Myth: Legend (传说) - Original Web Novel

[mythlegend]

Hey all,

This is my first post

Been writing this novel for quite some time and I have many chapters, only problem is I need to proofread and refine them before posting them, because to my horror I noticed that my fingers were typing slower than my thought process and I left out words and sometimes even whole sentences.

Title: Myth: Legend （传说）
Author: me (its on my blog)
Language: English (mostly, some are weird-glish, meaning non confirming letters made to sound like English )
Chapters so far: Updated 27/09/2015 - ARC 1 Complete (33 Chapters), Arc 2 Chapter 8, 1st edition un-revised eBook can be downloaded.
Genre: Loosely based on XianXia with many Manga/Manhwa/Manhua/mmorpg elements
Link to main blog: My Blog Here

Synopsis:

click to show/hide spoilers

He was the epitome of power, the last remaining in his world. Reborn into another world, with no recollections. A world unlike any others. A world with endless lands, history, culture, marvels and beauty.

Starting young, leaving his home and experiencing boundless lands, meeting different races, and experiencing wonders beyond imagination. Wrought with trials and tribulations, but not without rewards.

New lessons no one could teach, new lands no one had seen and a new system of the world that has yet to be discovered.

It has only just begun.

The starting chapters have little to no dialogue, only later chapters have more dialogues and in next few release more action as well.
I hate to say this but it will start slow, perhaps many will be bored mindless and want to dive into the action parts. I do apologize before hand.

Cheerios!
WT

p.s. Please don't forget to use the compendium

[mythlegend]

Chapter 1: Supreme

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One could see an uncountable expanse of clouds, so numerous that it seems like the crests of white waves spreading out into the horizon as far as the eyes could possibly see.

If one were to look closely, one could see two figures standing on the clouds facing each other. One cloth in a splendid white with trims of blue, facing another cloth in blue with gold trimmings.

In their hands, one held a saber while the other was holding a sword. These weapons were not ordinary and had magnificent auras. Auras that easily froze and even killed lesser beings without as much as a blink of an eye.

Above them a vortex was already forming, the energies from this two pugilists had created havoc in the atmosphere, too terrible and defying for mere mortals to comprehend.

A million leagues and beyond, circumnavigating the entire world, their Qi was so tremendous the ground below shook.

This world had since lost its inhabitants centuries past, nothing lived here, not even insects or vegetation, and all that was left were empty dried out husks.

Over tens of millenniums, it was the survival of the strongest and only these two beings left were the epitome of their own empire. It had been millenniums in the making for them to finally face each other. The world could no longer bear with even each step they made. Hence the time has come to see which could reign as the final victor in this world.

“Brother Long” The man in splendid white with blue trimmings finally spoke to the other, “You are the victor, I could never imagine our levels to be vastly different even though you are my junior by more than a millennium”

With this said the man in splendid white collapse on his knees, there was no visible injuries nor even blood.

“Brother Hu” The blue cloth man called Long replied, “It is unfortunate that our society has dictated this ending, victory is but hollow in this dead world”

“Brother Long, it is unfortunate that I will not even see the other plane where our ancestors have gone, it would have been a pleasure to enter the halls of Asura. However my soul is no longer whole, there is no means for me to enter the next plane”

Long looked at Hu with a questioning look, even as Hu replied, “Your prowess is overwhelming, given no choice my soul force was used to counter it, now there is insufficient soul energy left, recovery is impossible in the Qi-less world” Hu replied.

Long did not speak further, fully understanding the implications, if Long himself had suffered sufficient damaged to his soul, in the current shape of this world there was no means to recover and he will not be able to transit over to the other plane.

In the aftermath of every duel, the lines between victor and loser were clearly defined. To live and die by the way of the pugilist is a heroic endeavor. Therefore Long will not insult Hu by using his Qi to send him off.

A few moments later, Hu’s body had already started to fade, his body was dimming and soon it became translucent and flickered a few times before vanishing.

Long sighed regrettably and turned around. With just a thought, he arrive at a blink in his Clan Hall. There he walked to his garden at the plateau overlooking the wide expanse of the Dragon Kingdom. On top of his floating palace he look with sorrowful eyes at the land which bore no semblance to its former glory.

To the east the edges of a hyper caldera could be seen, lined with volcanoes that constantly spew forth lava and magma in an endless stream. Geysers sprouted and thermal springs boiled endlessly as the aquifer layer surprisingly has not dried up, but made poisonous by the sulfur and other toxic gases in it.

To the west Tsunamis over a few hundred feet raced over the ocean and crash ceaselessly onto the land, as a result of constant earthquakes that ruptured and split the ocean bed. These Tsunamis gouge out the ocean floor and brought reefs and corals the size of mountains onto the shoreline.

To the north a Hyper Hurricane system constantly swept the earth bringing lightning and thunder the made a spectacle of light and sound. The endless rains flooded the once fertile plains of this region forming raging rivers. The unstable pressure system cause massive tornadoes a few leagues wide that plunge through the water logged land, digging up debris and leaving a path of destruction behind, coupled with the unbelievable wind speeds of the Hurricane, the tornadoes raced throughout like a bat out of hell.

To the south laid the burnt out land of ashes. The environment was grey everywhere, not even a piece of charred remains of the once magnificent forest could be found. Everything that could be burned was burnt, river streams were dried and the surface long since cracked becoming sandstone, legacy of the massive drought which last for centuries absorbing all the moisture and bringing raging temperatures which could incinerate any living being.

