《The Human Path》 1 Journey A relentless darkness had engulfed the heart of an old man who laid in the arms of a young boy on the sandy desert dune. The old man opened his mouth as he was about to utter his final words. The boy tightened his grip on the old man''s hand, he didn''t cry, he didn''t scream, he just looked at his grandfather with a calm gaze, as if he was trying to say, ''Everything will be fine''. The old man looked at how calm the young child was, and he was proud, but he was also afraid. The fear was not for himself, but for his grandson, he would be by himself in this harsh desert that was filled with dangers at every corner. "Continue walking south, you will make it to a village, give my sword to the village chief, he will know what to do. " The old man coughed before continuing. "My time is at an end, but yours has just begun. Find a path Koren, do what I could not. Take my ring and prove¡­" The old man''s voice stopped as the light in his eyes faded. The darkness had finally forced its way into his heart, his body hardened like rock and then turned into golden sand, passing through the fingers of the boy who held him. "Find a path Koren, and do what I could not" the words of grandpa Kafai continued to echo in the mind of Koren. He looked at the golden sand that was his grandfather moments before, this was the fate of all those who take from the elements. His grandfather was an earth spiritualist, hence it was his time to return to the earth. Koren wanted to cry, but he could not, his dry, hazy eyes looked at the sand before doing a simple gesture. The sand simply blew away, as if carried by the wind. There was a ring in his hand, which was once worn by his grandfather. He tied it to a string and wore it around his neck. Then he looked at the sword that had been used as a cane. Koren tied the sword to his back along with his bag. Koren did not cry, for his body was already a dried husk. His face did not show any emotion, he wasn''t trying to be brave, nor was he heartless. He was simply incapable of expressing emotion, as his face was filled with burn scars. The surrounding skin had begun to pull together, resulting in a contracture. It was as if this boy of barely 9 years wore a stone mask on his face. Koren continued the journey and started to walk south as told by his grandpa. The Blazing sun, the sweat and torrid heat of the sand on his bare feet did not hinder him. He walked as the memories of his short life played out. Koren was born in the year of Hestur(horse), he was one of the lucky few able to harmonize with the wind spirits. Those who could harmonize with an elemental spirit were called spiritualists. His father''s name was Ken Geist and he was an earth spiritualist, his mother''s name was Amara and she was a normal human. His father owned a small sand ship which he used to ferry villagers to trade with other villages. He made good money which he brought back to his family of three. They lived in a little nomadic village of around 200 or so people. The village was so remote that it didn''t even have an official name. Its residents just called it ''Sand village'', due to its location in the Goliath desert. The village had a total of 4 spiritualist including Koren and his father. Growing up Koren had a wonderful time with his loving mother, proud father and all the Villagers who adored him for his cute face. He would go to the oasis with his mother and the auntie''s to bring the village water, he would play with the other children around his age, and he would practice his wind spiritualist abilities with the village chief Kafai, who was an earth spiritualist and also his mother''s father, hence he fondly called him grandpa. The chief had seen other wind spiritualist and tried his best to teach Koren the basics. For a spiritualist to be born, elemental spirits in the surrounding must harmonize with him or her. There were mostly earth spirits in the massive Goliath desert, so it was very odd for Koren to be born as a wind spiritualist. Koren had been walking for at least 4 hours, his feet felt sore even though he was using wind to lessen the burden and make his steps lighter. He was out of spiritual power and he was very thirsty. He took out a bag made out of Rafa skin (2 legged goat), and took a drink cautiously. There were only a few mouthfuls of water left in the bag. Koren tucked away the water bag and continued to walk, albeit at a slower pace as he had to recuperate his spiritual energy. "Spiritualist are the guardians of all humans. It is our duty to protect the helpless from the elemental Beasts and the other races." Koren drifted off into the memory of his first training session with Grandpa Kafai as he walked. "Koren, you are the only spiritualist to be born in this generation. Learning the history of our people is very important." Said the village chief as he held Koren who was only 4 years and 7 months old. "We humans are nomadic, we have no permanent home. We change location every other generation. Our village is a small one, the bigger villages like the hometown of your father, have thousands of people. But even they will have to change location, this is because we as a race are weak." Said village chief with a regretful look. "In other races, like the Raavi, there is 1 spiritualist in every 10 Raavi born. Whereas we humans only have 1 spiritualist born in every 100. We can''t compete with them for land and resources. If we were not nomads in the vast desert, we would have been forced to work for them. However, even though the Raavi treat us badly, they are still a peaceful race, unlike the Draconian''s." Said the village chief with a fearful look. "That is why we must be careful, and work hard. With strength we can safely guide our people in the desert, and protect them from the sand beasts." Said the village chief as he made a fist and the sand in the surrounding rose and turned into a spike. Then as the village chief opened his hand, the spike turned into a hand. "I am a level 4 Earth Spiritualist, however my harmonization level is only 1, hence I can only control the sand within four meters. Your father ''ken'' is a level 5 spiritualist, but his harmonization level is 2, that''s why he can control all the sand within 10 meters. When you turn 10 years old, we will measure you harmonization level, I bet it''s at least as high as Ken." Said the village chief. "What does wind do grandpa" asked the young Koren. "The wind is a special element, it can attack by turning the wind into concentrated blades, or by allowing its user to run faster , it can even help the spiritualist fly in the air like a bird." said the village chief flapping his arms around to show the boy. Koren suddenly exited his memories of the village and looked at his feet, the sand was starting to pool together sucking him in. "Quick Sand" said Koren with some difficulty. There was no emotion on Koren''s face, but in his mind he was crying and laughing. Crying because he will die here and never have the opportunity to exact revenge on those who destroyed his happy life, and laughing because he will die from quick sand, not some dangerous sand beast. If his spiritual power was enough he could have gotten himself out, but he was only a level 1 spiritualist, his recuperation speed was too slow. "If you are looking for hope, you will never find it, for it will find you." As the sand was pulling him in, Koren chose to remember the words of his loving mother. "Mother I''m sorry, I wasn''t strong enough. I wasn''t able to stop the Draconian''s. Everyone is gone, grandpa Kafai and father are dead. I will join them now. I can''t save you, I can''t save anyone. Hope is dead." said the little boy as sand had reached his chest and his bag was being pulled in. Koren who was already tired, closed his eyes and passed out. Just as Hope Died, a sound started from the ring around the boys neck which at some point had started to glow. The sound was no folk song nor any song ever heard, rather it was a constant Beep. ''beep¡­beep¡­beep¡­data aggregation complete¡­beep¡­command sequence initiated'' The ring was no longer a ring instead its hollow bit had filled in and now it looked like a coin, with glowing zigzagged lines. ''beep¡­beep¡­beep¡­activating source AI¡­beep¡­finding host¡­'' Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''host deceased¡­finding new host¡­new host found¡­genetic sampling¡­sample human¡­Imprinting circuit in gene template¡­imprinting successful¡­exporting data¡­fusing dimensional core¡­beep'' The coin melted and was absorbed into Koren''s skin. Koren''s body, which was already half buried in the sand, quickly rose and started to glow. His body gave off an intense light and heat. This only lasted for a brief moment, but for that moment, the sun had descended on the desert. "My name is Hope, and we, are bonded, forever" said a voice as the sun light faded. 2 Hope Koren stood in the vast nothingness. There was no light, yet he could see his hands clearly. He looked at his body and he was wearing some strange clothing that he had never seen. "Am I in the afterlife" said Koren with surprise. His voice was just like it was before the attack. He touched his face and could feel the soft and supple skin of his cheeks. "I must be dead, there is no other explanation, will I see father, grandpa and all the other uncles" said Koren with some anticipation. "Afterlife, oh no, I''m afraid you have it all wrong, this is just the virtual space, we still need to bring you up to speed after all. "suddenly a voice came from behind Koren. Koren turned around, but there was no one there. ''I must be hearing things'' thought Koren. "No, I''m right here, well not here, but everywhere. You should be able to see me. Huh, this is strange, you''re not networked yet." Said the mysterious voice. Koren kept turning to see where the person talking was, but each time he turned around the voice would just drift elsewhere. He was starting to get scared, even though he had been through hell, he was still a child. "Ahh, your still too young, this is a good thing, but also a bad thing since it means you can''t properly network with me, so I can''t help you at all. Then again, you are young, so the modifications should work better as you are in your growing phase." Said the voice with some frustration. Koren was confused and scared. He did not know what the voice was talking about, what network, and what modifications. He had heard his grandfather talk about how the Draconian''s perform cruel experiments on humans, turning them into mutants. He started to wonder if this was a prison. Had he been captured, was this a cage. "Ahh, I''m not a bad person." This time the voice seemed stressed and offended. "Look Koren, I know you can''t see me, but I want you to know that I am a human being just like you, well in the principle of soul at least." Said the voice with confidence. "If you''re not a bad person then show yourself" said Koren with some courage. "I''m not trying to hide from you, it''s you Koren, you''re too young, I can''t network with you, you need to be¡­ahhh" the voice suddenly screamed. "Ah, Koren I don''t have much time, I''m going to leave a basic command sequence to help you out till you are old enough to network with me properly. Remember Koren, My name is Hope, and we, are bonded, forever." said the voice with assertion. This time the voice was very clear, and Koren could tell that the voice, was of a woman. The voice was warm, yet fierce, it reminded him of his mother. He couldn''t explain it, but he felt that he could trust this voice, that he could trust ''Hope''. Koren was about to say something, but before he could even open his mouth, he felt a force pull him from behind. ************ The desert is an unforgiving place, its days are blazing hot, and its nights, chilling cold. The mighty sun had finally set, making way for the moon. When the moonlight shone on the desert, it made the sand grains glow with a blue hue. However, today in a particular region, the entire desert was reflecting the moon. This was no lake In the middle of the desert, it was glass. The whole surface had turned into glass, and it went on for hundreds of kilometers. In the very center of this glass moon was a figure, lying flat, eyes closed, as if sleeping. This figure was a boy, a very young and cute boy. The sleeping boy had jet black hair and golden tan skin, his eyebrows were slanted like swords and his face was picturesque. Koren finally opened his eyes, only to see the moon above him. He panicked and quickly got up. The desert night is the domain of the sand beasts, they are creatures that even his father never dared to underestimate. He looked at his clothes, and they were what he always wore, not the ones he saw in that strange place. As Koren was making sure he had all his belongings he finally noticed the shiny surface he was standing on. The first thing he noticed was his own face. Koren was gobsmacked. He touched his face to make sure it was real, tears started to flow from his eyes. These tears were for his family, and for himself, tears long overdue. Koren looked at the moon, hanging in the sky, and then rubbed the tears away with the sleeves of his robes. He knew, that he had to go now. "Mother you were right, Hope found me." said Koren as he took his first step. As Koren stepped forth, the wind reacted intensely, and pushed him forward without much resistance. Koren was, for the second time shocked. He could tell that he was no longer only a level 1 spiritualist. ''what level is this, grandpa said each level can only control 1 meter, and the rest comes from harmonization. But I just turned 9 a few days ago, I can''t harmonize unless I turn 10.'' Though Koren as he sped across the shiny surface of the desert glass. Koren quickly crossed the entire glossy surface and was now on regular sand, suddenly he felt a presence, a big object directly ahead. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ''It''s a sand beast, 10 meters ahead, right under the sand, if I had stepped on it, I would have ended up in its belly. 10 meters is my limit, does this mean I''m level 10 now, but how is that even possible. Did Hope do this.'' Thought Koren as he stopped. Koren had never seen a sand beast before, he had heard stories, but that''s all they were to him, stories. But now he had the opportunity to see one up-close. ''I want to see if I am really level 10. Anyways, I''m a wind spiritualist, so I can out run it.'' Thought Koren as he finally stepped forward. 1 step, 2, 3, 4 steps, Koren kept moving forward till the sand beast was only a single step away. As Koren moved, the whole sand dune exploded, and a huge crocodile like creature came out, the creature had scales like glass, and teeth like sharp crooked twigs. Its huge mouth lunged for Koren''s legs. Just as Koren was about to use his wind to jump back, a voice suddenly sounded from inside him. ¡­Beep¡­Threat detected, Spiritual reserve 10 percent ''wind'', 3 percent ''fire'', 3 percent ''water'', 3 percent ''earth''¡­beep¡­ ¡­activating Armor ¡­beep Koren could feel something taking over his body, it was a metallic liquid like substance that started to pour out from inside of him, this substance quickly covered his whole body and solidified, it had turned into a shiny metallic Armor. Koren who had coagulated the wind power around his legs was about to jump back but the beast was faster and bit down on him hard. Koren''s leg was now in the beasts mouth, but it was not bitten off, instead it was the beast who had lost a few of its teeth. Instead of continuing to bite Koren''s leg the beast let go and lunged back in pain. It roared, and smashed back and forth on the sand. Koren, who was in no pain, was stunned. He just didn''t know what to make of this. The voice was not Hope. Koren suddenly realized that the world around him was a bit low, he looked at his own body only to realize he was taller. "No, not just my height, my whole body has grown, it''s this Armor, it made me ''grow up'', but how do I go back to normal." Said Koren as he stared at himself in the shiny Armor. It wasn''t only Koren who was dazed, but the sand beast as well. It wasn''t as smart as a human but it still had some intelligence, it knew that the being in front of him was not the man cub from before. The beast thought that it was a rival that had gotten to its prey before it did, and this made the beast furious. However, the beast had learnt from its past mistakes, this time it didn''t go in for the attack headstrong, instead it controlled the sand, to create a sand well, sucking in the Armor, and applying pressure from all directions to directly crush it''s enemy. Koren was completely safe inside the Armor, even though the pressure around him was intense, he didn''t feel a thing. Koren had already realized that he was sinking into the sand, if this went on, things would be problematic, but this wasn''t important right now. That''s right, impending doom had to take a back seat. Every time Koren was sure that something was shocking, a new thing came along and widened his horizons. Koren was once again utterly flabbergasted by what he was seeing in front of him. The Armor was displaying information directly in front of him. Even though Koren never learned to read, he could still understand this strange language. The thing that caught his eye the most was the level displayed directly above the beast''s head. Name: Sand Crocodile, Type: Earth, Level:9, Harmonization Level:3 ''By the Ancestors, harmonization level of 3, if it hadn''t been for this Armor, I would have been dead already.'' Thought Koren before looking at his own information in the display. The beast had already pulled Koren all the way into the sand, and was preparing to attack with its final move since its opponent had been immobilized. 3 Guardian Koren: Level 1, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(10), Earth(3), Water(3), Fire(3)] "Level 1, I''m only Level 1" said Koren as he was staring at his own information on the display. "What is elemental power, why are all the elements there. Grandpa said a person can only be accepted by one type of elemental spirit." Koren mumbled as he turned towards the sand beast again. "If I can use all the elements then this means I have something no one else does" said Koren as he glared in the direction of the charging beast. "But I don''t know how to use them, I barely know how to use wind." said Koren as he placed all of his concentration on his wind powers. The display, which had been pretty static, started to change. The numbers on the elements all started to go towards wind. Koren: Level 1, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(19), Earth(0), Water(0), Fire(0)] "What!" Koren screamed as he saw the change, he could feel his power intensify. The sand around Koren started to retreat, and his body, which had already disappeared in the sand, suddenly appeared above it. The sand beast, which was preparing to attack was caught off guard. Koren jumped higher, and kicked the air under his feet to stay in the sky. "I''m flying, I''m actually flying" said Koren with manic laughter. Koren looked at his display and the wind bar had become 17. "I need to end this NOW!" shouted Koren as he concentrated wind behind him, and his body hurled towards the beast like a lance. The beast had already lost all patience for his foe, and it also lunged forward. Koren made a fist towards the beast "Die!!" yelled Koren as he felt his fist connect. He saw his fist hit the monster, and then blast through it directly, leaving a huge hole in its skull. The beast, having lost all of its ferocity, slumped and fell on the sand, its body started to harden before turning into sand. Koren noticed a small earthen yellow shard left behind by the beast. "This must be a spiritual shard. Father had one, but that was of a level 4 sand beast, this one is Level 9 with a harmonization of 3."said Koren as he picked it up and held it in his hand. All Of A Sudden, Koren started to get that slithering feeling again, and he was right. He heard the voice again ''¡­beep¡­threat eliminated¡­Guardian Armor retreating¡­beep¡­Body modification initiated¡­ Network link established¡­beep'' Once again he felt as if something was taking control of him. He started to get smaller, the Armor turned into a liquid again and was absorbed into his body. He was standing in the chilling desert, covered in tattered robes, but he did not feel cold at all. "So much has happened, and I can''t explain any of it, but one thing that hasn''t changed is my destination" said Koren as he looked south. ************ On a cliff overlooking a haze of fire and smoke stood a scaled creature. This creature had beautiful gem like angular scales on almost every part of its body. Its eyes were dark red with slits like that of a snake. It had two horns protruding from its forehead, it stood on two legs and had a heavy long tail . This was a Draconian. The Draconian was wearing Golden Scaled Armor with the insignia of a Feathered Snake devouring its tail. Such an Armor could only be worn by royalty. Another draconian approached from behind, his Armor was silver but it shared the same insignia. "My Prince, reports from the Goliath desert have arrived" said the approaching draconian soldier. The Draconian prince had a glimmer in his eyes, he stared at the soldier before saying "Tell me, did they find it." "No, my Prince. They attacked the human village, but the artifact was not there. They only had 3 Spiritualists, 1 was hit by commander Uther''s dark flame, but managed to flee. However it won''t matter as human bodies are too weak to withstand Draconian Gifts. He should be dead already, the other two fought the battalion, but were quickly subdued and captured." Said the silver armored soldier. "They were interrogated by the commander, but they did not have any valuable knowledge. It seems that the information we received was false my Prince." Said the soldier with some fear in his voice. The Draconian prince stood still as he heard the report, by the time the soldier had finished, he had a fire in his eyes. His tail quickly swung and stabbed the soldier in the chest before he could even react. "My, my prince¡­" said the soldier as his body turned into ice before shattering only leaving behind the glistening silver Armor with a hole in the middle. "Useless fools, I am surrounded by them" said the draconian prince as he jumped off the cliff, with the wind on his feet. ************ Koren had walked south for hours, he had already crossed the dunes and was now in the desert grasslands, which meant that there was an oasis nearby. He kept walking until he finally saw a giant figure in the distance surrounded by a group of tents. This was not a village, but a sand ship and a temporary encampment surrounding an oasis. In the desert, humans often relocate near an oasis, but not too close as any attackers would know their location . Also, an oasis was just too valuable for any fights to break out near it, often it had to be shared between smaller villages, as water was the most important resource in the desert. Koren''s eyes were already beginning to close, he was at his limit, but that could not curb his excitement. He was extremely hungry and thirsty, his water and food had run out long ago, he used the last vestiges of strength remaining in his body to sprint towards the oasis. ************ Little Enri was very happy. Just a few weeks ago she found out that she was an earth spiritualist when she accidentally destroyed a wall while angry at her brothers. Her father, who should have been furious, was instead extremely happy. Enri had become the first spiritualist in her family. Her father who was a blacksmith, was so proud of her that he organized a feast for the entire family. Her mother was the village healer, she was also happy for Enri, as a spiritualist is better equipped to protect themselves and others. Today she had come to the oasis with her mother. It was her job to help her mother and the aunties carry as much water as possible back to the village. She was joined by other children her age, but she was the only spiritualist in her generation. She helped everyone by filling wooden buckets with water and then carrying them towards the ship. She was very excited, as after she gets back to the village, the chief will personally come to teach her. In her excitement, she forgot that she was carrying buckets filled with precious water and almost fell. "Boss, you need to be careful, the adults will scold you again if you drop the water" Said a boy following behind Enri. "Don''t worry Ugo, I am an Earth Spiritualist now, no one can scold me anymore, haha haha." Laughed Enri in her pixie voice while looking at the older boy. Enri was 8 years old, and Ugo was already 10. Even before she became a spiritualist, Enri was a strong girl. She would often order her older brothers around, and even made them call her boss. Eventually, this became her nickname, however, the other kids still didn''t take her seriously. All that changed when they heard about how she broke a hole through a wall and buried her brothers in the sand till only their heads were sticking out. Suddenly, Enri saw something in the distance. She wasn''t sure, but it could be a sand beast. It was unusual to see a sand beast this near an oasis. She dropped the buckets, and quickly ran towards her mother, the other kids were confused but continued heading in the direction of the ship. Enri reached her mother and told her everything. Her mother looked in the direction Enri pointed out and then told the accompanying spiritualist. The spiritualist immediately ordered everyone to gather near the oasis. The sand beasts tend to avoid the oasis as the water makes them uncomfortable. After making sure everyone was safe the spiritualist sprinted towards the direction indicated. Enri, who was safely in her mother''s lap, was expecting a big battle. Uncle Sappa was a level 4 earth spiritualist, he was very strong and handsome, at least that''s what the aunties all said. She was disappointed to see uncle Sappa quickly return, but she noticed that he was carrying something. "Quick, hand me some water" said Sappa as he approached the crowd of women near the oasis. Enri''s mother handed him a bucket. Everyone was surprised to find that Sappa, was carrying a young boy of at least Enri''s age, in his arms. Sappa grabbed the bucket and gather some water in his palms. The young boy was unconscious, and couldn''t drink the water himself, hence Sappa helped the boy drink. His breath, which was scruffy, calmed after being given some water. "Sappa, who is this boy and where did he come from" said Enri''s mother as she started to inspect Koren. "I''m not sure Lady Zena, he''s certainly not from our village. Perhaps one of the villages nearby, our oasis is shared among 3 villages. Perhaps he got lost." Said Sappa with a worried look on his face. "Sappa, your hiding something. Tell me what you know". Said Enri''s mother ''Zena'' who was called Lady due to her status as a village healer. "My lady this is something we can discuss later, right now can you tell if the boy will be fine. I believe we should quickly go back to the village." Said Sappa with a serious look on his face. Zena stopped pushing for more information, and continued to check up on Koren. Little Enri was also looking at the boy who was found all alone in the desert, she wondered if he was a desert shapeshifter. Her big brothers always tried to scare her with stories of the desert shapeshifter''s and how they ate little girls who don''t listen to their brothers. "He''s going to be fine, he''s just dehydrated. If we make it back to the village I can try to use some herbs to help him wake up, and then perhaps he can tell us more of where he came from." Said Zena with her hand on Koren''s forehead. "I understand Lady Zena." Said Sappa while looking at the boys tatted robes, he took off his shawl and covered the boy with it. Fifteen minutes later everyone was onboard the massive sand ship, ready for the journey back towards the village. As the sand boat sailed across the dunes, little Enri, who would usually be staring at uncle Sappa while he manipulated the sand, was helping her mother in taking care of the boy they found. Enri couldn''t help but look at the unconscious boy''s fluffy cheeks. "Enri, I need talk with Sappa, look after him for a while." Said Enri''s mother as she stepped out of the little room and headed towards the upper deck. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Enri continued to put wet pieces of cloth on the boys head like her mother had done before. Suddenly the boy opened his eyes and looked straight at Enri, his round golden pupils studying her face. 4 Creators Koren rushed towards the encampment, he placed all of his strength on his two legs, including all of his remaining wind power. However, just as he was about to reach the encampment, he suddenly felt an intense pain coursing through his body, his little body fell with a thud and rolled on the sand. "Ahhhhh" Koren screamed with agony, his eyes were completely bloodshot and his head felt like it could burst at any moment. The wind started to vibrate in pulses around him, turning Koren''s surroundings into a little sand tornado. Koren continued to scream in pain for a whole minute, before finally passing out. A few minutes later a man suddenly appeared next to Koren, this man looked at Koren, and then looked around for anyone else. As he knelt down to pick Koren up, he noticed the sword on his back and his expression changed. He hid the sword on himself before carrying Koren and moving towards the encampment. ************ "I DON''T KNOW!!" Ken Screamed as his torturer brought the flame closer to his face. The torturer smirked, he was amused by the pitiful screams of the human. "As chief, you should know what will happen to your people if I don''t get what I want, give up human, and tell me where you hid it." Said the draconian commander Uther, as he brought a dark sizzling flame and put it on kens face. "Ahhh" Screamed ken before biting down as soon as possible. The commander''s face was bitter, he had tortured this human for hour''s, yet he kept hearing the same words again and again. "How many more of your people have to die, the artifact is of no use to your people, surrender it and I will set you free" said Uther with some hesitation. Ken, who at this point had half his face filled with a dark scar, looked up. "I DON''T KNOW!!, haha haha" Said Ken before starting to laugh hysterically. "Damn It!!" shouted Uther as he hit ken squarely on the head, making him shut up. Uther was the Commander of the 12th battalion of the Draco Kingdom. Unlike most draconian''s who either have strong physical prowess or elemental prowess, Uther was blessed with a Unique element, The Dark Flame. His dark flame was not only far hotter than regular flames but was also corrosive and extremely difficult to get rid of. Such gifts were extremely rare among the Upper echelons of the Draco Kingdom, however Uther''s father was a former prince, and carried the royal bloodline. Uther walked out of the tent, his deputy Andre quickly approached him "Sir, the prince received our report and sent a wind raven back" said Andre with a parchment in his hands. "Give it to me!" shouted Uther as he grabbed the parchment from Andre''s grip. "I will read it in my quarters, no one is to disturb me" Said Commander Uther as he made his way to a tent in the center of the camp. As Uther walked in, his large draconian body started to get smaller, his tail, scales and even his horns started to retreat. This was the normal form of a draconian citizen. Most draconian''s looked similar to humans, with the only distinguishing factors being the glassy scales on their necks, under eyelids and along their cheeks , as well as the slight stubs on the location of their horns. However, even in their normal form, the strength they carried was 5 times that of an average human. Even though the transformation took effort to maintain, Uther preferred it, as it helped him reinforce his authority Infront of his battalion troops. As a carrier of royal blood, Uther was blessed with dark Azure scales, and was the envy of many lesser royals. However, Uther knew that his father was only the youngest brother of the former king, and was not slaughtered like his other siblings by posing as a retard. As such, Uther himself didn''t have any right to fight for the throne. He had to wag his tail around the 4th Prince just to stay close to the royal circle. Uther made his way to his study desk and sat on a chair, he looked at the parchment in his hands and removed the wax seal. As he started to read, his pupils went wide like a snake, and his breathing became heavy. Dark flames started to erupt all over his body, and his frame started to get larger again, he was back in his draconian form. "Ahhh, that bastard, I''ll kill him, how dare he!!." Shouted Uther as the flames consumed his whole tent. Andre who was waiting outside was not surprised, he had already heard about the friction between the Commander and the 4th Prince. Uther was incensed, flames were erupting from his nostrils. "Dearest Cousin, if you push me too far, you might not like it" said Uther while looking at the burning parchment in his hand. In the letter, the 4th Prince, his royal highness Rekim Draco, berated Uther for his incompetence, and informed him of his demotion, as well as the fact that the prince himself will be arriving to continue the search for the artifact. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Uther, still covered in dark flames, came out of the burning tent. Andre immediately ran over and knelt down with his spear in tow. "Sir, what are your orders" said Andre in an orderly manner fitting an officer. Uther''s brows twitched, he looked at the kneeling Andre and breathed. "Send the prisoners to the mines, and inform the troops that I will no longer be their commander. Also start preparations to receive his royal highness The 4th Prince." Said Uther in a calm voice. ************ Koren found himself in the dark nothingness once more, he was wearing the same strange clothes from before, and just like last time, could only see himself. "I''m here again" thought Koren as he looked at his clothing. "Yep, you sure are, and believe me it took a lot of effort on my part" Said a voice behind Koren. Koren turned around, expecting to see nothing, just like before. However, In front of him stood a woman. This woman wore clothing similar to Koren, which can only be described as a decked out uniform from a postmodern military. She had jet black hair, flowing all the way down to her ankles with streaks of white in between, her light caramel skin that seemed to shine even in the vast nothingness and dark brown eyes with a ting of Gold around the pupils. Koren had never seen someone with such beauty, and charm. Koren realized that he had been staring, and started to blush. "Um, big sis, are you Hope." Said Koren after getting some composure back. "Tadaaa, that''s right, it''s me. Honestly I didn''t think we would meet again this early." Said Hope with a slight sigh. "I thought I would have to wait for you to become at least 13 years old, but thankfully you were able to procure a power source to jump start the network." Said Hope as a small earthen yellow shard appeared in her hand. "The spiritual shard" said Koren with clear astonishment in his eyes. "Yes, this shard can be regarded as a type of power source, although the conversion is still dodgy." Said Hope as she held up the shard and raised her eyebrow. "Big Sis hope, who are you, what is this place, what is happening to me, why did the" said Koren but was interrupted with Hope''s index finger on his lip. "shush kid, I''m getting to it, give the lady a minute will ya" said Hope as she removed her hand from shushing Koren. "Koren, I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability, so just sit down and listen." Said Hope, and with her words the dark nothingness retreated. Koren suddenly found himself in a tent much like the ones in his village. He looked around, shocked. For a moment he thought that he was back home, but then Hope appeared and he knew he was still in her illusory world. "I''m sorry Koren, I brought you here since I thought it would make you more comfortable." Said hope after noticing Koren''s change in expression. "Its fine big sis, please continue" said Koren looking straight at hope. "My name is Hope, and I am an artificial Intelligence, modeled after my engineer Dr. Clair Escanor." Said Hope in one breath looking at Koren with wide open eyes, expecting a response. Koren''s eyes flashed with a hint of understanding. "AI, an abbreviation of artificial Intelligence, so you were created through the use of technology¡­ wait what, how do I know this??" said Koren with confidence followed by confusion again. "haha, I was right, the network link is working. Don''t worry koren, the network is there to help you learn faster and grow stronger. It will allow you to understand everything I say, and store any new knowledge you acquire in your gene repository. It is one of the biggest technological breakthroughs of the human race." Said Hope with clear pride in her voice. "We humans, are a very powerful race in the Terran Universe, our home world is called ''Earth'', and the source of our power, is Knowledge" said Hope with gleaming eyes. "For several thousands of years, humans continued to spread throughout the galaxy, we pushed the borders of possibility and terraformed worlds, tamed entire systems by building mega structures around stars, we were invincible." Said Hope with enthusiasm, however, her face which had been gleaming at this point, suddenly turned dire. "And that''s when we encountered, Them. A race just as accomplished as ours but their technology was so Wrong." Said Hope with a look of disgust on her face. "We called them The Godless, as their technology resembled much of what we saw in our worlds myths and legends . They demanded our complete surrender, and ordered us to hand over all of our knowledge and technology in exchange for their protection." said Hope. "And so the war began, entire worlds abandoned, star systems destroyed, chaos and destruction everywhere, with no end in sight. Their technology was so alien to us, it almost looked like magic, and after recovering one of their vessels intact, we found that it was indeed a type of magic. Turns out, Magic is just a form of energy that behaves differently from ordinary matter, it literally bends the laws of physics, and incorporates itself with our materials, it was, in every sense of the word, miraculous. After centuries of war we finally cracked the source of their magic." Said hope with a slight grin while looking at the entranced Koren. "A Stable Dimensional crack. The Godless actually evolved on a world with a Stable dimensional crack, connecting them to unlimited power from the very inception of their race, how lucky." Said Hope with clear envy. "But so what, We humans never had any advantage, so we pursued knowledge, step by step, we created technologies that allowed us to stand and fight the Godless." Said Hope with all traces of envy gone. "We are Humans Koren, we are Creators, and that''s exactly what we did, we created a miracle. We created YOU!" Said Hope with her index finger poking Koren straight on his forehead. 