by Daman
“I can’t promise to be civil, but I will visit them for you.”
Valis sighed, his anger for the Raizel family had dissipated through the years as he found the true reason for them banishing his mother but a slight hostility still remained.
“Thank you.”
A glowing smile covered Elna’s face, as she softly patted Valis’ rough cheek.
…………………………
More than hundred fragments of memory darted within Calron’s mind, but his mental strength was exhausted and he failed to experience any more of Valis’ memories.
“He was your clan member, despite having more dragon blood in him than of yours, he still had a streak of of the Raizel blood. If he had awakened the fearsome Azure Lightning before his death, then with his power in the top tiers of Saint stage, he would have been able to threaten even experts in the Heavenly stage.”
Ezkael said with remorse, watching the last vestiges of the dragon soul vanishing. As both his and Calron’s soul were connected, he glimpsed the same memories that his student did.
“Kid, I think we should pay the Emperor of the Desolate Mountains a little visit… Calron?”
Ezkael voice was tinted with confusion, realizing that the boy had not responded for a long time. Glancing sideways at his student, the smoky face of Ezkael turned to shock.
The strange white symbol had reappeared on top Calron’s forhead, and his irises were now colored grey instead of the usual azure shade.
However, the shocking fact was not that Calron was using his Divine Perception, but that the last remaining traces of the dragon’s soul were being sucked into white symbol on his forehead.
*shua*
A transcendent pearl-white glow filled the area around them, making the daylight appear even more brighter.
*RUMBLE*
Torrents of Azure Lightning from the fading dragon soul crackled wildly around Calron, and the bolts started to seep into his body.
“ROOOOAAARRRRR”
The azure electric snake suddenly coalesced behind Calron, its body starting to coil around the boy.
“What in the heavens is happening here?”
Ezkael muttered with befuddlement. He had never heard of a mortal being capable of devouring the soul of another… that ability was privileged to only the Immortals in the upper realms!
Calron’s body abruptly shuddered, and he slowly began to sit down on the ground. From the blank expression on the boy’s face, it was clear that he was not consciously doing so.
This is starting to worry me, should I stop this?
Ezkael battled within his mind.
Not knowing what was happening with Calron’s body was beginning to scare Ezkael. The power of the soul was a mysterious thing and only when one reached the Saint stage could they start to comprehend its mysteries. With Calron’s cultivation still within the Vajra stage, the absorption of a foreign soul could completely destroy his mind.
“HISSSSSSS!”
The electric snake around Calron’s body hissed in a displeasured tone as it turned around to face Ezkael, almost as if questioning the ghost’s intelligence. “Do you think I will let any harm come to my Master?” The reptilian eyes seemed to convey.
This boy truly has a penchant for trouble.
The Teacher hopelessly sat down and patiently waited for Calron to wake up.
……………………..
Deep within Calron’s consciousness, a draconic voice rumbled.
“I will lend you my strength…. decendent of my mother’s family…”
Chapter 10 – Rapid Breakthroughs
Deep within Calron’s consciousness, a draconic voice rumbled.
“I will lend you my strength…. decendent of my mother’s family…”
“Who are you?”
Calron inquired.
“Why ask the question to which you already know the answer to? I do not have much time, so listen to what I say.”
Valis’ stated, as he continued. “I do not know how you were able to obtain a fragment of my soul, but trying to absorb it is simply too reckless. If I had tried to resist even slightly, your physical body would have already been burned to ashes. I will lend you my strength, but in return, you have to promise me one thing.”
“You want me to take revenge for you?”
Calron asked once Valis was finished.
“Haha, I don’t need a runt like you to take revenge for me. I already killed the ones who tried to murder me. My request is simple: Help his Majesty, the Beast Emperor, in future where he will need the help of powerful allies. Your current strength is too pitiful, so wait for a few years until you reach the peak of Saint stage to go visit him.”
Valis said to a frowning Calron.
“What makes you think I will become powerful enough for a Heavenly stage expert to rely on my help?”
Calron put his doubts forward.
“Heh! You by yourself are useless, but the power I am counting on is the force behind you… the strength of the House Raizel! The world thinks that they are just a powerful human clan, but I believe that you already know the truth. They carry the blood of a primordial beast and are not completely human. Since you are this deep in the Desolate Mountains, then it means that you have a strong concentration of beast blood and that you are able to transform into one. You must be a direct descendent of the family like my mother, so you have the qualifications to influence the Raizel clan.”