This planet is dying, and has been so since the early footings of beings with the ability to absorb Qi. With each new generation the surrounding Qi has been absorb endlessly.

What once was the world’s ability to auto-replenish its Qi from the soil to the vegetation to the microorganisms that lived in the surroundings became totally destroyed, as the power of the Qi absorbing beings became immense, the land could not even recuperate itself. The continuous absorption created patches of dead zone, and with each generation, duels to claim new living land increased.

Genocides were widespread across the stars where clans fought to gain new Qi zones, until the entirety of the world and its colonies had not a single source of Qi left. In its dying breathe, only two were left, the final legacy of two clans, the Tiger and Dragon clan. All former glory gone in ages past, even now only one reigned supreme, but it was a tasteless victory.

Long entered the clan seclusion zone, and started to meditate. Soon in no less than two centuries this world and its colonies will end. Its ending will create a chain of events and lead to a hyper-nova in the galaxy. This was not a small world, it was huge in comparison to its colonies which only span 5,000-10,000 leagues, and this world is 1 million leagues in circumference. Its sun was only 10 times its size.

It was the capital of the known system, which encompasses a network of other colonies within various solar systems that has long since been exhausted of Qi.

With the collapse of this world, the impact in its system will gouge out a substantial portion of its own sun and create a chain event leading to an enormous after effect that will destroy a massive part of the galaxy it was in.

Long needed time in seclusion to gain a new form of awareness to avoid perishing with the world. Even with unparalleled abilities, this was the only way to ensure his soul survived. Suicide was no guarantee that the soul will survive, as it always leaves irreparable damage, damage that cannot be repaired in this Qi-less world.

Hence for no less than a millennium Long had never went overboard in all his duels, and allowed his opponents a fair passage to the afterlife by not destroying their souls, this allowed for recovery before moving on. Hu’s death was extremely regrettable as even if his soul was not excessively damaged, there was simply insufficient Qi.

If it was 10 centuries earlier, it could have been avoided as there were still lingering trails of Qi around.

Now Long himself needed to enter seclusion and use his own Qi to move his soul into the afterlife. No doubt he had a vast supply of his own Qi, he was unsure if it was of sufficient quantity to guarantee success.

But now he reigned supreme over a dead empire that stretched across the stars, the Supreme Law of this world was a supernatural one, and it granted the last being standing on the apex of power to become a soul-deity.

By command of the Creator, all souls entered the afterlife into another plane of existence and none shall return. A soul-deity was granted an exception, it was bestowed by the Creator the chance to be reborn again.

Not many cared for it in the beginning, with life spans that exceeded thousands of years. Only when they discovered the Qi was not replenishing, the bloodshed and wars begun to attain soul-deity.

Now with this finally in hand, Long entered seclusion.

[mythlegend]

Chapter 2: Long’s Soul

click to show/hide spoilers

As night turned into day and days turned into month and months into year and years into decades, the time has finally come for the apocalypse.

In the seclusion area, a bright facula rivaling a small sun appeared, this incandescent spot was Long’s soul.

It is now already in another different plane of existence and within a few moments it was suddenly looking at the galaxy from faraway. Not long after, a tiny burst in the galaxy could be seen, and like a domino, the small burst created a chain reaction. In less than a split second, a huge hyper-nova consuming a quarter of the galaxy formed, what remained where the world had been was a little void the size of a pin prick, its look can be deceiving from a distance, but it was hardly anything but small.

Since every soul is immortal, Long’s soul was no exception. However the difference is Long’s soul was unlike the normal soul which was the result of dying. His was now a soul-deity, the final gift from the Creator.

Even as Long pondered at his own existence, he stretched out his consciousness but could not find others like him, but somehow he knew he wasn’t alone. He could feel a distinct awareness engulfing the whole universe.

Besides the soul being immortal, time was also of little meaning to it. If he wanted he could dilate or contract time as he wished, with the only restrictions imposed by the Creator being that he could only move forward in time and not back.

Hence from his vantage point, he observed many wonders and mysteries in the galaxy. It helped broaden his knowledge immensely. He saw numerous habitable worlds in the galaxy and found many of them had primitive beings which had not started to cultivate Qi.

He was in no hurry to be reborn and he decided to find at least one world with an equal development to his old world before it was worth considering to reincarnate there.

As he observed, he contracted time and hundreds of millions of years flew pass. The vacuum that was just a pin prick had now formed into a massive black hole that has gathered more stars towards it. A few twirls were beginning to form as it pulled the stars and gases, an obvious division between it and the galaxy it was in began to emerge.

Long was looking at the inconceivable birth of a new galaxy. Even as he observed at the new energies clashing between the zones of separation from the new and old galaxy, he marveled at the infinite amount of Qi being released, it was dense beyond comprehension.

It was said during the peak of Long’s old world, the Qi was so dense you could drink it like water, in comparison this Qi that appeared could be compared to the density of a neutron star.

Hundreds of millions of years turned into a billion years, soon two distinct galaxies could be seen. If the formation of these new galaxies amazed him, it paled in comparison to what he saw at the outer edges of the infant galaxy. There was a hyper-planet already formed. The immense amount of Qi pulsating from this new world was astronomical, it even radiated across the infant galaxy and encompassed the parent galaxy, and it even stretched way beyond into the stars.