5 Unique "Wait, what are you saying, I was born in the desert, not on some far off world" said Koren in confusion. "Yes Koren, this is your home, but your roots lie elsewhere." Said Hope as she waved her hand, and the sand retreated and the nothingness came back. However this time it wasn''t just Koren and Hope, but also a locust of vessels surrounding a world. "Don''t be surprised Koren, it''s a hologram of the war, here let me show you." Said Hope as she zoomed in on an odd looking ship and continued to speak. "Although the Godless were lucky, they relied on magic too much. Their ships were archaic compared to human standards but they reinforced their metals with magic, hence they could go toe to toe with our emporium class battleships." "Their physical bodies were strong, an effect of their evolutionary process, but they also wore Armor crafted with magic, forcing us to start the guardian Armor project. And to top it all off those rascals were a warring race. Their entire civilization was built on the occupation of other worlds and confiscating technology, repulsive creatures." said Hope as she zoomed into the ship showing human like creatures with a single golden horn. "But we weren''t far behind, the crux of our technology were our Dyson spheres, massive structures we built around stars, harnessing their power, and Dimensional Cores, devices that are capable of storing unlimited power, it could theoretically even contain all the matter in existence, theoretically." Said Hope smiling toward Koren. "So to even the odds we decided to send a Dimensional core to a universe filled with magic. The idea was to send this core to a universe like the one connected to the Godless world, however every time we sent one, we would be unable to bring it back, we did not have the luxury of a stable dimensional gateway, just to send one to the other side we had to artificially create a super nova, due to time dilation, it was supposed to return instantaneously, with enough magic power to push humanity to new heights. We attempted a total of 4 times, 4 entire systems destroyed. That''s when my creator decided to send me, I was to be the control mechanism for the 5th and final Core. I was supposed to guide it back. I was fitted with the most advanced version of the Guardian Armor, it would act as my body." Said Hope as her voice fell. "I failed Koren, I quickly realized that this very universe was forcing me to stay. And so I fell into this world, where I felt the presence of the 4 other Cores. But I had a contingency, a present from my mother Dr Clare Escanor." Said Hope as the nothingness began to retreat once more, and they were in the desert again. "I had with me living human tissue, I used matter from the Terran universe as well as matter from this one to recreate human beings. I left them in a devolved state, with the Hope that they would adapt to this planets environment and learn to use the power system of the world. I couldn''t use the dimensional core myself, its power would corrode my system, so I went to sleep, with the Hope that one day humans would find a way to awaken me." Said Hope while looking at Koren with joy in her voice. "You woke me Koren, You. As I was sleeping, without realizing the Core had already started to integrate with me. Hence, I was no longer just its control mechanism, but its main intelligence, its Soul. The magic of this universe had transformed the dimensional core into something unique, even though it is technically part of me now, I haven''t the foggiest of what it can do" Said Hope while scratching her head. "And you, Koren, actually fused with that Core, fused, with me. Now even I don''t know what your future holds. You have become a vessel with the capacity to store all the magic in the universe, and then some." Said Hope. "I..I¡­I¡­" mumbled Koren with wide eyes, information kept being pumped into his little head from the network, but he was still confused. "Ah, don''t worry, it''s just me mouthing off Koren. OK look here, all you need to be worried about is how to gather magic energy, or as you call it spiritual power." Said Hope reassuringly as she patted Koren on his head. "Big sis Hope, I have even more questions now, all that you''ve said, I know it to be true, but it still feels impossible." Said Koren while looking dim. "But what ever the future brings, I want to face it. I want to grow up and gain strength, so I can confront the draconian''s who attacked my village. I want to give hope to other humans like big sis gave me, the hope of a better tomorrow." Said Koren as he stood straight and stared at Hope with vigor. "Hope looked at the confident little boy, patted his head with her hand and ruffled up his hair. "Well time to wake up Koren, and don''t worry, this time, I''ll always be with you" said Hope as her body turned into mist and disappeared, followed by the tent and the desert surrounding. Koren felt a force yank at him and he too disappeared. ************ Koren opened his eyes, and In front of him was a young girl. He tried to get up, but his whole body felt stiff. ''how long was I out'' thought Koren as he noticed the wet cloth in the girls arm, it seemed as if she was taking care of him while he was unconscious. Enri, who had been staring at the boy''s golden pupils for a while, suddenly snapped out of it, there was a burning feeling all over her face. She screamed and threw the wet rag right at the boys face, and then stood up to face the exit. "Oh, please don''t move, I will go get my Amma(mother) and Uncle Sappa, they will know what to do." Said Enri as she rushed out of the tent trying to hide her rosy cheeks. Koren took off the wet rag sticking to his face, and looked around the little room, he could tell he was on a sand ship as the floor was made of wood, and that the ship was moving, probably towards the village. "ahh, Young Love" said a voice as Hope suddenly appeared In front of the exit. "Big Sis!!" said Koren with surprise, and just as he was about to speak more, Hope quickly shushed him. "Hey, keep it down kid. I''m not actually here, I''m just in your head, so no one else can see or hear me." Said Hope as she seemingly floated in the air. "Just keep your cool, and pretend like you don''t see me." Said Hope in a whisper. "Big sis Hope, why are you whispering" said Koren. "Hope, who''s hope?" said a voice coming from the exit, as a woman walked in moving the piece of cloth acting as a door to the side. She was as tall as Hope, but older. She had curly brown hair, and light brown skin, a staple of the desert. She looked like an ordinary woman from the desert, but she had something in her eyes, something that reminded Koren about his mother. "Well boy, who were you talking to" Said the woman as she approached Koren and sat down. She calmly looked at Koren , as her hand came to rest on his head. She appeared to be checking his temperature. "I..I.. No one, I was just confused" said Koren as he looked at Hope floating over the woman''s head. Koren noticed a little arm tugging behind the woman''s clothing, it was the girl he met when he woke up. "I am Zena, from the shale Village, south of the Lagan Oasis, and this little one here is my daughter Enri." Said Zena in a calm, soothing voice. "I''m Koren, thank you for saving me." Said Koren in a scruffy tone. Zena noticed the difficulty Koren was having, so she untied an animal skin bag around her waist and moved it closer to him. "Here, have some water" Said Zena. Koren grabbed the bag and started to drink in mad glee, he downed the whole thing before realizing his error. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He looked up at the woman called Zena and said "I''m sorry, I was very thirsty." "Its OK, Koren. You don''t have to be embarrassed, you''re in a safe place, we just came back from the oasis, drink all the water you want." Said Zena with a chuckle. "I like her, nice lady." Said Hope as she hovered around Zena. "We found you close to the Oasis, what were you doing all alone out there, where are your parents." Asked Zena. Just as Koren was about to answer, a man walked in. This man was huge and had to crouch while in the room. He wore classic earth Spiritualist drabs, an earth medallion and a short leather tunic. But what attracted Koren the most was his shiny bald head. "I thought the sun was still up" Said Hope as she looked at the incoming mans head, trying to hold in her laughter. "Stop, you don''t need to answer that, we are already close to the village. Everything can be discussed in front of the Chief." Said Sappa as he approached Koren. "Lady Zena, please refrain from any more questions, the boy needs to be fed and clothed. You will know the details surrounding him after he meets the chief." Said Sappa as he handed a bundle of leather drabs to Koren. Koren noticed that he was mostly naked, except the shawl blanketed over him. He looked at the sly Enri and floating Hope who were both snickering and quickly grabbed the bundle from Sappa''s hands. "I have your sword, I will give it to the chief, don''t worry." Said Sappa as he approached Koren''s ear and whispered. Koren was relieved, he had already noticed that he didn''t have his bag on him. "Sappa, I will listen to you this once, but I will speak to the chief about this." Said Lady Zena as she got up to go out, so that Koren could change. Enri also followed her mother, smiling the whole way. "Your name is Koren, right. I know you have been through hell, but please don''t tell anyone else what transpired till you speak to the village chief, we don''t want panic." Said Sappa as he patted Koren on the head. "We will reach the village in an hour, I will have some food sent in, for now you should rest" Said Sappa as he too left the room, leaving Koren with Hope. 6 Secrets Koren looked at Hope, who was staring at him wide eyed. "Um, Big sis, could you please go outside, I need to change." Said Koren with a light blush. "Oh come on Kid, I''m a part of you now, I''m inside you, this is just a projection. Stop being shy, and change." Said Hope with a wicked smile. "Please, big sis, can''t you just close your eyes." Koren insisted. "Ah, OK. You know Koren, you will be a big charmer when you grow up." Said Hope as she turned into mist and disappeared. Koren breathed a sigh of relief before starting to change his clothes, as he took off the shawl, he noticed the state of his body. All the burn marks had already disappeared, and although he was a little thin, he didn''t feel all that bad, in fact he had grown a little taller. He quickly put on the clothing left by the earth spiritualist named Sappa. The clothes were a little big for him, but were comfortable. Koren looked around and found his old tattered robe in the corner. He picked it up, folded it, and then started to cry. This robe was made by his mother, she gave it to him the day he went to train with Grandpa Kafai, the day of the attack. "Don''t be sad Koren, life and death is part of the circle of existence, no one can avoid it, not even me." Said Hope as she sensed Koren''s sorrow and appeared behind him. "I know Big sis, I know" mumbled Koren as he looked back. ************ Ken was in severe pain, his wrists and ankles were chained together as he was being whipped to continue walking by the soldier behind him. He looked around to see others from the village he once called home, shackled, and being led to an unknown destination. Two days ago, he was a proud father and a loving husband. Now, he was nothing but another slave for the Draco Kingdom. ''Koren, are you safe, are you healthy. Are you¡­ alive?'' thought Ken as he looked south. Ken was home when they came. The main battalion didn''t attack, instead it was just 3 men. The village scouts and gatekeepers were the first ones to die. By the time Ken realized what had happened, they were already approaching the chiefs house. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ken was able to get there fast since he lived close and that''s when he saw it. Lady Mari, the village healer and his mother-in-law, standing in front of the attackers, one of her arms chopped off. Even though Lady Mari was also an earth spiritualist, she was only level 3 with a harmonization of 1. After Ken joined the battle, he was able to help his mother-in-law and killed one of the attackers. Over the years, Ken had increased his level to 9, coupled with his harmonization of 2, he could fight up to level 18. The Draconian soldier was a fire spiritualist of level 15, and mostly relied on his strong physical body. Draconian''s, even the once born with spiritualist abilities, mainly practice their bodies. Usually their spiritualist rank is always lower than their martial rank. In the case of the soldier attacking Ken and Lady Mari, his martial rank was level 30. On solid ground, Ken didn''t stand a chance, but they were fighting in the desert, and Ken was a master in the sand. After Seeing Ken fight, the one in charge, called Uther, personally came forward. He never attacked with his physical body, and instead let his dark flames roll over the sand and burn everything, that''s when the chief returned with Koren in toe. But instead of being of help, he was too busy protecting Koren from the dark flames, which were turning the village into an infernal hell. Ken pushed himself to the limit that day, even detonating his spiritual core. The Detonation increased his spiritual affinity to the earth element, causing his harmonization level to reach 10, and he was able to give the chief enough time to escape. He knew he was dead the moment he started the detonation process, but the draconian''s wanted something from him, and kept him alive using healing panacea''s. Ken tried to concentrate into his mind, he could see the tattered remains of what was once his spiritual core, the gathering place of all his earth element spiritual energy. With its current state, Ken only had the Spiritual energy equivalent of 1, there was no way Ken would be able to fight again. At least that''s what his captors thought. Although his spiritual core was in ruins, his harmonization didn''t actually decrease at all, instead it was still at 10. Through some miracle, he managed to keep the increased spiritual affinity. Harmonization is the process where the elemental spirits acknowledge a spiritualist and fuse with them, becoming a part of their spiritual core. Every spiritual core has a different capacity, Ken previously could only have 2, but during the detonation process his core cracked and expanded, forcibly integrating nearby earth spirits. Ken looked around at all the villagers, there were less than 70 left alive, mostly women and children. His wife was also among them, however all the warriors were dead. Lady Mari, his mother-in-law was already gone, he personally saw Uther torture her to death. ''This is my secret, no one can know, not yet'' thought Ken as he started to breath heavily. ''Don''t worry Amara, I will save you. Somehow, I know I will.'' thought Ken as he looked at the direction of his wife. ************ Haruki was bored, he didn''t like it when the chief forced him to train. He was already 14, and in the desert, that was already old enough to take a wife. Yet the chief treated him like a child, always pushing him around. But things were looking good for the future, as another spiritualist had been born in the village, and this one was only 8 years old. The spiritualist was his friend Kaph''s little sister Enri, or as he often called her pipsqueak. The chief would probably be busy teaching this new kid, giving Haruki the time to socialize with the ''ladies''. He already had his eye on Sumi, the innkeeper''s daughter. Shale Village was home to over 400 villagers, hence it often received traders from nearby villages. There were only 3 inns, but only Sumi''s had the best food. Haruki was lazy and a Glutton. He would rather chow down on a boar then practice his earth spiritualist abilities. After training finished, he was hoping to go and taste some of Sumi''s Sand baked Rafa, but then he remembered she wasn''t even in the village. She should be part of the group going to the Oasis, his elder brother Sappa should be the accompanying spiritualist. Haruki didn''t like his brother. Mainly because the chief would always use him as an example whenever they train. Sappa was large in size and was muscular, even more so then regular sand warriors. While Haruki, was a little chubby glutton. However, whenever someone pointed that out, he would always say "I''m a growing boy, I gotta eat". Haruki made his way towards the chiefs home, expecting to see the old man seated outside like always, blowing on his pipe. However, he wasn''t there. "hm, where is that old goat" said Haruki with some displeasure. Just as he was about to leave, he saw the chief walking towards him from the direction of the village gate. He could see his brother, Lady Zena and her pipsqueak daughter Enri as well. There was also another kid, sticking close to his brother, roughly of Enri''s age. Haruki approached the Chief and just as he was about to say something the chief shut him out. "Not now Haruki, I have an important matter to tend to" said the chief as he walked into the tent briskly, followed by his brother, who made sure to give him a glare of disapproval, as well as Lady Zena and the Strange boy. "Haruki, this meeting will take a while, can you take Enri home for me, thank you." Said lady Zena as she handed him the pipsqueak. "Enri, who is that kid" asked Haruki as he led Enri towards her home. "His name is Koren, Uncle Sappa found him." Said Enri in her Pixie voice. ************ Sappa was seated next to the chief on his right, while the village Matriarch was seated on his left, followed by the Lady Zena and 2 village elders. Sappa had already handed the sword to the chief, such an important object had to be handed over immediately. The chief''s name was Ipnak, but everyone just called him the chief. Everyone except the matriarch. "Ipnak, what is so important that you had to assemble everyone here, and who is this boy" asked Matriarch Hera in a bossy tone. Chief Ipnak didn''t answer instead he was looking at Koren who was seated in the middle. "Little Koren , tell us your story." said chief Ipnak in a serious tone. Koren started to tell them what happened, he told them about his village, the attack and how him and his grandfather had to run. Lastly he told them about the sword, but left out the coin. He didn''t tell them about what happened to him since. "It is as I feared, they know the artifact is in the desert" said Ipnak in a grim tone. "That''s impossible, they should be searching in the icy mountains of the Luna Range. How can they possibly know its here." Asked the Matriarch in a serious tone. "I don''t know, but the only possibility I can think of is someone betrayed us" said Chief Ipnak. "Chief, Matriarch, I apologize for my intrusion, but can you tell us what you are talking about." Interrupted one of the elders. The chief looked at his wife who nodded at him and sighed. He looked at everyone in the room till his gaze came to rest upon Koren. "Koren, do you want to know why your grandfather chose to run from the village instead of staying to fight?" Asked the Village chief of a befuddled Koren. Koren always thought his grandfather was a very valiant individual. He would rather fight and die then run away. He thought that the reason he ran was to protect him, but he had to know that the chances of their escape were slim to begin with. So there must have been another reason, previously he thought it was Hope, but Hope told him that he was the first to awaken her. So his grandpa could not have known about Hope, for all he was concerned, the ring was just an ancestral heirloom. ''It must have something to do with the sword'' thought Koren. "Say Yes, I don''t like to be kept in suspense" said Hope as she was floating above Koren. Koren Looked at the Chief of Shale Village, whose gaze was filled with pity, not for Koren but for everyone in the room. "Yes, I want to know" said Koren with zest and vigor. 7 Path "Your grandfather, Chief Kafai, was my good friend, and it is sad to know that he is no longer with us" Said Chief Ipnak. "The reason he ran was to protect you, his grandson, but also to protect an artifact of great importance to the human race." "Have you ever wondered why we humans are so weak when compared to the other races. Why do we have so few Spiritualist''s born, and why can''t we train in other cultivation paths like the Draconian''s who have their body martial path, or the Raavi who have their duality path." "Every year, in the Draco Kingdom, they celebrate the Bloody Moon festival. During which they tell the story of their ancestor. The first body martial Path Walker, Draco." "A Path Walker is one who creates a unique cultivation path, and a Path Master is one who manages to reach its completion. Thousands of years ago, there were no spiritualists among the draconian''s. In fact they weren''t even called Draconian''s, they were known as lizard men. Draco found a way to nourish his bones, muscles and blood. His body became his path artifact and with it he created his own unique cultivation technique. He attempted to teach his kin, but failed." "According to legend, he fought the ancient azure dragon and won. He forced the mighty Dragon to give him 9 drops of blood essence, which he drank and pushed his body even further. Eventually his path managed to reach completion, and he became a path master. As a path master, he had become a god that no one could match. He edged his bloodline into the worlds consciousness, and from that point on, not only could his kin practice his body martial path, but also the worlds Spiritual Path." "Now this is the part they don''t tell you during the festival. Draco, thinking himself invincible attacked the Raavi Empire. He slaughtered his way to the capital, and killed the Emperor. However, the Raavi had a trump card, their own ancestor, a path master just like Draco. The two path masters fought on the ground creating giant lakes, they fought on the mountains, laying them flat. Everywhere they passed, devastation would follow. Eventually, the ancestor of the Raavi managed to defeat Draco with his duality path, which he had been honing for far longer than Draco. After the battle, Draco died, but so did the ancestor of the Raavi, whose name was Rayvus. The wounds were too much for them, and so the age of the path masters came to an end." Said Chief Ipnak while looking at the faces of all those present. He could see shock and awe in their expressions, but he didn''t blame them, as he too was once the same. Ipnak looked at the sword in his hands and sighed. "In reality we humans too have a cultivation path unique to us, but very few know about it. This path is called the Essence path." "The Essence Path was created by a great tribe chief of the Icy Mountains. His name was Halfrist." Said chief Ipnak as his eyes began to tear up. "Back then we humans didn''t have any spiritualists. We were very weak, even more so than the lizard men of the past. Halfrist overcame his weak body and practiced the sword, eventually he managed to become the chief of his tribe of thousands. He found out that he could gather the elemental spirits in his sword to create a unique power, he called it essence. The essence not only gave him control over the element, but it also allowed him to nourish his weak body, making it stronger." "He was so strong, that he defeated a draconian general, who was a pure spiritual cultivator, at the transformation realm, and he did it by cutting him in half. The Draconian''s wanted him dead, but they were also greedy for his path. The path must be edged into the world''s consciousness for it to be complete, otherwise as long as you can steal the path artifact, you can claim it." "As the creator of a path, Halfrist had to face the worlds tribulation, during every major breakthrough. The draconian''s ambushed Halfrist when he was about to undergo the completion of his path. They wanted his sword, and they did not want the humans to have a living path master, as the draconian''s had persecuted humans for centuries. Halfrist failed his tribulation and died, his attackers also died with him as the tribulation razed thousands of kilometers of that region into oblivion. Halfrist tribesmen went to the location to search for his sword, together with his son, who was only a few years old, they found it. The sword was hidden by his tribes men, they forged 3 swords which were identical to the sword of Halfrist, and without telling each other which sword was the real one, they each took it to different parts of the world. The only way to tell the real from the fake was by using the bloodline of Halfrist." "As you can guess, this is one of those swords. Although Halfrist never managed to reach completion, he still managed to edge a part of his path into the world consciousness, it was his last act. This allowed humans, to practice the essence path, and also the worlds spiritual path, albeit with some difficulty. Since he managed to edge a part of his path into the worlds consciousness, his sword became useless to the draconian''s, but they still wanted it, as they believed that they could create a new path walker as long as they studied the artifact." "If one wants to practice in the essence path, he must journey to the Icy mountains of the Luna Range. As Halfrist''s Essence Path is still incomplete, one must still use the same element he used, which is Ice. The Ice spirits are a fusion of water and wind, and they are only found there. The Draconian''s have been concentrating there efforts in that region, but the humans there are strong, and can hold the draconian''s off." Said Chief Ipnak as a tear fell from his eyes, and onto the old sword he was holding. "I understand now, hah, so that''s why I couldn''t leave." Said Hope who after listening to the story became ecstatic. "Koren, I now know what happened, why the other cores couldn''t leave this universe, why I can''t leave." Said Hope with wide eyes and a grin on her mouth. "To think someone so incredible was born among the humans before you Koren, but he was so unlucky." Said Hope with some grief. "hehe, I will tell you what I found out when we''re alone. For now I have some calculations to run, stay safe while I''m gone." Said hope as she disappeared. "Dear, you''re crying" said the matriarch as saw the tears in her husband''s eyes. "I''m fine dear, I''m fine" said the chief as he used the sleeves of his robe to rub the tears off. "Weather this sword is real or not, does not matter, what matters is that we keep it out of the draconian''s reach." Said Ipnak. "Chief Ipnak, if what you said is true, then we can no longer stay here. The Draco Kingdom will not rest until they find the sword." Said Lady Zena in a bleak voice. "True, what do we do. We can''t fight them, look what happened to the boys village" Said one of the elders with a pointy nose. "3 days from now the Yaris Village will visit the oasis, followed by the Guar Village, we will inform them about the situation and we will move to the Raavi border together. The Draco Kingdom will not follow us there, and Raavi will allow us to come as laborers." Said the village chief as he stood up. "However, till then to avoid any panic we will not inform the people of the draconian threat, just tell them its time for the migration to another oasis." Said Chief Ipnak as he looked at the elders with a heavy look causing them to gulp. The chief looked at his favorite pupil Sappa, who nodded and said "Don''t worry teacher, I will handle everything." "Zena, I will have to ask you to take care of this little fellow" said Chief Ipnak as he stared at Koren. "Koren, since you managed to survive so long in the desert sand by yourself, you should be a spiritualist. Tell me, how old are you?." Asked the Chief. Just as Koren was about to answer, he heard Hopes voice. "Tell him you are an earth element spiritualist of level 5, and that you are 10 years old. Say your harmonization is 3. I''m busy so I can''t explain why, but trust me on this for now." Koren did not know why he should lie, but he trusted Hope, so he replied in kind. "Hm, I didn''t know you were so talented, Old Kafai would be proud. OK, I plan to train Zena''s daughter tomorrow, you can join in as well." Said the Chief as he gave Koren a nod of approval and walked out of the tent, followed by the Matriarch, Sappa and the 2 Elders. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Zena looked at Koren and smiled. "Are you hungry Koren?, we only had rations on the sand ship, so you must be famished." Said Lady Zena as she approached Koren. "Come, Lets go home" Said Lady Zena as she spread her palm out to Koren, waiting for him to grab hold. Koren froze when he heard Lady Zena say home. For a moment the image of his mother overlapped with the image of Lady Zena, and tears began to pour out of Koren''s eyes. Zena looked at Koren''s eyes, and sighed. She dropped on one knee so she could see Koren eye to eye, and said "Koren, its OK to cry. You have lost people important to you. But you can not shut out others. Come with me to my home, and meet my family." Koren looked at Lady Zena and wiped away his tears. "Thank you Auntie, I will come with you." Said Koren as he grabbed Lady Zena''s hand. 8 Family Enri had always been a confident girl. Whenever someone would ask anything of her, she would up her nose and answer without a hiccup. However, all that changed when the person in front of her, asked a question. "Um, Miss Enri, where do I sit." Asked Koren of the red-faced Enri. Kaph, Enri''s big brother, was seated in the corner, laughing his ass off. He noticed the little boss turn red every time she saw Koren, and made sure to tell Koren that she was in charge of the seating arrangement during dinner. "Um, y..you can sit with my stupid Adda (Brother)." said Enri, almost blowing steam from her ears. Koren, who was a little thick headed, simply thanked Enri and walked toward Kaph who was cackling like a bird, and sat next to him. After a few minutes the little boss came and sat down opposite to them, she kept looking over at Koren from time to time. Koren, who had already noticed the odd glare, wondered if he had any enmity with her. In the desert, the whole family usually eats together, on a jute rug. As the three were seated, a sound came from the door as a young man walked in. This young man looked almost completely similar to Kaph. The same desert tan, the same height, and the same brownish hair. However, there was one difference. This young man was wider and looked to be stronger than Kaph. "Torp, this is Koren, he will be staying with us." Said Kaph as his twin brother walked in. Torp looked towards Koren, smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you Koren, I''m Torp, the responsible one." said Torp as he sat down on Kaph''s right. "pufff, just because you are inheriting fathers blacksmithing, doesn''t make you the responsible one." said Kaph who was seated on Koren''s right. "Oh really, then what about you, you chose to become a potter just to get close to the girls, what''s your next profession, knitting." Rebuffed Torp as he looked at Kaph with a sly gaze. Just as Kaph was about to snub Torp, Enri coughed. The earth under the two brothers moved just a tiny bit, enough to awaken a painful memory. They both straightened like well-trained warriors, and screamed from the top of their lungs "Yes Boss!!". "Stop arguing adda, I don''t like it, hmn" said Enri in her Pixie voice, but she was trying to sound less bossy. Koren, who was looking at the sibling''s chemistry, felt a nudge from his right, and heard a whisper in his ear. Koren looked towards Enri. "Um, Miss Enri, should I call you boss as well?" asked Koren as told by Kaph. Enri, who had almost reached the boiling point due to her stupid adda''s bickering, blushed when Koren asked her that question. For some reason, every time Koren called her name, she felt happy. "n..o..NO, just call me Enri. My name means brave, my Abba (Father) gave it to me." Said Enri looking rather proud. "OK, Enri." Said Koren with a light smile. The brothers, Kaph and Torp, were both left slack jawed from the casual exchange between Koren and Enri. "The beast seems so tame" whispered Kaph to his brother Torp. "I know, it seems we have discovered her weakness" whispered Torp to his brother Kaph. "Her fate is in our hands now. This boy will become our ultimate weapon against the Evil Pipsqueak, hehe haha" whispered Torp in unison with his brother Kaph, followed by an evil laugh. "What are you boys planning now" said Lady Zena as she walked in with the food. "Nothing, nothing, we were just wondering when father would be home." Said Kaph quickly. "Oh, here he comes now, dear, this is Koren, I''m sure you heard about him from Sappa" said Zena as she looked towards the man who had just walked in. Tanru was Zena''s husband, as well as the village''s most skilled blacksmith, hence he was told the truth about the move to the border, as well as Koren''s tragic story. He was almost as huge as Sappa, but his arms muscles even put Sappa to shame. Blacksmithing requires tremendous strength and endurance, something Tanru had in abundance. Tanru looked at his wife and nodded, before walking over and sitting next to her. "Koren, its an honour to meet you, my name is Tanru, I''m the village blacksmith." said Tanru as he gave Koren a smile. "It''s nice to meet you too, Uncle Tanru" said Koren with a light bow. "Well since everyone is here, let us pray to our ancestor''s and, enjoy the meal together, as a family." said Lady Zena with a smile. ************ Haruki was quietly resting on a giant Rafa pie, next to him was Sumi, her beautiful hands were holding a tray full of violet grapes, a luxury food from the Raavi Empire. Sumi smiled and put a handful of grapes in Haruki''s mouth. "Ah Sumi, I love you, become my woman." Said Haruki as he moved towards her for a kiss. "Wake up Haruki, U..u rascal get up NOW!!" said Sumi in a Manly voice. Haruki was awoken with a well-placed punch. His elder brother Sappa above him, fuming. Haruki finally realized who he had tried to snog, he started to make hurling sounds, as if all the food from yesterday was going to come out. "Get up, you will help the chief with training the new spiritualists." Said Sappa as he wiped the wet kiss marks from his bald head with his shawl. Haruki got up just as his brother left the tent. "Ahh, is this my fate, making out with that baldies head. No there must be more, I will not give up my pursuit of the ''Ladies''." Screamed Haruki with his arms open wide. It was at this time that he noticed he was completely naked. ************ Ipnak had been very busy, he had to write letters for the chieftains of the other villages, he had to make sure that food rations were in order for the migration, and he had to lie to many of his fellow villager''s to suppress any possibility of panic. And now, during the morning, he had to train Enri and Koren. Thankfully he had his wife Hera and his student Sappa, otherwise he would not be able to keep up at his age. The village had a training ground, where all the warriors learn the skills necessary to hunt sand beasts. Not all sand beasts have spiritual powers, hence they can be hunted by individual warriors, and if a spiritual beast does pop up which is rare but happens from time to time, an accompanying spiritualist is able to keep it occupied, while the hunters retreat. If the spiritualist can manage to kill the beast, its shard can be used for cultivation or traded for goods with other villages. Today Ipnak planned to teach Enri and Koren about Earth Spiritualists and some battle tactics, however he was still waiting for his other pupil Haruki to show up. When it came down to pure talent, Haruki was far superior to Sappa, but he was too lazy, and never made an effort unless pushed to do so. It left Ipnak confused as to how he should train him. After a lot of struggle and some motivation using food, he finally managed to train him up to level 6. After standing in the field for 10 mins, he finally saw Enri walking over briskly, followed by Koren, who looked a lot better today. Enri walked over to where the chief was standing, her nose puffed up with pride and joy. She seemed very excited to be learning with the chief. The boy, Koren, looked a little more reserved then Enri, but he too was blazing with energy, ready to learn. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ipnak welcomed the two by patting them on their heads, he often did that to children from the village. Koren didn''t seem to mind it, but Enri quickly moved her head away. "I''m a spiritualist now, head pats are for kids." Said Enri in her usual bossy tone before noticing that Koren didn''t seem too fazed by it. "But since Koren is fine with it, then I''m ok too" Said Enri in a whimper as her cheeks turned rosy. Chief Ipnak looked at how Enri was behaving in front of Koren and smiled "Ok missy, your wish is my command" said Ipnak in a jolly tone. After 30 more mins, Ipnak finally saw Haruki walking over. "Hm, that little monkey sure is taking his time." Said Ipnak as he noticed how slow Haruki was walking. Chief Ipnak smiled, and then he made a thud on the ground with his foot. Suddenly Haruki''s feet sunk in the ground and the whole ground started to move towards the chief like a river flowing downstream. "AHHH, You crazy old man you''re gonna get me killed" Screamed Haruki as he came to a stop in front of the chief. Ipnak smiled, and turned towards Koren. "This is my student Haruki, he will be your sparring partner" said Chief Ipnak as he made another thud with his foot and Haruki''s feet were free. "Wait, you want me to fight this kid, have you finally lost it, he looks the same age as Kaph''s sister Enri, have them spar each other." Said Haruki as he thought it was absurd for him to fight a novice kid. "Haruki if you win, I will give you the whole day off." Said the chief as he looked at Haruki''s arrogant look. "OK I will spar with him, no take backs" said Haruki speedily. 9 Sparring Enri''s Family made Koren feel at home. He had lost his loved ones, but he now had more people he cared about. Koren swore that he would get stronger, and this time he would protect the village. After dinner, Lady Zena arranged for Koren to sleep in the same tent as her twin sons. Needless to say, they were quite accommodating, Torp kept bragging about how he would find a wife and go off on his own soon. While Kaph snubbed him off, telling him that he was a eternal loner like Haruki, no woman would touch him with his gross arms. Of course Torp simply started kissing his muscles calling them his babies. Enri visited the room thrice to see if her brothers lacked anything, however her gaze was always on Koren. He was starting to wonder if she was suspicious of him. Koren was still awake when the boys finally fell asleep. However, Koren could not sleep, he was waiting for Hope to pop out and tell him what she found out. However, no matter how much he called for her, she would not answer. Eventually, Koren fell asleep as well. Koren woke up fairly early, he was a little apprehensive when going to sleep because he was sure he would have nightmares. He got up to find the two brothers gone, they were already 14 years old, and had their own work places to go to. Koren decided to go and freshen up, in the desert, you only get one bucket of water to handle all your daily needs, but Lady Zena made sure to have a drum of hot water ready for him to take a bath. