with spiritual practice – we did try.

Anyway, if you need anything, just write.

I’ll be sure to do what I can to help you out.

I’m looking forward to seeing you again.

Rudford

Rudford’s letter, on the other hand, made Laien chuckle. ‘Little martial brother’? He had never heard Rudford call him by that title even though this was the relationship he had requested of him as a favour for helping him out during their first meeting. Did Rudford think that just writing ‘Laien’ would be too bland? He wouldn’t mind if Rudford wrote something else, but thinking of that option made Laien realize that it wouldn’t be appropriate. At the same time, Laien promised himself to bring this subject up once they reunited with his ‘elder brother’. He had left the Valius Family, after all, and he had been given a new place he could call home. It would have to wait for later, though.

“I see elder brother didn’t write any details. Well, no wonder. Letters are hardly the most secure way of exchanging information.”

While worrying for Rune in the back of his mind, Laien sighed and put Rudford’s letter away, moving on to the next one.

Stupid Disciple

Remember not to do anything stupid over somebody else’s ambitions.

It’s nice and all to want to help your friends,

but your own life should always be your priority.

PS: If you come back as a lesser cultivator than when you left,

I’ll kill you myself.

If anything, that was very much Shire-like way of writing, or so Laien mused while chuckling to himself. While Rudford had been indirectly reminding him that he needs to come back to the country before the King kicks the bucket, so in 4 years at the latest, Shire was telling him to train hard or screw off and never come back. In a way, such honesty was weirdly refreshing.

That said, as far as Laien remembered, the setting of youngsters going away from home for the first time just to return as lazy and spoiled ‘young masters’ was the common trope in the stories available for purchase back in the Kingdom of Sarkcente. Although those guys always were the antagonists and would end up being defeated by the protagonist later on… so even if for some crazy reason Laien did consider lazying around, he didn’t want to ever become such a stupid person.

Anyway.

Big Brother Laien

&

Big Brother Yin

Again thank you for everything.

We’re doing well.

Everyone is kind. Especially elder brother Rudford.

We’ll all be working hard to help you too, when you come back!

Take care of yourselves.

Alen Durash.

“That was a simple message,” Laien thought with a smile. Though, considering that Alen was only what, six and a half years old, it was admirable of him to write that stuff on his own. The letters were weirdly perfect… probably because Marie made him rewrite it very slowly. Knowing that motherly woman’s perfectionist tendencies, it was very likely it had happened.

Moving onto the next one.

Good Old Friend

We’re all doing well, so you don’t have to worry.

We’ll tell you more when you’re back.

Make sure not to forget us by then.

See ya!

Dan, Hana, Lina.

“Pretty much as expected,” Laien nodded to himself. Those three weren’t ones to suddenly become wordy after not seeing him for a few months. Moreover, even though they were childhood friends, there weren’t that many important topics they could talk about. The more time passed in more different worlds they lived, while long-distance letters weren’t all that good for random chit-chatting. At least as far as Laien’s own opinion was considered, succinct letters were better.

Either way, the last one.

My Brother From Another Father

Be careful of the darkness.

The one we know sent it after you.

You’ll be an adult in a little less than four years, huh?

Congratulations.

Don’t do anything stupid once you are of age, though!

I’m looking forward to seeing you in good health.

Sinra.

“Cryptic much?” Laien muttered, laughing at the silly way Sinra chose to refer to him. Sure, their personalities and thought processes were unsettlingly similar, but that phrasing was too weird.

“I guess he’s telling me that Fohan sent the Guild of Shadows after me? He learned of the trials when sending that letter? He sure has some connections. He’s also reminding me of the four year deadline of the King’s death and telling me not to act rash if I’m not strong enough to come back at that time. Why does everyone feel the need to keep telling me to be careful? Such worrywarts.”

Laien mused carefreely while putting the letters into his interspatial ring. Alas, if anyone besides Yin, who had gotten infected with Laien’s troublemaking personality, had heard his last thoughts, they would have started tearing hair out of their heads. They would have cursed Laien out, saying that anyone but the protagonist of a novel would have died manifold over if they tried doing half of what Laien had done in his short life. Curse the unfairness of life and the fortune of the chosen!

Yet regardless of those speculative thoughts of the theoretical people, the wheel of time kept turning undisturbed, just as it always had.

Being done with the letters, Laien and Yin chose to rest their brains for some time. They brought out their favourite grape and cherry wines and a few snacks and proceeded to do nothing but enjoy the quiet and peace of the mansion. They didn’t train or chat about anything, simply sitting and taking pleasure in the moment without overthinking things they couldn’t change.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, the two of them were satisfied. Putting the rest of their snacks back into their interspatial rings, they went to groom and play with their horses, Bellicose and Arion. They schedule of their day seemed to have gone back to normal after Sebastian’s visit, but while they were still playing a chasing game with their horses, someone ‘rang the bell’ to the gate.

Seeing one of the stele stones lighting up with green light and feeling the runic formations of the house trying to establish a mental connection with him, Laien brought out the mansion’s Core Rune. After a quick check, he learned that three unannounced visitors were waiting at the gate. The three of them hadn’t identified themselves per say, but they did provide the proof of their rank to the runic system. All three of them were students residing in the Heaven Quarters.