This new world was a million times bigger than his old world. Its circumference was a trillion leagues. This world was stationary and not revolving as had his old world and any other planet.

Instead there were an uncountable number of moons and tens of thousands of suns that were in geosynchronous orbit around it. There were even vast amounts of meteors and asteroids forming 2 distinct asteroid belts, the 2nd belt orbiting farther away at a perpendicular orbit to the 1st. This created a cross pattern if the world was seen from afar.
The moons and the suns were not all orbiting around the equator, rather they orbited at even spaces across its longitude. Each orbital lobe had numerous suns at intervals that brought day and night to its surface. The suns that were orbiting either at the equator or near it, took up to 20 years to complete an orbit.

Even more intriguing is that each sun had its own solar system parallel to the main planet, the solar systems even had habitable planets.

By looking at the planet in its entirety, the tens of thousands of suns looked too close to this world, however it still took at 8 – 12 minutes for light to reach its surface. The difference in time for the sun rays to reach created special regions as well as unique climate and weather systems.

Long continued observing the spectacular marvel that is this new world.

This world had oceans that dwarf even the largest solar system spread across its skies. Land masses were so huge that it defined logic, these stretched across the surface of the world.

The soil was covered with vegetation with an unthinkable number of species. Even the polar caps was rich in vegetation that grew in vast multitudes. There was hardly any spot of this new world that was devoid of vegetation, vegetation that numbered in the billions of species. Even the oceans, deserts, swamps, tundra and many other harsh environments had their own special species which could bear the extreme environments.

From that point in time and in another 10-20 million years, creatures of all sorts began to slowly appear and covered the oceans, the land and the skies. Mythical creatures with enormous Qi begun living in this world, but had little interactions with others and only kept to their species. In another 5 million years, humanoid beings started to appear within this new world. They were primitive, but they had the ability to cultivate Qi.

Long was really amazed. He was only a few thousand years old before becoming a soul-deity, but his race was considered an ancient race, with a history spanning over a billion years, and there was no record of any planet achieving what this new world had.

Even in the billion years that he was observing, there wasn’t anything that was close to this.

As he looked with intrigued he contracted time again, then a million years passed and primitive beings appeared. These primitive beings started to spread across the lands, and the beginnings of various civilizations had begun to take root.

Within a few thousand years, huge empires were born, even some of the solar systems orbiting outside this world had been colonized. Before reaching 80 thousand years into their history, their technology, culture as well as gigacities has advanced and since surpassed Long’s old world.

However Long was not satisfied, the beings here were in his opinion thrash, as even within a hundred thousand years, not one of them had properly cultivated their Qi to his satisfaction. One could say he was a perfectionist.

Every person wanted to enter their own paradise, each have their own personal version of it. Long wanted a world better than his old one, a new world that exceeded its beauty and magnificence at its peak. He want everything to be perfect in this new world.

As Long still refused to be reborn into this world, he notice time immediately begun to slow down, he could not contract time anymore, and years no longer flew pass.

Gradually it reached a point where time was again normal for him. Right at this moment, Long felt a distinct awareness, and he somehow knew it was the Creator. No words were conveyed, but he clearly comprehend he needed to move on.

Only after a while he had an epiphany, perhaps things does need to be what he wanted, but what he needed.

Upon realizing this, he was no longer bound to that single spot he was throughout the aeons. Immediately he was on the surface of this new world. Thus he began roaming it.

After centuries of wondering, eventually something caught his eyes, in an oasis on one of the colonies, there was a couple that looked exactly like his parents.

The male was a well built and fit man in his 8th decade, he had a decent height of over 7 and a half feet. The women who seems ageless was nearly 7 feet and she had skin as white as snow and an oval face with tear drop eyes.
The male is the chieftain and blacksmith in this oasis of one of the colonies. The colony itself was not a small world, in fact it was the size of Long’s old world. However as this new world was a million times the size of his old world, the colony was only a dot when compared to it.

Long could be reincarnated into any family he chose, ones befitting of his past legacy as Emperor and ruler of the Dragon clan. He could be the Imperial Crown Price of the largest empire on this new world, but all these were meaningless now to him.

It doesn’t matter if they were small town folks, or even if they were poor, the thing that mattered is that they were exactly like his parents.

Their striking resemblance to the parents he loved so dearly was too much of a coincidence to ignore.

His parents were the main benefactors to his prowess and strength. The parents that loved him and provided all he needed, parents he swore he would protect, parents he lost too soon and too early in his life.

The Dragon clan was close to annihilation when he was not even a thousand years old and his parents passed on their own Qi to strengthen him, eventually dying before they could see their son crush their enemies and brought back the glory of the Dragon Clan.

He could never forget them, and seeing the couple, it brought back a flood of emotions and feelings.

Long instinctively knew they were not his actual parent, however his heart could not overcome the emotions that were rising up. He did not want to base his choice to reborn on a fluke of the universe.

It was not until the couple had move somewhat over 100 years old that Long finally realize that it was either now or never.