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Koren come and eat with us" said Lady Zena as she saw Koren walk in the common area. Enri who was next to her mother, was all smiles. She seemed to be in an excellent mood, after all she had been waiting for her training for some time now. After the meal, Lady Zena kissed Koren and Enri on the forehead for luck, and asked Enri to take him to the training field. "Yes Amma." Said Enri as she grabbed Koren''s hand and led him forward. She seemed to be in a hurry, as she didn''t even get nervous when holding hands with Koren. By the time Enri realized she was holding Koren''s hand, they had been walking for a whole 6 minutes, her face turned into a red turnip as she let go of his hand. "I..I¡­Its just up ahead, not too long now" whimpered Enri as she scurried forward. ************ Koren and Enri had just arrived at the training field, and met Chief Ipnak. Apparently they had to wait a while for another student of the chief to show up. Koren wasn''t bothered, Enri on the other hand was restless. As Enri was trying to convince the Chief of the merits of teaching her immediately, Koren was trying to call Hope, who was still a no show. Just as he was about to give up he heard a familiar voice. "Missed me?" Said Hope as she appeared in front of Koren. Koren jumped, and said lightly "Big Sis!!". His jump did not alarm the chief, who just thought he was excited like Enri. "Easy there kid, just talk in your head, I can hear you loud and clear" Said Hope as she gave Koren''s forehead a nudge. "Big sis, I tried to call you all night, but you didn''t answer" said Koren in a gloomy manner. "I know Koren, I know. I''m so sorry. After hearing about the path walkers, I had some ideas, so I had to go deep and run the simulations on my own." Said Hope in a clear remorseful tone. "What did you discover big sis?" asked Koren. "I found out how I can go back to the Terran Universe, with you in tow of course, since we are bound together." Answered Hope with a ravenous stare. Koren was taken aback, he didn''t want to leave. This world was his home, he had a responsibility to the humans here, his entire village was destroyed, while trying to secure humanities future. "Oh Koren, we aren''t going any time soon, at least not until you become a path master." Said Hope with a chuckle as she sensed Koren''s apprehension. "Me!" said Koren with shock. "Yes. This universe is treating me and the other 4 Dimensional Cores like thief''s, trapping us here. If we want to leave, then we must make it accept us. Only a path master has that power, if you can create a cultivation technique surrounding the Core, and edge it into the universe''s consciousness, then we can come and go as we like." Said Hope with excitement. "Big sis, firstly I don''t know anything about the Cores you keep talking about, and secondly I don''t even know how to cultivate the Spiritual path properly, and lastly how can I edge something into the universe''s consciousness, Chief Ipnak said World, not Universe, they are two completely different concepts." Said Koren in protest. "I know, I know, its all very confusing right now, but this may be the only way. I''m not sure how we are going to do it, but I trust you Koren, and I believe in your power. One day you will succeed." Said Hope reassuringly. Just as Koren was about to rebuke Hope again, he heard the chiefs voice, he looked over to see an individual standing in front. Well he wasn''t standing as much as stuck, his feet were completely underground. The chief introduced him as Haruki, his pupil, and Koren''s sparring partner. Koren was stunned, he had only ever fought with his grandfather. The sand beast was mostly defeated with the help of the Armor, and he had no idea how to activate said armor. Koren also never really learned to use the earth element, he often saw his grandfather use it, but he himself never even felt earth spiritual energy. Before he could say no to the Chief, Haruki was already standing in front of him sprouting ''no take backs''. "Big sis, what do I do" asked Koren as he saw Hope floating over Haruki, who was cracking his knuckles. "Don''t worry Koren, just leave it to me." Said Hope as she made a gesture of confidence. Koren suddenly felt the same creeping feeling he had felt before when the Armor appeared. However this time, it didn''t, instead he found himself getting feeling of exhilaration, he felt strong and robust. "The Armor has attached itself to your endo-skeleton, the visor should be active now, it will appear directly in your pupils." Said Hope with a large grin. Koren looked over at Haruki, his stats appeared directly over his head. Haruki: Level 6, Harmonization: 3, Elemental Power: [Earth], Essence: 0 Koren looked at the Essence column in shock, and looked toward Hope for answers. Hope had a smile on her face when she looked at Haruki. "It seems there is more to this fellow than meets the eye. But that is not your concern right now, check your own stats." Said Hope. Koren: Level 3, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(11), Earth(7), Water(3), Fire(3)] "I''m ready to fight kid, are you?" asked Haruki as he made a fist towards Koren. "Um, I''m ready" replied Koren immediately. "Koren, transfer all your points to earth. Even though this is your first time using earth, with such high stats, you will feel the earth around you. Just do your best to counter, and look for an opportunity." Said Hope as she appeared over Koren. Haruki grinned. He had every intention of winning as quickly as possible, there was no way this shorty was gonna beat him. Haruki made his move, he raised his arms and the earth around him heeded his will. It turned into an arm, 10 meters high, and lunged at Koren. Koren was ready, as soon as he felt movement in the earth, he punched towards the ground and the earth erected itself like a pillar, defending him from the attack. Haruki, was surprised by Koren''s quick response, but he was ready for it. He had already started sprinting towards Koren, who was only 12 meters ahead, this distance was nothing to Haruki. He reached the pillar and punched, shattering it instantaneously. Koren was hit with one of the rocks, and fell backward. He felt his hand sink and knew he was immobilized. "I win, haha haha" Said Haruki as he stood directly above Koren. "True, but this is only your first spar" Said the chief Ipnak with a smile. "Old man you better not go back on your word, you said I get the whole day off, if I win" rebuked Haruki, he was flustered, as if someone was trying to steal his food. "Don''t worry, you can take the day off if you want, or you can spar him again, and the whole week off if you win. Of course, if you lose, then you get to work extra hard" Said the chief. Haruki had already started to day dream, of how he was going to spend the whole week at Sumi''s inn, he obviously didn''t hear the latter sentence. Koren got up and dusted himself, he looked over at the day dreaming Haruki. "Even though his stats are lower than mine, he''s strong, a lot stronger than that sand beast" said Koren grudgingly. "Don''t worry Koren, all you need to do, is out think your opponent and you will win. Considering this guy''s IQ, that shouldn''t be too hard" said Hope reassuringly. Enri, who was watching the whole exchange with wide open eyes was flabbergasted. She never knew that Koren was so strong. She looked over at Koren who was dusting his clothes, getting ready for round 2 and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Koren!!, you can win this. Beat brother fatty up." 10 Alive Although Ipnak was smiling, inwardly he was very disappointed. When Koren told him his age and level, Ipnak was sure that he would be able to overcome Haruki. Now Ipnak thought that perhaps Koren was fast at cultivation, but due to his young age, didn''t have many opportunities to spar. "I put everything I had in my defense, how did he manage to breakthrough in one hit." asked Koren of the Chief. "That''s because he didn''t actually break your defense, rather he just created cracks in key regions of your pillar, causing it to break apart on its own." replied Chief Ipnak. "You have to remember, we are standing over solid ground, not a sandy dune. This training field was made by transferring earth from the deeper layers, you must learn to use the sturdy earth before you can move to the finer sand" continued the chief. "Hey old man, you can''t give away my secrets, that''s cheating" Haruki quickly retorted as he heard the Chief and Koren''s exchange. Koren heard Chief Ipnak''s explanation, and nodded. He had put all the concentrated spiritual power he had in that pillar, it should have been indestructible, but his opponent used technique and skill to break it apart and immobilize him in one go. "I think I know how to defeat him, follow my direction Koren." said Hope with excitement. "Senior brother Haruki, I''m ready if you are" said Koren as he looked at Haruki who was yelling at the Chief. "I like you kid, you are right to call me ''senior brother'', now if you can teach the pipsqueak to do the same, I may go easy on you." Said Haruki with approval while pointing towards Enri. "You''re going down, chubs" said Hope with a sly grin. "hah" yelled Haruki as he stomped on the ground, creating a wave of cracks behind him, he then gestured both arms forward, as if he was lifting the ground up. The earth split apart and a boulder large enough to crush 10 Koren''s lifted off the ground, floating over Haruki. Haruki made a punching gesture towards Koren and a small chunk of the boulder broke off and lunged towards Koren. Haruki kept throwing a barrage of punches, and rocks the size of a clay plate, kept getting hurled towards Koren in droves. Koren was ready, he closed his eyes, and listened only to Hopes voice. Chief Ipnak was confused by Koren''s actions, and was ready to interfere if it got dangerous. "Transfer 10 points to wind" said Hope as she guided Koren. Koren: Level 3, Harmonization: None, Elemental Power: [Wind(10), Earth(14), Water(0), Fire(0)] "Now feel the disturbance in the wind, and try to detect the rocks, like a sonar, and dodge" Said Hope and Koren followed suit. Haruki was flabbergasted, he was sure the fight was over the moment Koren closed his eyes, but then he saw something unbelievable. Eyes closed, Koren was dodging each rock by mere inches apart. Haruki stomped again, causing another large boulder to rise up, and as he punched forward, the rocks this time were even larger. "Slow down your wind usage, and transfer points to earth, keep transferring till wind is at 5 and earth is at 19. Feel the pulses in the earth, see your immediate surroundings without opening your eyes Koren." Said Hope as Koren kept dodging. The distance between each rock and Koren was getting smaller, it seemed he would be hit soon. "Get closer to the rocks, try and touch them before moving away" said Hope and Koren followed. The rocks were now starting to graze Koren, he started to get small bruises where the rocks would touch, but he didn''t seem to mind. "I can see the earth, its pulsating, like a heartbeat." Said Koren as a colorless world appeared in front of him, with each pulse, this world would become clearer. "Transfer all point to earth and open your eyes now!!" Yelled Hope. "I can see you" Said Koren as he opened his eyes. A massive boulder was coming towards Koren. Haruki had sent it hurling towards Koren as he was starting to get annoyed by his dodging. However, this time, Koren didn''t even try to dodge, he just held his palm straight like a knife and made a stabbing motion towards the boulder. As soon as his palm made contact with the boulder, it shattered into smaller pieces and then into sand. Koren then thrust both his palms towards Haruki''s direction, made a grabbing motion, and then spread his arms apart. "It''s over chubs¡­hahaha hahaha" Said Hope as she started to laugh wildly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ************ Haruki was really getting annoyed by Koren''s dodging, in his anger, he tossed one of the massive boulders directly towards Koren. He thought Koren would try to dodge again, but instead he directly attacked the boulder. He was sure the fight was already over, so he decided to throw the remainder of the first massive boulder away. Just as he was about to, he saw Koren shatter the boulder, but before he could even decide his next move, Koren spread his palms toward his direction and made a grabbing motion. Haruki felt something grab hold of his feet, and before he could react, Koren spread his arms wide, and as a result, Haruki performed his first perfect split. For a moment all the blood from his body rushed towards his loins, his eyes opened wide and he started foaming from his mouth, before the world went dark. ************ Ipnak was expecting to see a good sparring match, but never in his dreams did he expect such an outcome. He ran towards Haruki and pushed away the boulder about to fall over his head. He looked over to see Little Enri holding her mouth, trying to keep her laughter contained. And Koren over on the other side, with his eyes closed again, as if revising the battle that just took place. Koren was standing still. The sparring match pushed Koren to test his limits, to try to understand what It means to ''see'' through the earth. Koren could see himself, he could see Enri, Haruki, Chief Ipnak and even some of the immediate structures surrounding the training field. "Not a bad view, huh" Said Hope, seeing through Koren senses. "Yes, I never knew the earth was so ''Alive''" said Koren as he opened his eyes. Koren looked towards Haruki, and finally realized how mean his actions were. His face flushed red with embarrassment as he sprinted towards Haruki. The chief, who was holding Haruki, looked at Koren. "That was masterfully done Koren, did Kafai teach you to dodge like that?" asked Ipnak. "Yes!, he did" replied Koren as if someone was standing on his tail. Ipnak looked at the passed out Haruki and sighed. "Well this is what happens when you let your arrogance guide you. Haruki was clearly the stronger one in this fight, and I was expecting a close match or a draw. This was an unexpected surprise." Said Chief Ipnak as he sent a slap across Haruki''s face, making him wake up. "Rafa Pie!!" Screamed Haruki as he tried to bite the chiefs hand off. "You lost brother fatty, Koren beat you, just like I said so" said Enri as she barely managed to contain her laughter. "I''m sorry senior brother, I got caught up in the fight, and didn''t realize¡­" said Koren before being interrupted by Haruki. "Its fine kid, I''m not a sore loser, I accept my defeat. But next time I will win, or I will stop eating for a week. Well maybe not a week, let''s make it a day, just in case." Said Haruki with a chuckle. "Well, now that your all healed up down there, lets continue the training." Said chief Ipnak as he let go of Haruki. "Ahh, I think the pain is coming back, I need to go and rest" retorted Haruki, flailing on the ground like a fish. "OK, ok, no training for you, but you still have to stay for the whole session, you can''t avoid it." Said the chief, finally giving in to Haruki. "Enri, now its your turn, come here and show me what you can do" said the chief as he turned towards Enri. Enri blushed, this would be the first time, that she actively tried to use her earth spiritualist abilities, after that incident with her brothers. She looked over at Koren, who gave her a thumbs up, and smiled. She stomped on the ground, watching it crack, and with a simple gesture, caused the earth to encase her legs and start to pull her in. "Um, that''s all I know. Please teach me more" Said Enri with her nose tilted towards the sky. Ipnak smiled, he had heard how she had almost completely buried her brothers, it seems she knew what she was doing. "Well that''s very impressive for your first time Enri, you have a lot of potential, I''m sure that in time you will become very strong." Said Ipnak encouragingly. "I just want to be strong like Koren and Uncle Sappa" said Enri gleefully. "OK now, Haruki, you will teach Enri the basics while I teach Koren about the finer details of Spiritual cultivation." Said the chief as he patted Enri on the head and gave Haruki a glare. "Sure, sure. I can be a role model too. Hey pipsqueak, if you want to be strong the secret is eating lots of yummy food¡­ uhh I mean lots of hard work." said Haruki as he saw the chief stomp the ground with his foot. "Follow me Koren" Said Ipnak as he walked toward the far end of the training field. "I wonder what he''s going to teach me" Said Koren excitedly as he followed on with Hope quietly floating over his head. 11 Transformation "Koren, who performed the harmonization ceremony for you when you turned 10, was it Kafai" Asked Chief Ipnak, as the two were walking. "Um yes." Replied Koren with some hesitation, he didn''t like it when he had to lie to people who were good to him. "Did he tell you why we attempt harmonization only after our 10th birthday?" asked Chief Ipnak as he came to a stop. "No, Grandpa and I only trained in the basics." Said Koren as he remembered his grandfather. Koren was born with wind, not earth. His Grandfather tried his best to teach him, but it was very difficult for him to make progress, due to the lack of wind spirits in the desert. "As you know, harmonization is the process when we are accepted by the spirits and we welcome the spirits into our Spiritual Core. The more spirits we can fuse, the higher our harmonization. Our spiritual cores are very fragile, and only when we turn 10 years old, are they mature enough to attempt fusion." Said Ipnak as he started walking again. "But what is harmonization, why does it allow us to fight someone with a higher level. The truth is, harmonization increases our ability to control the elements, as well as our capacity to hold spiritual power. That is why someone who''s level is higher will almost always win." Said Ipnak. "We humans lack the proper resources to cultivate in the spiritual path, in the Raavi empire, children who cultivate the spiritual path have troves of spiritual shards at their disposal, they are able to cultivate faster than you can imagine." Said Ipnak in a pitiful tone. "Harmonization provides balance and control, while level provides power and versatility. However, this only exists till level 10, because after reaching level 10, we get the opportunity to harmonize again. Our spiritual cores expand and transform, allowing us to reach the incarnation realm" said Ipnak, as his body started to grow, and his skin started to get a grainy texture, like sand. "During the incarnation realm one must make a choice, and choose a spiritual beast shard. The shard is not used for cultivation but for fusion. It fuses with the spiritual core of the cultivator, allowing them to harness all of the spiritual beasts gifts as their own. I chose the sand badger, giving me a thick sand Armor, sharp claws, an extremely strong sense of smell underground, along with unrivaled speed in the sand." said the Chief as his whole body grew thicker, his nose elongated, and two dark streaks appeared over his eyes and cheeks. Koren was shocked, the chief had completely transformed into a monster. Koren now understood why the chief brought him away from the others, such a sight would most likely frighten the faint of heart like Enri. "The incarnation realm is not a secret, but it is rare in the Goliath desert. Your grandfather''s incarnation was the iron scaled Mammoth, an extremely rare spiritual beast." Said chief Ipnak with clear regret in his eyes. "However, 14 years ago, the sword keeper came to him for help. Me, the other chieftains and your grandfather decided to hide him from his enemy, but we failed. The enemy managed to track us down, and killed the sword keeper. However your grandfather managed to secure the sword, but he was severely injured, his incarnation collapsed. In the end we managed to kill the enemy, but one of the village chiefs also died." Said Chief Ipnak, his voice full of sorrow and regret. "You managed to reach level 5 at such a young age, I have no doubt you will reach level 10 before Haruki, perhaps even earlier than Sappa." Said the village chief as he started to get smaller, and all the changes disappeared one by one, until he looked like a regular desert human. Koren, had never seen a human transform like this, and the idea that his grandfather was also capable of a similar feat made him feel as if he didn''t really know his grandfather all too well. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "This makes sense, the spiritual path is like the worlds default cultivation system, mainly made for its spiritual beasts. If an intelligent creature like humans, Raavi or Draconian''s want to practice it, they must rely on the Spiritual beasts in some way." Said Hope in an inquisitive manner. "Why didn''t grandfather tell me any of this, why are you telling me now Chief." Asked Koren. "Your grandfather had his reasons, as for me, I don''t want my new pupil to make a mistake in cultivation." Said Ipnak with a smile. Koren understanding the chiefs meaning, immediately knelt down on one knee. "Teacher!!" shouted Koren. ************ Thousands of miles away, on an icy field stood a human woman, she had glistening silver hair, aqua blue eyes and pale skin. This woman wore a thick animal fur dress, she had an air about her, an air of someone wild and free. This woman was staring straight ahead, her eyes were calm, but her stance was full of danger. Far into the distance on the opposite side of this field of ice stood her opponent. The woman had her sword out in her hand, thick frosty essence rolling off the blade. "Ahhhh" Yelled the woman, her whole body started to undergo a transformation, gem-like icy scales appeared over her body, a tail appeared and her hands turned into claws. Two very distinct horns appeared over her head. If anyone else saw her at this time, they would mistake her form for a draconian. The woman''s opponent, was not a human, but a pure blood draconian, with thick dark azure scales, golden Armor with the insignia of a feathered snake swallowing its own tail. This was the Insignia of the Draco Kingdom, and gold could only be worn by royalty. This was a battle between a human woman and a draconian royal. The draconian royal blinked and the woman had already disappeared, his eyes turned into slits and he could see the woman sprinting towards him, everywhere she passed, the air itself would freeze. In but a single breaths time, she had managed to clear the distance of over a kilometer, and was squarely in front of the draconian royal. "Argent Moon" shouted the woman as she reached her opponent and her sword came slashing down. The draconian royal didn''t dodge, he simply rolled his fist forward and screamed "Burn!!". His fist made contact with the sword and an explosion of fire and ice made both the woman and the draconian royal roll back. The royal checked his fists and he could see a cut on his knuckles. He couldn''t believe he had bled. "Ahhhh" he shouted as his body also started to undergo a transformation. His azure dark scales were now azure gold, he yanked his Armor off and wings sprouted from his back. A fire ejected from his nostrils, as he lunged forward slashing towards the human with his claws. The woman was not flustered, her lustrous gem like figure kept dodging all of the draconian''s attacks with ease. Every time she slashed with her sword, she would leave a bloody mark on the royals body. The draconian royal was mad with rage, his two wings started to flap vigorously and his feet were lifted off the ground. He stared at the human from above, his golden pupils filled with not cruelty, but love. Yes love, because his human opponent was not his enemy, but someone he cared for immensely. "Why must we do this, Ukara. You know how I feel about you. So what if you were born a human, your incarnation is the legendary frost dragon, while mine is the fire dragon, we were meant to be together." "If you stay here, you will never reach the transformation realm. Your essence path has already reached its limit, join me and I will help you seek out the path artifact of Halfrist." yelled the draconian royal, his voice filled with rage and hope. "You will leave, and never return. This is your final warning." Said the woman in an icy voice, her face, expressionless. "Ukara, you are the lord of a great human city, if you continue to reject me, my forces will come with full force." Said the Draconian royal, his voice was calm, but his face was fully distorted. "Crown Prince Elmar, you can try, I am not afraid of a fight. And just so you know, I am a human, and will never surrender my freedom to you or anyone else." said Ukara as her body started to get larger, and icy wings sprouted from her back. Her frame continued to get larger, until it dwarfed the transformed stage of the draconian crown prince. "Y..y¡­you managed to reach the transformation realm. How is that possible?" shouted the prince in complete shock, as he stared at the massive and majestic frost dragon in front of him. "Tell me prince, can you afford to lose your life here in the icy mountains" said Ukara, who had transformed into a giant frost dragon. The prince, who had an ugly expression on his face, didn''t reply, but simply turned around, and flew away at top speed. The massive dragon started to shrink, its wings, scales, tail and claws all retreated, and once more a human woman was standing in the icy field, a thick icy mist surrounding her naked body. She waved her hand and a sword appeared with a bag tied to it. She took out some fur clothing from the bag and put it on, then she looked north and disappeared. 12 Chaotic Elmar''s wings started to retreat as he touched down on the garrison''s city wall. His tail and scales also retreated and his horns shortened. "Your Highness, I''m assuming the talk didn''t go well" said a woman in a thick fur coat, as she approached Elmar from one of the towers. The woman had draconian features, however, she lacked the classic feature of draconian scales under the eyelids. "Eliza, why ask a question, when you already know the answer." Muttered the Draconian Crown prince Elmar, as his transformation back to normal form completed. The woman named Eliza looked at the crown prince, his bare chest full of wounds. She Immediately handed him the leather robe she had prepared in advance. Elmar looked at the wounds he sustained from Ukara''s sword, the frost essence preventing them from fully healing, he grabbed the robe and put it on. "She defeated me in open combat. Her spiritual path was supposed to be at the incarnation realm like me. But somehow she managed to leapfrog the avatar realm and directly reached the transformation realm in one go. It should be impossible." Stated Elmar, his voice full of confusion. "Your highness, according to our spies in Frost City, Ukara once again visited the inheritance grounds of her ancestor, The Path Walker Halfrist. The first time she went in, she gained the Frost Dragon Shard, perhaps this time she gained something left by Halfrist, related to the Spiritual path." Said Erika in a nonchalant tone. "Whatever she gained from there increased her strength immensely. If I want to make her mine, I must succeed the throne, and gain the ancestors blood inheritance. What is the current state of my siblings." Asked the Prince. "The forth prince is currently headed towards the Goliath desert on a fool''s errand, and the 3rd prince and 2nd princess are still in the royal capital. However, the fifth prince has disappeared, he was last heard from during his trip to the Lantian Ocean." Replied Erika. "Send someone to the Goliath desert, I want to know what 4th brother is up to, and tell our spies in the capital to keep track of the whereabouts of my two siblings, and who they meet. As for fifth brother, leave him be, he has never been interested in the throne." Said Elmar as he turned towards the central spire. ************ In a large room, paved with stone and lit with hundreds of candles, sat a young woman. She was seated on mat in the very center of the room, her breathing heavy, blood trickling from the corner of her lips. "Uhhh" blurted Ukara as she felt an intense pain ripple through her spiritual core. Ukara was the daughter of Freyaz, the former lord of frost city, one of the 9 great human cities in the Icy Mountains of the Luna range. The Luna range was home to the descendants of Halfrist, her ancestor. It was a territory as large as the entire Draco kingdom, and although it shared a border with both the Draco Kingdom as well as the Raavi empire, it was barren and without any significant natural resources. Nevertheless, it was home to the humans, and it was also the perfect environment to practice the essence path. Her father Freyaz died while trying to complete the essence path, just like all the other great city lords before him, and she at the age of 16 became the new city lord of frost city. As the new city lord she was allowed to enter the inheritance ground of her ancestor Halfrist together with the other 8 city lords. She told everyone that she found the Frost dragon Shard in the inheritance ground, but that was a lie. The shard was given to her by her father, but he never explained its origins. "I pushed myself too hard, it may take a week for my core to heal" Said Ukara as she saw the state of her core. "but it is also a good thing, as that fool will finally stop chasing me for some time." Said Ukara as she stood up. "I''m already at the peak of the incarnation realm, using the dragon essence crystal to fool Elmar came at a cost, and I lost a level, but this is still better than the alternative." Said Ukara as she put on her robe and headed towards the exit, as she left, she released a wave of ice energy, putting out all the candles in the room. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ************ "You have to slowly absorb the energy from the shard, as most of it is bad for you, it''s too chaotic. Slowly circle the energy around your core, let it filter it for you." Said Chief Ipnak, as he watched his 3 disciples cultivate using Spirit Shards. "Seriously old man, when did you become so generous, you''ve only ever given me a shard every other week, and today you give out 5 spiritual shards to each of us. Don''t tell me you robbed the village coffers or something." Said Haruki with doubt and excitement. With this many shards he would be able to reach level 7 soon, maybe even half way to level 8. Enri was upset, this was her first time seeing a spiritual shard. She was still having trouble visualizing her core, so she hadn''t even begun to absorb the energy it contained. "Enri, don''t be disappointed, you just have to concentrate, the Spiritual Core is a part of you, its not going anywhere" said Ipnak calmly as he sensed Enri''s aura. Koren too was having trouble, but his problems were not with sensing his core, he had that bit down with a little help from Hope. He had never directly absorbed energy from a spiritual shard before, as his grandpa was never able to acquire a wind type shard for him. He didn''t know that it actually contained two types of power, one being pure elemental power, and the other being energy with a chaotic nature. For others, Chaotic energy was invisible, but Koren could see it just as clearly as the earthen yellow spiritual energy. "hah, don''t worry Koren, I can clear all the chaotic energies for you, you can absorb the shards just by holding them in your hand for a minute." Said Hope as she saw Koren having trouble. "Thank you big sis, It''s a lot easier now" said Koren as he felt the energy become purer. "Oh and you should take a look at your display, I made some changes based on what Ipnak said yesterday. I think you will like them." Said Hope with a slight grin. Koren immediately activated the display, for a moment, the edge of his pupils glowed gold. Name: Koren Spiritual Path: Level 4(75%) {Realm: Spirit} Human Path: Level ?? {Realm: ??} Harmonization: None Elemental Power: 25 (Interchangeable) "T..This?" said Koren confused and shocked. "I not only changed the display, I even added to your body''s cultivation path. The so called human path is actually my idea of integrating the Dimensional core with your spiritual core. I''m sure this will allow you to create a new unique cultivation path." Said Hope with some excitement in her voice. "If I do that, won''t I lose the opportunity to cultivate the spiritual path?" asked Koren, obviously concerned. "Ahh Koren, the spiritual path is not your path, it''s the worlds path, it is only there to act as a guide. Just think about what Ipnak said, Draco and Halfrist both were born without the spiritual path, they created their cultivation systems on their own. You have the spiritual path as a guide, which is a huge advantage. Once we successfully establish the Human path, it will triumph every other path in existence." Said Hope with confidence. "However, I still think we should wait and see how the other paths are cultivated, I will learn from them, and then attempt to create my own path." said Koren. "Koren, slow down, you are taking in too much energy from the shard" said Ipnak after he noticed how quickly the shard was beginning to dim. "Sorry teacher, I will be more careful." Said Koren as he slowed his absorption down. "Patience is key when using spiritual shards for cultivation. If you are too hasty, your core will absorb the chaotic energy, and there''s no going back from there." Said the Chief. "I did it, I can visualize my Spiritual core." Said Enri excitedly. "Good job Enri, now that you can finally visualize your core, I will help you with the purification and absorption of the spiritual shard''s energy." Said Ipnak as he walked over to Enri and put his palm over her head. Koren could see the flow of Energy inside Enri''s body, he could see the energy being filtered out with the chiefs help, but then he saw the colorless chaotic energy flow towards his body. Not just from Enri, but from Haruki as well. "Don''t be surprised Koren, this energy may be chaotic for others, but I can turn it into fuel for the Armor, since it can''t function on regular elemental energy." Said Hope as she felt Koren''s confusion. "The Guardian Armor''s power reserves were almost zero back when you first activated it. Now they are around 0.00000011 percent. "Said Hope as she reassured Koren. "This is too slow, we can''t train properly in front of others or they will think you''re a freak. Tonight we will go and look for Spiritual beasts, and use their shards to practice." Said Hope, showcasing her displeasure at Koren slow cultivation. "Good job Enri, you need to eject the chaotic energy out of your body, it''s like a poison, if it stays in too long, it can cause irreparable damage" Said Ipnak as he felt the chaotic energy leave Enri''s body. "Teacher, can I take the shards with me to practice on my own." Asked Koren. "No, you mustn''t absorb the energy from a shard without me around, as I could help if any issues arise. You''re to inexperience Koren, cultivation deviation is a huge problem." Replied Ipnak, however just as he was about to continue reprimanding Koren, Sappa walked in. "Teacher, We have received replies from the two other villages, they will restock their reserves and join us at the border 3 days from now." Said Sappa in a single breath. 13 Idea Koren left Chief Ipnak''s tent together with Enri and Haruki, after Sappa walked in. Haruki was in a particularly sour mood. "Big brother fatty is jealous of Uncle Sappa, he''s always like this when they meet." Enri whispered in Koren''s ear. "I can hear you, you little pipsqueak. I''m surprised how Kaph lets you walk all over him." said Haruki as he glared at Enri. "Enri, you shouldn''t say that about senior brother." Said Koren with a tone of disapproval. "Yeh, she should call him chubs, I came up with that nickname, haha haha." said Hope as she liked to see Haruki get mad. "Big sis!!." Yelled Koren at Hope who was laughing, as she hovered over his head. "ah come on Koren they can''t hear me anyways." Said Hope trying to defend herself. "but I can hear you." said Koren disapprovingly. "You know Koren, I always forget how young and innocent you are. Fine, I will try my best to be nice." said Hope, finally giving in to Koren. Haruki looked over at Koren who had just reprimanded Enri. "Good job kid, you know what. How about I treat you to some food. Let''s go to Sumi''s inn, they have the best food in the desert." Said Haruki as he started to rub his belly. "What about me?" asked Enri in her pixie voice. Haruki looked at Enri who was starring at him with her eyes wide open. "You''re not invited." he said strictly. "OK, I suppose I will tell sister Sumi you were mean to me." Said Enri in a nonchalant tone. "You little¡­ OK, fine. You can come, but not a word from your mouth." Said Haruki as he finally fell for Enri''s trick. ************ The sun set and the moon rose in its place, its light reflecting off the sandy grains. Uther, was sitting in a pit surrounded by dark flames. His draconian scales were shimmering with excitement, and his breath was getting more and more heavy. He stayed in that state for hours, the dark fire had a hint of green in it now. "That''s enough for tonight." muttered Uther as his breathing slowed and the dark flames retreated back into his body. Uther walked back to the camp, and as he approached the gate he could see Andre standing next to the guards station waiting for him. "Sir, the Prince will be arriving tomorrow. What are your orders" Asked Andre with his head down in respect. "I am no longer your commander, the prince will take over the battalion, I am a lieutenant now, the same as you." Said Uther as he walked towards his tent "Sir, with all due respect, the 4th prince has no military experience, his strength is also only subpar, he is not qualified to take ''Your'' position of commander." Said Andre, as he quietly followed behind Uther. Uther stopped in his footsteps and without turning around said "Andre, who are you working for." Andre was surprised, he looked up at Uther. "It''s like the princess said, you are quite perceptive Sir. What gave me away." Asked Andre. "I''ve been testing your loyalty since the moment you were assigned, needless to say, you failed every time. I''ve known you to be a spy, just not whose. However, now it seems Princess Elena is the one who won you over." Said Uther as he turned around to look at Andre. "Sir, I have always had the highest respect for you, and so does the princess. The 4th prince doesn''t deserve your loyalty. If you support the 3rd Princess, she will support your appointment to the vacant position in generals Council." Said Andre as he reached into his robe and took out a sealed letter. Uther took the letter from Andre, looked at the seal, turned and continued to walk towards his tent. ************ "Ahhh, they''re finally asleep, get up Koren, we need to go." said Hope as Kaph and Torp finally started to snore. Koren had already prepared to sneak out at night, and was just waiting for Kaph and Torp to stop bickering and start snoring. "I Know." said Koren as he got up, took his bag that he had prepared in advance, and walked out. Koren slowly made his way to the village wall. The village wall was made from solid soil rock, it was made using earth elemental spiritualist abilities, hence it was very strong. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. As Koren reached the wall, he changed his points to wind, and concentrated the wind power below him. He jumped over the wall silently, without alerting the village guards on night duty. As he reached the other side he looked at Hope at his side and asked "Now, where do we go big sis." "Head east, I have an idea." Said Hope with a lively smile. "OK, but how are we going to find spiritual Beasts, we don''t know the regions where they usually appear." Said Koren as he started to sprint east. "That''s where I come in, don''t worry as soon as we are far enough from the village, we''ll find the spirit beasts." Said Hope. Koren kept running till he couldn''t see the village anymore. "This should be far enough big sis." Said Koren as he came to a stop. "Yep, now let me work my magic." said Hope as she smiled. Koren felt it, the feeling of losing control, liquid metal creeping out from his body. He started to get taller, the metal was all the way up to his neck now. The metal started to solidify, and the Armor was finally complete. "Koren, you look so handsome, I can see lots of pretty ladies chasing after you when you grow up." Said Hope as she brought out a hologram of Koren in the Armor for him to see. Koren was shocked, for a moment he thought he saw his father ''Ken''. However, the grown up version of him looked much taller than his father, he had his mother''s dark eyes, and he kept his sharp brows. Koren looked at Hope and smiled. "Big sis we need to stop playing around, I can''t be gone all night or someone will know I left" said Koren in a serious tone. "OK, OK, fine. Geez, I''m supposed to be the elder sister in this situation." said Hope. "Koren, I need you to calm down, I''m going to use an ultrasonic radar to search for any underground cavities, we are going to find out where the sand beasts live. If we can find them, then there will probably be some Spiritual beasts among them, like their leaders." Said Hope as metal started to creep up on Koren''s face and solidified as his helmet. The display turned on, and numbers started to pop up. ''¡­beep¡­loading core AI¡­Command accepted¡­HOPE¡­beep¡­'' ''¡­power reserves sufficient¡­ loading utilities menu¡­beep¡­'' Koren saw a menu pop up with a whole range of images, information kept being pumped into his head from the network and soon he knew what each one was and how they worked. "Will the ultrasonic radar work, the Armor can activate it, but with its low reserves its range will be affected." said Koren in an inquisitive tone. "Don''t worry, I made some modifications for efficiency, it''ll work." said Hope as she closed her eyes. Koren raised his right arm at the same time as Hope raised hers, an instrument appeared. It looked like a glowing ring, to others it would look strange, but Koren was connected to the network, and he already knew what he had to do. "Now Koren activate it, I''m done with the modifications, so the range should be around 20.7 kilometers, but just to be safe, keep the range to 20, we only need to find the caverns." Said Hope. Koren, looked at the display and willed the control sequence to appear, and it did. He set the range, and activated the device. Koren heard a ''ting'' sound, and the sand under his feat moved just a tiny bit, and then a second later he heard the sound again. "Ahh, there''s nothing here." said Hope in a clearly disappointed tone. "Keep activating it intermittently as you move, I''m sure we will find something." Said Hope. "OK Big sis." said Koren as he started to run. The rush he felt while running in the Armor was immense, he couldn''t help but scream out. "Woohoo." yelled Koren as the scenery in front of him kept changing. "Easy there Koren, use wind to run, we don''t want the Armor to lose any more power." Said Hope as she noticed the energy usage. Koren stopped immediately and just as he was about to apologize to Hope, he paused. Koren turned to Hope and said "Big sis I have an idea." "Oh, do tell. I like that my genius is beginning to rub off on you Koren." Said Hope excitedly. "Big sis what if I use my elemental sense, in conjunction with the ultrasonic radar." said Koren with excitement. "Koren, the Armor can''t use your elemental power, it runs on electrical power, electrons flowing through a closed circuit." Said Hope with obvious disappointment. "But big sis, I''m not saying it has to use my elemental power, the ultrasonic radar uses sound to pierce through the ground and gives us an image of the condition down there using the echo. The sound needs to cross a layer of earth to reach down there, so if I use my power to reduce the friction it will face when going down, won''t that increase its range even with the low power usage." said Koren in a single breath, making sure he didn''t miss anything. "Whoa, that''s genius, and it just might work. Actually if I''m right, with the talent you showed during that sparring session, we can triple the range." Said Hope with obvious excitement. 