by Daman
A Lightning cultivator on the other hand, could never achieve this no matter how talented they were, as a mortal’s body was incapable of enduring the vicious and violent power of lightning!
“I’ll ask Lord Regis to sponsor an extra cultivation pill for you every week, as it will increase your pace of cultivation by leaps and bounds, allowing you to at least be able to compete with the other outer disciples at the Spiritual stage. Even if the Lord does not sponsor you, I personally will do so!”
The Elder sincerely conveyed to Calron.
Calron was utterly astonished!
He knew exactly how expensive a single cultivation pill was, as it could easily sell for ten gold squares a piece! Only the wealthy could afford to use these pills for cultivation, as which commoner would even have five gold squares to spare?
Seeing the expression on Calron’s face, the Elder guessed what was going through the boy’s mind.
“I’m sure that Regis would accept when I tell him that you will be able to reach at least the third rank of the Spiritual stage in the two years you’ll be studying here! Now, wait for a moment, and I’ll call one of the outer disciples to take you to your lodgings.”
The Elder gently stated, as he exited the room.
Calron was sure that Lord Regis would not hesitate to sponsor another cultivation pill for him, especially if it meant that Calron would be able to advance much faster, and soon work for him.
Although a single cultivation pill was expensive to a commoner, an amount of ten gold squares was not even worth mentioning compared to the wealth of the city Lord!
The Elder soon returned after a while, and introduced an older boy in a grey robe to Calron.
“Calron, this is Tal, and he will take you to your lodgings now. He will also show you the buildings you need to familiarize yourself with and important rules of the school. You are free to train however you want, but I suggest finding a Martial Master. There will be a tournament at the end of every six months, and all disciples are required to participate in it!”
The Elder finished his speech and gestured for Tal to take Calron.
Tal signaled Calron to follow him, and started walking towards the end of the building.
“So, your name is Calron, right? The guards at the entrance gate said you were a Lightning elementalist, is that true?”
Tal curiously inquired while walking towards a series of small huts, while a few grey-robed youths were chatting near them.
“Yes, my name is Calron, and I am also a Lightning elementalist.”
Calron calmly replied as took a quick glance at Tal.
The older boy appeared to be thirteen years old, and had short blonde hair with dark green eyes. From the way the older boy carried himself, Calron guessed that Tal came from either a wealthy or a noble family.
Hearing Calron’s response, Tal had a shocked expression on his face!
The reason for Tal’s shock was because Lightning elementalists were almost never accepted into any influential schools!
Only the lower-tier schools would bother to accept them, and sometimes not even they would accept Lightning elementalists.
The Red Boar School was a middle-tier school in the city of Vernia, so it was extremely surprising that they would have taken in a Lightning cultivator!
All schools and sects in the continent were at a constant struggle to be the most powerful force in Agatha and to reach the peak, they needed the elite of the elites and this was only possible through nurturing talented disciples in their schools. So, which top-tier school would even take a single glance at a Lightning elementalist?
Tal had just assumed Calron being a Lightning cultivator was just a rumor, but when the very person in question confirmed it, how could he himself doubt it?
After a few minutes, they finally reached an empty corridor with shabby looking huts on the side. Tal gestured towards one of the small huts and said.
“This is your room, Calron. Your disciple robe should be inside as well, so wear it soon, as all disciples must wear them. You are free to do what you want but I suggest getting a meal in the gathering hall before all food is finished.”
However, just as Tal was about to leave, the older boy suddenly turned around and quietly stated.
“Not that it’s any of my business but stay clear of the other disciples, Calron. They have a lot of pride and many of them come from influential families, so they won’t take well to a Lightning elementalist in their midst.”
With that abrupt warning, Tal left Calron to his thoughts.
Calron slowly entered his hut and closed the door behind him.
The hut was completely bare, as only a single bed and a mat on the rough floor were placed in the hut. Although it appeared shabby and small, for Calron, it was perfect, as he did not have to share it with anyone!
Calron immediately jumped onto the bed and let out a content sigh as he reveled in the soft feeling of the mattress.
“Hey Voice, how did you know about the hand positions you told me about earlier?”
Calron curiously asked the Voice, as they were finally alone.
Although Calron did not understand the reason as to why the Elder was so astonished, he instinctively guessed that it was because of those specific hand positions that the Voice had taught him.
“Kid, you really need to stop calling me ‘Voice’, call me ‘Teacher’ instead! I like ‘Teacher’! It makes me sound sophisticated… ”
The Voice irritatedly interjected.