[mythlegend]

Chapter 3: Xiaoxia (Little Hero)

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It is a joyous occasion in the Chen family, Chen Daquan had finally added a new member to his house hold.
The arrival of his new born son marked the beginning of a new era in the Chen clan. Tears streamed down the rugged face of Daquan as he looked into the eyes of his new born child. Beside him was his dear wife Chen Wanmei.
“What shall we name our child?” Wanmei asked her husband.
“We shall name him Chen Zhen Xia” replied Daquan.
Both of them were truly happy, no doubt Daquan was in his 133rd year, Wanmei herself was not much younger at 123rd year.
However the couple had been married since Daquan was 73 and Wanmei 63. It was a norm for many of the long lived races to have a child by their 90th year, unless one is a Fan Ren who are married by their early twenties and have many children before their thirties.
Unfortunately the heavens had not bless them and they had remained childless since this day.
Daquan and Wanmei belonged to a race of beings called the Sha Mo Ren, and lived in a desert environment.
Their race lived easily to 400 years. Therefore they were still in the youth of their lives. They were considered an ethnic group and it was ranked above the main race in Yuan Zhong.
The main race of Yuan Zhong were the Fan Ren who had an average lifespan of 100 years and are spread throughout the worlds due to their rapid reproduction.
They made up over 90% of almost every empire. However the ruling races were from the higher ranked ones, as in the case of the Sha Mo Ren in Hu Yuan Empire, however only a small amount were Royalty, some held minor appointments, while the rest were just normal citizens.
Chen Daquan is the town chief as well as a blacksmith by profession. The town is known as the Black Iron Anvil Village, once the home to the influential Chen clan who is now defunct.
It is a 5th tier town, but only because of its size of over 140,000 inhabitants. In fact it was rather famous in recent years, and was very close to being upgraded to the next tier. It actually grew from an 8th tier village into a town during the past century, however the residence still kept the “village” in the town name as a fond remembrance of its roots. It is the colony’s no.1 blacksmith supplier due to Chen clan’s capabilities.
The name of Chen clan as top notch blacksmiths are known throughout the colony, and some of its unique products even made it to the Hu Yuan Empire in the main world.
The current Daquan inherited the Chen clan’s knack of processing rare minerals and ores even though his classification was only average. He was currently at Expert Craftsmen Higher Level.
It is rumored that Daquan was easily a Grandmaster, as even Master level blacksmiths could not process or handle the materials he could.
Many guessed he did not really want to increase his level officially, as to do so would mean needing to move to a bigger town or city, as the empire deemed necessary.
Grandmaster class professions are usually limited to Knight tiered cities onwards as per regulations from the empire.
It was something Daquan never considered, as Black Iron Anvil Village was the town he was born and married in, and nowhere else will be home for him.
The colony they are on is called the Hu Yuan 1st Colony, and there were over millions of outposts and villages, hundreds of thousands of towns and tens of thousands of cities of various tiers.
“Mei Er it is a blessing that the heavens have granted our prayers and delivered onto us a healthy baby boy!!” Daquan exclaimed.
“Yes my beloved, I have finally been able to do my duty as your wife.” Wanmei replied.
“Ah do not be silly, all these years by my side, you have already more than fulfilled your role as my wife.”
“My beloved, thank you for all these years for taking care of me and loving me, where other lesser men would have already given up and taken love in the arms of another.”
“Nonsense, I Chen Daquan, am not the sort of man to forsake his woman in any times. No matter the moments of good or bad, you will be the only one I care for … of course and our new addition to the family.” Daquan replied cheekily with a side note at the end.
His boyish smile made him look like a teenager who had just teased a girl in the park.
Looking at her husband, Wanmei felt overwhelming love for him and hugged her son closely as she raised to kiss Daquan.
Daquan looked almost embarrassed and said softly “Wanmei, we shouldn’t be doing this in front of our son, here look! He is looking at us and smiling!”
“Ah! Husband, he is too young to even understand, I think he is just smiling in happiness to have such a loving father as you.”
“And such a loving mother as you!” added Daquan.
**********
Days turned into months and soon half a year has passed. Zhen Xia was given a pet name Xiaoxia by his parents, and wherever they went they incessantly brought him along.
Daquan being village chief and blacksmith, usually worked at the smithy, producing special ordered items from around the Hu Yuan Empire. He left the overall running of the town to his wife, who was much better at organizing and management than he was.
So Xiaoxia was alternated between the Town hall’s office and the smithy.
With technological advances, the smithy was neither hot nor sweaty as one could imagine, in fact it was relatively cool and airy.
One day into Xiaoxia’s 7th month, Daquan was processing a piece of molten metal for a new order when suddenly a loud “BA DA BOOM!!” was heard.
The entire smithy was shocked and everyone took cover, thinking an explosion had occurred in one of the arc furnaces, as there was smoke everywhere.
Daquan was shocked and extremely worried as he rushed to the spot where he had left his son’s cradle. But woe be to him, Xiaoxia was not in the cradle!!
“Xia Er!! Xia Er” Daquan scrambled around looking for his son.
By this time, Wanmei had already arrived at the scene, and the entire village had heard the commotion coming from the smithy. She was extremely worried for both her husband and son.
However nothing could be seen immediately at the smithy as there was a thick layer of smoke. The people inside could not see where exit was.
All Wanmei could hear were the shouts of Daquan calling out for Xiaoxia, she immediately activated the emergency ventilation device that was situated right at the entrance.
Soon the smoke lifted, and she could see Daquan looking around the vast smithy for Xiaoxia.
Even as the smoke cleared, everyone’s eyes were soon looking at a corner of the smithy where the tesla furnace was.
The tesla furnace is the pride of the Black Iron Anvil Village, it had the capabilities to smelt even the hardest and densest materials in Hu Yuan 1stcolony. It was extremely rare to find one on any other colony, although there were many spread out in the main world.
Only a blacksmith who could handle all types of minerals and ores in the 1stcolony was granted this and Daquan was that person. This furnace was bestowed by the Hu Yuan Empire based on Daquan’s abilities. Even higher class blacksmiths could not completely manage to handle all the ores.
Standing before the tesla furnace was Xiaoxia, with a blacksmith hammer on one hand, looking at a piece of extremely hot glowing purple material.
Daquan and Wanmei quickly rushed towards their son, as only a few in the smithy and they knew how dire the situation was. This was no ordinary mineral, but adamantium.
“Xia Er, stop!!!!” scream Daquan and Wanmei in unison as they desperately tried to stop him.
“BA DA BOOM!!!” another explosion occurred.
Another thick layer of smoke suddenly filled the smithy once more, but was quickly dispersed as the emergency ventilation device was still on.
As everything became clear again, Xiaoxia look at his parents with a look full of questions. Then he suddenly smile.
“Ba Ba, Ma Ma!!” Xiaoxia called out, dropping the hammer with a dull “bong!” and ran with his stubby undeveloped legs and hugged Wanmei.
He was still smiling his cute little smile which totally robbed Daquan and Wanmei of their breath and they just hugged him. Totally forgetting the crisis they had just went through.
At the same time Daquan said and pointed to the adamantium “Wanmei, our son is unbelievable, he manage at his age to lift a Myalithium hammer weighing 50 catties and managed to temper that adamantium piece”
Wanmei looked at the adamantium piece and could see two markings where the Myalithium hammer had left their impression.
Both parents looked with wide eyed surprise at their son, not only was he strong, he could even speak and walk!
With the thoughts of what happened in the smithy at the back of their heads. Both Daquan and Wanmei were actually speechless as they walked back to the Chen clan residence with a smiling Xiaoxia in tow.
The other blacksmiths were still in amazement and all had the jaws wide open, some even manage to reach the floor.
Needless to say after that day, Xiaoxia became somewhat of a legend in Black Iron Anvil Village.