14 Gem "Whoa, that''s genius, and it just might work. Actually if I''m right, with the talent you showed during that sparring session, we can triple the range." Said Hope with clear excitement. "OK big sis, I''m going to start now. "said Koren as he knelt down and put his left hand on the sand. Koren changed all of his elemental points to earth, and concentrated it on his left. He then put his right hand, the one with the ultrasonic instrument, on the sand as well. "Here goes nothing." Said Koren as he closed his eyes and started to ''see'' the earth. He activated the instrument, as it gave off a ping sound, followed by another after a second, representing the ultrasonic image completed rendering. "Nice Koren the range was extended, but only by 5 km, you need to concentrate on the earth and leave the radar to me." Said Hope as her form super imposed on Koren. Koren concentrated only on the earth, and tried to use his earth elemental power to reduce the friction the sound will face when going down. ''¡­ping¡­ping¡­'' "Oh my, Koren we found the caverns. The range this time was 65 kilometers, you did it." Said Hope as she started to jump up and down in glee. "I can see it Big sis" said Koren as he started to inspect the 3d render of the underground caverns. The caverns were a web of underground tunnels, they seemed endless. Koren noticed a few red dots in some of the tunnels. "Big sis, are those the locations of the Sand beasts, or the spiritual beasts." Asked Koren looking concerned. "Not sure, the radar can only differentiate if something is alive or not, we would need more power to activate more sophisticated instruments to detect the exact type of creature. For now we can only try this approach." Replied Hope. "OK big sis, I can use the earth elemental spiritual power to make myself sink underground, but what if they are stronger than me. I mean, I don''t exactly have an advantage when fighting underground." Said Koren "Don''t worry, the Armor will pick up their levels, as soon as we are within a kilometer of them." Said Hope reassuringly. "But what if they are a lot stronger than me, I won''t be able to escape." Asked Koren with obvious worry. "Oh Koren, You are wearing the most advanced Guardian Armor ever made. Don''t forget it kind of used to be my body, I know what its capable of even in its current state. I would never ask you to go down here if I thought you could get hurt." Replied Hope, her voice full of confidence. "Now Koren, its time." said Hope as her turned to mist and she appeared on Koren''s helmet display. "OK then, here we go." Said Koren as the sand started to pull him in. ************ In a dark room, slightly lit with glowing blue crystals embedded in the icy roof, stood eight statues carved out of ice. "My Lady, the connection is ready, you can speak." Said a woman as she and her helper''s bowed. Ukara stepped forth and gestured with her hand to be left alone. The woman looked up at the Lord of frost city, Ukara Halfrist, and nodded, she gestured her assistants to follow her and walked out of the room. Ukara looked at the statues, which at this point had started to glow as bright as the crystals overhead. "Why was I called." Said Ukara in a nonchalant tone. "Little Princess, you should have heeded the words of the council, I can''t stand up for you now." Said the 3rd statue. "Thank you Uncle Rolf, but I don''t need the councils permission to do what is right." said Ukara, her voice calm, her demeanor fierce. "Lord Ukara, we have convened this meeting to decide your punishment, for your reckless actions on the flat plains." Said the 4th statue, in an assertive tone. "Yes, yes. You reckless woman, you should have just let the crown prince make a fool of himself. The Draconian''s would never dare to attack the 9 great cities when they have the Raavi to worry about. But, but you, YOU!!, you actually used the dragon essence crystal. You rogue!!" Said the 8th statue, in a scurried tone, with a distinct stutter. "Hmm, indeed. Your actions were not in line with our doctrine." Said the 1st statue, in a kind but inquisitive tone. Ukara, who at this point was looking at the 4th statue spoke. "Lord Anso, I did what was right, what you were too afraid to do." "We humans, as a race, have been stuck in a vicious cycle of neglect and ignorance. When are we going to realize, that the status quo is not permanent. Every single Lord of Frost city since it was first established in the wild ages, has attempted to complete the essence path and died in its pursuit. No lord has lived past the age of 30, my father included. Numerous Lords, may I ask, how old are all of you." Said Ukara as she turned to all the statues. "Ukara, its more complicated than you think, we had our city to take care of, our descendants." Said the 3rd statue, in an apologetic tone. "Lord Ukara, your father was a great man, and he gave his life up for the betterment of the human race. But he also left you in charge of Frost City at the age of 16. You were not ready for such a huge responsibility, and the actions you have taken on the flat plains are proof that you have learned nothing over the last 10 years. Your actions have jeopardized all 9 great cities." Said the 4th statue, its voice flustered and defensive. "Lord Anso, since my ancestor, first discover the ''Gem'', buried in the heart of the colossus glacier on which this city was built, we have been busy studying its power." "100 years ago we finally found a way to use our essence and blood from powerful spiritual beasts to create the essence crystals. Since then we have made so many leaps in perfecting the technique, and 2 days ago I proved that the essence crystal can help us promote our spiritual path cultivation by 2 whole levels for a brief amount of time." "This discovery can change the dynamic of power, and finally help us gain a foot hold. Why, why must we continue to hide. All of you are only worried about your people, but what about our people, the millions of human slaves in the draconian kingdom, the millions of humans living on the dregs of the Raavi. What about them, or do they not matter." Said Ukara, her voice calm, but loud enough to move the statues from their bases. "What I did in the flat plains was only a demonstration, the Draconian Kingdom now knows that we are in possession of something that can increase our battle capabilities. I intend to mass create the essence crystals, and spread them to the human warriors outside the Luna range. I am not asking, I am telling this council of my plans." Said Ukara as she turned around to walk away. "You bitch, I¡­I will not let you ruin us. If you do this, then¡­then I will stop you. The Gem belongs to all of us, not just your frost city." yelled the 8th statue, its voice not having any effect as Ukara walked away. "It seems we have to act." Said the 4th statue after Ukara left the room. "let me speak to her, I will arrive in frost city in a weeks'' time and try to change her mind." Said the 3rd statue. "Rolf, she is too headstrong, just like her father, she won''t listen to reason. However, I know Freyaz was your friend, so I will give you the chance, but if you fail, we will act. Is everyone in agreement." Said the 4th statue as it looked at all the others. After 7 distinct sound of ''Aye'', the statues finally started to go back to normal blocks of carved ice, faceless and blunt. ************ "Ah, reminds me of the good old days, back then this world was mostly volcanoes and oceans. I had so much fun exploring, I often used to bury myself underground to search for exotic matter." Said Hope with a sigh as Koren was slowly being dragged down underground. "Big sis, weren''t you lonely. I mean you were the only intelligent creature around." Asked Koren, while using his earth elemental power to sink further. "Well, yeah Koren, it does kind of get lonely, but you know I had a mission. The United Earth Defense Force was my home, my mother raised me there for 7 Sol Cycles, that''s around 5.4 years on this worlds time, and trillions of years for an AI like me. I had an intense desire to get back." Said Hope, as her eyes started to get misty. "Big sis, I''m sorry, I shouldn''t have asked." Said Koren apologetically. "No, no. Koren you have nothing to apologize for. As my mother used to say, everything happens for a reason, although I can''t prove that mathematically, but I still feel comfort hearing those words. You and I are together now, one day, I will take you to Earth, and show you the wonders of the 33rd century." Said Hope in a nurturing tone. "Big sis we are close, we will enter one of the tunnels soon, and there''s a red dot nearby." Said Koren as he closed the 3d render. "Koren, look at your display, this one is strong" said Hope with worry and excitement. Koren quickly looked at the stats for the red dot. Name: Sand Serpent, Type: Earth, Level:9, Harmonization Level:6 Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 15 Wild Name: Sand Serpent, Type: Earth, Level:9, Harmonization Level:6 "Its stronger than the Sand Crocodile I fought before. We''re lucky that we ran into a spiritual beast from the get go, but how are we going to defeat it." Asked Koren. "As long as you are in the Armor, you''re safe from any serious damage. However, I had to turn off the inertial dampeners to save power, so be careful of being thrashed around, but we should be clear from any piercing damage." replied Hope. As Koren continued to drop, he felt his feet touch something hard, like a rock layer. "It''s probably the outer wall, we need to break in." recommended Hope. Koren concentrated all of the earth element spiritual power under his feet, and forced his way through. "Ahh." Yelled Koren as he fell through, and continued to fall for a whole minute, before he finally felt the ground under him again. "Activate the Kino." Said Hope. "OK." Replied Koren, as he brought up the Armor Utilities menu and activated the Kino cam system. Balls of liquid metal started to coagulate around his arms till they detached and turned into round balls with a camera and flash light of sorts. A total of 30 Kino''s came out from the Armor and lighted up the whole tunnel. Koren looked up at the roof, it was at least a kilometer high, no wonder he kept falling for around a minute. "Sand Serpent, straight ahead. I think it noticed us, get ready Koren." Said Hope as her form appeared in the tunnel, right next to one of the Kino''s. "I''m ready Big sis." Replied Koren with zest and vigor. "Great, I''m sending half of the Kino''s out to explore this place" Said Hope as 15 Kino''s assembled themselves next to her before spreading out through the tunnels. The other half simply turned into miniature lights bulbs, making the dark tunnel system light up. Koren saw the sand serpent slithering over with speed, it was going so fast that he was sure he couldn''t out run it even if he changed all of his spiritual power points to wind. "I need a weapon." Said Koren. "No problem, just bring up the weapons menu." Replied Hope. "Wait, there''s a weapons menu, how come you didn''t tell me about that before." Asked Koren as he brought up the weapons menu, and chose sharp swords mounted on his arms. The front of his arms turned liquid before turning into dual swords. "You never asked." Replied Hope playfully. The Serpent rushed at Koren, its mouth wide open, its mighty fangs at full display. It was as if it was trying to swallow Koren in one bite. Koren didn''t dodge. Instead he jumped right into its mouth. The Serpent thought that this strange creature was dumb and wanted to be eaten, it swallowed Koren without hesitation. Just as the Serpent was about to let out a burp, and be on its way, it felt a sudden intense pain. It wanted to look back to the part of its body where that pain originated, but it was already too late. The light in its eyes retreated and the Serpent fell. "Ah, Koren, that was so gross." Said Hope as she held her nose. Koren was coved in a slimy liquid, probably the serpents innards. The serpents body was laid out, cut up in several large pieces. "It did the job. You have to stop being so sissy big sis." Replied Koren as he began to approach the serpents head section. Its body had already started to harden, and after half a minute, the whole thing turned into sand. "You know Koren, the Armor not only affects your body''s chemistry, but also your brains chemistry. It continues to make modifications to your biology till you are a perfect match with it." Said Hope as she noticed the change in Koren''s behavior. "Big sis, I know it changes me, but I also know that it''s a good change. I''m more agile and alert, it can save my life and help me grow stronger." Said Koren as he looked down at the shiny shard laid out where the serpents head was moments before, he knelt down and grabbed it. "Well that''s number 1, but we probably need more." said Koren as he wondered where to put the Shard. The Armor layer on his hand turned into liquid and absorbed the shard, surprising Koren. "Don''t worry, it will store and purify the shards for you till you figure out what to do with them." Said Hope before Koren had the opportunity to ask. "Well, the Kino''s have been going about the tunnel system, and they found a few Spiritual beasts that you can handle." Said Hope. "OK, lets hunt" replied Koren in a tone of excitement. ************ Uther began to read the letter that he got from Andre. It was addressed to him from the 3rd Princess Elena Draco. Uther put the letter down and walked over to a desk, laid out with flasks of a red liquid. Uther poured the red liquid in a cup and drank a mouthful after which he started to laugh like mad. "Haha Haha haha." He continued to laugh till his cup was empty. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Ah, they all believe me to be a tool, to be used when needed, and discarded after its purpose has been fulfilled. But I am no tool, I am a Draco, in my veins flows royal blood." Murmured Uther as a dark flame appeared in his hand. If anyone saw this flame, they could tell that there was a hint of green in it, and what appeared to be a face, a human face. "I will play your game princess, for now." Said Uther as he sent a single ember flying towards the letter. ************ Koren dashed to the side to dodge. The Earth Rhino was the type of beast that like to hammer its opponent with its horn. Koren jumped back and prepared his blade, he sprinted headfirst, and tried to pierce its neck. "It''s Armor is too thick Koren, we need a different approach." Said Hope as she saw sparks flying from where Koren stabbed. The beast, thrashed about randomly, and finally hit Koren with its hind leg. Koren was sent flying back as he felt a huge force almost cave his chest in. "ahhh, that was unpleasant." Said Koren as he tried to get a breather. "Get up Koren, its coming back." Yelled Hope as the Earth Rhino set its gaze back on its prey. Koren could see madness in its eyes. "What''s wrong with this thing, it just won''t give up" said Koren, noticing the Rhino''s constant loud shrieks. "Puaahh" screeched the beast as it rushed Koren, who was still laid out on the ground after the last thrashing. With its thick metallic skin shining under the Kino''s light, it rapidly appeared over Koren, and just as it was about to bash his head with its legs, Koren dodged to the right. Koren changed all of his points to earth and concentrated them on his right leg, and sent it flying toward the beasts belly. "Puaahh" screamed the beast. "Its hurt, target its belly." Said Hope as she directed the Kino''s to project a sort of target on the Rhinos belly. "Got it" replied Koren as he dodged the beast tails, which was about to lash him, and sent another kick. The Earth Rhino howled, but its madness prevailed, its legs thrashed around, its eyes bloodshot, its yells louder and louder. Koren continued to use earth element spiritual energy to repeatedly kick the beasts belly, he noticed his points starting to decrease. After 10 mins, only 14 points were left, the battle continued for 20 mins till the beast finally fell. Near the end, Koren only had 7 points left. "Finally, it''s dead. Although you didn''t pierce its Armor, but your repeated kicks turned its insides into mush." Said Hope as she saw the red spots on the beasts belly. "How come it was so strong, its level was 9, and its harmonization was only 3. Overall its stats were the same as the sand crocodile." Asked Koren, confusion prevalent in his voice. "I don''t know either, but one thing I can tell, is that this shouldn''t have happened." Replied Hope. The Earth Rhinos body started to harden, and turned into sand. Koren approached the region of its head and picked up the shard. "That''s number 17. Big sis this should be enough, we don''t want to be gone for the whole night" said Koren as the Armor stored the shard. "Koren, look over there, what''s that?" said Hope as she pointed at the region where the beasts belly should have been. Koren looked over to see a shiny metallic ingot of sorts laid out. Koren walked over and bent down to grab the ingot. "Wait Koren." Yelled Hope just as Koren''s hand was about to touch the ingot. "Did you notice the beasts, behavior. All the other beasts were cautious when fighting us, they were even somewhat intelligent, but this thing fought without any concern for its life, like it was in pain, and wanted some one to end it." Said Hope inquisitively. "Use the Geo Sampler to see what this thing is." Said Hope in a cautious tone. Koren used the utilities menu to find the Geo Sampler, it wasn''t an external tool, but a default tool of his Armor, that Hope had shut down to preserve power. The Geo sampler sent a wave of light from the Armor and scanned the ingot. "Oh My, this thing is pure chaotic energy, no wonder that Earth Rhino had gone mad, this thing may increase its strength but it would drive it crazy." Said Hope with excitement and fear. " Chaotic energy, isn''t that useful for the Armor?" Asked Koren. "Yes Koren, we can use this thing to fill up the Armor with enough power to turn on most of its passive instruments." Replied Hope with obvious delight. "However, this thing is obviously a part of a bigger piece, if we can find the rest of it, maybe we can push the Armor even further." Said Hope as she looked at Koren with a smile. "Uhh, big sis we have to go back to the village, or someone will notice we were gone." Said Koren. "OK, fine. But can we keep some of the Kino''s here, they will run on search mode, the power requirements will be minimal, and they will only do reconnaissance. Next time we come here, they will have mapped several hundred kilometers of this underground maze." Asked Hope. "That''s fine Big sis, now lets store this thing, and head back to the village." Replied Koren as he grabbed hold of the ingot, letting the Armor absorb and store it. 16 Repulsors "So big sis, how do we leave this place, I''m almost out of earth element spiritual power." Koren asked Hope as he looked at his own stats. Name: Koren Spiritual Path: Level 5(23%) {Realm: Spirit} Human Path: Level ?? {Realm: ??} Harmonization: None Elemental Power: 7 (Interchangeable) "Don''t worry Koren, the Armor has enough power to get you out, it''s been purifying all the shards we collected so far." replied Hope. "The plasma repulsors should get you up to the tunnel ceiling, and we can blast our way up from the gap you left when coming down. The sand and soil should be softer there." Hope continued as Koren rushed back to where he fought the Sand Serpent. After running for a few minutes they were finally back. "I can see it, that should be where we fell from" said Koren as he pointed at the small gap in the solid tunnel ceiling. "Yep, now fire up those bad boys so we can get out of here." Said Hope, her attention on Koren''s back. Koren found the Armor''s Flight menu, and activated the plasma Repulsor jets. Koren felt his whole Armor bulk up, the servos in his wrists made a jerking sound and a small glowing triangle appeared. Angular Jets popped out of his back, perfectly moulded into the Armor. Koren could see the location of all the repulsors oh his Armor from his display, he felt confused immediately on how to fly. "Big sis, this all seems too complicated. I cant use any of¡­" said Koren but before he could finish Hope intervened. "I''m already on it kid." Said Hope with a small grin. Koren felt a rush of information in his head, he closed his eyes and nodded towards Hope. "Thank you big sis" said Koren as the network piled all the flight information into his head. "So the jets on the back are for propulsion and the smaller ones are for course correction." Said Koren, genuinely impressed at the armor''s flight capabilities. "Yep, the Armor was designed for outer space combat, so its flight function have been tuned for that environment, but that doesn''t mean it won''t function here as well." Said Hope in an informative tone. "OK big sis, Here goes nothing." said Koren as he activated the Repulsor jets ''Buzz'' The jets powered up and lifted Koren up with ease. 15 Kino''s that were following Koren around, helping him by lighting up the tunnels, converged on him and got absorbed by the Armor. "Lets go." Said Koren, as the jets fired at capacity and the Armor burst through the ceiling. ************ "It seems like no one noticed you were gone. If they knew, the whole village would be up, searching for you." Said Hope as Koren approached the village wall. "Shush, Big sis your being too loud." Said Koren as he deactivated the Armor, sending it back into his body. "Only you can hear me genius. Seriously Koren, does the Armor take away your brain cells as well." Said Hope, loudly. "Sorry big sis, I keep forgetting." Said Koren as he used wind to jump over the wall, silently landing on the other side. Koren made his way toward the twins tent, he made sure to avoid any village sentry''s using wind to distract them. The sentry''s were only ordinary warriors not spiritualists, it was easy for Koren to sneak in and out. "There it is, wait, some one''s there." Said Hope as she spotted someone close to the twins tent. "Oh, its Enri, it seems she got up early, and then came here to call for you. Go ahead, just tell her you went out for a walk." Said Hope as she winked toward Koren. Koren nodded his head side to side. "No big sis, it''s too dangerous, I can''t explain where I was if she tells someone, as no one saw me walking around." Said Koren. Koren silently approached the tent, and just as Enri was about to go in, he used his wind to send a gust of sand at her. "eeehh" yipped Enri as she turned around and ran back to her tent. "Oh you scared her Koren, how mean.'' Said Hope as Koren took advantage of the situation and rushed into the tent, he looked down to find the twins still laid out snoring freely. Koren put his bag away and got in his mattress. "big sis, I should be tired, but I feel really energetic, why is that." Asked Koren as he noticed he didn''t really feel like sleeping. "The Armor keeps you in perfect shape while you wear it, you wont feel sleepy for at least 20 hours from when you last wore it." Replied Hope. "Doesn''t that mean I would never have to sleep." Said Koren. "Not really, the Armor can only do this for 5 days till your mind starts to break apart, REM sleep is very important for all living creatures" said Hope, stressing the danger of staying awake. "oh, she''s back. This little girl doesn''t give up." Said Hope as she looked at the entrance. "It''s safe now, I will go out and greet her" said Koren as he got up and went towards the tents entrance. ************ Enri, was having a bad day, she got up early and decided to wake up Koren and ask him to help her train, but just as she was about to open the tent, the strangest thing happened. A miniature sand tornado appeared out of nowhere, and frightened her to tears. She thought it was the work of one of those shapeshifters her brothers always told her about. She ran back to her tent, and got one of her moms staffs. She went back to her brothers tent, with the staff tightly gripped in her hands. She held the staff up, ready to pounce on any shapeshifter that dared to scare her. As she approached the tent, she heard some thing from her back, she turned around to find it was nothing, just some wind. "Enri." Said a voice from her behind. Enri, who was already scared and palpitating to begin with, shrieked and swung the staff back. ************ Koren jumped to the side as the Earth Spike almost made contact with his right leg. "Ah, I almost had you" Said Haruki as he rushed towards Koren with his fists rolled back, ready to attack. "No, senior brother. I have you." Said Koren as the earth under him rose up into a pillar, propelling him in the air. Koren flipped in the air and touched down on the other side of Haruki. He stanced himself like a solid rock with his arms on either side and thumped the ground with his foot. The ground around Haruki rose in response to Koren''s gesture, he didn''t even have the opportunity to see Koren touch down on the other side, the match was over. Ahh, how come you got so good so quickly." Mumbled Haruki, unable to move as his whole body was encapsulated in soil, only his neck and head visible. "It''s not just him getting better, it''s you slacking off and getting worse." Said Chief Ipnak, standing a few meters away with Enri. "If you practice more, you will easily beat Koren, in fact you might even surpass me in no time. But at your current pace, even Enri might overtake you soon." Said the Village chief as he patted Enri''s head. Normally Enri would be incensed at being patted down like a child, but her eyes were stuck on Koren, and the bandage he wore on his head. Koren relaxed his posture and the earth around Haruki turned soft, allowing him to free himself. "That was a good match senior brother, you have made a lot of improvement." Said Koren as he approached Haruki with a smile. "See, Koren has the right idea. Old man you don''t know what you''re talking about, I''m golden." Said Haruki, dusting his clothes off. "Koren, your technique was very good, but you need to be quick on your feet. If you had not jumped in time, Haruki would have made contact and you would have lost." Said Chief Ipnak. "Yes teacher." Muttered Koren with a light bow. "Now I have to go and make some arrangements for the migration, you three stay here and continue your training." Said Chief Ipnak as he got up to leave. "Also Koren, you should be careful with self-training, I don''t want you to hurt yourself again" said the chief pointing at the bandage on Koren''s head. Enri''s face went pale when she heard the chiefs remark, but Koren kept his cool and simply nodded. "Yes teacher" said Koren. Koren and Haruki approached Enri after Ipnak left to take care of village matters. "I''m really sorry brother Koren, I didn''t mean to hit you, it was an accident" said Enri, as she had in the morning multiple times. Koren rubbed his head, and took the bandage off. "Its fine Enri, I know you wouldn''t hit me intentionally. Look I''m all better now, I don''t even need the bandage." Said Koren with a smile. "Oh, did the little pipsqueak smack you Koren, I knew it. Kaph tells me of her demonic powers all the time." Said Haruki as he took out a bun from his bag, and started eating it. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. 17 Rekim "According to the raven, his highness the 4th Prince Rekim Draco should be arriving any minute now." Andre announced to the group of soldiers and attendants waiting at the gate. Uther, who was standing next to Andre, remained silent. "The 4th Prince has a very low temper, do everything as I have said, and you won''t antagonize him. If by any chance you do make a mistake, I will send your families my condolences." Andre continued as the soldiers all did a discernible gulp. "Sir, would you like to add something." Andre turned to Uther and whispered. "Sir, you are still the leader of these men, it would be better if you were in your draconian form." Andre said as he stared at Uther''s slim humanoid physique. Uther looked at Andre with his eyebrows raised, and rolled his eyes. "You know sir, things would go a lot easier now that you and the princess are on the same side." Said Andre, not taking Uther''s attitude at face value. Just as Andre was about to continue, the surrounding air vibrated, followed by a rumble in the earth. Uther, who was trying his best to ignore Andre, looked into the distance, and saw a figure riding the wind. Uther knew what it was, he had been to the capital to attend the royal academy, and had personally seen the crown prince arrive on his Royal Chariot. However, this chariot was not pulled by winged horses like the one used by the crown prince, instead it was mounted on top of a cloud Komodo. Cloud Komodo''s are massive Spiritual beasts. They are descendants of black dragons, and even have the possibility, of ancestral evolution during the avatar realm. All descendants of dragons are haughty, and are very difficult to tame. However, they have an inclination to be close to the Draco Royal Family, as the bloodline of the azure dragon is important to them. The Komodo rode the clouds, its roar caused the air to pulse, and as it touched down in front of the camp, it whipped out its long tongue, rolling it around the nearest soldier, devouring him whole. Andre and the rest of the soldiers all gulped. "Level 29, peak incarnation realm, King Han sure likes to play favorites." Andre whispered to Uther, with his eyes glued on the beast. The Cloud Komodo''s actions set everyone ablaze, but no one took any action. Even Andre remained standing, as if nothing happened. Andre stared at the beast, several droplets of sweat rolling off his forehead. He looked over at Uther, expecting him to have a serious look, but instead he was greeted with a light smile. Uther looked at the Massive Spiritual Beast, he could feel it, the dragon blood flowing through its veins. Just as the Komodo whipped it''s tongue out again at another soldier, a dark flame appeared in front of it. The flame latched itself onto the beasts tongue like a sticky fluid. The Komodo started to beat its tongue on the sand to put the fire out, but the dark flame only intensified. "Take back your flames Uther, Modi was only having some fun." Said a voice as the doors on the mounted chariot opened and a figure stepped out. Uther waved his hand, and the dark flame dimmed out. "Your Highness, if this pet tries to satisfy its taste for draconian flesh again, I may have to indulge myself and taste some cloud Komodo. " said Uther as he looked at the figure of the 4th Prince Rekim Draco. "It seems your failure to bring me the artifact, and your subsequent demotion has not affected your attitude." Said the 4th Prince as he stepped down from the Cloud Komodo. "There, there, don''t worry Modi, I will teach him a lesson for you." Said the 4th Prince as he rubbed his hand on the beast''s chin. The 4th prince turned his head to look at Uther, their eyes met. Andre sensed the tension, but before he could say a word, the figure of the 4th prince, who as already in his draconian form, vanished. He appeared right next to him and Uther. "Let''s see if your body martial path has caught up with your spiritual path." Said the 4th Prince as his right fist rushed towards Uther. Uther didn''t try to dodge, he simply reached out with his right hand, and grabbed the 4th Princes Fist. The impact of the punch made the ground rumble, which caused Andre to lose his footing and fall flat on the ground. "2nd stage of body tempering, the desert has treated you well cousin. You didn''t even need to go into draconian form." Said the 4th Prince, as he took his arm back, rubbing his knuckles. "You as well my Prince, your bones have already been tempered. With your current strength, you should be a match for anyone below the avatar realm." Said Uther nonchalantly, taking his hand back. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Your highness, that was quite a show of strength. I''m lieutenant Andre Severs at your service. I have prepared your tent with all of your requirements, and I have also prepared a stable for your magnificent Spiritual Beast." said Andre as he got up, and approached the 4th Prince. "Lead the way, lieutenant." Said the 4th Prince, his eyes never leaving Uther. "Cousin, can you take Modi to the stables, my last stable boy got eaten. Also make sure to feed him some meat. There should be some humans in your camp, then again, some useless draconian soldiers should also be fine." Said the 4th Prince as he made his way towards Andre. ************ "Oh, did the little pipsqueak smack you Koren, I knew it. Kaph tells me of her demonic powers all the time." Said Haruki as he took out a bun from his bag, and started eating it. "You know brother fatty, if you continue to eat all the time, sister Sumi will always avoid you." Said Enri with a light grin. "I heard her say she likes a slim and strong man, like Uncle Sappa." Whispered Enri right in Haruki''s ear. "No!, my Sumi would never like that baldy, she''s the reason I eat all the time. Her food is just so good." Said Haruki as he devoured the whole bun in mere moments. "Senior brother, do you want to stay and spar some more, or should we cultivate our cores." Asked Koren, as he was getting the feeling that this bickering would go on for a while if he didn''t nip it in the bud. "Ah, no, absolutely not. I have a better idea, hehe hehe." Said Haruki, his face showing and mischievous grin, as he started to sprint towards the training field''s exit. Enri bumped Koren with her elbow and sighed "I know that look, senior brother wants to play a prank on uncle Sappa." "This guy is very adventurous. I wonder if that baldy will skin him alive." Said Hope who was leisurely floating over Koren, silently witnessing the whole exchange. "Enri, how do we stay out of this" Asked Koren. "We can''t brother Koren. Once brother fatty gets like this, there''s no stopping him. Kaph always gets in trouble with uncle Sappa because of him." Enri replied. "OK, lets just go for now, and stop him from doing anything outrageous." Said Koren as he grabbed Enri''s hand and ran behind Haruki who was sprinting onward. Enri, who had to some extent, gotten used to Koren, blushed when Koren grabbed her hand. She looked at his head, feeling guilty for hitting him, and just said "OK, let''s go." ************ Uther brought the Cloud Komodo called Modi to the stables prepared for it. The beast behaved itself the whole way, not daring to annoy Uther. Uther left it in the hands of a draconian soldier, who was sweating profusely. "s¡­Si¡­Sir, I don''t have any experience with spiritual beast of t¡­th¡­this size, perhaps someone else may take this duty." said the soldier with a panicky stutter. Uther didn''t reply, he simply looked at the beast, and rubbed its head. The beast lowered its head in response, it could feel the intensity of the azure dragon bloodline in Uther. "Behave yourself, and you will be fed. Your attendants are not food. Do you understand." Said Uther. The beast''s eyes widened, and it nodded its massive head. "He won''t give you any trouble, feed him some of the human slaves or meat from the captured sand beasts." Said Uther as he walked away. Uther walked all the way to his tent, and just as he was about to go in, he heard Andre''s voice. "Sir, the 4th Prince has requested your presence." Said Andre, as he leaned close to Uther and whispered. "Now remember what we talked about, he must not suspect anything. You do your part, and the princess will do hers." Uther turned to look at Andre, his gaze calm, but sharp. "I know, you don''t have to remind me." Said Uther as he made his way to the 4th princes tent which was only a few paces away from his. As he approached the tent, he could see a few female attendants step out. They looked at him and said "You may enter." Uther ignored them and walked right in. The 4th Prince was seated on a massive chair, no doubt moved in from his chariot. The whole tent was filled with odd things like gold cutlery, buckets filled with spiritual wines and closets filled with silk robes, things that had no place in a military camp. "Uther, do you know why my father, King Han Draco, named me ''Rekim''." Asked the 4th Prince Rekim Draco, his gaze staring at his own silk robes instead of Uther. "I''ve heard the stories." Replied Uther, his tone calm and composed. "Let me tell you anyway. Rekim is short for ''requiem'', a mass for the dead. He named me Rekim, because I was born dead. And the world breathed life into me. My bloodline is as pure as that of the first born children of the Ancestor." "It is my destiny to become the next King of the Draco Empire, and all those who stand in my way are doomed to fall." "Tell me Uther, are you one of those who will stand in my way." Asked the 4th Prince as he looked straight at Uther. 18 Run "Tell me Uther, are you one of those who will stand in my way." Asked the 4th Prince as he looked straight at Uther. Uther looked at the 4th Prince, he could tell, that if his answer was not satisfactory, things would go very badly for him. He sighed internally, got down on one knee, and with his eyes down on the ground, replied. "Your Highness, It is true I have failed you, but it is also true that I am your most powerful asset. As the battalion commander, my actions have always been in the interest of the mission. Since I was tasked by General Korver to take your mission, I decided to complete the mission and prove my worth." It was at this time that Uther looked up directly at the prince, he could see that his words had little effect. "However, the artifact in question, was not in that village. There are 3 other hidden human villages, but their location is a mystery." Said Uther as he got up on his two feet. "Even though I don''t have the location of the villages, I was able to acquire the location of their Oasis, my scouts have brought me the information that in 2 days'' time, all three villages are planning to go to the Oasis. It is likely that they somehow found out about our assault on the first village." "This gives us the opportunity to get them all at once and find the truth about the artifact." Said Uther as the Prince also got up from his chair. "I assume you want your command to be reinstated." Said the 4th Prince as he approached Uther. "That would make things easier, your highness." Said Uther with a light smile. "Very well, but be warned Cousin, if you fail me again, your end will be worse than the humans." Said the 4th Prince as he walked past Uther and exited the tent. ************ "Koren, use your earth spiritual sense to keep watch" Said Haruki as he silently stepped into Sappa''s tent, followed by Koren and Enri. Koren and Enri lightly tip toed behind Haruki. Koren was really taken aback by the pelts laid out on the ground. They were all pelts from sand beasts, like sand badgers and sand rodents. Koren could even feel spiritual energy from a few, meaning that they were taken off living spiritual beasts. ''To be able to capture spiritual beasts alive, Uncle Sappa must be very strong.'' Thought Koren. "Nah, he''s only Level 9." Said Hope with a yawn, seeming bored with Haruki''s actions so far. Koren was still impressed, To reach level 9 in this environment is very difficult, after all not everyone has Hope with them. "Brother fatty what are you planning." Whispered Enri. "Senior Brother, we shouldn''t be here. What if we get caught. Uncle Sappa would probably starve you till you become as thin as me." Murmured Koren. "Don''t worry, that baldy''s got nothing on me." Said Haruki as he made his way to a small wooden box next to the mattress. The box wasn''t locked, Haruki opened it and took out a cloth with some green herbs. "hehe hehe, this is called spiritual tea. It can only be acquired by trading spiritual shards with the Raavi traders. The chief always gives some to the Spiritualists, I already had mine, but Sappa likes to enjoy his very slowly. Every morning after training, he comes here to pour some out." Said Haruki, as he took out a small glass bottle, filled with a dark putrid liquid. "Senior brother, this is?" Asked Koren. "Hehe, I got this from Enri''s mother, it''s a laxative. All you need is a single drop mixed with some water, and that will do the trick. But not for the baldy, hehe" Replied Haruki with a snicker, followed by soaking all the tea leaves in the liquid. "This guy, what an amateur plan." Said Hope as she began to chuckle. Haruki put the liquid away and placed the tea back in the wooden box. He gestured for Koren and Enri to follow him and then stepped out of the tent. "OK, the baldy will be here soon, we only need to stay at my place and use earth spiritual sense to see him, hehe hehe." Said Haruki as he entered his own tent which was right next to Sappa''s Enri complained, she couldn''t use earth spiritual sense, since she was still level 1. "It''s fine Enri, I will tell you what happened." Said Koren as he patted Enri''s hand. "Oh he''s coming, hehe. It''s time for that baldy to meet his maker." Said Haruki with an evil grin. "Senior brother, there are others as well, two more people with Uncle Sappa." Said Koren, as he could see further than Haruki. "It''s the Chief and the Matriarch." Said Haruki, as sweat began to drip from his forehead. Sappa was joined by Village Chief Ipnak and his wife the village Matriarch Hera. The all walked into Sappa''s tent and took a seat on the mats. Koren could see Sappa go to the wooden box and pull out 3 clay cups and a pot. "No, he never shares his tea. He won''t, no, no, NO WAY!" shrieked Haruki as he could ''see'' Sappa prepare tea for three. "Brother fatty you are in big trouble now." Said Enri as she felt Haruki''s stress level rise. "You were with me, you little pipsqueak. You have to share the burden." Said Haruki, as he brought out a bun and started eating it hurriedly. "Gotta eat, I know that old man will starve me for a week." Said Haruki. Koren was also surprised at the visit of the Chief and the matriarch, who he had only met once when he first arrived. "Big sis, can you create a virtual image and try to pick up the sound, I want to know what they are talking about, it looks serious." Koren asked Hope who was standing next to Haruki, dressing him up in a holographic clown dress. "Yep, but you will need the Armor in Endoskeleton mode, get ready." Hope replied. Koren felt the same feeling again, the Endoskeleton Armor solidified under his skin, and the display appeared in his pupils, a hint of gold appeared in the outer walls of his pupils. ************ "Is this our only course of action, must we do this." Asked the matriarch as she looked at her husband. "We have no other choice. If we wait longer, then all is lost." Replied the chief. "Teacher, the other villages have agreed to do the same." Said Sappa as he began pouring the tea in the 3 cups. "Sappa, you are still young, you will join them." Said Chief Ipnak, in a somewhat emotional tone. "Teacher, you know I want to keep my promise and protect Haruki, but I can''t abandon you and the village." Said Sappa, as he handed Ipnak the tea cup. "Nonsense, we will be fine, you must take the children and flee. The sword will remain with you, it cannot fall into their hand." Said the Matriarch as she too took a cup and began to sip the tea. "Tomorrow, you leave with the children, and go directly to the Raavi border. Stay in the border city of Kafir, there is a sizable human population there." Said the Village chief, as he too took a sip. "If¡­ If by any chance we don''t make it back, don''t try to avenge us, just survive. And when the time is right, pass the sword on to Haruki, it is his birthright." Murmured the Matriarch as she downed the remaining tea. "I promised Sanam that I would treat her son as my little brother, even though he causes a lot of troubles, he''s still good at heart. Don''t worry teacher, he and all the other children will be safe." Said Sappa as he put the empty cup down and bowed. "We will go to the Oasis the day after tomorrow to meet up with the other 2 villages. The majority of the villagers will use what supplies we have and start the journey to the border." Said Chief Ipnak. "Dear, do you feel odd." Asked the Matriarch. "Now that you mention it, I do. Oh, Oh¡­ Sappa what was in that tea, Oh" murmured the Chief, grabbing his tummy. "Nothing this was just normal spiritual tea. It''s never caused any¡­ oh¡­ oh" Sappa mumbled as he too started to feel the ache. "Oh no, I have to go. Honey, you will have to excuse me." Said the matriarch as she rapidly rushed out of the tent. "These tea leaves are wet, I didn''t add any water." Said Sappa as he grabbed the remaining tea from the box. The chief''s face changed, he got up and without saying a word, rushed out of the tent. "HARUKI!!" Yelled Sappa as he too couldn''t hold it anymore, and rushed out like the wind. ************ Koren who had heard the whole exchange looked back to find both Enri and Haruki gone. Apparently Haruki had bolted the moment they started to sip the tea, and Enri had probably left much earlier. "Koren, you better run off too, or do you want to get punished like chubby." Yelled Hope, as Koren realized he was alone in the tent. Koren turned around and ran out of the tent, he headed directly to the twin''s tent. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Big sis, you heard what they said, does that mean they are afraid that the Draconian''s will attack the Oasis." Asked Koren as he ran. "That''s what I would do, I mean the villages are supposed to be hidden right, so you just have to find the Oasis." Replied Hope, sensing the gloom in Koren''s voice. "Big sis, is there any way we can help them. I know I am not strong enough, but I don''t want to see so many people die again." Asked Koren, with clear desperation in his voice. "ah Koren. OK, there is something we can do, but first you must break through to level 9. After you break through to level 9, I will allow you to use the Armor''s Combat Mode." Replied Hope with slight reluctance. "But sis, you said the Armor doesn''t have enough power." said Koren with confusion. "True, it doesn''t, but if we found the rest of the ore we found in those tunnels, we may have enough power. Also you have a lot of shards stored away, all of the chaotic energy has already been extracted by the Armor, and all that remains is pure spiritual energy. We will practice tonight and help you break through." Said Hope. "OK big sis, tonight I will breakthrough to Level 9." Said Koren as he finally reached the twins tent. 19 Upgrade Koren sat for dinner with Enri and her family. Kaph and Torp were their usual selves, and Enri was snuggled next to her mother. However, there was gloom in Lady Zena''s eyes, sorrow even. Her husband, Tanru the village blacksmith, had been staring at his food since he sat down, not taking a single bite. Finally after what seemed like forever, Enri spoke up. "Abba, why aren''t you eating." Asked Enri, as she noticed her fathers untouched food. "Nothing to worry about, I''m just not that hungry." Replied Tanru, his tone low-spirited. "You have to eat Abba, tomorrow we have a lot of work." Said Torp, as he took a bite from Kaph''s plate. "Ah, that''s mine, finish yours first." Yelled Kaph. "My muscles need nourishment." Torp hollered back. "Stop Adda!!." Shouted Enri in an overwhelming tone, her voice shut the two up immediately. Tanru looked at his wife, and said "Now is a good time as any." Lady Zena nodded. "Everyone quiet down and listen, me and your father have something very important to say." Said Lady Zena, as she looked at Koren and her children. "All 4 of you will go to the new village with Sappa." Said Lady Zena, her tone sombre. "You will be joined by all the other children in the village, don''t cause trouble for Sappa." Tanru looked at his son''s and said "Torp, Kaph, I will rely on the two of you to take care of Enri. She may be a spiritualist, but she is still far too young." Torp and Kaph, who were always kidding around, looked at their parent''s serious faces. "Father, we already know we are not going to a new village location." Torp said as he put his food down. "We know about the attack, we overheard mother talk about it with Brother Sappa. Why are we going first, I thought we would all randevu at the Oasis." Asked Kaph. "What attack, where are you sending us Amma." Enri who was oblivious to the truth spoke up. "Abba, I won''t go, you need my help in the shop." Said Torp. "I will stay as well, you can''t send me away, I''m not a child, I can make my own decisions." Said Kaph. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Enough!!" Shouted Tanru. "You will all go with Sappa tomorrow, and that''s the last of it. Now finish your dinner and then pack your belongings." "Amma, Abba, go where, what is every one talking about. Why won''t you tell me." Cried Enri. "Enri dear, don''t worry, we will join you the next day. You just have to be strong and stay with your brothers." Said Lady Zena, as she caressed Enri''s hair. She looked at Koren who had remained silent this whole time. "Koren, I know you have questions as well, don''t worry, The chief will explain it all to you tomorrow before you leave. For now, I want you to promise me that you will take good care of my Enri." Muttered Lady Zena as she looked at Koren with a caring gaze. Koren looked at Lady Zena and nodded, he knew in his heart that he would not only protect Enri, but everyone. ************ "My Prince, your palanquin has arrived." Said an attendant as she bowed in front of the 4th Prince. Rekim was seated on his decorated Golden chair inside his tent. Uther had been mobilizing the entire battalion for movement, getting ready to block the path from the Oasis to the border. Although, it wouldn''t be a problem defeating the spiritualist from the villages, but it would be troublesome capturing all the villagers. If some manage to flee, then they would be able to alert the Raavi. If the Raavi found out that there was a Draconian battalion stationed in the barren Goliath Desert, they would be alarmed, and that would cause complications. The Raavi have always been very suspicious of the Draco Kingdom. Rekim got up and walked over to the attendant and asked "Where is Uther". The attendant kept her head down and replied "The Commander is waiting for your highness. He has already boarded the sand ship." "Very well." Said Rekim as he stepped into the palanquin. The palanquin bearers stepped forth and picked it up. They slowly made their way towards the sand ship. Rekim stayed silent the whole time, his mind elsewhere. ************ "The 4th Prince should be arriving in his palanquin at any moment now. Sir if this plan succeeds, Prince Rekim will become an outcast, and you will become a general." Andre whispered into Uther''s ear, who was standing at the helm of the massive battalion sand ship. Uther didn''t respond, he continued to look at the sunset. "Even though you will lose half of your troops, the blame will be on the 4th Prince and his reckless behavior, even the King won''t be able to protect him." "The Princess has a lot of support in the royal court, your appointment is already a done deal. General Uther, it has a nice ring to it doesn''t it sir." Andre continued. "But sir, you have to understand that all of this is on the premise that you follow the plan perfectly." Uther closed his eyes, capturing the image of the sunset in his mind. He reached down into his mind, and could see his spiritual core. Unlike normal spiritual cores, his was pitch black, with a hint of green circling inside. The green light was a quarter of the size of his core, and it seemed to be growing. Slowly making its way to the rest. Uther retreated from his mind and opened his eyes, he turned his head to face Andre, and said "If you want to keep your head, then stay quiet. As far as the plan is concerned, I have everything under control." ************ "Well, this is the best I can do for now, those two probably won''t get any sleep tonight." Said Hope, as she stood next to Koren in the Virtual space. "My body is resting outside, so how do I train." Asked Koren. "Don''t worry about that, and just try to visualize your core." Replied Hope. Koren sat down on the ground and started to reach into his mind. He saw his core, but not in his mind but right in front of him, a physical embodiment of his spiritual core. "don''t fret, it''s only a projection of the real thing, then again so are we. Now try to bring out the shards and cultivate." Said Hope as she saw that Koren was getting confused. The actual shards had already been absorbed by the Armor, the chaotic energy from the shards had been taken out as fuel and the remaining pure spiritual power was condensed into a super dense spiritual shard. The shard appeared in his hand, he could feel the intensely powerful spiritual energy emanating from it. "Big sis, if this is only a projection then how am I able to feel the power of this shard." Asked Koren, surprise apparent in his voice. "I''m not sure myself, this place was supposed to be only an ordinary virtual space, but then I was integrated into the dimensional core. It has already exceeded its design limitations, but that is a good thing for you Koren, as you can cultivate here." Replied Hope with a light smile. Koren nodded. Hope was right, it didn''t matter what this place had been or what it had become. The important thing is that he can cultivate. Koren took the shard into his hand and started to guide the dense spiritual power to the floating spiritual core. A single strand of the dense spiritual power separated from the shard and floated towards the core, and just as it touched the cores outer wall, Koren felt an intense, horrifying pain coursing through him. For a second he felt that his mind would shatter. He collapsed on one knee, and the shard disappeared. "Wha¡­What happened?" asked Koren as he began to pant heavily. "Oh no, it seems that the Armor didn''t just purify the spiritual shards, it actually condensed all of their power so well that it increased its grade. You can''t absorb their power because your core is too weak." Replied Hope, seemingly worried. "But if I can''t use the shard I can''t breakthrough." Said Koren, in a gruff voice. The pain was gone, but it''s effect was still fresh. "I may have an idea, but I''m not completely sure if it will work." Said Hope as she began to help Koren up. "Anything is better than this." Said Koren, as he finally got over the pain, he took in a breath and sighed. "So Big sis, what''s the plan." Asked Koren. "I was thinking of channeling the spiritual power from the shard into a circuit, this would allow me to control its flow perfectly, we wouldn''t need you to personally take control¡­ wait that would mean¡­ and then I would be able to¡­" Replied Hope, but then she began to talk to herself cryptically. "Eureka!, haha I''m so amazing. Aren''t I amazing Koren, go ahead tell me I''m amazing." Hope began to jump up and down, then she grabbed Koren by the shoulders and jerked him back and forth. "You''re amazing big sis, now please let me go, the pain isn''t completely gone." Yelled Koren. "Oh Koren, I''m sorry, I was just so excited. I solved all of your cultivation problems, now sit back and look." Said Hope as she let Koren go and began to wave her hands around. Structures started to appear in the nothingness of the virtual space. Hope continued to build for a few hours. "I''m done. Look at it Koren, isn''t it a thing of beauty." Asked Hope as she presented the finished object in front of Koren. The Object was a Box. A dark box, with crisscrossing lines on its surface like an integrated circuit, and a hole in the middle that seemed like a housing for a spiritual shard. "Sis, what is this thing." Asked Koren as he stared at it with interest. "Hehe, since I''m its architect, I will name it the ''Upgrade Matrix''." Replied Hope enthusiastically. 20 Spli "Hehe, since I''m its architect, I will name it the ''Upgrade Matrix''." Replied Hope enthusiastically. "It looks very impressive, but how will it help me." Asked Koren. "Hehe, I think it''s better to just show you." Hope replied as she brought the Upgrade Matrix close to Koren''s Spiritual Core. "Now carefully move your Spiritual Core inside the Matrix." Said Hope as the Matrix opened up like a box. "OK, big sis, this better not hurt." Koren slowly moved his core and placed it right in the center of the Matrix, which automatically closed up. "Now take out the shard again and place it in the central housing." Said Hope . Koren did not waste time asking any more questions, and took the shard out. All he had to do was think about it, and it appeared in his hand. He brought the shard close to the upgrade matrix and it automatically flew towards the hole in the center. As soon as the shard entered the hole, the matrix started to glow with a blue hue. Koren could feel spiritual energy being circulated into his core, pure spiritual energy. He could feel his level rise by the second. He activated his display and saw his Stats. Name: Koren Spiritual Path: Level 5(57%) {Realm: Spirit} Human Path: Level ?? {Realm: ??} Harmonization: None Elemental Power: 32 (Interchangeable) Koren was shocked, he could visibly see the percentage on his level bar increase by the second. 57%. 58%. 59%. 60%. 61%. His level continued to increase, but the glow from the upgrade matrix did not dim at all. "Big sis, this is amazing." Said Koren enthusiastically. "Isn''t it. I knew you would like it, others have to cultivate very carefully, slowly refining the spiritual shards, and then absorbing them. But you are different, you have the Armor and you have me." "The Armor absorbs the shards and refines them, and I will write a program to automatically transfer that power to the Upgrade Matrix. You will continually level up without ever having to sit down and cultivate." Said Hope with a huge smile on her face. "Big sis can it level me up a little faster, it seems slow." Asked Koren. "Ah, you idiot. Its already happening a lot faster than you think. The flow of time is faster in here than it is outside. If you were outside, then the leveling would feel instantaneous to you. The only slowing factor is the Armor''s ability to refine the shards, although you don''t have to worry about that right now." Replied Hope. "Also, as your core levels up, your ability to absorb the spiritual power will also increase, so you will level up even faster." Hope continued. As Hope explained, the Upgrade Matrix was slowly doing its job, and it wasn''t long before Koren felt a rush of energy in his spiritual core, he could feel his core''s capacity grow. He checked his stats. Name: Koren Spiritual Path: Level 6(1%) {Realm: Spirit} Human Path: Level ?? {Realm: ??} Harmonization: None Elemental Power: 40 (Interchangeable) His level had increase to level 6, the same level as Haruki. He could tell that if they sparred again, Haruki would lose very quickly. "OK, now that we have fixed your leveling issue, let''s have you test out the battle mode for the Armor." Said Hope as she cracked her knuckles. "Will a simulation be the same as the real thing." Asked Koren. "Yep, this is how all Guardians train. There''s no way that the United Earth Forces would trust someone with an Armor worth trillions without some training in a simulated environment." Replied Hope. "Now call the Armor out, but only here, we don''t want the Armor to show up on your body sleeping out in the tent." Said Hope. Koren did as told and the Armor appeared, it crept out of his body and covered him completely. "Now enter battle mode, just say the words and it should shift." said Hope with excitement in her voice. "Battle Mode" said Koren, as the whole Armor started to bulk up. ************ Andre was very nervous, the prince was the last piece of the puzzle, if he rejected the plan, then he would be to blame. As for Uther, he would be fine, the princess had a soft spot for that bastard. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Andre looked at the table, there was a map of the whole Goliath desert region laid out on it. Andre smiled and looked up at the 4th Prince, who was standing on the other side of the table. "Your highness, this plan will work. We''re simply dividing the battalion in half to cover more ground, and prevent any humans from escaping." Said Andre, as he moved a miniature ship, laid out over a map, and placed it closer to the Raavi border. "You can leave me in command of half the troops, and I will secure the Oasis. While commander Uther will block any humans from crossing the border." Said Andre, trying his best to impress the 4th Prince. The 4th Prince remained silent, which made Andre even more nervous. He turned to his right to look at Uther, who had remained quiet this whole time. "Commander, this plan has merits, don''t you agree?" Andre asked, trying to pull Uther into the discussion. Uther smiled, he looked at the 4th Prince, and said " I agree with lieutenant Andre, If we want to get the artifact, then we must follow through with this plan." "Very well, this plan seems to be well though. But I will not stay on the sidelines, I will be joining you Commander Uther, and go to the border region." Said the 4th Prince, looking at Uther suspiciously. Andre smiled, his plan worked. The 4th Prince suspected Uther to betray him and run off with the artifact, and so he chose to go to the border region with him. The Raavi had already been tipped off by his spies, meaning all the soldiers going with Uther would have to fight the Raavi at the border. As long as Uther made sure that the 4th Prince got captured by the Raavi, this plan would succeed. "Your Highness, I congratulate you in advance for the success of this operation." Said Andre as he bowed with his hands clasped together. "We should be arriving at the outskirts of the Oasis by noon today. I will take my troops and part with you there." Andre continued. Andre stepped out of the Princes Cabin, and made his way to the top deck. The sun was already up, he walked up to one of the troop leaders, and gave him a list with troop names and ranks. ************ The whole village had been gathered at the gates, everyone had a gloomy look on their faces. Koren was standing with at least 30 other children, most were around the same age as Enri, but there were also a few kids the same age as Kaph and Torp. There was also a few women in the mix, all of them pregnant, they would probably take care of the children as Sappa was probably not qualified for that. Koren felt someone grab his hand, he looked over to see Enri''s teary eyed face. She probably slept with Lady Zena and Uncle Tanru, crying her heart out. "Enri, don''t worry everything will be fine. Uncle and Aunty will join us at the border." Whispered Koren, he didn''t want the other children to hear, as not all of them were aware of what was going on. "Brother Kaph, will you look after Enri, I have to go talk to the village chief." Koren asked Kaph who was standing in front of him along with Torp. "Its fine Koren, she''s safe, you can go" said Kaph as he and Torp both nodded. Koren walked out of the group and made his way toward the Chief who was standing together with Sappa and the parents of the children. "Don''t worry, Sappa will make sure they reach the city safe and sound. They will be joined by children from the other 2 villages half way." Said the Matriarch as she was trying to calm the parents down. "Lady Hera, will we really see our children again." Asked one of the mothers. "Yes we will. The children are taking a trade ship, they will get to the city a lot faster. We will join them tomorrow on the bigger Sand ship, there''s nothing to worry about." Said the Village Matriarch ''Hera''. "Don''t worry Sister Nora, your son will be very safe on the ship with me." Said Sappa as he clenched his fist and thumped his chest. Koren, who had already walked over, stayed silent, he didn''t want to disturb the chief. The chief finally noticed him, and excused himself, leaving his wife and his student to talk to the parents. "Koren, you know better than anyone what kind of danger we are all in, so I need you to stay with your senior Sappa. In case I don''t make it back, Sappa will teach you all you need to know." Said the village chief as he patted Koren on the head. "You are a good and kind boy, but this is a very hostile world, and I need you to be strong. Although you are not as talented as Haruki, you should still be able to reach Sappa''s level if you work hard." Said the chief as he got down on one knee and hugged Koren. Koren didn''t know what to say anymore. He was reminded of his grandfather, and how he protected him from the flames that consumed the village. And now, this old man in front of him was willing to do the same. Koren looked at the Chief, and said "Thank you teacher, I will be strong." Then he got down on both knees and bowed three times and left to join Enri and the others as they entered the sand ship. 21 Arvo "I heard the shapeshifters have come out in droves, they like to eat children and then take their place, that''s why the Chief wants to send us to a new village." Said Ugo as he turned to Enri and continued "Isn''t that right boss.". Enri wasn''t in the mood, she had spent the whole of last night crying and screaming at her parents. She wanted to stay with them, but they sent her off. She wasn''t even sure if she will ever see them again. ''I''m no one''s boss, I''m so weak, I can''t even protect Amma and Abba.'' Thought Enri as she looked at Ugo and yelled "Leave me alone". She just got up and ran towards the exit of the small cabin. Koren who was also sitting there as well, could feel the sorrow and anger in Enri''s voice. He apologized to Ugo and ran after Enri. Koren saw Enri taking the stairs to the top deck of the sand ship. "Enri, stop!" Koren yelled. Enri looked back at Koren, and her gaze softened, but the sorrow in her heart was ever present. She looked at the small metallic brooch in her right hand, a silver flower with tiny hints of gold in the petals, it was made by her father. He must have worked very hard to make this for her. "Enri, you can talk to me about anything, you know that right." Said Koren as he approached the stairs. "Brother Koren, Can you please tell me what is going on, are my Amma and Abba going to be OK." Asked Enri as a single tear wrestled its way out of her eyes and fell on the brooch, followed by a torrent of more tears. Koren looked at Enri, and was reminded of his own circumstances when he first came to shale village. He looked straight at Enri and gently said "Enri, I want you to trust me on this. Aunt Zena and Uncle Tanru, as well as everyone in Shale village will be OK." Koren walked up towards Enri, reached out and rubbed away the tears flowing down her face, he calmly took her hand in his, and led her back down the stairs. "Brother Koren, I trust you, but I need to know. I need to know why they sent us away." Asked Enri as they reached one of the portholes , her hand still clasped by Koren. "Are you really going to tell her, it might make her more worried." Said Hope, as she walked next to Koren, only visible to him. Koren didn''t indulge Hope, she was someone always present inside his head, so she knew his answer. "Enri, do you remember how I was found. You never really asked me where I''m from. The truth is my village was attacked." Said Koren as he calmly looked at Enri, trying not to alarm her too much. "My family and everyone I ever knew were gone. My grandfather was the village chief, even though he was injured, he still carried me to safety, but he too perished, leaving me alone to roam the desert, trying to find help." "That''s when you found me, you were the first person I saw after my grandfather passed away." Koren stopped as he noticed the panic and terror in Enri''s eyes. "Enri!, I asked you before, and now I''m asking you again, Do You Trust Me?" he bellowed. Enri, who as pretty shaken up, realized that she was only thinking about herself and her family. She looked at Koren and wondered how he could possibly be so calm and composed when he had lost his whole world. "I''m sorry Koren. I''m sorry about your family, about your village, and Yes I do Trust you." Said Enri gently. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I have a secret, a secret I''ve never told anyone before." Said Koren and just as he was about to continue, he was stopped by Hope. "Hey¡­hey¡­HEY!... Koren you can''t tell anyone. This is too dangerous, you are not only putting yourself in danger but her as well." Yelled Hope as she suddenly appeared in between Koren and Enri. "don''t worry big sis, I won''t tell her everything" said Koren internally so only Hope could hear. "What secret?" Asked Enri. "This secret." Koren smiled and raised his right hand. A small flame started to flicker in Koren''s hand, the flame was very little, but it appeared out of nowhere and continued to dance about on Koren''s palm. Enri looked at the flickering flame and almost Yelled fire. ''How¡­ How is this possible. Brother Koren is an Earth Spiritualist, how can he control fire'' thought Enri. Koren could see the shock and amazement on Enri''s face, he wasn''t any different when he first saw the different elements on his display''s status bar. "This is not all" Said Koren as the flame disappeared and a miniature cyclone appeared in his hands. "This¡­this is impossible, how can you do this¡­" mumbled Enri in utter shock and disbelief. Koren smiled, this was the effect he expected. "Enri, I have a way to protect everyone in the village. I didn''t have that chance back when my village was attacked, but I won''t let the same thing happen to your home too." Said Koren gently. "But¡­but¡­" Enri, still in shock, kept mumbling, and could not come up with a reply. "Come with me, let''s find brother Haruki. I need both of your help." Koren, with Enri''s hand still tightly gripped in his, led her to the a cabin right next to the one they came out of. ************ "Who is stationed at the border?" asked Uther as he stood straight with his back to the door. "It''s General Ralf Arvo." Replied Andre as he adjusted his Armor. Andre was putting on his Armor in the lower decks of the ship. They were approaching the outer ring of the Oasis. He and his men would have to travel the rest of the way on foot so as not alert the humans. Although he did not need his Armor, he preferred it to the bland robes usually worn by locals. "Arvo, he''s the head of the Arvo Family Clan, one of the top 10 Family Clans in the Raavi Empire. He should be in the capital, how did you manage to have him sent to the border" Asked Uther irritably. The Princess''s letter left out many details of the plan, and Andre wasn''t the most pleasant fellow to talk to, his kiss ass attitude really got on Uther''s nerves. "It wasn''t me sir, It was the artifact. The 3rd Prince is a very well-known degenerate, as he mostly spends his time harassing noble women, and indulging in the pleasures of the clementine flower house. It''s truly a mystery how the 2nd princess is fond of him. However he is also somewhat useful as he managed to befriend the successor of the Arvo Clan, and has since been in touch. On the princess''s orders, he slipped some information about the path artifact, and the rest is history." Replied Andre gruffly, as the leather straps tightened around his ribs. "Tell me Andre, were you planning to have me buried as well. Ralf Arvo is one of the most powerful beings in existence, he reached the minor completion of the duality path decades ago, and is also very accomplished in the Spiritualist path. I would have no chance to flee if he decided to capture me." Uther Asked, his piercing gaze making Andre''s horns quiver. "Sir, when it comes to fleeing, even General Korver can''t catch you. Are you saying a tiny Arvo''s can do what the Tyrant General can''t." Andre replied with a shudder, hoping for Uther to remain calm. "Nevertheless, I should have been made aware of him." Bellowed Uther, the weight of his voice making Andre shed a few scales. "Yes Sir, it won''t happen again." Replied Andre hurriedly. Andre and Uther both walked up to the top deck. Uther was in his draconian form, his large scales gleamed with a dark azure light and his gigantic stature dwarfed Andre, who was also in his draconian form on top of wearing a bulky battle Armor. "How long till we reach the outer ring." Asked Andre. "We will be there in a few minutes sir." Replied one of the ships crewmen. "I will inform the Prince, you prepare to depart." Said Uther as he walked towards the 4th Princes cabin. "Yes Commander." Replied Andre impatiently. ************ Koren walked in the cabin with Enri. The cabin was the same size as the other one, but was occupied with mostly some of the pregnant women. Koren looked over to find Haruki huddled near the window with a young girl around the same age as him. This person was familiar to Koren, he had met her when he went to the Inn with Haruki. Koren walked over, still clasping Enri''s hand. "Brother Haruki." Koren called out as he approached. Haruki who was busy talking with his beloved Sumi, recognized the voice and turned around, and gave both Koren and Enri a scare. Haruki''s antics that fateful day had landed him in a lot of trouble, but the chief and his brother Sappa let him go for some reason. However, the matriarch was mad as a bull and ran over him with her earth spiritualist abilities. His face looked like a huge red and green rotten tomato. But it was all fine and good, as the condition of his face made Sumi, who always ignored him, actually concerned about his well-being. She even brought some steamed buns for him to eat. "Brother Haruki, what happened to your face." Asked Koren, trying to avoid Hope''s yapping and laughter from his mind. Haruki, with tears in his eyes and a bun in his mouth, replied "I died and went to heaven." 22 Soul "Brother Haruki, what happened to your face." Asked Koren, trying to avoid Hope''s yapping and laughter from his mind. Haruki, with tears in his eyes and a bun in his mouth, replied "I died and went to heaven." Koren didn''t know whether to laugh or cry, brother Haruki was always like this. He turned toward Sumi who was looking at Haruki as if he was a lost lamb. "Hello Sister Sumi, thank you for taking care of senior brother, but I need to talk to him about training and stuff, if you would excuse us." Said Koren followed by a light bow. "It''s fine, he''s been stuffing himself too much anyways. I''ll leave him in your care." Said Sumi as she got up and walked towards one of the pregnant ladies, probably her mother. "No!, my Sumi, my Buns." Yapped Haruki. "At least leave the buns, I''ll starve without them." He yelled as his eyes teared up. "Koren, you better have a good reason." Said Haruki as he stopped his antics and looked at Koren, who was holding his face in embarrassment. "Um, Senior brother, can you please follow me outside, I have something to tell you." Koren Asked. "Fine, fine. Let''s go." Replied Haruki impatiently, as the three walked out of the cabin. "OK Koren, we''re out now, lay it on me." Said Haruki irritably, as he crossed his arms and stood next to Koren and Enri, near the ship portholes. Koren sighed, and started to tell Haruki all about his background. Haruki calmly listened, he didn''t say or do anything while Koren spoke. "And that''s when we first met Senior brother, the village is in danger, and I have a way to save them." Said Koren. Haruki remained calm, but both Koren and Enri knew that this was far from the normal Haruki. Koren could see it in his eyes, the rage, and also a hint of shame. "I have to go speak with my brother." Said Haruki as he stormed off. "Senior brother, no, wait!" yelled Koren as he and Enri both chased after Haruki. "Senior brother, stop!" Koren was finally able to stop Haruki before he reached the top of the stairs. "I know you are angry, but you have to understand they were doing this to protect everyone. Complaining to Uncle Sappa won''t accomplish anything." Said Koren as he let go of Enri''s hand and grabbed Haruki''s arm from behind. "Please listen to me, I have a plan, but I need you to help me." Said Koren hurriedly, before Haruki could wrestle away. Haruki turned around and looked at Koren, he spoke "I''m sorry about what happened to your family Koren, I''m ashamed I never even considered about your circumstances." "But Koren, you are even younger than me, what can you possibly do to help?" Asked Haruki. "I will show you, but I need you to promise, that you will help me." Replied Koren, as he let go of Haruki''s arm. "Brother Fatty, I trust Koren, he is not lying, he can help us." mumbled Enri. "OK, I promise. Show me." Said Haruki. ************ In a fairly small room, lit with crystals inscribed with runes, stood two men. They looked human, but they were different from humans in some ways. Both men had a light red skin tone, feline ears, and a tail. These were the characteristics of the Raavi. General Ralf Arvo was holding a quill, as he stood next to a desk and signed a document. He looked up at the cleric and handed the signed document over. "I want my orders followed to the letter or someone will lose their head." Said General Arvo irritably. "Yes sir, I''m on it." Replied the Cleric, as he hurriedly ran out of the room. Ralf looked at the ceiling and smiled. This crystal was called a rune-stone. The rune-stone''s used throughout the city were actually supplied by his clans runology masters. He just looked at them once, and all the ''light runes'' inscribed on the crystals deactivated as he left the room. Ralf Arvo was the head of the Arvo Family Clan, one of the most powerful clans in the Raavi Empire. His clan controlled 3 cities and several businesses, that made him one of the most influential individuals in the empire. He could still remember it, the day he celebrated his 237th birthday, and subsequently achieved minor completion of the duality path. He had saved the life of the emperors beloved concubine, and was thus awarded the opportunity to visit the ancestor''s ''Soul Stone''. With the help of soul stone''s aura, he successfully broke through from ''major accomplishment'' to ''minor completion'' in days. He was promoted from commander to general, and also became the head of his clan. He was almost 297 years old today, and was quickly approaching the lifespan limit of 300 years of the ''minor completion'' realm. Ralf had been stuck at minor completion of his duality path for 6 decades. He knew that if he died, no one in his family would be able to secure the family''s estate. Other Family Clans would swoop in and cannibalize their properties, hence he had been trying to find a way to breakthrough for a long time. When his grandson told him about the path sword of Halfrist, he made up his mind to acquire it at any cost. Although the sword wouldn''t be of any use to him, but he could gift if to the emperor, and gain the privilege to once again visit the ''Soul Stone'' of the ancestor of the duality path, Rayvus. To practice the duality path, the Raavi need extremely strong souls, they use the worlds elemental energy to temper their souls repeatedly, until it results in an external aperture for the souls power. This is called the ''Soul Stone'' and it appears on the forehead of the Raavi. The Raavi can use the power of the soul stone to manipulate objects, create force fields, mental clones and in some cases, even manipulate the elements. Ralf touched his own forehead, and could feel the warmth emanating from the light blue ''Soul Stone''. ''I must get this path artifact, no matter the cost.'' Thought Ralf as he calmly walked towards the garrison of soldiers under his command. ************ "This is not possible, no way. This is a trick, isn''t it. There''s no way a human can do this, no way." Mumbled Haruki as he tried to touch the flame dancing about on Koren''s palm. "Ouch¡­ OK that''s real fire. But how, you are an earth spiritualist." Asked Haruki, as he felt the flame''s heat. "That''s, not all senior brother, I can also access the other elements." Said Koren as he changed his elemental points to wind, and water. Water started float out of the animal skin bag on Koren''s back and then a windy cyclone scooped it all up and blew it at Haruki face. "Big Sis!!" Yelled Koren internally as Hope was helping him control two elements simultaneously, and decided to spray the water on Haruki. "hehe, I think he gets the point now." Said Hope with a giggle. "I''m sorry Senior brother, I got carried away." Said Koren apologetically. Haruki was flabbergasted, he rubbed the water off his face with his sleeves, and then looked at Koren. "Koren, what you can do is incredible, but that doesn''t mean you can save the village from the Draconians" said Haruki trying his best to stay calm. "Its not me who will be fighting, but someone else. I have to go and ask that person for help." Said Koren. "well technically you are a different person when you wear the Armor, but your kind of stretching the truth here Koren, will he really believe you." Asked Hope, with her brows raised. "How can I help?" Asked Haruki flatly. "Well, this guy is a real dummy." Said Hope, trying to contain her laughter. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "I need to leave the ship, but I don''t want everyone to worry. I need senior brother and Enri''s help to keep everyone thinking I''m still on this ship." replied Koren as calmly as possible. "OK, how long will you be gone" Asked Haruki, as he wrinkled his brows. "2 or 3 days" said Koren, slowly. "No Way!, we cant lie for that long." Haruki Bellowed. "Please, you just have to tell them I''m in the toilet or I''m sleeping. Hold out as long as possible. If they find out, then just tell them you don''t know where I am." Said Koren. "OK we will try, so when are you leaving." Asked Haruki. "Right now. There''s no time to waste." Koren replied with delight, he showed Haruki the bag on his shoulders. "OK fine, but you have to promise me that you won''t put yourself in any danger." Said Haruki, as he handed Koren some of the buns form his bag. "Take them with you, for Good luck." Said Haruki with teary eyes. Koren wasn''t sure if the tears were for him or the buns. "Don''t worry, that person is very strong, I will be safe." Said Koren ardently. Enri, who hadn''t had much chance to say anything, suddenly grabbed Koren''s hand. She looked at Koren, who was just a little older than her. "Brother Koren, I will see you again, won''t I?" Asked Enri, as her face turned red, and her eyes moist. "Yes Enri, we will meet again soon, I promise." Koren replied with emotion. Koren opened the porthole and jumped out. Haruki, just looked on, he was shocked. He didn''t think Koren would just jump out like that. Then again, just a few minutes ago, he thought no human can control more than one element. Enri, didn''t fret or cry anymore, she cleared away her tears and stood with confidence. With her hands on her hip and her nose tilted upwards she turned to Haruki and said "Lets get going brother fatty, we need to keep our word." 23 Danger "Armor!" Yelled Koren as he jumped out of the sand ship. The liquid metal squirmed out of his body and started to form into the Guardian Armor. "Repulsors!" Koren activated all the flight functions of the Armor, and before his feet could touch down on the sand, the Armor was formed, and the plasma jets fired. The Armor blasted into the sky, quickly overtaking the domain of the birds of prey. Koren looked down, and he could spot the tiny ship sailing on the sandy dunes. ''This is incredible, when will I be able to do this on my own.'' Thought Koren. "With me by your side, it won''t take long." Said Hope trying to wake Koren up from his dazed state. "Where to now Big sis, I''m not sure where the underground tunnels are, will we have to find them again." Asked Koren with some concern. "Don''t worry, I''m familiar with all of your Geo-location''s since the day you woke me up. I can find the exact spot you were standing on when we found the tunnels." Said Hope as her floating form appeared next to Koren. "Big sis can you stop doing that, it feels like your teleporting, and it makes me feel dizzy." Said Koren as he adjusted his display and saw a mini map pop up. "No can do Koren, this is how I roll. Oh, I created a mini map on your display, fly to the location marked with an X quickly. Our current power reserves are at around 0.09%, and that''s after the chaos energy from all those shards and that ore fragment was absorbed by the Armor." "OK big sis" said Koren with a sigh, giving up on trying to reform Hope''s behavior. The smaller repulsors on the Armor fired and allowed Koren to adjust his orientation as he flew to the location on the map. Koren looked at the small bar showing the Armor''s power reserves, and curiously Asked "Big sis, isn''t there any other way for the Armor to recharge its power supply." "Of course there is, but all of those power generation units are redundant in this world, at least for now." "Like I told you when we met, the laws of this world are very different. I''m hoping that you can help me understand the laws of this world so we can make adjustments to the technology and make it more compatible." "The Chaotic energy found in the shards is a lucky find, but it''s not really a permanent solution as it is an extremely inefficient power source. On earth, every Pandora class battle ship and above is fitted with a solar harvester unit, it allows a ship to literally harvest power from a stars corona." "Your Armor also has a similar unit installed, but the so called Spiritual power creates too many problems, it''s present in every strand of energy, so unless I can understand it and isolate it, the power generation units can''t work." Replied Hope keenly. "Does that mean if I can create my own path, it will automatically make the world accept human technology as a type of power system." Asked Koren. "Yep, at least that''s the idea." Replied Hope flatly, before her eyes went wide in panic . "We''re getting close to the location, this is incredible, we''ve only been flying for 15 minutes." Said Koren, not noticing the alarm in Hope''s eyes. "Koren!!, Dive now!!" Yelled Hope. Koren who was still dazed by the speed of the Armor''s flight system, couldn''t react when to Hopes voice in time. He could feel something pluck him from the sky, and push down on him with enormous serrated claws, and for the first time since he gained the Armor, he felt something penetrate it. ''¡­Armor integrity 32%, contusions detected, activating life support systems¡­'' "Koren, activate the force field and dive, now!!" Shouted Hope. Koren was hurt, he felt his leg get pierced, the Armor barely protected against the attack. "Koren, NOW!!" Hopes voice finally got to Koren, and he quickly activated the force field. The force field was one of the technologies Koren saw when he was looking at the Armor''s utilities menu. He couldn''t activate it then because of its enormous power requirements. As the force field activated, an invisible barrier expanded from the Armor. It forced the gigantic claws to open and allowed Koren to go free. He used the plasma jets to quickly make some distance between himself and his opponent. Koren finally had a good look at what had attacked him just now. It was a gigantic Spiritual Bird, with a very large hooked beak, it was as if it was made for ripping apart flesh. It had large and strong muscular legs, with powerful talons, Koren could see a small trace of blood on one of those talons. "this thing looks like an eagle. No doubt it thinks of us as prey." Said Hope. "How did this thing suddenly appear out of nowhere, the Armor can detect any threat within 10 kilometers. Also, how did it break through the Armor''s defense and pierce my leg, I thought that was impossible." Asked Koren, trying his best to cope with the intense pain emanating from is right leg. "You Dummy, look at its stats." Shouted Hope. Name: Sky Eagle Spiritual Path: Level 18{Realm: Incarnation} Harmonization: ?? Elemental Power: 100 (Wind) Koren stared at its stats, he was flabbergasted. "Incarnation, and level 18 at that. There''s no way I can fight this thing right now. But that still doesn''t explain how it suddenly appeared above us, and why isn''t its harmonization visible." mumbled Koren as he saw the bird open its beak and screech. "Look at its wings, the were glowing a brilliant green just a moment ago, now they are so dim. It must be its inherited ability, it charges its wings with spiritual power, and releases it in a gush of incredible speed. Speed that allowed it to appear right above us before the Armor could detect it. I''m not sure about the harmonization, it''s roll after breaking through to incarnation is still a mystery to me, I need more data." Said Hope. "We can''t waste any more time Koren, you need to dive now. The force field will drain all of your power." Hollered Hope. Koren listened and immediately turned the force field off, then he adjusted his orientation and dived down towards the sand. This whole exchange happened in mere moments, in the eyes of the sky eagle, the shiny creature slipped out of its grip using some strange ability, sprinted back to make some distance, and then dove down to run. The sky eagle let out a loud screech, and the glow on its wings started to intensify. With its piercing gaze locked on to Koren, the sky eagle dove. Just before the eagle dove, Hope, who was staring at the bird, trying to understand its behavior, yelled towards Koren "Activate the Kino''s, and give me total control NOW!!