Valis calmly conveyed, and before Calron could interject, he stated.
“I hope you will not forget your promise to me, so here is a token of my gratitude.”
The golden dragon’s voice sounded out with pride, as the last fragment of his soul turned into dust and entered Calron’s body.
Promise? I never promised you anything! This bastard dragon… huh?
Just as Calron was roaring within his consciousness, his elemental core began to rapidly expand and contract.
Third rank of Vajra stage…… fourth rank…… fifth rank…… sixth rank……
……………………………
Within Selior city.
“You little shits sure took your time in coming here when I called you.”
A tall silver-haired old man stood with his hands behind his back, as he addressed the five middle-aged men bowing in front of him.
The old man talking was one of the most powerful beings in the entire city.
He was the Patriarch of the Raizel clan!
One of the middle-aged men glanced to his side, conveying a message with his eyes to his eldest brother.
Did something happen to father? He only harasses us when he’s angry… and what is up with calling us “little shits”, that is just too painful.
The eldest man glared back at his brother as if saying:
You think I like being called a “little shit”? Even the human Emperor of Selior city himself has to give me face when I visit him, but this old man simply tramples all over my pride. Now, shut up before he gets even more angered!
“Since you laze around all day, I have a task for each of you. How many of our young generation can shape-shift into their beast form?”
The Patriarch inquired.
“Uh father, we don’t laze around. I am minister for the court, while Second brother runs our Martial sect, as for Eldest brother, you know that he is the Commander General for the royal army. The others are busy as well, and they all hold important positions within the city.”
The fifth middle-aged man said as he proudly raised his head. Meanwhile, both the Eldest and the Second brother flinched when their sibling mentioned them directly.
You retard, you did not only go down but you wanted to drag us to hell with you!
“Oh, is that so? I completely forgot that you were all so capable. How about you have a spar with this old man, so I can be enlightened by your sage wisdom.”
The Patriarch’s eyebrows twitched in anger, but he maintained a gentle smile on his face.
The Fifth brother stammered, as he tried to figure out where he made a mistake.
How could he not know what the old man meant by “having a spar”? The Patriarch was infamous for his raging short temper and his special spars were simply when he would decide to give someone a brutal thrashing.
The most horrifying thing about the spars was that the old man did not permit the use of any elemental essence. It was a purely physical spar. However, with his cultivation at the middle tier of Heavenly stage, it was simply a one-sided bullying.
…………………..
After five minutes had passed.
“Now, you four little shits, announce to the youngsters of our clan that there will a ranking battle held for them. They will fight amongst themselves, until a rank is given to them. The top three youngsters will be personally taught a few skills by me. Also, send out a unit of our spies and tell them to search for any human who is especially talented in the element of lightning.”
The old man sternly commanded to the four remaining men.
“I will take care of the ranking battles, father.”
The Third brother answered obediently, not even daring to ask for the reason of such abrupt changes.
The screams of agony of their Fifth brother and his face being savagely pummeled was still lingering within the four brothers’ minds. It would take him at least a week to recover from that beating.
This old man was a plain bully.
Noticing the serious expression on their father’s face and the fact that they were looking for a talented human with the lightning element, despite that no human could successfully cultivate lightning to Vajra stage meant only one thing.
They were looking for someone sharing their blood!
“I will take that responsibility.”
The Eldest brother calmly stated, the seriousness of the matter sinking in.
“No matter what happens, that person must be brought here!”
The Patriarch said in a slow voice, as his sons departed.
However, no one could hear his following whisper.
“He is the hope of our family…”
Chapter 11 – Bond Of A Legacy
*crack*
*crack crack*
Sounds of bones breaking reverberated around the barren crater, as a smoky shadow continued to silently guard the body of a human boy.
This brat is lucky that his consciousness is being suppressed, or he would have died ten times over with these rapid breakthroughs.
Ezkael mused, his initial shock had already turned into acceptance. He was simply too used to the unusual situations that seemed to constantly revolve around his student.
However, he was right about the danger of rapidly breaking through multiple levels, especially at the Vajra stage where the elementalist was primarily cultivating his essence to fuse with his physical body.
Just imagining the pain of continuously having his bones broken and healed, made Ezkael shudder in discomfort. Thankfully, Calron’s consciousness was being shielded so the boy did not have to go through that pain.
“It seems to slowing down…”
Ezakel whispered, noticing the essence surge in Calron’s body gradually receding back to normal.