[mythlegend]

Chapter 4: 90 Leagues

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Xiaoxia looked out the window of his room, the sky was clear and he could see the 3 moons in the sky above, he could also see the Kraken Ocean on the main world, in fact the main world covered half the expanse of the sky.

Xiaoxia is now 5 years old, he could not remember his past life as Long. All he could remember was opening his eyes to see his mother and father, and the kiss they have while he was in his mother’s arm.

He could also remember the time at the smithy’s where he had mimicked his father’s actions on trying to temper a shape out of hot alloy. Only that turned out to be a disaster, as he did not know what he was doing or how to properly use the equipment.

Since then, he had learnt the language fluently. As well as been taught by his parents on how to cultivate Ki.

He learnt that both his parents were Adept Realm Expert Tier for a long time now, and could not break into the next realm. Also they have successfully opened ¼ of their meridians and were able to reinforce their bodies with Ki.

However since he was very young, his parents only taught him how to cultivate Ki at his Ki center. As Ki reinforcement stunted the growth of children below 7 years old.

Xiaoxia was aware that many people in the Black Iron Anvil Village view him as a genius amongst genius.

They marveled at his intelligence, being able to walk and talk at 7 months as well as lift the 50 catty Myalithium hammer without even having any Ki.

Xiaoxia could be said to be a true genius.

In fact Xiaoxia knew from observing other children that he was not normal. He could easily understand as well as undertake tasks his peers were not able to do.

Rather unbeknownst to him or anyone else, Xiaoxia was born with a very special trait. So rare that it can be compared to finding that proverbial elusive sand on the beach a thousand leagues wide.

Even when Long’s soul entered this vessel, he did not phantom the miracle that was the creation of this body.

However Xiaoxia was not wondering about it, in fact he was looking forward to meet his cousin Xiuxiu.

“Xia di!” shouted Xiuxiu.

“Hello Xiu jie!!” Xiaoxia replied with a ear to ear grin. He like to accompany his cousin, it was never boring.

Xiuxiu at once took a liking to Xiaoxia when he was born, she treated him like a precious baby doll. Over time she was amazed by his capacity to learn and apply what he learnt, as well as his physical prowess. This made life easier for her when required to do menial task by her parents, task that should be done by household staff which they had in abundance.

Xiaoxia had no other relatives, besides Xiuxiu’s family from his mother’s side. Xiaoxia’s maternal grandparents disappeared once his uncle and mother had entered adulthood and his mum never spoke about them.

Xiaoxia’s father was the youngest sole survivor of the well-known Chen clan who had once been given the title “Imperial Blacksmith” catering only to the Imperial family. He was too young to join the war effort against the Empire’s enemies, and the entire Chen clan of over a few thousand members perished when their base was destroyed.

The only other that were close, were the Ling clan. Ling Han Wei was the Captain of the 3rd Imperial Calvary who took Daquan into his care. He was close to Daquan’s father and the Chen clan during the war. He was also a Sha Mo Ren, and currently around 300 years old.

He visited Xiaoxia’s family every year and was the key person in helping Daquan revive the Chen clan’s blacksmith legacy. It has been a while since he visited.