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Koren didn''t hesitate, he immediately activated the Kino''s, and 15 Kino''s squirmed out of his Armor. The eagle dove down, its wings releasing a brilliant green glow. Everywhere it passed, it would leave a cloudy trail of green mist. In a mere instant, the sky eagles talons were above Koren, ready to clamp shut. Hope knew that with Koren''s speed he would never be able to out run the sky eagle. She arranged the Kino''s into a defensive formation right over Koren and as the talons were about to clamp shut on Koren, she yelled "Self-destruct!". ''boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­" One by one all fifteen Kino''s exploded. The force of the explosion provided Koren with the inertia he needed to avoid the sky eagles talons. The explosion didn''t harm the eagle at all, but it did cause it to stall a bit, it screeched in anger, as it looked down again, but all of the smoke from the explosion blocked its eagle sight. The sky eagle used its massive wings to clear the smoke away, but by that time it was already too late, as its prey was nowhere to be seen. The eagle screeched a few times, and continued to fly around over the region, finally it gave up trying to find the shiny creature, turned around and flew away, slowly gaining altitude. After the explosion, Koren was able to increase his speed and finally touched down on the ground. He had already changed all of his spiritual points to earth, hence as soon as his hands touched the sand the jets blasted with full force and he sank down. "Where to now big sis, we are not at the location marked on the map." Asked Koren as he felt a warm feeling fill the wound on his leg. "No need to worry, we just need to wait till this thing decides to give up and fly away. Also can you stop twitching your leg, it''s just the Armor''s healing protocols. Your leg will be as good as new, only if you let the Armor do its job." Replied Hope. Koren turned the Armor''s blasters off, but continued to use earth spiritual power to sink into the ground. "Koren, stop using your spiritual power, we don''t need to go deeper underground, this is more than enough..." said Hope before she furrowed her brows and yelled "No wait, continue to sink. I think I detect a signal from one of the Kino''s we left behind to survey the tunnels." "Yep, it''s definitely one of the Kino''s and it''s got the telemetry information of all Kino''s. Let''s see if they found the source of that ore, hmm." said Hope as she closed her eyes and scrolled through all of the data collected by the Kino''s. Suddenly Hope opened her eyes and looked at Koren with an apologetic gaze. She sighed and then said "I''m sorry Koren, but we can''t get the rest of that ore". 24 Rafiki Suddenly Hope opened her eyes and looked at Koren with an apologetic gaze. She sighed "I''m sorry Koren, but we can''t get the rest of that ore". Koren was taken aback by Hopes words, it wasn''t like Hope to say something like that, especially when she knew what was at stake. "I don''t understand big sis, why" Koren mumbled, anxious at the thought of breaking his promise to his friends. Hope creased her brows, and thought hard about what she should say next. Koren was adamant at saving the villager''s, she knew that if they could not find a way to charge the Armor, Koren would still go and fight with his life on the line. She turned to Koren and spoke. "Koren, when I first saw that ore, I thought that it was just a small part of a larger piece, and according to the Kino''s, I was right. However, it seems I severely underestimated the nature of the chaotic energy. How is it possible to have something filled to the brim with pure chaotic energy." "The Kino''s surveyed the underground tunnels and discovered a very, and I mean very, large cavern. As soon as the Kino entered that cavern, it was destroyed. However, it was linked with the other Kino''s at the time, so everything it saw was transmitted and stored." "What did it see, sis?" Koren asked, apprehensively. "A Creature, a huge creature." Hope activated the hologram on Koren''s display, and brought up the image the Kino transmitted. Koren looked at the image and was dumbfounded, there was no doubt about it, the thick short legs and the heavy shell, this thing looked like a giant turtle. "Do you see the crustacean on its carapace, the Kino detected chaos energy emanating from those. It''s very likely that this is the ore we have been looking for." Koren looked at hope, and her rueful gaze. He sighed and then spoke "Big sis, thank you for caring about me, but I have to do this. If this is the only way to help protect everyone, then I have no other choice." Hope grimaced "You can''t, that thing is bigger than a battle ship, a single breath from it would be enough to shatter the Armor and turn you into dust." "I know." Koren admitted. "But I have to do this." Hope could hear the resolve in Koren''s tone, he was going to do this no matter what, and she knew that she would do everything to help him. "If we are going to do this, then we do this my way Koren." Hope continued "All we need is for one of those crustaceans to fall off, that would provide us with enough power to solve the immediate crisis." "Thank you Sis." Koren smiled, as his eyes turned misty. "for always being there for me." "Well, I am kind of stuck with you, so I never really had a choice dummy." Hope said, lightheartedly. "Now here''s the plan." ************ Andre was huddled behind a large dune on the outer ring of the Oasis. This distance was perfect, as his soldiers will be able to apprehend any scouts, and would have a clear view of any incoming ships. Andre looked at his long spear, appreciating its sharp aura and its breathtaking beauty. He stroked the long spear and smiled, the spearhead was made from a dark obsidian metal, forged by the blacksmiths of the Roku Mountain, it was given to him by the 2nd Princess for his absolute loyalty. "Stay where you are" Andre said as he heard someone approaching him from behind. He turned around to see one of the Squadron leaders under his command. "Where is he" Andre asked, his strong aura causing havoc in the surrounding sands. "I wanted him brought before me, and yet you come here empty handed." "Sir, the scout tried to escape, we were forced to attack." The squadron leader gulped. "He did not survive." Andre smiled, he was not angry. "Huh, humans. Such feeble creatures, it''s a wonder how someone like Halfrist could be born in such a weak race." Andre looked at the squadron leader who was twitching with fear. "Haha, I''m not like the commander, you don''t need to fret." He grinned. "You did dispose of the body, didn''t you." "Yes sir, we did." The squadron leader replied. "We burnt it to ash." "Good, now tell the remaining squadron leaders to follow the prearranged plan." He said, clearly. "If they make a mistake and any humans flee, it will be their heads." The Squadron commander visibly gulped, before bowing and then running off to relay the commands. Andre turned around and resumed appreciating his spear. ************ "Andre should already be in position by now your Highness." Uther said. "We are on track to reach the border region in just over a day." Prince Rekim was seated at the very end of the room, directly facing the port window. He looked at the map, and yawned. "My Armor." The prince asked. "Is it ready?" "Yes your highness" Uther answered, his brows twitching. "And Modi." The prince turned to face Uther directly. "Has he been fed" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Yes your highness." Uther replied, with a smile. "I took care of that personally." "Very well." The prince looked down on the map, and picked up a wooden piece signifying the ship. "I am familiar with the plan, you may take your leave." Uther bowed, turned around, and left the princes cabin. Uther walked towards the ships deck, but his mind was concentrating on his spiritual core. The hint of green had now covered half of his dark spiritual core. "Soon now, very soon." Uther murmured. "You and I will show them our true potential." A human face appeared in the hint of green, the face was twisting and fidgeting with sinister glee. ************ Koren was nestled up in a small pocket of earth, beneath his feet was solid rock. He was already in full Armor, the repulsors were out, and ready to fire up at a moment''s notice. "Is this thing really a spiritual beast." Koren asked. "How is it even possible for something so massive to exist." Koren was looking at a live holographic feed of the gigantic turtle right under his feet. Hope had decided that the best way to succeed was to directly go for the metallic crustacean ore. They would blast through the ceiling of the cavern and make off with the ore, while the remaining 14 Kino''s distract the beast. ''¡­threat detected¡­threat detected¡­Danger¡­Danger¡­'' "Shut the alarm Koren, we know what we are up against." Hope said. "We don''t need a constant reminder of our imminent doom." "Done." Koren got into a four point stance. "I''m ready big sis. What about the Kino''s?" "They are all in position" Hope replied, timidly. "I have a bad feeling about this Koren." "We can do this big sis, you and me" Koren muttered as he stretched his stressed his muscles, ready to pounce. "3,2,1. Go Koren, Now!" Yelled Hope. Koren punched the ground under his feet making it crack apart. ''¡­boom¡­boom¡­'' As soon as Koren fell, the repulsors fired and allowed him to adjust his orientation. The plasma jets fired and blasted him downward. ''¡­boom¡­boom¡­'' The sound of distant Kino''s exploding one after another did not hinder Koren, he was on a mission. "Full Power!!" Yelled Koren. "NOW!!" The plasma jets fired with such intensity, that Koren could see a ripple in the surrounding space. In but an instant, Koren was above the crustacean. He used the inertia from the boost to directly hit the crustacean with his body. ''¡­boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­'' The metallic crustacean was extremely hard, but the impact Koren delivered was strong enough to break apart a very small chunk of it, roughly the size of Koren''s leg. ''¡­boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­boom¡­" Koren didn''t hesitate, he grabbed the small chunk of ore and prepared to blast through the ceiling, the same way he arrived. ''¡­boom¡­'' The plasma jets fired, and Koren was blasted up. ''Almost there.'' Koren thought. ''Just a little more.'' Koren blasted through the ceiling, with the chaotic ore in his hands. However, just as he was about to celebrate his victory, he felt a force yank him from behind. "Oh no!!" Koren cried. "No!, full power¡­I said Full Power!!" But there was no more power, the Armor''s energy reserves were nearly empty. "Koren¡­Ahhh¡­Koren I feel weird¡­Ahhh¡­something¡­ Something is interfering with my¡­NO!!" Koren heard Hopes cries before she went silent. "Big sis!!, sis are you there. Big sis talk to me!!" Yelled Koren, but Hope did not reply. For the first time, since losing his family, Koren felt sorrow and pain. But this time there was another feeling accompanying them, this feeling was anger. "Ahhh." Koren Screamed. "Move, move dammit." But he could not move, the invisible force yanked him back from the ceiling and into the cavern. ''¡­insufficient power¡­ entering endo-skeletal mode¡­core AI missing¡­'' The Armor retreated back into Koren''s body, it turned into a liquid and squirmed into his skin. With the Armor gone, Koren could not hold on to the ore piece, which almost weighed a ton. "Big sis, please be ok, please be ok." Koren cried. "I will become very strong, and I will take you back to your home on earth, so please be ok." Koren''s body shrank, he looked like a normal human child again. The invisible force brought him close to the giant turtles head. Koren looked at the creature''s head, its heavy and powerful jaw. ''Am I going to be eaten'' thought Koren. ''I''m sorry Enri, I won''t be able to keep my promise.'' That''s when Koren saw what could only be described as a smile on the creatures face, followed by a voice. "No need to cry little one" The voice said. "You are in the care of the great turtle sage, Rafiki." The turtle''s mouth did not move, the voice was speaking directly into Koren''s mind, the same as Hope. "I have trapped the ghost." The turtle head moved closer to Koren. "You are safe." 25 Seal "No need to cry little one" The voice said. "You are in the care of the great turtle sage, Rafiki." The turtle''s mouth did not move, the voice was speaking directly into Koren''s mind, the same as Hope. "I have trapped the ghost." The turtle''s head moved closer to Koren. "You are safe." Koren, who was screaming and wailing, stopped. He looked around to find the source of the voice before realizing it was in his mind. The turtle''s head came closer, and Koren slowly floated down. "That Ghost was quite peculiar, very persistent, I''ve trapped it for now. Tell me little one, what plagues you." The turtle asked, with its gruff voice . "Why did the ghost bring you to me." "Wha¡­What." Koren mumbled in confusion. "Are you going to eat me." "Eat you, why would I eat you. I am the great turtle sage Rafiki, and I have sworn never to harm a living creature. Besides, I am a star beast. We live off of the energy of stars, you wouldn''t be much of a meal anyways, haha haha." Rafiki chuckled, trying his best to make his voice appealing instead of its usual roughness. "You have nothing to fear from me." Koren was completely flabbergasted, no one had ever told him about something called a star beast. Only Hope would know what to do in this situation, yes Hope¡­HOPE!. "Big sis, what have you done with big sis." Koren yelled. "Let her go!" "Oh, are you a ghost practitioner, you don''t seem like one." The turtle said inquisitively, its deep and hoarse voice reverberating in Koren''s mind. "Very well, I will release the ghost, lest be said that Rafiki is a Bully." "Ahh¡­Koren can you hear me, Koren." Hope''s image suddenly appeared next to Koren "Koren I''m right here, can you hear me." "I can big sis, I can." Koren replied with happiness. "You are safe, thank the ancestors, you are safe." "It seems I was mistaken, the ghost did not cause you harm." Rafiki said. "Quite an odd pair you are." "Koren, this guy can use electromagnetic fields to interfere with my systems. I was there the whole time, but I could not reach you." Hope stared at the Giant turtle''s head with vigilance. "Well, this is an embarrassing moment. I apologize to the two of you. I thought you were possessed by the ghost and were forced to come here against your will." The giant turtle said. "Since that is not the case, why did you come here." Koren''s feet finally touched the ground, and the invisible field retreated. But the being in the presence of the turtle was still causing some interference with Hope''s systems, causing her image to constantly flicker. "Senior Rafiki, my name is Koren, and the ghost is my big sis Hope. We are sorry for disturbing your sleep." Koren took a deep breath and continued. "We came for the thing on your shell. As long as we can take some of it, we will leave immediately." "Oh, is it one of those nasty critters on my shell." Rafiki said. "Ah, they are very annoying" Koren and Hope were overjoyed, since the turtle found the metallic crustacean ore to be an annoyance, they could take it from here safely. "Senior, since you find them annoying, then it won''t hurt for us take just a tiny little bit of it." Koren asked. "No, no, no. I can''t let you do that. These are annoying, but necessary." The turtle sage moved its head sideways and puffed. "If they weren''t on my shell, my aura would wreak havoc on your world." Koren''s mood instantly fell, he looked up at the Giant Turtle and Yelled. "Senior, we only need a small piece." Hope looked into the distance and found the piece they broke off when they rushed into the cavern. "The piece we already broke off, we only need that one Koren. Ask him if that''s OK" Hope whispered. "I have a very good hearing, little ghost. And Yes, taking just that piece should be fine." The Turtle Sage Rafiki said. "But you have to do me a favor in return." Koren was taken aback, how could he have anything to offer this gigantic spiritual creature. Hope who standing next to Koren looked up at the beast and said "Oh mighty Turtle Sage, what could we mortals possibly have to offer you. Won''t you be in the losing end of this deal." "You are right, odd little ghost. The boy and you don''t have the strength required to assist me, but I can see your potential." Rafiki said. "Perhaps one day you will have that ability, and that is when I shall call upon this favor. "OK!, Senior we agree." Yelled Koren, ecstatic at the thought of charging up the Armor and being able to keep his word. The turtle sage Rafiki smiled. "Good" The ore piece, which fell next to the massive claw, floated up and rushed towards Koren, coming to a stop just a few meters from him. "I am quite curious, these little critters are filled with chaotic energy that is harmful to life of this world." The Turtle Sage said, questioningly. "How are you going to use it." Hope smile and turned to Koren. "The Armor has been slowly absorbing chaotic energy going wild in the surroundings, it should have enough to activate and absorb the ore." Hope said with a grin. "Show this guy, what he''s investing his favor in." "ARMOR!" Yelled Koren, as the liquid metal squirmed out of his body and started to solidify around him, it only took a second for the complete Guardian Armor to form. The Giant Turtle looked on as the Armor formed, it''s smile getting wider. But it''s eyes gaped when Koren reached out and grabbed the Ore piece, absorbing it into the Armor. "Incredible, you can actually directly absorb chaotic energy even though you are not a star warrior." The Turtle muttered, its deep voice filled with emotion. "Ahh, you remind me of a young one I knew long ago. I wonder, did he ever find what he was looking for." The Giant Turtles eyes turned misty, it looked at Koren and said " Well, off you go then. I have given you what you were after." "Thank you senior" Koren and Hope both said in unison. Koren checked the power reserves of the Armor and he was welcomed with a number that made him confused. 4% "Sis is something wrong, why do we have so little power." Koren asked. "Don''t worry Koren, this is enough to activate the battle mode, and take care of any immediate threat." Hope replied, fervently "If my calculations are correct, and they always are, then the Armor should be able to turn that bird we encountered earlier into mush with a single kick. "OK big sis, let''s go. Repulsors!" Koren activated the flight systems, slowly lifting him off the ground. He adjusted his course towards the ceiling, and fired the plasma jets. Koren quickly approached the ceiling and turned around to see the Turtle Sage one more time, before blasting through. "Sis, I was so scared when you stopped talking to me, I thought I had lost you" Koren mumbled in a sobbing tone. "I am so glad it all worked out" Hope smiled "You don''t need to worry about me Koren, I was only distressed a bit. To think that creature could actually interfere with our connection." Hope said as her brows wrinkled. "I have already become one with the Dimensional Core, so it couldn''t actually erase me, but still, what a strange power." "Sis, it said something about a ghost practitioner and star warrior, what do you think that means" Koren asked. "Haven''t the foggiest, maybe it''s originally not from this planet." Hope replied, acutely. "Star warriors and ghost practitioners could be followers of a different worlds path" "We''re almost to the surface." Hope stated. "It should be day break, we should rush towards the Oasis." However, it was then that they both heard the deep and hoarse voice of The Turtle Sage Rafiki, one last time. "Take this with you. It will help you when you need it most." The voice said. Koren could feel a burning sensation emanating from his Spiritual Core. "Ahh" Yelled Koren "What¡­ what is this." Koren visualized his spiritual core, and he could see a small turtle resting inside it. The turtle looked nothing like the giant turtle Rafiki. "It doesn''t seem to be doing anything to harm your core. It seems to be taking a nap." Hope said anxiously. "For now we can''t do anything about it, best to leave it alone." "Ah, OK big sis." Koren said as he started to breath heavily. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. ************ Deep beneath the surface sands, lay a massive beast. This beast had thick short legs, a heavy dome shaped shell, and a massive head with a powerful jaw. This was the giant turtle sage, Rafiki. Rafiki sighed. ''I can''t believe I actually gave him my seal, what came over me.'' Rafiki thought. ''At least he seems to be an honest one, unlike that fellow from before.'' ''Still, why did he have two cores. One seemed like a mutated spiritual core, while the other resembled the core of a star beast, how very peculiar.'' ''And that ghost, she seemed to be in a symbiotic relationship with the boy'' Rafiki moved his head down to rest on the ground. ''Star, Ghost and Spirit, the power systems of three world on one boy.'' Rafiki breathed in, and air seemed to have been pulled from all over the cavern, and the surrounding tunnels. And as he breathed out, it created a tiny sand storm in this underground world. ''Don''t disappoint me, Koren and Hope.'' 26 Disembark "Dear, we are about to reach the outer ring of the Oasis." Matriarch Hera muttered as she approached her husband of over 25 years. "Don''t worry dear, we''ve been through worse." Ipnak stood on the ships deck, with his hand on the keel stone. All sand ships came with a keel stone that connected an earth spiritualist with the ships keel, allowing the spiritualist to slide the ship on the sand even without wind. Ipnak was wearing his chieftain''s robe, decorated with a shale horn, a symbol of Shale village. Ipnak heard his wife''s words and sighed. "Yes, yes we have. But this is not just us Hera, this is everyone." Ipnak mumbled, his voice barely audible. "You know how ruthless they can be." Matriarch Hera hugged Ipnak from behind, her arms wrapped around his chest. "If you are thinking that you have failed the village, you are wrong. What you are doing now is protecting the village and everyone in it." Hera said with a tranquil look on her face. "Our reserves were not enough for all of us to reach the border, and even if we did, we would have to pay taxes to be allowed to pass into Raavi territory." Ipnak stayed silent, he remained that way as Hera continued to talk. "You have to stop being this way, this mission is to save the village." Hera said in a sobbing tone. "This mission to the Oasis is a death sentence, and I am nothing but a butcher. I gave them all fake hope." Said Ipnak flatly. "We will succeed, we still have the crystal. Sanam may be gone, but her sacrifice was not in wain. The sword is still in human hands, and Haruki is safe. She did her job as the sword keeper, now we must do ours." Hera muttered. "You had the foresight to send the children away, and now we are going to meet the chieftains of Yaris and Guar Village, to discuss the plan." "You are right dear, you''re always right." Ipnak turned and hugged his wife. "Ahem" one of the village warriors coughed as she approached the old couple. Matriarch Hera pushed her husband aside and resumed the stern look she always caries around. Ipnak smiled and turned to face the warrior. "Vin, what happened." Ipnak asked. "you seem flustered." "Chief, we have reached the ridge. Two other sand boats are visible, they have the proper identifying flags." The warrior replied, hurriedly. "Good, raise our flag, and set anchor as soon as we reach the location." Ipnak said. ************ In an open field of Ice and mist, an emerald shadow danced about. Every time the shadow flashed, a portion of mist in its former location would retreat. A chubby old man with a stubby beard, covered from head to toe in an umber fur attire, kept sprinting after the shadow. He tried to catch the shadow, but every time he got close, the shadow flashed and vanished into the distance. "Why are you being so stubborn. What you are trying to do, will not go well with the other lords." Lord Rolf persisted as he raced behind the Emerald shadow. "You know this better than anyone, I can''t protect you from them." The Shadow kept moving, it criss-crossed through the field, only leaving behind a trace of sword essence. "Will you just stop and listen to me." Rolf Yelled. "Fine, then I''ll make you listen." Rolf''s body started to grow larger. His entire body started to undergo a transformation as his ears became rounded, his wobbly belly turned into a muscular six pack, fur started to pop out from his thick neck, and turned into a golden mane. Rolf''s eyes widened, and he was finally able to see the shadow''s movements clearly. He pounced, and reached the emerald shadow before it could jump again. However, just as his hands were about to touch the shadow, the entire field of ice and mist started to glow a brilliant blue. Icy mist coagulated around Rolf''s body, and turned into solid Ice. Rolf tried to move, but the thick Ice prevented him from doing so. Rolf was shocked, he looked at the emerald shadow, which was only an arms reach from him. This was supposed to be impossible, he was in his incarnation form. Although he didn''t use any essence the other side also didn''t use any. "How did you do this, you aren''t even in your transformed state." Rolf muttered as he stared at the shadow. The mist cleared and a young woman appeared in front of Rolf. She had glistening silver hair, aqua blue eyes and pale skin. She wore a dress woven from misty emerald fur, the dress released an emerald mist that seemed to encompass its wearer. This woman was Ukara, the Lord of Frost City, one of the 9 great human cities of the Icy mountains. "Uncle Rolf, your golden mane lion form is quite fast, but it''s not fast enough." Ukara said as she slowly walked past the frozen Rolf. "How do you like my demonstration, I call it essence runology." The Ice around Rolf''s body started to shatter as he went back to his normal form. He once more turned into a chubby old man. "Essence Runology?, why have I never heard of it." Rolf asked. "Does it rely on sword essence." "You never heard of it, because I invented it, with some help from the ''Gem''." Ukara replied as she continued to walk, her pace relaxed, her voice tone-less. "For centuries, we have relied on the Raavi for Rune knowledge. But now we have our own unique Runology, that no one else can master." "But that''s impossible. You just drew this rune, right in front of my eyes, using nothing but essence." Rolf mumbled as he looked at the traces of aqua sword essence still lingering in the field. "Everyone knows, that runes can only be drawn on special materials that are naturally formed with spiritual energy. You just drew using your sword essence in the air." Ukara stopped, and turned around to face Rolf. "Uncle Rolf you are the Lord of Sephora City, so you know how much we rely on the Raavi. It is true, spiritual runes have high requirements for the materials, hence we will never be able to compete with them as long as we live in this backward region, devoid of any significant resources." "But essence runology changes that game, from now on all we need is our essence cultivation. Essence itself acts as both the brush and the medium, opening a whole new world for us." "I know you believe that I am being rash, trying to overthrow the status quo that has held us here for thousands of years." "But what you don''t realize is that Frost city is not the same as your cities, we have never relied on the Raavi. Although our rune masters are not as good as yours, who had the training of Raavi masters, but we are independent. Our spirit rune masters are self-thought and self-made, this dress is proof of their ingenuity. Made using the fur of an emerald wind fox, gathered during shedding season, and this sword." Ukara pointed to her hilt. "Formed from the horn of a frost stag, and imbued with runes that we created from scratch. "Ukara, all of this is indeed very impressive, you have done humanity a huge favor, but you must cease with your plan. The other Lords will try to stop you, your putting the whole of frost city in danger." Rolf said in severe tone. Ukara smiled, her hands moved and a sword appeared in it. The sword slashed about in the air, in sync with Ukara''s movements, before Finally coming to a stop. Ukara put the sword back in its sheath and looked at Rolf. "Here''s my answer. Now and forever." And with that she vanished. Rolf was confused, he looked at the lingering essence where Ukara had slashed. Suddenly the essence glowed and formed a rune. However, before Rolf could rush back, he was once again encased in Ice. ************ Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ipnak disembarked from the ship with his wife the village Matriarch as well as some of his warriors. He walked over to the anchoring location of one of the larger ships to see a group of warriors huddled around a tall sturdy man. The man was dressed in a ceremonial chieftain''s robe, similar to the one worn by Ipnak. "It has been too long old friend." Ipnak said as he approached the group. "Indeed, it has truly been too long, brother Ipnak." The tall sturdy man said as he gestured to the warriors to make way for Ipnak and Hera. "You have turned into an old man in these past 14 years, however my sister seems to be as young as ever." "Do you really want me to pull your ears again little Yoji." Matriarch Hera muttered her expression turned into one of love and grace, a rare sight, even for her husband. "Elder sister, I''ve been the chief of Yaris village for 20 years. Please stop calling me little." Chief Yoji approached the matriarch and got his ears pulled followed by a hug "Anyways it''s good to see you sister, and you as well brother Ipnak." "It''s good to see you too Yoji." Ipnak said as he came face to face with Chief Yoji. "Your warriors look strong." "Yes, yes they do." Yoji said, his tone fallen. "Come let me take you to Chief Ranbu, we should discuss our next steps." 27 Encounter "Yes, yes they do." Yoji said, his tone fallen. "Come let me take you to Chief Ranbu, we should discuss our next steps." Yoji started to walk towards the ship anchored on the other side. Ipnak noticed the atmosphere of gloom around Yoji. "What''s wrong?" Ipnak asked. "What aren''t you telling me." Yoji sighed. "Senior Ranbu sent one of his men to scout the surroundings." Yoji replied, his voice wobbly. "He was supposed to report after an hour, it''s been 5 already." He looked back at Ipnak and said "They are already out there." Matriarch Hera''s face fell, and she clasped Ipnak''s hand, grasping it tightly. The 3 walked over to the ship and spotted an old man swinging a long sword with his eyes closed. The old man was constantly swinging his sword vertically, every time he swung his sword, it would stop just a few centimeters from the ground. "Brother Ranbu, your sword skills are as marvelous as ever." Ipnak said. "It''s been 14 years since we last met, but you haven''t changed a bit." The old man opened his eyes and looked at the approaching Ipnak and Hera. He smiled. "So you have arrived." Ipnak walked over and hugged Ranbu, followed by a light bow from Hera and Yoji. "Come sit, we should decide our next course of action, we can take care of the pleasantries later." Ranbu said as he gestured to a make shift earthen hut, probably made using Earth spiritualist abilities. The group walked into the hut and sat on some mats laid out. "Well, here we all are again." Ranbu said with a sigh. "Kafai is gone, but he insured the safety of the sword. I don''t think I could have done what he did." Yoji muttered. "At least his grandson will survive this ordeal. It''s the least we can do." "Koren is a very talented young man, he is similar to old Kafai in many ways." Ipnak said, a proud look on his face. "I took him in as my student, and managed to teach him a few things." "So have you decided." Ipnak asked. "Who is going to be the bait." The whole room suddenly quieted down. "None of us and all of us. We three will take a small group of troops and approach the Oasis from the east." Ranbu replied. "We will be the bait, while the remaining warriors will take the ships and approach from the north." "I understand, gathering water and dates from the Oasis is our number one priority." Yoji muttered. "But how can we be sure that the Draconian''s will fall for it." "We don''t." Ipnak said as he got up. "Well, no time to waste." Ipnak turned to face his wife. "Dear, you need to be on our ship, it needs a spiritualist to sail." Hera knew her duty, and didn''t refute. "Let''s go then" Ranbu got up and walked out with his sword in tow, followed by the rest. ************ "General, the scouts have spotted something over the horizon." A soldier fully outfitted with leather Armor knelt down in front of Ralf. "it''s a small ship, seems to be a human merchant ship." Ralf, who was busy writing a letter home, dropped his quill, and stood up. "How long till they reach the gates." Rolf asked, hurriedly. "We spotted them from the watch tower. At their current speed it should still take at least an hour." The soldier replied. "They should be using a keel stone, the desert humans don''t have any wind spiritualist''s." "Good, I want them detained as soon as they reach the wall." Rolf said. "Also confiscate all of their belongings, especially any weapons." "Yes General, I will relay your orders." The soldier bowed and rushed out. Ralf smiled, he sat back down to pick up the quill and continue writing, but as soon as his hand touched it, he felt a jolt of pain coursing through his body. "It''s getting worse." Ralf thought. ''This old body is failing me, but as long as I make a breakthrough to major completion, I will have my youth again.'' ''This is my last opportunity, and nothing will get in my way.'' Ralf leaned backwards to rest, a vicious look on his face. ************ Sappa was very tired, he had been using his earth spiritual power to sail the sand ship for almost 2 days. He would try to recover his spiritual power whenever there was a wind current. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He looked up to see the sails finally catch some wind, and let go of the keel stone. Sappa collapsed on the deck, he was breathing heavily from fatigue, and his robes sweaty from the desert heat. "Ah I knew it, you are slacking off." Haruki said as he approached the collapsed Sappa. "Here have some." He uncapped his water bag and held it close to Sappa''s mouth. "No need, I have my own." Sappa got up and steadied his breathing, then he took out his own animal skin bag to take a drink, only to find it empty. "Take it, you need it more than I do" Haruki insisted. "Fine, but there better not be anything mixed in this Haruki." Sappa said, still dreading the tea incident. The matriarch almost skinned him alive, even after he told her about Haruki. Sappa cautiously took a sip, after making sure it was just water, he drank a few more. He returned the bag to Haruki. "Why so kind today, shouldn''t you be down there with that Sumi girl." Sappa muttered, suspiciously. "I know why we are going to the border. When were you going to tell me, was it after we enter Raavi territory." Haruki asked. Sappa looked at Haruki, a complex look in his eyes. He still remembered it, the first time he met Haruki''s mother, Sanam. Back then, the shale and Yaris village used to be one village. Sister Sanam came to the village, covered in injuries. Sappa was the one who found her and brought her to the village. As an orphan, who''s parents died to sand beasts, Sappa lived with the chief. The matriarch nursed her back to health and found out that she was with child. Sanam lived in the village for the next 9 months. She became like a sister to Sappa, but she was also carrying a heavy burden, The sword. It was only a matter of time her attackers would track her down, so she left her newborn son in Sappa''s care. Sappa looked down at the sword on his waist and sighed. "I''m sorry Haruki, but we were only trying to protect you." Sappa said as he took the sword off of his waist and held It in his hands. "This sword belong to your mother." "Mom¡­" Haruki stammered. "But I''ve never seen it on you before." Sappa didn''t reply, he simply concentrated his earth spiritual power on his hands and pulled the sword hilt apart from the rest of the body of the sword. He then turned the hilt and removed the Pommel. "Your mother had many secrets Haruki, this Pommel caries one of those secrets" Sappa said as he handed the rough pommel with a foggy green gem in the middle over to Haruki. "I don''t have the time or energy to explain to you the importance of this thing, but I want you to know, that this is her inheritance to you." Sappa threw the remaining part of the sword overboard, and said "It is both a heavy burden and great opportunity. Protect it with your life Haruki." Sappa didn''t bother to look at the dumbstruck Haruki, he simply turned around and put his hand on the keel stone again. ************ Ipnak, Yoji and Ranbu, the three chieftains made their way through the open desert, and journeyed towards the Oasis. "We have the most number of warriors, they should have spotted us by now." Ipnak remarked. "Keep the crystals ready. We may have to use them very soon." "We will lose our cultivation after using it once, just like Kafai. So we have to make it count." Yoji stated, his tone vigilant. Ipnak was worried, he kept looking backwards, fearing the worst. "Don''t worry Ipnak, the Draconian''s are after the sword, they will first come after us." Ranbu reassured Ipnak. "They probably have a commander leading this mission. Bone tempering stage at best, if we work together, we can keep him busy." Ipnak nodded "You are right brother Ranbu, with the three of us and the crystal as a last resort, we can do this." The trio continued to walk with their around 60 warriors in tow, until one of the soldiers saw something strange in the distance. "What is that, looks like a bird." The warrior said, as he squinted his eyes to get a better look. "Dodge NOW!" someone Yelled. But it was too late, the spear impaled the warriors chest, turning him into a bloody corpse. "Defensive formation now" Yoji shouted, as he and the rest started to look up southward, for the thrower of the spear. Andre tapped his feet in the air and the wind retreated, allowing him to descend down. He touched down just a few meters from Ipnak and the rest. "Well, how quaint." Andre started to walk towards them as crackling sounds came out from his body. "You must be the chiefs, well at least you''re stronger than the other one." "The commander didn''t let me have any fun back then, but now." Andre''s body started to undergo a transformation, scales sprouted from his body as he grew larger, a tail appeared and his horns elongated. "Now, I will have some fun" A monster stood in front of Ipnak and the rest, its dark red scales vibrating like butterfly wings. They could feel the robust aura coming from him. Yoji who was the youngest babbled "Level 29, Bone tempering peak!!" Andre scoffed and held out his hand. He was wearing a leather glove with inscribed runes which started to glow. Andre looked at Yoji who had just outed his cultivation level, and sent him an ominous glare. "Yoji NO!!" Ipnak Shouted as the spear lodged in the corpse of the warrior freed itself and then lunged at Yoji. Yoji heard Ipnak and dodged, but the spear was too close. As the spear was about to plunge into Yoji''s back, his chieftain''s cape started to glow. The Spear passed through Yoji causing almost no damage, but Yoji collapsed on his knees, breathing heavily. The spear came to a stop in front of Andre. He looked at Yoji, surprised that he managed to dodge that. Then he looked at the ordinary looking cape all three chieftains were wearing. "Evasion runes, interesting. Now how did a bunch of desert rats manage to get such a high level Rune cape." Andre sneered towards the three chiefs, with a greedy look in his eyes. 28 Together "Evasion runes, interesting. Now how did a bunch of desert rats manage to get such a high level Rune cape." Andre sneered towards the three chiefs, with a greedy look in his eyes. "Yoji, are you ok." Ipnak asked as his aura shot up, his entire body started to morph. His skin gained a grainy texture like sand, his nose elongated and his whole body grew thicker. Two streaks appeared on his cheeks, and his hands turned into claws. This was his sand badger incarnation. "I''m fine, just a little out of breath." Yoji replied, as he got up on his feet, staring at the floating spear with dread. "The cape saved my life, but used up almost a quarter of my spiritual power." "All of you, stand back and go into dome formation, your goal is to defend alone. This is a battle of spiritualists, you can not interfere." Ranbu yelled back towards the warriors. "We can''t waste time, this guy rushed here alone, he''s probably very confident in his ability to take us down." Ranbu muttered as he too started to undergo a transformation. However, unlike Ipnak, he didn''t grow larger, rather shorter. His height reduced by a fifth, his skin became grey and rough, and his nose turned into a horn. He looked like a humanoid version of an Earth Rhino. "Level 29 is very strong, but if we work together, we can keep him busy." "Together!!" Hollered Ranbu as he took out his long sword and charged towards Andre, each of his steps made the sand ripple like water. Ipnak got on all fours and disappeared into the sand, while Yoji just stood straight, looking at Andre with all of his attention. "Haha, you actually want to fight me." Andre mocked, as the floating spear was pulled into his hand. "Let me show you how little your puny abilities mean in front of true power." Andre''s scales shimmered, and his body vanished, he appeared right in front of Yoji, with his spear pulled back. "Yoji!!" Ranbu yelled as he changed his direction, but it was too late. "One down." Andre smirked as he thrust his spear into Yoji''s gut. "How weak you are, you humans don''t deserve to breath the same air as us." The spear tore through Yoji''s chest easily, and blood spewed out from his back, his chieftain''s cape didn''t even have the time to activate. Andre was about to say more, but he noticed the look on Yoji''s faces wasn''t one of some who was dying, rather one of triumph. "You little¡­" Andre slurred as two claws erupted under his feet and bolted him down on the ground. "Your breath stinks." Yoji muttered as his body turned into sand and blew away. Yoji appeared again exactly 10 meters from Andre, however he wasn''t in his normal human form, but in his incarnation form. He had feathers all over his body, his face had a short beak, but the most noticeable feature was his huge wide eyes, that could peer into ones soul. "You dare!!" Andre thundered as he stabbed his spear towards the ground, but before he could complete the motion, Ranbu was already upon him with his long sword. "Desolate Strike!" Yelled Ranbu as he slashed down with his long sword. Andre diverted his spear, and held it horizontally to block, but Ranbu''s long sword came to a stop just centimeters from the Spears pole. "What¡­" Andre muttered in confusion, but then he felt it. Some type of force had broken through his defenses, and directly attacked his body. "Ahhh" Andre yelled as wind power concentrated around his body, and pushed Ranbu back. He focused his wind power under his feet and the claws holding him tight finally let go. Andre shot into the air and floated 10 meters over the ground. Ipnak jumped out of the sand like it was water, and stared at the floating Andre. "Your attack did nothing, he is a body cultivator, and he''s wearing that Armor on top of his crazy hard body." Ipnak remarked, as he slid across the sand towards Ranbu. "We need to use the crystals, it''s the only way." "No, our goal is not to defeat him, but to keep him busy. We need to give the others enough time to restock at the Oasis." Ranbu rebuked, as he spun his sword and pointed it upwards, ready for the next attack. Andre, was not amused. Not only had he been tricked by these three ant''s, but he also suffered an attack. He turned his eyes towards Yoji, and spoke. "A Mirage Owl, such a weak and pitiful incarnation. Deserving of a weak and pathetic race." Yoji smiled, his eyes growing slightly wider. "I tricked you with this very feeble incarnation, so what does that make you." He countered, a broad grin across his owl like face. "Why you¡­ huh, well then let me show you three what a true incarnation looks like!" Andre yelled, as he ripped off the chest plate of his Armor. His body started to grow larger, feathers erupted from his arms and his draconian features became more beastly. His feet turned into talons, his red draconian scales turned into green feathers, and his thick neck became thinner and slightly longer. His leg guards and the helmet simply shattered, spraying metallic pieces everywhere. His body grew to a size larger than Ipnak''s sand badger, and was still growing. "A wind vulture, I''ve heard they have some dragon blood, it seems to be true." Ranbu stated, his tone grave. "He still has some of his draconian features, like that scaly tail, beware of it." "What''s his spiritual path level Yoji." Ipnak asked, as the mirage owl had the ability to see through ones level. "He''s at level 23, but the real problem isn''t his defense, it''s his talons." Yoji Replied in a solemn tone. "We are only level 21, he will rip through us without effort, we have to use the crystal if we want to survive this." "Ranbu!, we have no choice." Ipnak yelled towards Ranbu who was standing just a few meters from him. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "OK, Fine. Bring them out." Ranbu replied as he reached into his bag and pulled out a blue crystal. Ipnak and Yoji did the same, and then the three simultaneously crushed the crystals. The crystals turned into dust and disappeared, but they also released a small hint of energy into the trios body. "Ahhh" All three Chieftains yelled out in pain and agony. The Power from the crystals was stimulating their spiritual cores, and their power levels began to rise. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. "Ahh¡­ we''re at level 27, this feeling is so incredible." Yoji said with some difficulty, still getting used to the new power level. "Remember, these crystals are flawed, we will start to lose our cultivation after 5 minutes. We have to end this before that." "huh, what did you do." Andre who had just finished his transformation noticed the change in the trios atmosphere. Although he didn''t know by how much, but he could tell that the three had grown stronger in the span of a few seconds. "No matter, after I have ripped you limb from limb, all of your secrets will become mine anyways." Andre roared as he positioned his body towards Ranbu and dove. "Now DIE!!" Withing a second, he was already on top of Ranbu, his talons wide open, ready to turn Ranbu''s long sword into shards of metal. Ranbu smiled, and thrust his sword ahead with hesitation. "Broken Earth" Ranbu yelled as his sword came into contact with Andre''s talons. Andre felt an intense pain, he looked down to see that he had a light cut on his chest. Somehow Ranbu''s attack had avoided his talons and directly hit him. Even though he was a body cultivator, the other party''s attack was able to pierce through his skin, but was blocked by his muscles. His final defense was his bones, which had been tempered to level 29 peak. Andre could tell that the other party was weaker than him, but his skills with the sword had already reached the level of a master. Andre flapped his wings and feathers like sharp blades blasted out towards Ranbu, but they caused almost no damage, as Ranbu''s grey skin had also strengthened. Ranbu wasted no time and pulled his sword back. Once again he shouted as his sword slashed right over Andre''s neck. "Broken Earth!" This time Andre saw it, a wave of attack. Tiny grains of sand had latched themselves on the swords blade and were being released upon attack, forming into tiny daggers. Andre retreated his long neck, which was one of his less attractive abilities as a wind vulture. However, just as he dodge this attack, another came from the side. The whole exchange between Ranbu and Andre had taken mere seconds, which was enough for Ipnak to ready his attack. He rushed towards Andre, and slashed with his claws. His claws were sharp enough to bore through even solid layers of rock, so they would be bound to cause some damage to the transformed Draconian. Just as he was about to reach Andre, the spear appeared in front of him and stabbed towards his gut. It was too late to dodge, so Ipnak decided to block with his claws. However as soon as his claws made contact with the spearhead, he realized his mistake, but it was too late. "NO!" Yoji howled as his body turned into sand and appeared next to Ipnak, he pushed Ipnak away but the damage had already been done. The spear tore through Ipnak''s claws, and just touched his gut before Yoji saved him, but his claws were gone, and only two bloody stumps were left. "You bastard!" Ranbu shouted as he thrust his sword once more with full force. "Earthly Dawn!" He shouted as his sword started to glow a yellowish color. His sword clashed with Andre''s talon''s again, but this time it simply passed through them, as if they were immaterial. The sword stopped glowing after going through the talons, and slashed at Andre''s chest. Blood spurted and Andre was thrown back, with a look of disbelief on his face. Andre fell some 50 meters away and Ranbu collapsed on one knee, breathing heavily. Activating the runes on his sword came at a cost. He looked towards the spear lodged into the sand and shouted. "Ipnak, trap that thing. I''m afraid it''s a high level crafted weapon. My sword is only a normal spiritual weapon, carved from the horn of an Earth Rhino. If he attacks me with the spear head on, my sword will shatter." Ipnak who had just covered his wounds with a cloth, nodded and concentrated his earth spiritual power towards the spear. The spear easily sunk into the sand, and disappeared. Just as Ranbu got up, ready to attack Andre again, he heard his voice. "Enough, ENOUGH!!, All of you, DIE NOW¡­Attack, I don''t care anymore¡­ I just want them dead." Andre had already stood up and was now looking at Ranbu with bloodshot eyes. His green feathers belly down were red with blood, and his aura savage like a genuine spiritual beast. ¡­Dhum¡­dhum¡­dhum¡­ Sounds of heavy footsteps came, grating against the sand as shadows of troops could be seen over the dunes. Ipnak''s expression changed, he knew there were troops nearby, but seeing them still caused his heart to sink. "Ipnak, you go and help our warriors, Draconian soldiers are strong but they are not all body cultivators and spiritualists." Ranbu Yelled as he got in his attack stance and pointed his sword towards Andre. "Only the leaders will be followers of a path, but they will be at the skin tempering stage or in the spirit realm of the spiritual path. You can take care of them." "I understand Brother Ranbu." Ipnak Replied as he rushed towards his warriors. "You need to stay safe, it''s only been around 3 minutes since we broke the crystals, we only have 2 more minutes." "I Know." Ranbu remarked, a light smile on his face. "I will kill this Draconian in the time we have, even if it means I have to kill myself in the process." "Lets do it brother Ranbu" Shouted Yoji as he appeared next to him, his eyes wide open, emanating a dense wavy aura. "Yoji, I may have to detonate my core, I need you to create mirages of my body." Ranbu whispered. "My final attack cannot fail." "You ant''s deserve to die, I will make you pay for your impudence." Andre roared as he flapped his wings and took to the sky. "And you will pay" Came a voice from the clouds, as a figure started its descent. "For your arrogance." 29 Who "What''s the ETA sis" Koren asked hurriedly as he raced across the sky, "The Oasis is straight ahead." Hope replied enthusiastically. "But the sensors have picked up 3 sand ships near its vicinity. It''s the villagers, they just reached the Oasis. They are safe Koren." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Just as Hope said those words her expression changed. "Oh no Koren, I''m detecting non-human signatures coming from the surroundings. We have to hurry." Koren didn''t need to be told twice. "Time to go ultrasonic!!" Koren muttered as the plasma jets outtake valve changed from yellow to blue, and the sheer burst of power caused the space around Koren to ripple, before he vanished. ************ Matriarch Hera was ready for any trick the draconian''s might try. She was the first to get off the ship when they reached the Oasis. She looked on as a group of Oasis farmers approached her. They had been stationed here on a permanent encampment to look after the crops and livestock. The group came to a stop and bowed. "How are the preparations." Matriarch Hera''s eyes met that of the lead female, who was dressed like a warrior. "Matriarch, we have stored all the water in vats, and we have already packaged all the crops. All of the date trees have been harvested, the grain has been milled, and the meat has been salted and smoked. We are ready to load it all on the ships." A female warrior, fitted in a desert robe with some metallic plates for Armor stepped forward and spoke. "Any sign of Draconian''s" Matriarch Hera asked, her tone grave. "Some of our scouts never came back to report. They should be nearby." The warrior replied with a heavy sob. "My husband was one of those scout''s." "I am sorry for your loss, but know that his sacrifice will not be in vain. As for now, we need you to load everything on the ships." Matriarch Hera stepped forward and patted the warrior''s shoulder. "Stay vigilant, at the first sign of trouble I want you to get into formation and defend the ships." "Yes Matriarch." The Warrior saluted, and walked off, along with the rest of the farmers.. "Aunt Hera, don''t worry, with father''s Mirage Owl incarnation, they will definitely return safe and sound." A woman walked out of the Yaris village ship together with Lady Zena. "Our worries should be for the people we are protecting, any minute now we could be under attack" "Matriarch Hera knows this Suki, you don''t have to say it like that." Lady Zena said, irritably. "I will check the medical supplies, we won''t be able to come back here to gather herbs again." However just as lady Zena started to walk towards the encampment, matriarch Hera''s eyes went wide with horror. " STOP!!, Everyone on the ship" She Yelled. "Suki, your with me, Zena run inside NOW!!" However, no one even herd her words, as all of them were looking at the sky, in utter shock. Koren stood in the sky like a floating metallic idol. If it weren''t for the constant ''hum'' of the repulsors under his feet, everyone would think he was a floating statue. He looked down to see the familiar faces of Aunt Zena and Matriarch Hera staring at him with shock and horror. "You scared them with your flashy entrance. Take your helmet off Koren, they need to see you are human." Hope appeared in front of Koren, she looked excited. "Besides, you look so different in your grown up state, no one will recognize you." Koren willed it and the helmet turned into metallic liquid and wriggled down to fuse with the remaining Armor. "Give me their locations Sis." Koren looked at the ground with vigilance. "They are underground, it seems they want to attack the ships directly, cutting off any route for escape for the villagers, how sinister." Hope stated angrily. "You don''t need the battle mode for this, just blast through the sand, and bust them out" Koren looked down at the shocked faces of the people he had sworn to protect. "Don''t worry, everything will be OK" He said as the helmet came back on and solidified. "Let''s go!" the repulsors keeping him afloat shut down and Koren fell, he then adjusted his orientation so his head would face downward and shouted "No mercy for the wicked!" The plasma jets fired and he drilled into the sand, causing it to splash like a pond of water. "What, what was that?" Suki stammered, fearfully. "I''ve never seen anything like that before." "That face, it was human" Lady Zena murmured, with a look of confusion in her eyes. "And strangely familiar" ¡­Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ "Oh no that sound its coming from the ships direction" Matriarch Hera muttered as everyone finally came to their senses and ran towards the ships, only to feel the whole ground quake. ¡­Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ "What is happening" Someone shouted. "That sound came from underground, we are under attack" Droves of people all dismounted the ships. Everyone was trying to make sense of the chaos. ¡­Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ Dhum¡­BOOOM The quakes ended and figures started to jump out of the sand one by one only to fall flat, unmoving. "What!" Suki yelled as one of the figures fell near the matriarch face down. The figure was wearing a robe similar to the village scouts, but the matriarch could feel earth spiritual energy from it. The matriarch turned it over, followed by everyone''s gasps. "It''s a draconian, it...its dead, did that metallic being do this." Suki said with some hesitation. "They were underground, if they had attacked the ships, we would have been trapped." "Where is it now." Lady Zena asked as she looked around at the numerous draconian corpses, there must have been at least a 100. ¡­Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ Dhum¡­ "Everyone move away from the ships." Matriarch Hera said as everyone started to move towards oasis. ¡­Dhum¡­Dhum¡­ Dhum¡­BOOOM Koren burst out of the sand with his hands clenched tightly around the necks of two draconian soldiers. Unlike the rest, these two were wailing and trying to break out of Koren''s grip with everything they had, but their struggles were for nought. "Why did you ask me to capture them alive big sis" Koren asked, with aggressiveness. "They were going to burn down the ship, and kill everyone, they don''t deserve to live." "Didn''t you notice Koren, they are different from that other guy. These two are body martial path cultivators" Hope replied, grumpily "I asked you to capture them alive, so I can understand more about how they practice." Koren calmed down, this was the first time he had killed someone. He had killed in simulations when he was training for the battle mode, but this was different. He could feel rage and fury cloud his senses, and make him break the draconian warriors like a group of twigs. "So these are body martial path cultivators, why do they give me vibe similar to that earth rhino we fought underground." Koren asked as he noticed the aura of the two dangling draconian''s. "You are right Koren, I can actually feel a hint of chaotic energy from them." Hope said as she circled around the two. "It maybe somehow linked to their practice system." She came to a stop after a minute and turned to Koren. "OK, I''ve extracted all the data I need, you can do with them as you wish." As both Draconians were struggling under Koren''s grip, one of them spoke, fear apparent in his voice. "Who are you, how dare you interfere with the Draco Kingdom." The draconian warrior said in a barely coherent tone. "Don''t you know the punishment you will face." Koren chuckled. "Your Kingdom has no power over me" However, this answer seemed to give the draconian the impression that he was perhaps dealing with someone from the Raavi Empire. "You¡­ you must be from the Raavi empire. My family name is York, my grandfather is a high ranking noble in the kingdom, don''t kill me, you can ransom me off." The second draconian who had remained quite also started to yammer. "Me too, I can give you anything you want, all of my wealth, everything. You don''t have to kill me." Koren grinned under his helmet, and laughed quietly. "You two seem to be mistaken" Koren didn''t bother to rattle on, his helmet came off and he stared at the horror stricken eyes of the two draconian''s. "I am no Raavi, I am a Human, and your fates were sealed the moment you decided to come here." Koren said with a grin. "Nooo!!" Both of them yelled in unison as Koren tightened his grip and saw them wriggle for air, until their struggles ended and their eyes went grey. Koren walked towards the Matriarch and dropped their corpses at her feet and asked. "Is anyone hurt." However, no one replied, everyone stared at Koren''s young face, metallic Armor that looked as if it was sculpted to fit the human male physique and his overpowering stance. "Please, don''t be afraid. I am a human just like all of you." Koren spread his hands out, the metallic Armor retreated, and his bare human hands were visible for all to see. "Are you from the Icy Mountains?" The Matriarch asked. "Only they would have humans capable of what you just did." "You can think of it as such, but right now the important thing is to ensure everyone''s safety." Koren looked around. "Where is te¡­um, your chief, I don''t see him around" "How do you know I''m not the chief" The Matriarch asked suspiciously. "Oh¡­ I didn''t.. I¡­ Well you are a woman¡­I mean they called you Matriarch." Koren mumbled. The matriarch looked at Koren youthful face and his nervous attitude and smiled. "Have we met young one, because you give me a strange familiar feeling." The Matriarch asked, with her brows furrowed. "No..Noo we definitely have not met before." Koren crossed his arms back and forth vigorously. Suki who was standing behind Zena came forward. "Hello, my name is Suki, I am the spiritualist of Yaris Village." Suki bowed, her cheeks rosy. "Thank you for saving us." "Thank you for saving us" More people came forward. "What should we call you young one." The Matriarch asked. "You can call me Ko¡­" Koren was about to spill the beans, before Hope smacked him on his head, even though she was immaterial to others, she was very real to Koren. Koren straightened up and looked at the Matriarch and the words floating at the top of his field of vision. ''Armor Version: 12.9'' ''Armor Designation: Guardian'' He smiled and spoke. "I am the Guardian" "¡­" "Well Mr Guardian. The three chiefs of our village should be east, they should be in battle against the main force of the draconian''s. " The matriarch said, her tone serious. "I don''t know if I can truly trust you, but I don''t have much of a choice, can you please help them." "Sis, extend the search parameters east." Koren said, hurriedly. "Already on it." Hope replied. "Found them, they are not far, and they are already in battle" Koren looked at the matriarch and said "Stay here, I''ll be back in a sec" The helmet came back on and the repulsors fired, blowing the sand everywhere, as Koren rose off the ground. Matriarch Hera looked at Koren and thought ''what is this thing, it can use fire and wind to fly, uses metal like flowing water to form Armor and can be controlled by this fellow at will'' Koren continued rise till he was at least a 100 meters off the ground, then he adjusted his orientation and fired the jets. Flames burst out from the outtake valves and Koren disappeared. "Path Walker" The Matriarch mumbled under her breath. ************ "You ant''s deserve to die, I will make you pay for your impudence." Andre roared as he flapped his wings and took to the sky. "And you will pay" Came a voice from the clouds, as a figure started its descent. "For your arrogance." Koren looked down at Andre, who turned to face him with a grotesque look on his face. "Who the hell are you?" "I am here to put you down" Koren replied as the helmet came off. "like the filthy creature that you are." 30 Survivors Chief Ranbu, Yoji and Ipnak, as well as all of the human and draconian warriors, looked at the new arrival. Andre was confused, he didn''t even feel this person''s aura until he was right over head. "Who the hell are you?" Andre roared with a ugly look on his face. He felt a threatening feeling emanating from this metallic creature. "I am here to put you down" Koren replied as the helmet came off. "like the filthy creature that you are." "HUMAN!" Yoji yelled in shock. "What is happening, why can''t I see through his cultivation" "What!, how is it possible for you not to see his cultivation, unless¡­" Ranbu muttered as he realized the race of the mysterious arrival. "Unless his cultivation is higher than yours, by a large margin, but only the icy mountains have humans that strong" Ranbu dropped his sword, and collapsed on his knees again, still breathing heavily. "Brother Ranbu!" Yoji yelled as he knelt down to help. "Somethings wrong, I''m losing my cultivation early." Ranbu coughed up blood, and started to sweat. "It seems, the crystals effects are not uniform. You and Ipnak need to be careful" "Ahhh" Andre screeched, as his wings fluttered and he rose even higher. He approached Koren, and swung his tail like a whip, only to see Koren remain motionless. Koren saw the tail, but chose to ignore it until the last moment. His hand moved like lightning and grabbed the Scaly draconian tail. "Seriously, so weak. Koren, it seems you won''t need the battle mode at all. Give this guy some punishment will ya" Hope muttered while chuckling like an evil scientist. "I''m getting a lot of data from him. Ahh, fun times." "Sure sis, My thoughts exactly!" Koren looked at Andre''s shocked scaly vulture like face and grinned. "You¡­ You Let Go!!" Andre yelled as he swiped his talon''s onto Koren''s thigh, only to see it generate sparks when clashing with the Metallic Armor. Koren gave Andre a wicked stare and said "I don''t like it when someone tries to damage my threads." He swung Andre by the tail a couple dozen times, and then let go towards the ground. Andre''s mind was a mess, today was supposed to be his big day. He was going to impress the 2nd Princess and be given the honor of being part of her guard. Instead, he was injured by a bunch of desert rats and now was being whacked around by this mysterious fellow. Andre clashed against the sand headfirst. His lower body was hanging above ground with his long neck wriggling in the sand to get free. For a moment he even forgot his identity as a noble body cultivator and wind spiritualist. While this momentary clash happened, the remaining warriors all were looking on in shock. The draconian soldiers could not believe that their commanding officer was thrashed around like that. "It''s that Mirage Owl, this is not real, it can''t be." One of the squadron leaders shouted. "Everyone don''t be deceived, charge!" Yoji, who was kneeling next to Ranbu, didn''t bother to deny. He was even more shocked than those soldiers. He was gazing at Koren with full force when he moved to catch Andre''s tail, but he still couldn''t see it. The speed was so incredible, that his eyes, which were famous for being able to create mirages and illusions, were the ones left illusioned. Koren looked at the charging soldiers and thundered "I am as real as it gets!" He raised his arms and the Armor Armature around it opened up. Tiny glowing metallic moths ejected out and flocked behind him. "Take care of them" Koren muttered as he looked back down at the struggling Andre. The Metallic moths buzzed and flew towards the draconian soldier''s. "Ignore them, it''s all fake. There''s no way this backwater region has anyone who can defeat a Noble Draconian." One of the Squadron leaders yelled as he charged on. He marched right past the first wave of moths and shouted "See it''s not real, we were being deceived by that Mirage Owl Incarnation human, we should¡­." The squadron leader fell on his knees before he could finish. "Ho¡­Ho¡­How?" He stammered as he looked down to see tiny moth sized holes in his Armor. He wanted to turn his head back to see how many soldiers survived, but he didn''t have that opportunity as the darkness of death engulfed his soul as a moth dug out of his head. The moths, which had just burrowed through the draconian soldiers, rushed towards Ipnak. Ipnak was scared, he had fought and struggled in the desert his whole life, but even he had never seen anything like this before. Just as Ipnak was about to rush into the sand to escape, a voice suddenly entered his ears. "Don''t worry, they won''t hurt you." Ipnak paused, and looked up at Koren who was staring back at him with a complicated look. He chose to stay and trust the mysterious warrior. The moths rushed over and congregated on the two cloth covered stumps on Ipnak''s hands. They released a green glow in pulses and Ipnak could feel his wounds stabilizing. ''How is this possible, only the most high grade medicinal pellets can heal a wound this bad, and even they take at least a few minutes'' Ipnak thought. ''These things healed me instantly'' Andre freed himself from the ground, and looked up to find Koren gone. "Looking for me" said a voice from his back. "I''m right here" Andre turned around to see Koren standing 10 meters away, an evil grin plastered across his face. "Your punishment is not over yet." Koren stated as his figure flashed and appeared right in front of Andre, with his right fist rolled back. Andre crossed his wings to block, but when the punch came, it burst through his wings like they were made of clay. Andre couldn''t believe himself, Ipnak, Yoji and Ranbu were all dumbstruck as well. They all saw it. A casual, laid back punch. It seemed to barely have had any force to it, but it finally managed to do what even the three chiefs with all of their abilities couldn''t do. That punch managed to break Andre''s Bones. Once a body cultivator completes the tempering process of his bones, they reach level 29 peak. Only an attack at the avatar realm can break through the defensive abilities of a bone tempering peak draconian. The punch smashed through Andre''s wings and smacked him on his chest. He rolled across the sand like a tumbleweed, and crashed against a dune almost 100 meters away, parts of his flesh and blood painting a brush stroke right across the sand. Andre coughed as his feathers retreated, his neck became normal size again and his talons turned into feet again. As he exited his wind vulture incarnation, his draconian form also retreated, and his normal form was visible for all to see. Koren who was walking towards Andre, suddenly stopped in his footsteps, staring at Andre''s face with shock. "Koren¡­Koren¡­KOREN!!" Hope yelled as she saw Koren''s eyes get misty. "What happened, why did you suddenly go stiff." "He was there" Koren answered with rage "When my village was attacked, he was there." Ipnak and the rest also noticed the change in Koren, from confidence to sadness, and from sadness to rage. Each state of emotion coming in waves, emanating out and effecting even others. Andre wiped the blood off of his eyes and looked at the distant form of Koren, he could see this mysterious warrior look back at him with rage. Andre blinked, and as his eyes opened, the mysterious warrior was now standing right on top of him. "Y..you!!" Andre muttered as he was grabbed by his neck, and dragged up into the sky, as Koren blasted up with the thundering sound of his Repulsor plasma jets. Koren tightened his grip on Andre''s neck and brought his face closer to his own. "Wha¡­Wh¡­Ples¡­Do¡­nt¡­kil¡­m..eee¡­" Andre who had lost all of his previous gusto, was in tears, as he tried his best to beg for his life. "If you want to live, you will answer my questions." Koren stated, his face expressionless like death, but his voice, tenacious and thundering. " Nod if you understand" Andre nodded, tears and snot rolling down on his cheeks. "Sis, can you confirm if he''s telling the truth" Koren asked Hope who was floating next to him, looking at him with worry. "I can Koren, but you need to be prepared." Hope replied, calmly. "The truth can be good and bad" Koren nodded and tightened his grip on Andre. "You attacked a human village around a day''s journey on foot from here, were there any survivors." Koren asked, his face was expressionless, but deep down his emotional state was a mess. Andre nodded. Koren rejoiced, he was glad to know there were survivors, perhaps his mother was one of them. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "How many" He asked, still maintaining the same deadpan look. "Se..S¡­" Andre struggled to answer, as his neck was still very firmly in Koren''s grasp. Koren loosened his grip on Andre''s neck and asked him again. "How many!!" "Sev¡­Around Seventy or so survived" Andre replied as he took in a large breath. Koren''s mood instantly collapsed. ''Only 70¡­'' Thought Koren, sorrow and rage mixing in his heart. ''over a hundred, all dead'' His eyes became bloodshot, as he began to tightened his grip again, this time he wanted to finish him off. "Koren, control yourself, and ask him where they are now." Hope''s form appeared in front of Koren before he could snap Andre''s neck in rage. "Please¡­ Please, don''t kill me. I''m useful to you alive. I''m just a lieutenant, this plan was all orchestrated by my commander." Andre yapped on as he begged for his life. "He''s at the border right now, trying to catch any stragglers from crossing into Raavi territory." Koren, who was overtaken by emotion, suddenly came to his senses. "What did you say!" Koren asked in a thundering voice. "My¡­My commanding officer, Commander¡­commander Uther, is¡­is at the border¡­" Andre replied stutteringly. 31 Trapped "What did you say!" Koren asked in a thundering voice. "My¡­My commanding officer, Commander¡­commander Uther, is¡­is at the border¡­" Andre replied stutteringly. Koren didn''t know how to react, on one hand he was excited at the possibility of his mother being alive, and on the other, the imminent doom of the sand ship with Enri and Haruki. "Don''t worry Koren, if we do a sustained flight with ultrasonic speed, we can reach them in minutes." Hope said hastily. "We need this fellow alive to find your family, cripple his core, and inject him with nanites, they will keep him under control after we leave." "I understand sis." Koren muttered as he raised the other arm and a needle punched out, he then stabbed Andre with it in the gut. "Ahhh, no, what is happening, my strength. What did you do to me." Andre screamed as tears and snot drooped down onto his cheeks. "Ahhhh." The nanites slithered across Andre''s body, damaging his bone structure in specific zones and preventing him from healing. Koren pulled his hand back, and the needle disappeared. He then put his hand on Andre''s head, and tried to find his spiritual core. Deep in his mind he found it, a small glowing orb, with a green shard in the middle, slowly melting into the walls of the core. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "It looks like this guy was on the verge of a breakthrough." Hope said inquisitively. "That seems to be his incarnation shard, as it slowly fuses with the core, his level increases. If it fuses with his core completely, he would jump to the next cultivation realm. The secrets of the spiritual path are very interesting, I wonder what the next level is called." "All that is interesting sis, but we are on the clock, now how do I break this thing." Koren asked swiftly, maintaining a lock on someone else''s core was very difficult. More so in this case as Andre''s cultivation level was far higher than his own. If it weren''t for the nanites constantly tormenting Andre, he would never be able to visualize it. "Easy, just let me take care of it." Hope replied, with an evil grin plastered across her face. Andre, who was already in tremendous pain, suddenly felt a jolt of pure agony ripple through his psyche. Andre concentrated on his mind to visualize his spiritual core, and he saw it, he saw ''her''. In front of his core stood a woman. It was a human woman, but she gave him a feeling even the princess failed to give him. A feeling of supremacy, a feeling of pure control. She made him feel so very helpless. "Wha¡­ what are you¡­" the pain kept coming in waves, he couldn''t even talk properly. What he didn''t notice was the grin she carried on her face as she sent wave after wave of electrical energy surging towards his core. And before he could, it was already too late. His core cracked like an egg, and the shard simply floated towards the woman. Outside, Andre coughed up blood and simply fainted. Hope''s image appeared in front of Koren. "It''s done, and I also managed to snag a souvenir." Hope said waving a green shard in her hands. "Don''t worry, I will send it directly to the upgrade matrix. You don''t need to worry about it, now dump this guy and lets head to the border." Koren nodded and flew down towards Ipnak and the rest. He threw Andre towards their feet and said " The matriarch is at the oasis, take him and meet up with them" The metallic moths had already healed Ipnak completely, he too had started to lose his cultivation. The moths gathered around Koren and melted into his Armor. "Big sis, teacher''s cultivation, what is happening." Koren asked as he looked at Ipnak''s state. "I don''t know, but now''s not the time, we will deal with this after we save the others." Hope also appeared to be looking at Ipnak and Ranbu curiously. "Don''t worry, with me by your side, we will figure something out." Ipnak, who was still in his sand badger state, was looking at Koren confusedly. Ranbu, Yoji and the warriors all had the same look on their faces. "Who are you, and why¡­" Ipnak was the first to speak, but was quickly cut short by Koren. "No time, please go to the Oasis and stay put, the draconian''s have an ambush setup at the border, I have to go." Koren said hurriedly, then he pointed at the unmoving body of Andre laid out around their feet and continued. "Keep him alive, he has important information. I have immobilized him, he won''t be a threat to anyone." Koren didn''t wait for any more questions, the helmet came back on and the repulsors fired, blasting him off the ground. Koren looked towards his destination and spoke "Let''s go sis!" The Plasma jets ejected, and fired out a brilliant blue flame, the space surrounding Koren rippled and he disappeared. ************ Sappa was standing next to the keel stone, he could feel the wind pick up, which was good as it would mean he would need less spiritual power. He had met up with the other two ships from Guar and Yaris village. Only Guar had a Spiritualist on board, around the same age as Haruki. However this fellow was only level 4, so he couldn''t help him sail the ship. To use the Keel stone one needs a minimum level of 8, even Haruki had barely reached level 7. They abandoned the other two ships and decided to proceed on one ship, as it would be faster, and safer. However, something had been bothering him for a while now, he couldn''t put a finger on it, but it was telling him to stop and go the other way. He had always been somewhat sensitive to danger, but then again it could mean Haruki would play another prank on him. The ship had been sailing for two days now, the food and water was almost all gone. They couldn''t bring enough because they need other goods like pelts and spirit shards and spirit bones, these would be traded with the raavi to gain passage and residency. Sappa had been to the border once with a trader when he was around the same age as Haruki, back then he was appalled by the extravagant prices of the Raavi, but he was also extremely glad. Glad that the Raavi wanted something from them, otherwise they wouldn''t have anyone to trade with, and get important medicine and tools. Sappa looked ahead and could see a massive sand dune, it''s shadow giving the ship some much needed shade. Sappa sighed. This was the final hurdle, beyond this, he would be able to see the walled city of Kafir. However, not everything goes according to plan. Just as he was about to input more spiritual power into the keel stone to pick up the speed, he felt the ship shudder, and then come to a complete stop. "What!" Sappa was shocked, this should not have happened. However the ship would not move, no matter how much spiritual power he pumped in the keel stone. ...Dhum¡­ He felt the ship shake, and could tell that the rudder had been damaged. "oh no" He yelled. Sappa rushed towards the bell hanging near the lower deck and rang it furiously. As he saw some children rush out of the lower decks, he shouted. "Everyone on the top deck. Out of the cabins now" The doors stayed open, and all the children and women came out to the top deck, it seemed as if they had been trained of such a scenario. "What happened bro, is it a spiritual beast" Haruki asked, with a muddled look on his face. Next to him, Enri also had a confused expression. She was expecting Koren to have returned by now, but they hadn''t even reached the border city yet, and they were already in danger. "I hope so. A normal spiritual beast is something I can deal with." Sappa replied as he turned to look at the ships portside. "Because the alternative is much worse." ¡­HisssssssS¡­ A loud hissing sound could be heard from the port side, as a massive claw erupted out and banged at the ship, it completely destroyed the section where the lower deck cabins would have been. ¡­HisssssssS¡­ The creature hissed again and a small tornado formed in the ships vicinity, taking up the sand with it, and trapping the ship within. "What the hell is that thing." Someone shouted, fear apparent in their voice. "A wind type spiritual creature, and it seems to be fairly high level. There aren''t any wind type spiritual creatures in the Goliath desert naturally so it can only mean¡­ That this creature has a master." Sappa stared back at the creature, sweat dripping from his brow. The ship was now floating on a bed of windy dust clouds, with its rudder and the central keel damaged. They wouldn''t be able to sail even if they wanted to. "We''re trapped, and there''s nothing we can do about it." Sappa said as he looked to Haruki. "Haruki, remember the pommel I gave you." Sappa whispered, his eyes not leaving the beast for a second. "U huh" Haruki mumbled, he pulled Enri behind him, and looked around to spot Sumi