“The ‘Monsters’ came over to visit?” Laien commented cheerfully, at the same time willing the runes of the gate to be released, letting the guests in. He and Yin quickly pacified their excited horses, which thankfully had become wise enough to understand the intentions behind simple words. On that topic, Laien and Yin both wondered if pure magical beasts would become capable of understanding and using human speech once they grew strong enough. Perhaps once they broke past the limits of the Realm of Heroes, becoming a little comparable to those two siblings they had rescued from the ancient seal back in the Anarchic Lands? They would learn sooner or later.

In the meanwhile, within the brief moment of Laien’s musings, the three visitors had just about jogged to Laien and Yin’s side.

The long-haired girl leading them seemed to be a bit older than the other two, looking to be perhaps fourteen years old. The golden-haired boy and girl who were jogging at her sides ought to be about twelve, their appearances strikingly similar to one another – twins, undoubtedly.

Finally, from the unconcealed aura the three youths were purposefully emitting, Laien and Yin could tell that they all were at the cusp of breaking through to the Realm of Heroes.

The eldest of the three was, amazingly, a dual practitioner with both of her cultivation bases at the very peak of the mortal realm.

The golden-haired boy was also a dual practitioner, but his spiritual cultivation was lagging behind a little, being at the 7’th mortal realm.

The golden-haired girl was a pure martial practitioner. There seemed to be a little bit of pure spiritual energy in her, but it was at an inconsequential level.

Perhaps naturally, all three of the youths wore the cloud-shaped insignia of the Heaven Quarters’ students on their shirts as in the case of the twins or on her brown leather coat for the older girl. Interestingly, while the twins wore simple white clothes, the fourteen-year-old girl’s entire suit was as if she was ready to move out into the battlefield at any moment. A set of loose, comfortable pants, sturdy leather boots, tight-fitting shirt, and that brown-leather coat, maybe for the style?

If anything, Laien and Yin could appreciate the practical fashion this girl was dressed in. Having been travelling for the last three months, they could confidently say that she was ready to move out at any time. Was she the type to wander around often? If so, then the Holy Union truly was rising their young generation in a much different fashion than the Ruishi Federation. Compared to how Raphael was when they had met for the first time, her eyes and aura both appeared more mature.

“Good day to you two,” the fourteen-year-old girl said with an unconcealed spark of interest in her eyes. “I’m Agatha, ranked second in our quarters. Fourteen years old as of this summer. I apologize for the unannounced visit,” she said calmly. Her voice was filled with confidence but not with arrogance, and while she spoke politely, she wasn’t humbling herself pretentiously. Moreover, Laien and Yin could tell, having met many, many people during their short yet long journey, that she wasn’t interested in them from the perspective of a woman, but instead that of a cultivator.

This simple yet profound first impression was more than enough for the two soon-to-be thirteen-year-olds to develop a favourable opinion of Agatha. It was to the point that even a stray thought passed through Laien’s mind, that if he were to have a proper girlfriend one day, he would like her to be similar to this older girl. Despite that, it was just a random, fleeting thought, at least for now.

“I’m Alicia,” one of the golden-haired twins said. “Twelve. Ranked fifth,” she added, sounding rather spiteful as she uttered the last two words.

“And I’m Robert,” the other of the twins said, looking straight at Laien and smiling with a smile that didn’t quite reach up to his eyes. “Twelve as of this winter. I’m ranked fourth,” he added casually, ignoring the angry glare that his twin sister was giving him.

“Hi,” Laien said, suppressing a chuckle. Even though Agatha wasn’t showing it as apparently as those golden-haired twins, those three all were giving off a combative aura. Had they heard some new rumours from their fellow students or something like that? “I’m Laien, soon to be thirteen. I guess I can count as a temporary member of your Heaven Quarters?” he stated playfully, following the kind of routine the other three had used to introduce themselves.

“Hello,” Yin said right afterwards. “I’m Yin. The rest is same as him,” he concluded simply, gesturing towards Laien with a movement of his head. As usual, he wasn’t most fond of conversing with random new people – even though he didn’t dislike it either – while Laien adored doing so. Thus he proceeded to play the role of a silent observer, allowing the initiative to go to Laien.

“So,” Laien picked up the conversation. “Did you guys come here for a chat or do you have something else in mind? I’m pretty sure our spars were supposed to wait until we’re done with all of the students from the Earth Quarters, though,” he pointed out. He didn’t truly care for the order of those formalities, as one might guess from his casual tone, but a chat had to start somewhere.

“We have our reasons,” Agatha responded in a friendly tone. “I in particular don’t stay holed up in Academy City unlike some of those greenhouse flowers who think that the competitions organized by the school can substitute for a true life-or-death battle. Don’t get me wrong, this school’s environment is the best one I’ve heard of across the continent. But you must agree that even the most dangerous competition will, in the end, be only that. A competition,” she mused aloud, then shook her head and laughed at herself. Sensing the aura of those two boys, she knew that her last question could only be a rhetorical one, unless she intended to disrespect their efforts.

“I’ve gotten sidetracked,” she said, smiling wryly. “As I was saying, I’m not here that often. So I’d like to get my duels with you two done with sooner rather than later. After all, I heard that you guys made some kind of a bet with two of our Kings, so you need to fight with me too, no?” she concluded playfully. The words she spoke might have sounded rude in the mouth of a different person, but in her case, they didn’t come off as annoying in the slightest, at least to Laien and Yin.

Just – or maybe not just – a difference in tone and body language could make the same set of words sound so different. Indeed, compared to some of the haughty geniuses they had met in the past, this girl was leagues better as far as character went – or so Laien and Yin thought.