“Raizel… this descendent of yours is truly a monster. I believe that he will soon surpass the limits of the Mortal realm and return your clan back to the Divine realm.”
…………………………
“This feels too unreal.”
Calron stated in a disbelieving tone, stunned by how much his elemental core had transformed.
Compared to the previous amount of essence he could store; it was like comparing a sunflower seed to a small-sized melon. Since Calron’s consciousness was still being suppressed, he could not observe the changes in his physical body but if could, it would be incomparable to the shock he felt by the change in his elemental core.
Sssa saa
A quiet and almost inaudible hiss sounded out in Calron’s mind.
His curiosity piqued by the sound, Calron sent his consciousness towards the direction of the quiet hiss, and arrived exactly towards his… elemental core.
However, this time, there was an illusion of a ghostly snake swimming inside his core. The snake appeared to be flickering in and out of existence, as if hadn’t completely entered the real world yet.
Noticing Calron’s presence, the tiny snake let out a cheerful hiss and its body abruptly dissipated into the essence within the core.
“What in the heavens was that?”
Calron muttered, not having a clue about what that mysterious snake was and how it appeared within his core.
Why do I keep meeting these weird and suspicious people…
Calron sighed, realizing that he had been encountering too many weirdos for a while now.
“Still, that small fragment of Valis’ soul helped me reach the eighth rank of Vajra stage. I guess I should at least try to fulfil his last request. I think it’s time to return back, I can now start to feel the soul connection between Teacher and me.”
With the absence of the golden dragon’s soul, the suppression placed on his consciousness was beginning to be alleviated and his physical senses resuming their function.
………………..
“Teacher!”
Calron shouted in joy, seeing the smoky body of Ezkael standing guard over him.
“Tch, you sure took your time, boy! If not for the massive amounts of essence fluctuation around you, the surrounding beasts would have already arrived here to trample all over you.”
Ezkael sulkily replied, but he was inwardly glad that Calron was back to normal.
“This feels… really good!”
Calron said in amazement, finally observing his body and sensing the massive changes within his muscles and bones.
Clenching and unclenching his fists, small bolts of golden lightning darted around his skin and each time he contracted his muscles, they seemed to instantly harden and gave off a sheen almost akin to that of a shiny crystal.
If one carefully examined Calron’s current body, then they would see that his skin was faintly reflecting back the sunlight similar to a polished crystal.
“Compared to your cultivation breakthrough, I think your body’s physical modification is the biggest help to your present situation. I am not sure how that dragon did it, but the toughness of the body that you have right now is comparable to an early Saint stage expert.”
Ezkael spoke carefully, probing his student’s body with his soul.
Although Calron might not be able to fight against a Saint stage expert, he had now the ability to at least escape and if the situation gets perilous, even take a few hits by the expert.
“It will take me a while to get used to this new body. Anyways, I should hurry up to the outer range and find those little brats. It should elevate Avi’s spirits for while… we keep abandoning the poor pup in times like these and she needs friends of her own to grow up.”
Calron conveyed, while he began shape-shifting into his beast form.
“Gahaha, look at you being a parent!”
Ezkael snickered, teasing his student for his unusual mature behaviour.
“I am not even going to give you the satisfaction of an answer…… geezer!”
Calron tried to maintain a mature attitude, but couldn’t contain himself and blurted out an insult.
“What did you say, you little punk!? Is this the respect that you have for your Teacher, the one who taught you everything you know and who sacrificed his share of meat just so his poor student wouldn’t starve….”
Calron ignored his Teacher’s ramblings when Ezkael started to make up random stories where he heroically saved Calron from vicious enemies and gave up his fur coat just to keep Calron warm in winter.
Of course, all of those were lies and never happened.
*Thuk Thuk*
&
nbsp; A strange sound echoed inside his chest, suddenly disarraying his thoughts.
Realising what that sound meant, Calron let out an elated cry of pure happiness and increased his speed by several fold.
“Eh? Slow down kid, what is happening?”
Ezkael asked in confusion, returning back into Calron’s mind as his smoky body couldn’t keep up his student’s speed.
“Hahaha! I can’t believe it! Ah, I see Avi there.”
Calron did not answer his Teacher, and instead of slowing down to pick up the wolf pup, he steadily sped towards the ground and grabbed the little wolf pup with his claws who was obliviously munching on a bunch of berries.
“Awwoooo!”
Avi pitifully cried, missing the taste of the delicious berries and instead being subjected to carried around like a sack of vegetables in the air.