Seeing that the Voice obviously knew a lot more about cultivation than the Elder, Calron decided it was all right to call the Voice his “Teacher”. Furthermore, the Voice was hardly anything like that fat Ronny who had taught him numbers and counting in the village!
“Alright, I’ll call you Teacher from now on. So, teach me more about cultivation!”
Calron enthusiastically pleaded, as he excitedly yelled at his new Teacher.
Chapter 5 – Disappear
“Hmph, since you called me Teacher, I guess I can instruct you for a bit. But right after that, you have to go eat something. I can hear your stomach grumbling and it’s disturbing my peace! Now, get into the meditative position again!”
The Voice’s sternly stated within Calron’s mind.
Calron noticed that although his Teacher sometimes acted arrogant and lazy, there were times when his demeanor would completely change into an attitude that demanded respect and admiration from others!
Calron did not know what his Teacher’s real identity was, but he guessed that he had once been a very powerful cultivator, as only cultivators at the peak of their existence had that naturally arrogant attitude.
Calron rushed to the mat and quickly closed his eyes while sitting in the meditative pose.
“First, let me tell about you how cultivation works. Hand gestures are very important, as just a slight deviation in their position can completely alter the whole cultivation process! The one that I taught you before was a fifth ranked cultivation technique called the Thunder-Bird technique, while that Elder’s technique was only at the third rank!”
Waiting for Calron to absorb all the new information, the Voice continued.
“However, the higher the rank of the technique, the harder it is to comprehend it. The Thunder-Bird technique had been created by me, and I doubt there are any other elementalists cultivating this technique!”
Calron curiously listened the entire time, and he was dumbfounded when his Teacher mentioned the rank of the Thunder-Bird technique!
He obviously knew the importance of cultivation techniques in his world, as it determined how fast the person’s cultivation would be, especially in the early stages. His own father had cultivated in a first rank beginner cultivation technique.
“My technique has three stages. The first is the hand gesture, which you have already perfected, and the next is the breathing technique. However, your body is not yet ready to endure the strain of this stage. Wait until you reach at least th
e second rank of the Spiritual stage before even attempting it.”
Calron listened attentively to what his Teacher was saying and mentally noted down the name of this technique.
The Thunder-Bird technique.
Calron just realized that his Teacher had only explained the first two stages and he was wondering about what the last stage was, and just as was about to inquire about it, his stomach loudly growled.
*grumble*
“Kid, the last stage is not something you have to worry about now. Go get some food, as I can’t bear to listen to your stomach’s grumbling!”
Calron mumbled in embarrassment at his stomach’s growling, and turned to search around for his new grey robe. After finding it neatly folded at the foot of his bed, he quickly put it on, as he prepared to leave the hut.
Closing the door behind him, Calron started walking towards the gathering hall he saw when he had first entered the Foundation building.
However, just as he arrived at the adjacent corridor, he saw a group of three female disciples casually chatting with each other.
The girls were roughly around Calron’s age, while two of them were a bit taller than him and the last one just about his own height. At first glance, they all seemed really cute, but for Calron, food was of a higher importance than the beauty of these girls at that moment!
Although all disciples wore grey robes, most of them actually had several designs and patterns etched into them, as they were accustomed to finer clothing back home.
From the girls’ robes, it was clear to see they were young daughters of wealthy families, as their robes were etched with gold and silver threads! What kind of a commoner’s family would be able to afford gold or silver stitching for their children’s clothes?
Ignoring the girls, Calron continued to walk forward.
Just as he was about to pass by them, one of the girls looked directly into his eyes!
Her piercing ice-blue eyes tore through him and Calron could not help but be startled by the beauty of the girl.
She was absolutely breathtaking!
With her pale face and her ice-cold eyes, along with her midnight hair, it was clear that in future, she would grow up to be a beauty befitting the Immortals!
Although the other girls were also beauties in their own right, standing next to this heavenly girl, their looks only appeared to be average.
Calron could only stare at her in a daze, as he was completely captivated by that unearthly allure.
The other girls suddenly stopped talking when they realized that their friend was looking at something, and they turned their heads until they saw a boy their own age with dark hair and pitch-black eyes.
His grey robes indicated that he was also a disciple like them, and there appeared to be nothing special about the boy. With a plain chubby face and a slim build, he was like any other scrawny eight year old.
“Who are you, boy?”
A clear and sweet voice sounded out from the beautiful girl Calron was staring at.
This brat, how much older than me does she think she is?
Although her bewitching looks had captivated Calron for a moment, he was still not at the age where the thoughts of pretty girls were able to influence his mind.