Since visitors to the Chen family were very few and in between, Xiaoxia usually spend each day either cultivating his Ki or expanding his knowledge learning the blacksmith trade or town administration.

Otherwise he looked forward to meeting his cousin in the town square and today was that day.

Xiuxiu was a girl of 7 years, with two pigtails and currently taller than Xiaoxia. Xiaoxia’s parents treated her like a daughter and frequently gave her presents. Xiaoxia also treated Xiuxiu with fondness, she was the closest family around the same age.

What the Chen family trio was really happy at that moment was her really good results in the recent Ki talent ceremony. Apparently Xiuxiu’s Ki talent is rated at Gold 1st Tier, which is as high as it gets in Black Iron Anvil Village. She is on par with the highest ever recorded.

Xiuxiu had two older brothers who were 10 and 11 years old now, the Chen side of the family did not really like them. They were stuck up and held their noses high in the air. It was only due to Wanmei who had married Daquan that Wanliang (Wanmei’s brother) got a certain position of power in Black Iron Anvil Village.

Xiaoxia felt they were douche bags, as they had never treat Xiuxiu well. They also return yearly on academic breaks will full of pomp and pride, as they were the “upper” students in the school.

They also never ceased to rub in to all the other kids in town that their Ki talents were both Silver 8th Tier, the highest ever for almost 50 years.

Since they were now in school, they have not heard the news. Xiaoxia can’t wait to look at their faces when they found out about Xiuxiu’s Ki talent.

**********

Three main system exist in Yuan Zhong, they are Profession classifications, Ki talent and Ki realms.

Professions are grade according to their proficiency in their area of expertise. Certain professions requires Ki, e.g. Blacksmiths. While others like Merchants do not. Each area of expertise has their own specific criteria to upgrade to the next level.

Ki talent, is a system of potential. The growth potential as well as speed of growth. For example with no Ki talent, the person could only achieve max of mid tier apprentice Ki Realm when they graduate, and perhaps not even reach Duelist Intermediate Realm before they pass on, whereas a Gold Ki talent could reach Adept Ki Realm when they graduate and be in MasterExpert Ki Realm before they passed on.

Ki realms, is basically a measure of an individual’s strength. Caste system exist visibly from towns with more than half a million populations onward (Tier 7+). Districts in these towns are segregated according to Ki realms enforced by walls and checkpoints, however if one have sufficient Profession class they could also access these areas.

Lower Tiered communities have the same caste system, but since erecting walls and creating checkpoints will take a large part of their budget, it is loosely enforced, as compared to the bigger cities who could afford it.

**********

“Xiu jie, what shall we do today?” Xiaoxia still grinning as his cousin approached.

Xiaoxia knows his aunt and uncle were bias against Xiuxiu, she was a female and could not carry on their Wan family name. Moreover they were rather irked that her two brothers whom they have pampered spoilt are ranked lower than her for their Ki talents.

“Oh Xia di, my father asked me to fill up 10 vats of water today.”

“What?” Xiaoxia exclaimed frowning.

1 vat was 3 feet high with a diameter of 2 feet. It was around 9 cubic feet of water. The bucket that was given to Xiuxiu could contain only at most 1 cubic feet of water. To make matters worse, the nearest well in the desert was half a league away, making a round trip 1 league.

“Xiu jie, how can they do this to you? It will require you no less than 90 round trips to fill up the 10 vats.” Xiaoxia was upset at seeing Xiuxiu being treated like this.

“Ah Xia di, it is ok. It will stop once school starts in 2 months, besides I can take it as a form of training” Xiuxiu replied with a big smile.

“Want me to help?”

“Of course!!”

“Hahaha!!!”

Between sleep, meals and lots of talking, it took them more than a week to fill up the 10 vats.

**********

Soon the days passed as Xiaoxia did Ki cultivation. His Ki reservoir was not big and only understandable due to his young age.

But according to Ki lore, with proper Ki cultivation, regardless of age, it can grow. Therefore, Xiaoxia is determined to achieve a larger Ki reservoir.

Sooner than expected, the time for Xiuxiu to leave for Black Iron Regional School arrived, and with tears in Xiaoxia’s eyes he bade farewell to his cousin.

“Oh Xia di, you must achieve good Ki cultivation and join me in 2 years” Xiuxiu spoke with tears as well.

“I definitely will Xiu jie!! When I do I will protect you!!”

“Haha, I sure hope so! Bye Xia di, remember to work hard and take care!” with a wave of her hands, Xiuxiu entered the spatial transportation device.

The spatial transportation device blinked once and went dark. It made travelling throughout the Hu Yuan Empire a simple task. Even though Black Iron Regional School was in the same region as the town Xiuxiu was in, it was actually 4651 leagues away. Black Iron region in itself was 20,000 leagues wide as well as long, and considered only one of the medium size provinces in Hu Yuan 1st colony.

Xiaoxia turned around, as he left the vicinity of the spatial transportation device, he felt a little emptiness. However it only made him more determined to improve himself before joining the school.

He understood school life from the conversation he had with other residence in the village, and knew that even with a meritocratic environment, the strong always ganged up to bully the weak. Even though he did not view Xiuxiu as weak, he was sure being from a lowly 5th tier village, she would be bullied or in a position where others from higher tiered communities will look down on her.

Her two brothers were snobbish douchebags who treated her like a servant whenever they returned from school during the week long breaks between academic years.