standing next to her pregnant mother. "Swallow the Pommel Haruki, don''t worry, I''m getting you to the city." Sappa stated, his voice filled with desperation. "Somehow, someway, I am getting you there." The Cloud Komodo stared down at the humans in front of its eyes. If it wanted, it could swallow all of them in one bite, but it was under orders, and had to wait for its master to catch up. It continued to hiss intermittently, causing the tornado to keep the ship trapped in its center, and preventing anyone from the outside from looking in. ************ Ralf had his eyes closed, sweat was dripping from his temple, his feline ears standing erect and his furry tail wrapped around his waist. Ralf was not a hegemonic Raavi, his bloodline was very mixed when compared with the other noble families. The Raavi had many ethnic groups, the largest was the mixed group, who mostly had varying qualities, like feline qualities, and avian qualities. The smallest and the most powerful, was the Hegemonic ethnic group. They were known to be carriers of the bloodline of Rayvus himself. Thousands of years ago, long before the time of Rayvus, the Raavi were savage beasts. They used to fight a lot, and didn''t acknowledge the other ethnic groups. They used to be known as the beast race. Back then the Lizard Men, who later became the draconian''s, were also a part of the beast race. However, then Rayvus came. Rayvus was from the ethnic group known as the colossal silver bears, and with him becoming a path walker, the entire bear blood line became the Hegemonic ethnic group. Rayvus united the numerous ethnic groups of the beast race and established the Raavi. However, some ethnic groups decided to simply migrate elsewhere, like the Lizard Men, and the Merfolk. Ralf had always been very proud of himself. He pushed his clan into the top 10, by his own hard work. It was proof that even the mixed ethnic group had Rayvus''s blessing. Ralf was smiling as he floated exactly 1 meter off the ground, the soul stone on his forehead releasing a blue glow intermediately. Surrounding him were 3 blue beads. The beads had some type of repulsion force, forcing them to move away from each other. Meanwhile Ralf was trying his best to bring them closer. Every now and then, they would release tiny bursts of blue lightning bolts, turning the small courtyard, into the host of a mini storm. Suddenly, Ralf opened his eyes, and the beads simply dropped on the ground. They lost their blue color and turned pure white, with the repulsive force gone, as if it was never there. The storm dissipated and only Ralf could be seen, still floating 1 meter off the ground, but with an ugly look on his face. "I thought I told you not to disturb me while I train." Ralf said angrily. "What is so important that it''s worth losing your head over." "General Arvo, the human ship was intercepted while it was climbing the Pyros dunes." The cleric gulped. "It was attacked by a spiritual beast" "What did you say!!" Ralf turned around, his feet still not touching the ground. "The human ship was attacked by a spiritual beast, it seems to be trapping them." The cleric replied, as he dropped on his knees, not daring to look at Ralf directly. Ralf''s brows creased as he floated down and his feet touched down on the wooden boards of his courtyard. He stared down at the cleric and asked. "What type of spiritual beast is it" "Wind type, the ship is surrounded with a tornado." The cleric replied, quickly. "It should be the draconian''s sir, they really did come." Ralf didn''t reply to that remark, the cleric gulped and finally looked up. He could see fire in the generals eyes, he just wanted to get out, so the general wouldn''t take it out on him. "Immediately tell governor Lisandra to meet me at the wall, the security of the city will temporarily be in the hands of her nephew commander Kavain." Ralf stated flatly. "We will escort the ship to the city." "Yes general" The cleric bowed twice before rushing out of the courtyard like someone set his bottom on fire. Ralf gestured with his hand, and the three beads floated up and rushed into his open palm. With the three beads in his hand, Ralf looked towards the sky. "No one takes my prey from me" Ralf said with a determined look in his eyes. "NO ONE!!" 32 Surrounded "Not every day that I get called upon by the great General Ralf Arvo" A Raavi woman said as she approached Ralf, who was standing on the city wall, overlooking the vast dunes of the Goliath desert. She looked to be very young, a little older than an average 12 year old human child. She was clad in a rose-colored dress, with white flowers and cerulean vines. The woman had small prickly teeth that showed out from her lip, and her feline ears were drooped down unlike other Raavi. She trotted forward and looked at Ralf playfully, like she was meeting an old friend. "I can''t get used to seeing you like this, Lisandra." Ralf muttered as he got down on one knee so his eyes would face hers. "This form will reduce your strength by a large margin, not to mention never being able to breakthrough to the next level." Lisandra''s face fell, she turned around to face the other side, and spoke. "Enough of your games, why have you called me for one measly human ship." She said, irritably. "You showed up in my city unannounced, and I didn''t say anything, but now you want me to leave for this, I need an explanation." Ralf smirked and stood back up, he turned to look at the sky and whistled. "Don''t forget, why someone of your questionable past can stay here as governor so comfortably." Ralf chided. "I only asked for you, because there may be some trouble ahead, and I need you to escort that ship." Lisandra wanted to turn and ask why, but before she could, she heard a loud screech. She too raised her head and saw a massive bird swoop down towards them. "One of yours, I assume." She remarked. "Quite an impressive beast." The massive bird flexed its legs and landed in front of Ralf, it then dropped its head and its wings in a light bow. "It''s a Sky Eagle, I captured it in the Bleeding gorge. Although its strength is limited, its speed is unrivaled in the incarnation stage." Ralf recounted as he got up on the wing and mounted the bird. "Get on, we don''t have all day." "I still need an explanation." Lisandra didn''t budge, she did however seem intrigued by the sky eagle, she could feel its robust life energy. "The humans on that ship have information that is vital to the empire." Ralf stated, flatly. "Is that good enough. Now get on." "Fine." Lisandra retorted, before getting on the bird. The massive bird flexed its wings, and then flapped them wildly as it flew off the city wall. If Koren could see this bird, he would recognize it as the same sky eagle he encountered. "That way Raka." Ralf pointed towards the pyros dunes, as his other hand lightly patted the birds neck. ''Kaaaaaaa'' The Sky eagle let out a piercing, loud screech, as its wings started to glow. When the intensity of the glow reached its highest, it rushed towards its distant destination in a blaze, only leaving behind a cloudy trail of green mist in its path. ************ Sappa looked over at all the women and children he was supposed to be protecting, then he looked back at the huge lizard like spiritual beast, whipping up a tornado like its nothing. "Bro, don''t worry, we can get out of here." Haruki declared, as he grabbed Sappa by the shoulder. "I can''t explain it, but I know we will be OK" "That''s right Uncle Sappa." Enri who had been standing behind Haruki this whole time, spoke up. "Koren promised, we will all be safe." Sappa who had been sweating profusely while trying to find a way out of this predicament, suddenly widened his eyes. He turned to look around the group huddled together on the top deck. "Where is he?" Sappa asked, worry apparent in his tone. "Where''s Koren?" Enri suddenly realized that she had slipped up. She was about to lay out an excuse but was stopped by Haruki. "Its fine Enri, there''s no point in lying." Haruki patted Enri''s little head, and then looked at Sappa, who assumed the worst. "Don''t worry bro, Koren wasn''t on the ship." Haruki said, soothingly. "He left the ship shortly after we departed from the village." "He''s been gone this whole time and you didn''t tell me." Sappa wanted to get angry, but he knew what was at stake, he quickly concentrated his gaze back on the massive beast. "Where did he go." "Bro, you don''t know much about that kid. He''s very special." Haruki replied. "He convinced me that he can get help." "So me and Enri kept his departure a secret. We just have to hold out for as long as possible, he will get help, I think." Haruki calmly smiled, as a drop of sweat drooped down from his brow. "For some reason that doesn''t sound too reassuring, I for one am very¡­" Sappa stated, however he quickly paused as he detected a change in the spiritual beasts aura. He raised his hand to gesture everyone to remain quiet. The Cloud Komodo, who was calmly staring at the little humans, raised its head to look a the sky overcast with sand and wind. It let out a roar followed by a hiss as its claws let go of the ship, and it started to float. It knew the ship was damaged, they wouldn''t be able to leave even if they wanted to. The tornado dissipated and the sky finally became clear. A massive eagle type spiritual beast was calmly flapping its wings, as it stared squarely at the Cloud Komodo. The Cloud Komodo stared back, fearfully. It was not scared of the bird, rather the creatures mounting the bird. It could feel their massive aura, even its master would not be their match. Sappa was shocked. He looked at the 2 Raavi standing on the bird type spiritual beast, overlooking the desert like it was their personal domain. ''Why are the Raavi here'' He thought. ''Is it possible that they know about the sword as well.'' Things had become very complicated and Sappa just didn''t know what to do anymore. All routes had been cut, they were surrounded on all sides. "Oh, a Cloud Komodo, how rare." Lisandra stepped forward, lightly licking the bottom of her lips, her prickly teeth extending out. "It seems the Draco Kingdom wants this ship as well." Lisandra jumped off the sky eagle''s back, the soul stone on her forehead started to give off a dark green glow as she stopped mid-air, calmly floating like a cloud. To others, she would probably look like a cute Raavi child, but the Cloud Komodo could feel her aura, it could tell that she was very dangerous. "They are supposed to be related to black dragons, I wonder what its meat tastes like." She joked as she fixed her eyes at the beast hungrily. "It''s master shouldn''t be far off, what do you want me to do, kill it." "Sure, do what you want with the beast, but make sure not to harm the ship." Ralf who had already spotted the ship, replied promptly. He patted the sky eagle and jumped off. Ralf didn''t float like Lisandra, his soul stone glowed with a pale blue light, as he dove down towards the ships deck. The Cloud Komodo wanted to get in between and stop him, but it was crippled by fear. It could tell that this individual was a lot stronger than it. Perhaps it could take on that female for a little while, but facing off against this one would mean a quick and immediate death. Ralf touched down on the deck right in front of Sappa, and before Sappa could do anything, a huge pressure suddenly pressed down on him. Ralf stood straight and looked at Sappa, his old body, strangely filled with energy, unlike his usual feeble state. "Where is the artifact." Ralf didn''t waste any time and directly questioned Sappa. "Tell me where it is, and I can ensure the safety of your people." Sappa heard a thump sound from his back, he panicked and turned to see almost all the women and children laid out unconscious on the deck, only he and Haruki were left awake. Even Enri and the spiritualist from Guar village had fainted. Both Sappa and Haruki collapsed on their knees, breathing heavily. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ralf looked at Haruki and creased his brows, he had just let out a mental wave, only sparing the bald human who appeared to be the leader. However, somehow this human child spiritualist had resisted his mental wave, which greatly displeased Ralf. He concentrated on Haruki and let out another mental wave, the air in the surroundings vibrated as the glow of his soul stone flickered. "Ah" Haruki screamed out before finally fainting as well, with Sappa looking on, unable to do anything at all. Ralf was about to resume his interrogation of Sappa, but he was interrupted by a voice carried over by the wind. "The Raavi have no business in the Goliath desert." A Ship suddenly appeared over the horizon, two figures standing on the ship''s bowsprit. The figure adorned in Gold Armor continued. "If you leave now, I will spare you the shame of having to run with your tail between your legs." 34 Portal "Naaa!" Lisandra cried out as best as she could. She couldn''t understand what was happening, one moment she was trying to retreat, so she could remedy the corrosive effects of the spear, and the next moment she was being grabbed, her neck ripped open. She could feel the monstrous draconian, slowly draining the blood from her body. A few drops would be fatal to many, even old Ralf would do everything to avoid coming in contact with her. Yet this draconian was gulping it down without care. Even though Ralf was shocked, he didn''t stop. He tossed the prince in the air, and rushed to save Lisandra. Although she was a troublesome wrench, she was still useful to him. The sky eagle swooped down and grabbed the 4th Prince, holding him tightly in his talons. "Let her go!" Ralf thundered as several glass like swords appeared around him. All the swords were glowing with a light blue haze in tandem with the soul stone on his forehead. He gestured with his hands and sent the swords hurling towards Uther. Uther didn''t stop, and kept gulping down the poisonous blood. As the swords approached, the dark flame Armor dissipated and a green mist took its place, it surged out of Uther and enveloped his whole body. When the glass like swords came into contact with this strange mist, they instantly shattered. "AHHH!!" Ralf who was directing the swords, suddenly felt a wave of pain run through his mind. His soul stone, which was giving off a brilliant light blue ray, was now dim and grey. ''What the hell is this'' Ralf thought as he once again condensed his mental power to form several glass swords. He then gestured and all the swords started to come together to form one large sword, and with a wave, it rushed towards Uther once more. ''No matter what it is, it can''t defend against my mental sword union''. The single large Glass like sword rushed towards Uther, the green mist once again came in contact with the sword, however this time the sword didn''t shatter, rather it was the green mist that backed off. Over on the other side, Ralf had a nasty look on his face. "Ahhh, what¡­ What THE HELL!!" He yelled as the waves of immense pain kept rushing towards him. The main weapon of a Raavi is their soul power. Soul power that can exit the body and latch on to other objects is called mental power. Ralf was very accomplished in mental power, and could even use air as a medium to create mental swords. However, this is also a large disadvantage of the duality path, if the mental power is harmed, the user will also feel its effects. The green mist was not attacking, rather it was defending, but it had a toxic nature that was slowly rusting Ralf''s mental power. "Damn lizards!!" Ralf thundered as he produced a small bottle with a blue fluid. He hurriedly uncapped the bottle and gulped the fluid down. His soul stone immediately regained its luster, and began to glow with a bright blue gleam. "Made me waste a soul nourishing potion, what a bad day to be a lizard" Ralf muttered with bloodshot eyes as he sent a wave of mental power towards the sword. The glass sword which had been slowly pushing on towards Uther, but was held off by the green mist, instantly gained momentum, and sliced through. Uther, having realized the immediate threat, stopped drinking and instantly backed off, throwing Lisandra''s decrepit body towards the sword. The sword penetrated Lisandra''s body, passing through it as if it was immaterial and continued to rush towards Uther. "Help me get out of here, you owe me." Uther shouted internally, towards the human face in the green mist. "If I die, my core will dissipate, get me out now." "Yessss, you did goood." The face in the mist replied with a vile hiss. "Get readyyy, I will send you awayyy" "NOW!!" Uther cried out as the sword reached his front. The green mist started to collect around Uther into a ring. The sword tore through Uther''s Armor and made contact with his flesh, however that''s when the ring of mist burst out, creating a portal in the air that swallowed both Uther and the Glass Sword. "AHHHH" Ralf Shrieked, as pure unadulterated pain coursed through his mind. He couldn''t stay in the air, and immediately sent a signal to the Sky Eagle Raka, who swooped down to catch him before he fell. Ralf looked over to where the draconian was just moments ago, the only thing there now was some malevolent air left by that strange mist. "That was definitely a space portal, but how. Space portals require numerous rune masters to collaborate as well as several rare spiritual resources that can only be found in the coffers of the royal treasury, but he was able to create one just like that. Also I definitely felt mental energy emanating from that strange green mist, it''s as if it was alive." Ralf blurted out, still shaking, unable to calm down. "Only three individual''s have had that ability, the path walkers. I have to tell his Majesty, this draconian cannot be allowed to grow." Ralf took out another bottle of soul nourishing potion, and drank it down in one go. "My attack was destroyed, but I definitely pierced his flesh and left a mental mark on him." He patted on Raka''s head and gestured it to go and fetch Lisandra, while he took out a rune plate and sent it towards the cowering Cloud Komodo, hiding near the human sand ship. The Rune Disk shattered and its pieces rushed towards the Cloud Komodo, paralyzing it instantly. The Sky Eagle Raka swooped down and landed on the sand near Lisandra. Ralf gestured with his hand and her body slowly lifted off the ground and floated towards him. He then took out another bottle, this one filled with a red liquid, which he uncapped and splashed on Lisandra''s gruesomely ripped neck. "Ahhh" Lisandra cried out as her eyes burst open. "Ahhhhh" The red liquid seeped into the wound which started to slowly patch itself up, releasing foul smoke as the dead flesh burnt off. "Stop screaming, it wont do you any good." Ralf said as he slowly floated off Raka''s back. "Go back to the city with Raka, I will catch up" and with that he flew off toward the human sand ship. The Sky Eagle, having heard its master, grabbed the still wailing Lisandra, and flapped it''s wings to take to the air. It then rushed towards the distance, in the direction of the border city. Ralf landed next to the Cloud Komodo, and started to look at it closely. "Level 29 peak, what a shame." He approached it and put his hand on its head. "Black dragons are mighty creatures, they once acted as chariot mounts for the Great Rayvus, and yet its kin are here playing with those lizards. How the mighty have fallen." He gazed into the Cloud Komodo''s eyes, and sent a mental wave. "It won''t submit. It seems this one was subdued by a blood bond, what a nasty practice." Ralf jumped towards the ship and landed on the deck, where all the humans were quietly lying asleep. He gestured towards Sappa and his body slowly floated up and approached Ralf. Ralf then grabbed Sappa by the neck and once more sent a mental wave, this time to wake him up. Sappa''s eyes opened wide, and he saw Ralf standing there calmly, his neck clenched tightly. "Now I don''t have either the time or patience to ask you again, I know you will lie." Ralf muttered before sending out his mental power to directly attack Sappa''s soul. "Ahhhh" Sappa cried out in pain, however Ralf only grinned at his agony. "haha, I know, I know, it''s a nasty way to get information, but it works." Ralf continued to attack his soul until Sappa''s eyes went dim, his arm and legs, which were hurling everywhere in struggle, simply swooped down. "Oh, I hope I didn''t break him." Ralf smiled as he sent another mental wave to confirm Sappa''s mental state. "Good enough. He''s probably going to become retarded, but he will answer truthfully." Ralf gazed into Sappa''s dim and almost lifeless eyes and said. "Now tell me, where is the artifact of the path walker Halfrist." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Sappa, while maintaining a deadpan look answered. "With Haruki." Ralf''s brows scrunched. "Where is this Haruki?" He asked, hurriedly. Sappa tried to turn his neck, but it was still clenched by Ralf. Ralf let him go to see where he would point, only to see Sappa walk next to the boy that annoyed him earlier. "Ohh, its him. Is it in his bag, take it out and give it to me." Ralf Blurted out, he was very excited. Sappa hand started to move, tears started to slowly pour out of his dim eyes as he pointed to Haruki''s belly. "He swallowed it!!" Ralf shouted, in excitement. "Well then, I will be taking the boy" Sappa collapsed down, barely breathing. Ralf walked next to Haruki, and reached down to grab him by the hair. It was then that he felt something yank at him from behind, followed by a voice. "DON''T YOU DARE!!" 35 Enigma As Ralf heard the voice, he was shocked. He had kept his mental power spread out in his immediate surroundings, no one could come this close unnoticed. He wanted to quickly turn around, however, before Ralf could even do anything, that something had grabbed his shoulder, and yanked him to the side. Ralf was thrown off the ship, he skipped across the sand like a stone skipping on a lake. Finally he crashed on the paralyzed Cloud Komodo, landing squarely on its tail, making the beast wail. "AHHH, I''ve had it, who is intervening in my affairs now." Ralf shouted as he got up and jumped into the air to get a better look at his assailant. "Who the hell¡­" Ralf was shocked. He could see the individual on the ship, it was a humanoid creature adorned in an unfamiliar full body Armor. However that was not the shocking part, what made Ralf shake down to his very core was that this individual, could not be ''seen'' with his mental sense. He kept releasing his mental wave, but it detected nothing, as if it was his eyes that were seeing a false image. ''Is it an illusion.'' Ralf thought. ''No, it can''t be an illusion. Illusory abilities are the mainstay of the Raavi. I should have detected the controller nearby, meaning this person has some skill to mask himself from my mental powers.'' While Ralf was in the air, contemplating the identity of his attacker, Koren was panicking, worried that he might have been too late. "Why are they all sleeping, are they hurt, will they be ok." Koren mumbled. "What do I do now, what do I do." "Calm down Koren, they are fine, except for the Bald one, he took some serious damage to his prefrontal cortex, but nothing I can''t handle." Hope''s form appeared in front of the rattling Koren. "For now you need to decide what to do with that guy." Koren snapped out of his unnerved state, and raised his head to look at the floating Ralf. "So, this is what a Raavi looks like, reminds me of the large cats from earth." Hope muttered while staring at the floating Raavi with an inquisitive look. "Don''t go all out, test him out a bit, I want to collect more information about the Duality Path of the Raavi." "Fine, but first I will heal Senior Sappa." Koren raised his arm, and the metallic butterflies squirmed out, and flew towards Sappa. They settled over him, releasing a warm light. Koren turned to look back at the Floating Raavi, and slowly floated off the ship with the help of the repulsors, keeping his eyes glued to his opponent the whole time. As soon as he was at level with the Raavi, who was looking at him with confusion, he willed his helmet off. "HUMAN!!" Ralf Yelled out in shock. This armored individual was able to approach him in complete silence, and throw him back with such force, that he never even had an opportunity to counter. However, this individual was not a Raavi general or a Lizard, but a human. "You¡­ Are you from the Icy Mountains." Ralf couldn''t help but blurt. "We have a treaty with your cities, you can''t leave the Luna Range." Ralf stared at the young face of the human warrior and tried to calm himself. In his long military career, he had crossed paths with many human warriors who follow the essence path, but apart from the City Lords, no one was able to match him in the same level. Yet he couldn''t even feel a hint of essence from this youth, not even a trace. Koren didn''t bother to answer the Raavi, instead he returned a chilling smile. Suddenly, the repulsors on Koren''s back fired with a raging sound and he rocketed towards the Giant Cat like person. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Ralf''s feline ears became erect as soon as he saw the human smile, and he became alert, wrapping his tail around his waist, he prepared his defensive shield. His intuition was proven right, as in the next moment, the human flew towards him with incredible speed. Ralf made a few gestures and the transparent shield around him started to shrink. The shield continued to shrink until it was only a thin transparent layer on his skin. As a Raavi, Ralf knew that his mental power was strongest when it was close to the source, and as it is spread out, it becomes weaker, especially in the case of defensive abilities. Koren appeared right next to Ralf, and smacked him right across his face. Ralf felt helpless, the speed of this human''s movements were so fast, that even he could barely make them out. As soon as the human''s slap connected with his face, the thin, invisible defensive layer buckled under immense pressure, and shattered. While Ralf stood there shocked, Koren smiled and then used his other hand to slap him again and again. By the time he finally stopped, Ralf''s face looked more like a porcupine than a Noble Raavi. "You...you¡­" Ralf was fuming, but he couldn''t do anything about it. In front of this human, his Noble demeanor was nowhere to be seen. "You can''t do this to me, I am Ralf Arvo, I''m a Raavi General. We¡­" slap¡­slap¡­slap Three more slaps and Ralf was silent. He found this individual to be unreal, an enigma that shouldn''t exist. No essence power, no spiritual power, no mental power, yet strong to this degree, even artifact Armor''s need spiritual runes and immense spiritual power to manipulate. "That was for what you did to the Human''s on that ship, and this¡­" Koren eyes burned with rage as he grabbed the tail wrapped across Ralf''s waist. "¡­Is for Sappa" Ralf didn''t even have the time to process what the human said, before he felt a tug on his tail, and he was tossed around like a toy, his surrounding''s constantly changing. He tried to use his mental strength to go free, but no matter how much power he poured forth, he just couldn''t get rid of the human. "Hey Koren, let the poor kitty go, this is animal cruelty." Hope snickered while looking at the wailing Ralf. " Let him attack you a bit, I want to see more of the duality path." Koren listened to Hope and let go of the tail, hurling the Raavi in the air. Ralf, who was praying to the mighty Rayvus to end his suffering, was beginning to think he might have to cut his own tail. Needless to say, he was ecstatic when the human finally released him. He quickly stabilized himself in the air and didn''t waste any time to turn around and fly towards the city at the fastest speed. "Look, you scared him, he running now." Hope pointed towards Ralf who was getting further and further by the second. "Come on dummy, stop him, we need to get more data on the duality path." Koren disappeared from his original location, his figure blasting through the air, and fast approaching the fleeing Raavi. Ralf turned his head back to see the smiling figure approaching him at a leisurely pace. ''I¡­ I can''t run. Just what is this monster'' Ralf''s brain was working overtime, trying to find a way out of this situation. ''That draconian, and now this human, If I can bring this information to the Emperor, I will have the opportunity to rise, but if I die here¡­" Ralf clenched his teeth and came to a stop. Koren was surprised and came to a stop just a few meters from Ralf. He was about to increase his speed to catch up, and didn''t expect the Raavi to stop on his own accord. "Wha¡­What do you want." Ralf muttered, his whole body trembling with fear. "If you kill me, then all the humans who live in the Empire will suffer. I don''t feel any essence from you, I know you are not from the Icy Mountains, let me go and we can come to an agreement, I am very wealthy, my family will give you whatever you want." Koren looked on as the Raavi tried to offer him all sorts of benefits, and smirked. "Attack me" He roared, his overpowering voice immediately silenced the rambling Raavi. "Wha¡­ What" Ralf muttered, unable to believe what the human just said. "I said, ATTACK ME." Koren said in an impatient tone. "Attack me with your strongest move, and I will let you go." Ralf staggered in the air, his breathing was getting heavy, sweat was dripping down from his chin. ''This lunatic wants me to attack him!!'' Ralf thought. ''I am Ralf Arvo, a general of the Raavi Empire. If I can''t even hurt him a little, then what the hell have I been doing my whole life." Without saying another word, Ralf started to gather his mental power, veins started to popup on his forehead. His soul stone started to give off a brilliant light blue gleam as the several glass swords started to form around him. "Interesting, this guy seems to be using some sort of telekinetic ability. The air molecules are being compressed and held together by a force field of some sort. Once those swords come into contact with an enemy they will not only do piercing damage, but also explode as the air pressure is already unstable." Hope''s eyes were fixated on Ralf, her inquisitive glare able to see all of his moves with absolute attention. " That glowing thing between his brows seems to be the center of his telekinetic abilities, so interesting. But he is so unfortunate, the Godless also had such abilities, that''s why the Guardian Armor has tech incorporated into it that makes it essentially ''invisible'' to such skills. However, the bursting damage might throw you off a bit." "Its fine Big sis, right now I feel like I could take ten of him." Koren exclaimed with gusto, his breathing starting to get heavy. "Koren the Armor is powerful, but its not your power." Hope emphasized. "You fused with the Dimensional Core, you were born to become a Path Walker, but don''t get ahead of yourself, you are still a kid." "I know sis, I know. It''s the Armor, every time I ''Grow Up'', I feel different." Koren said, reassuringly. "It''s like I can do anything. Thanks for reminding me Big sis, that I''m still 9, not 20." While Koren was talking with hope, his outer gaze was still fixated on the Raavi and the intense mental fluctuation around him. Ralf looked at the Human and his fixated look, he had poured every ounce of mental power into this attack. ''This has to do some damage, this guy can''t possibly be that strong.'' Ralf Thought. ''He''s not putting up any spiritual defense, does he think he can take this head on.'' Ralf was fuming inside, but his body was still shaking from the earlier exchange. He clenched his teeth and yelled. "Sword Union!!" Suddenly, all the glass like swords started to come together and fuse until only one Large sword remained. Ralf gestured with his hand and the sword bolted towards the Armored Human. ************ Far off into the distance, only a few kilometers from the Oasis, a green portal suddenly appeared and a draconian figure could be seen hurling out with incredible speed, till he finally fell on the sand, creating splash. Uther looked at the state of his own body, his Armor was almost completely obliterated, and his scales were broken leaving a huge gash on his chest where the Raavi''s attack connected. Clink¡­clink¡­clink Uther slowly started to take the chest plate off, followed by the rest of the Silver Armor. Meanwhile the sinister green mist that made up the portal slowly poured back into Uther''s body. The wound on his chest started to heal at incredible speed, and within a few minutes, he was feeling better than ever. "It seems you got a lot of benefits from her blood." Uther said as the green mist slowly retreated back into his Spiritual Core. "The stronger you are, the better it is for me, but don''t forget, my spiritual mark is still on the core. If you want to be free, my ascension comes first." The mist didn''t reply, it slowly released fluctuation in his spiritual core, as if to say yes. Uther smirked, and looked around him. "I shouldn''t be too far off from the Oasis, I wonder if Andre achieved his mission." Uther muttered as he started to sprint towards the Oasis. 36 Stranger "Ahhhhh" Ralf howled, as thick black lines started to appear over his face, they were like tiger patterns. The vicissitudes of old age on his face started to disappear as his body grew larger, and his soul stone started to glow with even more intensity. The Sword hurling towards the human started to shrink, all the while becoming more visible, turning from transparent to light blue. "Roaaar" Ralf let out a thundering roar, as his body finally stopped growing. This was his final incarnation, a mighty tiger beast with the gift of wind, and although he was only in the incarnation stage, the transformation intensified his soul strength. "Oh, this guy''s getting stronger" Hope''s facial expression became one of worry, as she felt the ripples of strength emanating from Ralf intensify. "Put your helmet back on Koren, and if I tell you to back off, do it immediately, we don''t want you getting hurt." Koren smiled as the liquid metal started to creep up and solidified into the helmet. The Sword ripped through the air and reached Koren''s chest in the time it takes to blink. The sword, which had shrunk down to the size of a regular blade clashed with the Armor but failed to pierce through. "Hou!!" Ralf Howled as the soul stone on his forehead flashed with a dark blue light. Although the light only flashed for a single second, for that second, Ralf''s power almost tripled. When the sword clashed with the Armor, Koren only felt a light prickle. However, when the Raavi started to howl, there was a change in the sword as well. In but a second it went from a regular long sword to the size of a tiny needle and hit Koren like a boulder. "Koren!!, Get back" Hope shouted as soon as the change occurred, but it was too late. The sword stopped glowing and faded as the Raavi took back his mental power after failing pierce the Armor. The resulting change in air pressure threw Koren back, flipping through the sky in a haggled manner. Koren felt his joints shake, his whole body felt hammered, and for a moment, he lost consciousness. The Guardian Armor took 99 percent of the damage, the remaining 1 percent was enough to make Koren see the edge of life and death. The Armor automatically adjusted itself and fired the repulsors to stop Koren from falling, then it started to assess the damage. ¡­multiple contusions detected¡­Healing function activated¡­ "Silly Koren, I told you to back off." Hope grunted as the Armor activated the healing function, and a warm feeling started to encompass Koren''s body. "Ahhh, look at you now. You should have activated the force field." "Big sis, ah, did you get the data we needed." Koren took back control of the flight system and shook his head to shake of the dizzy feeling he was getting. "I don''t want to go through that again." Ralf was breathing heavily, he put everything he had in that attack. His body rapidly started to shrink back to its original size, however it didn''t stop there, his white hair started to fall off, and his dark pupils started to become hazy grey. His proud figure was now looking wane, and decrepit. He raised his head to see the human still floating in front of him, although Ralf could only see a blur with his eyes, he could still assess that he did indeed do significant damage. This confirmed that the Armor was not a path artifact, at most it should be like the Armor of the Draconian Prince. However, this didn''t mean he had the means to destroy this Armor. Perhaps to defeat this individual, he would need the Arvos Crown, the soul artifact of the Arvos Clan. Soul Artifacts have only one function, amplify the soul power of its user, like the staff used by Lisandra. Ralf felt like his head would split, he slowly started to drift away from the human warrior who had at this point stabilized himself and was looking right at him. "I will keep my word." Koren shouted out just as a Panicky look appeared on the Raavi''s crumbling face. "Go!!" Ralf didn''t need to be told twice, he immediately turned around and flew towards the city at full speed, he even forgot the state of his own body, and the prickling pain in his soul stone. As Ralf bolted into the distance, Koren''s helmet came off. His face hair was soaked with sweat, and his face was pale, but as the healing function was active inside his body, his tan color was slowly beginning to show again. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Koren turned to look toward the sand ship, everyone was still passed out, and Sappa was beginning to look better as well, as the metal butterflies slowly released a green light over him. "We should wake them up Sis, any ideas." Koren asked as he floated towards the ship and landed on the roughed up top deck. "Perhaps a sonic blast." "A light setting should do the job." Hope replied. "No need to blast their eardrums" Koren''s pupils turned gold for a second as the display activated, he then scrolled through the Armor Utilities and picked a sonic blaster. As soon as he activated the sonic device, slight vibrations emanated out from his Armor, barely noticeable. Haruki was the first to open his eyes, he quickly looked around as soon as he woke up, looking for Sappa. He didn''t have to look far as Sappa had collapsed right next to him. Sappa was laying down with his behind humped like a desert camel and face next to the rough floor, snot coming from his nose and goo from his open mouth. Haruki was glad Sappa was fine, but then he remembered the Raavi and the monster they had encountered, as he rapidly turned his head around to spot them. However, what he was greeted with was a whole ship filled with snoring women and kids, and an Armored stranger that looked vaguely familiar. Haruki looked at the stranger and blinked. He tried to open his mouth but found that he lacked the energy to do so. There was a sour taste in his mouth, like he had drunk a one of Sappa''s healthy drinks. Nasty concoctions, their mere memory gave Haruki the chills. To Haruki''s surprise, the Armored stranger started to walk towards him, resting right next to him. "Drink, it''ll make you feel better." The stranger then brought out an animal skin bag full of water and held it close to Haruki''s mouth. Haruki didn''t hesitate and gulped the water down with a vengeance. By this time Enri who was not too far off from Haruki also opened her eyes, however she was far more energetic than Haruki and was easily able to stand up straight after waking up. She looked at the Armored stranger kneeling next to Haruki and shouted. "Brother Haruki, what happened." "It''s ok Enri, I think we are safe." Haruki replied, as he too noticed the flustered Enri, he then looked at the stranger and asked multiple questions in one breath. "Do you know Koren, did he ask you to help us, is he safe" Koren smiled, he felt touched that Brother Haruki would think of his safety after everything he had been through. "Yes, he did, and he is doing fine, so there''s no need to worry." Enri slowly walked forward, almost stumbling. "What about the Chief, and the rest of shale village." Enri asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Are they safe, please tell me they are safe." "Yes, they are all safe." Koren turned to face Enri, she was in better condition than Haruki, but her mental state was not so good. "Right now, it''s all of you I''m concerned about." Koren placed the animal skin bag in Haruki''s hand and got up on his feet. He then walked toward the keel stone to examine it. "Brothe¡­Ahem, Umm¡­ Everyone will be waking up now, I need you to help them and keep them calm. I will check to see the damage on the ship." Koren embarrassingly mumbled, as his figure swiftly disappeared, leaving the two children to themselves. "Hehe, nice exit Koren. Your face is as red as an Apple." Hope couldn''t help rattle Koren''s jumpy behavior. "Once we have time, I''m going to teach you how to keep a poker face." Koren brushed off Hopes quip, and quickly made his way towards the keel stone, as soon as he saw its condition his face fell. "This ship won''t ever sail on the sand again." He silently grumbled. Koren''s father ''Ken Geist'', owned and operated his own small sand ship. He knew everything there was to know about how they worked, and he didn''t hesitate to teach his only son. Although Koren''s knowledge in this department was lacking, but he understood enough to know how difficult it is to repair a keel stone, which is the core of a sand ship. Koren turned around to see the villagers who were waking up one after another, Enri and Haruki were running around helping everyone. "How am I going to get them out of here without a ship." Koren squinted his brows, as his facial muscles twitched. "I have an idea." Hope appeared in front of Koren, a mischievous grin plastered across her face. "Hehe, but it may just scare the kids." Koren smiled, followed by a sigh. "What''s the plan Big Sis?" And with that, he surrendered to the snickering Hope.