So when the girl had rudely talked to him, he decided that he did not like this spoiled girl, and any previous thoughts of admiration were instantly crushed!
He continued walking towards the gathering hall without responding back to her; however, this only seemed to further infuriate the girl as she shouted back at him.
“How dare you ignore me? Don’t you know who I am, apologize for your rudeness this instant and I’ll think about forgiving you!”
The rude girl shrieked with her high-pitched voice.
The sweet voice from before was gone like the wind, and it was replaced by the voice of a shrill harpy. The ice-cold feeling Calron got from her was completely wrong! This brat had a raging hot temper!
Being yelled at by a girl the same age as him, Calron simply could not maintain his calm and also after dealing with Warrick’s condescending behavior this morning, he frankly had no more tolerance at this point!
Although he had forgotten the anger and grief of his family’s death after meeting the Voice, those burning emotions were still there, lying in wait to be ignited again!
Calron abruptly stopped walking and slowly turned around to face the girls. His pitch-black eyes suddenly bore into the spoiled girl, and she immediately closed her mouth after seeing the convulsed expression on the boy’s face.
Before his family’s death, Calron was one of the most timid and shy boys in the village, as he found it hard to make friends and usually played alone by himself.
However, that shy boy had died the moment he picked up a shovel to dig graves to bury his family into the ground!
A barely visible trace of Azure Lightning suddenly flashed across his eyes!
The time of the world seemed to suddenly stop, as if it was waiting for this boy’s next command.
The boy simply said a single word.
“Disappear.”
Chapter 6 – Element-Less
Seeing the wrath and anger on the boy’s face, the girls felt a profound fear surge through their hearts, while their knees started to uncontrollably quiver!
Suddenly, all three girls turned around and burst into motion as they tried to flee from the boy. They were not thinking rationally about the situation, and were just acting purely on instincts.
If they had taken some time to consider, then they would have realized that the boy was just as young as them, and he could not possibly be a lot stronger than them.
If they also knew that he was a Lightning elementalist, then the girls would have died in shame at that moment!
After a few seconds, the blue-eyed girl’s knees suddenly gave out, and she fell down with a abrupt yelp. She frantically glanced back to see if Calron was still following her.
Seeing the boy continue to stand there while exuding such a great killing intent, she painfully struggled back onto her feet and immediately sprinted to catch up to the other girls.
Although her heart was still trembling with fear, a small ember of anger started to slowly burn within her chest when she realized that this boy had dared to publicly humiliate her like this!
Vowing retribution, she swallowed her pride for the moment, and continued fleeing.
Meanwhile, Calron desperately tried to restrain the pain shooting through him, as veins started to pop up all across his body!
“You need to control yourself, kid. You are not yet ready to control the Azure Lightning, and if you try to force it out like this again, your life could be in danger. Your current body is simply too weak to endure its strain. Now, try to steady your breathing and force the lightning back into your core.”
Under his Teacher’s guidance, Calron painfully forced the Azure Lightning back into his body bit by bit, until the agony truly stopped.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Calron wiped the sweat off his forehead while looking down at his sweat-soaked robe. He promised himself that he would not call out the Azure Lightning until he was ready in future. The gut-wrenching pain it brought was too unbearable for the eight year old Calron!
In truth, Calron was not really angry with the girls, as they were just spoilt and rude. It was just that his emotions were extremely unstable at the moment, as it had just been a day since he had to bury his family. He was completely alone in the world. He was an orphan.
Furthermore, the Azure Lightning that awakened inside of him was utterly unfathomable, and seemed to bring more destruction to him than his enemies!
“Kid, no need to fret this much over that Azure Lightning. It does not truly wish to harm you, but its very nature is violent, and until you reach at least the peak of the Spiritual stage, using the Azure Lightning would just cause you further torment.”
The Voice stated in a consoling tone, as it tried to alleviate its student’s worries.
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*Grumble*
“Enough of this. Go eat, NOW!”
The Voice’s yell immediately jolted Calron out of his stupor, and he quickly rushed towards the gathering hall while ruffling his robe into a presentable form.
…………………….
Arriving at the entrance of the hall, Calron saw that quite a few disciples were already seated in groups on the tables, as they chatted with their friends.
Calron walked towards the lady who was handing out the meals.
Although all disciples could order various luxurious foods; however, they had to pay extra money out of their own pockets to request them. The prices of those luxurious foods were simply too exorbitant for commoners like Calron, so it was only the wealthy who could afford them.