So from the day he learnt about Xiuxiu’s situation, he wanted to protect her even from her own family. For him to do that, he needed to gain strength, it was the law of the jungle in the world of Yuan Zhong.

Besides titles, money or influence, everyone respected absolute strength the most.

[mythlegend]

Chapter 5: Ki Talent

click to show/hide spoilers

Xiaoxia paced about nervously, what has happened to Xiuxiu? It has been 2 years since she left and not since has there been any news from her.

During her first year in school, he tried asking her family, but they didn’t even bother to answer. Her family has since moved out of town and neither Xiaoxia’s parents nor anyone in the village knew where they moved to.

Even after asking other children who attended the same school, most replied that they have not seen her since the first few weeks of her attendance.

Xiaoxia was very worried, he could not do anything to change the fact there was no news about Xiuxiu.

Worries aside, he soon forced himself to become calm and continue Ki cultivation. He had be instructed on his 5th year by his parents, and by that year, his Ki reservoir had already doubled.

Within his 7th year, Xiaoxia’s Ki reservoir has doubled again in size. It was four times what it was initially. He also learnt some blacksmith processes and started spending more time in the smithy.

Xiaoxia was born strong, but the strength did not grow in proportion with the years, rather his strength grew slowly. However amongst the young generation, he has the highest mental capacity and strength, only teens who are very near adulthood could manage these blacksmith processes, even then it took them quite some effort.

Adults themselves were put to task for some of the processes, although they could manage most easily. Therefore once again Xiaoxia was quite the main topic of discussion among town folks.

Also the time is drawing near to the Ki talent ceremony, it was the moment to measure his talent. Xiaoxia was worried what his level would be, as deep in his heart, he would not want to disappoint his parents.

He was also extremely competitive and from all the information he had gathered, he discovered that there are many other Ki geniuses among his peers.

Children from the main world as well as the larger cities and towns had already taken their Ki Talents and the results were already posted via spatial communications to the Town Chieftain, Chen Daquan.

Daquan had looked with some amazement at the results before posting it on the Town Hall notice board. It was really unparalleled for the Hu Yuan Empire, no one had ever seen such results before.

TOWN HALL NOTICE:

Hu Yuan Empire Ki talent Results as of 3rd Moon,

Year 107,931 (107th Era)

Total communities tested: 57,159,288

Special Class: 2

Titled Class: 20,000+

Metal Class: 1+ million

Earth Class: 10+ million

Wood Class: 70+ million

No talent: 200+ million

Hu Yuan Empire is considered among the top 100 empires in Yuan Zhong. Among them, many had at least 10 colonies in the thousands of solar systems orbiting the main world, the stronger ones even in the hundreds.

The Hu Yuan Empire’s population slightly exceeds a hundred trillion, however it wasn’t even comparable to the no.1 Empire who almost 5 times its size.

Usually having just 1 Special class in an empire for any given era was a blessing, but now there were 2, and it was within the same year.

Rather, to add to this unprecedented event, the combined figures for all Empires was not even 200 per era. If you calculated, there was only a 20% chance to have one each year in the world itself. With more than 10,000 Empires, the chance was less than 0.02% per Empire per year.

The number of those who attained titled class was also twice the normal amount. However not all was peachy, as in this year, the number of no talents was almost 3 folds. Normally wood and earth class talents made up the bulk of the Ki talent candidates.

So with these figures, the pressure Xiaoxia faced was indescribable. Black Iron Anvil Village was among the last few communities that will be taking the test, as such even his peers were worried they will end up among the 200 over million children who had no talent.

Try as he may, Xiaoxia had difficulties sleeping that night, his young body broke out in cold sweat, as the day’s weariness slowly encroached he finally managed to enter into slumber.

**********

“Xia Er” Daquan called out.

“Yes father!”

“Hurry we need to arrive at the village square now, and we are late!” he father shouted in alarm.

“My husband, give the boy a little room, he is already nervous as it is” Wanmei gently told Daquan.

“Ah, I am even more nervous than him” Daquan replied.

“Mum, Dad I am ready, let’s go!” Xiaoxia excitedly called out, no doubt feeling nervous, he could not let his parents worry.

“Haha, he is really our son” Daquan remarked.

So the trio left the Chen clan residence and made their way to the Village square. Amongst the crowd there were many children who are taking their Ki Talent Ceremony at the same time.

They were the children who were born in the same year and needed to attend the annual ceremony before attending Black Iron Regional School in 3 months. However compared to Xiaoxia, the rest of the children were short and some way shorter.

Black Iron Anvil Village town consisted of Sha Mo Ren and Fan Ren. The Sha Mo Ren are a higher ranked race as compared to the Fan Ren, but in return the Fan Ren reproduced much faster. The Sha Mo Ren were the ruling race of Hu Yuan Empire.

Due to the characteristics of higher ranked races, children grew up at a much faster rate. Also with the rich Ki environment, even at the colonies which had a slightly less dense Ki concentration level as compared to the main world, all children could walk and talk by age 3, and everyone had the ability to comprehend complex instructions and cultivate Ki by age 5.

As a result, by the time they were 7, they easily had heights up to 5 feet. Compared to Fan Ren who were the majority in this world, their children only grew up to 4½ feet at most by age 7.

As for Xiaoxia, he was 5½ feet.

Sha Mo Ren starts puberty by around age 8-9, and children have been known to have exponential growth spurts till they reach age 12-13.

By this time the males will have reach over 6 feet, and the females over 5½ feet. Moreover when puberty ended, they will be lanky and thin, and over the years as their bones strengthens and muscles grow, they will put on more mass.

It is not uncommon for fully grown Sha Mo Ren males to be over 8 feet and their females to be over 7 feet as they fully mature. Only by the time they are in their early 20s will the full features of the Sha Mo Ren can be seen.

As with the traditions of the world, the Ki talent ceremony is always conducted by an examiner. Since Xiaoxia was the towns chieftain’s son, he was the first in line for the test.

Having the honor to do so was not what Xiaoxia wanted, as he preferred it to be less conspicuous and rather have his test taken in private.

“Xiaoxia, do not worry, as long as you work hard you can break Ki Duelist within 100 years, even if you have no talent!!” Daquan shouted in encouragement.

“Daquan that sounded more discouraging rather than encouraging” Wanmei smiled sweetly at her husband, knowing well he was as nervous as their son.

However Xiaoxia did not even hear the cheers coming from his father, nor the surrounding encouragements from the crowd.

As he approached, he was instructed by the examiner to place his palm onto the measuring device.

The device suddenly flared.

“Bzzzz … bzzz … pssss…” and went totally dead.

“NO TALENT!!” proclaimed the examiner.

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

Welcome to the forum. Just read your first chapter. Must commend you on the scale of your story. Very grand and impressive. Have fun with it

[mythlegend]

Thank you Mandred!

Here is the latest 3 chapters for compensation for my missing days, there later ones are on my link in the OP

Chapter 6: No Talent

click to show/hide spoilers

Black Iron Anvil Village is part of an immense oasis with land masses that created islands in the middle of it.

The islands were connected with various bridges that marked the entire landscape of the town.

Even as houses and shops spotted this town, there were still parts of the oasis that was not developed as the population had not reached a level where it was warranted.

Fauna as well as various species of air, land and water creatures filled the beautiful landscape, filling the entire scenery with sounds and sights.

It was miniscule in comparison to other communities in the main world. A world so huge, light took half a year to circumnavigate it. Many areas were still uninhabited and no one bothered to move there as the existing communities still had plenty of space left to grow.

At this moment in time, the air was still, it was silent and not a single living thing moved.

“NO TALENT” suddenly a sound broke through.

It was the Ki talent examiner who announced yet another time for the whole town to know that Xiaoxia had no Ki talent.

A chilling breeze swept pass the town hall, and everyone was shocked.

“Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!” Xiaoxia shouted and turned as he ran away from the ceremonial area.

He could not comprehend why he had no Ki talent.

“Xia Er!” both Daquan and Wanmei were the first to react and chased after him.

Soon there were whispers going through the crowd, everyone was as amazed, they had held Xiaoxia in high regards and even thought him a genius amongst geniuses based on his extraordinary feats.

Now it seems the heavens were not recognizing him, or perhaps it was jealous of his abilities.

However life still moved on and the ceremony had to proceed for the rest of the children present.

**********

“Xia Er” Wanmei softly patted Xiaoxia’s head. They were back at the Chen clan residence. It had been a day since the ceremony and although his parents hope he could recover from it himself, but their concern got the better of them.

“Do not worry, you still have a bright future ahead of you”

“No mother, everything is ruined, how can I live in this world?”

“Xia Er” his father interrupted. He had been home since the previous day, worried for his son.

“A man does not need Ki talent to be a man, a real man faces all challenges and live on to pursue what his heart desires. You may fall down time and again, but perseverance in these times will polish you. The day will come when you will look at all this and laugh at them, for then nothing could ever bring you down again”

Xiaoxia looked at his father, he was amazed at the depth of these words. Usually his father was a little goofy and simple, but these words showed a new side to him.

“Yes Xia Er, do not be down, there are countless people till this day who have made significant contributions to society without Ki talent” his mother added.

“And you have no need to worry, take all the time you need to reflect on the path you have to take now. I will gather all the resources and contacts I can to help you in any way possible to realize this path” he father promised.

“But I do not know what to do” Xiaoxia replied. “I always wanted to have the strength to protect those I love”

“Oh Xia Er” Wanmei hugged her son. Daquan was moved and speechless as he hugged them both as well.

“Chief!!!” they suddenly heard a call.

“Yes, what is it?” Daquan replied.

“Lord Maling has arrived!” a towns guard appeared at the doorway to Xiaoxia’s room.

“Please show him to the clan hall!!” Daquan replied urgently.

So Daquan left Wanmei and Xiaoxia in the room as he headed to the clan hall.

Hardly any time had passed as Daquan along with the Lord were hurriedly walking towards Xiaoxia’s room.

Upon entering the room, there was happy countenance on Daquan’s face.

“Xia Er” he said.

“Meet Lord Maling, he has some information that will make your day” The person he introduced looked younger than him and was a little taller.

Xiaoxia felt Maling’s Ki Realm was superior to both his parents by a large gap, but this person didn’t feel like a Lord at all, it felt more like a rogue to him. His impressive aura did little to change Xiaoxia’s perception of him.

“Greetings young friend, you exploits have even reached my ears” Maling greeted Xiaoxia cheerfully.

“Ah, Lo…Lord Maling” Xiaoxia stammered as he return the greetings, cupping his hands and bowing while feeling a little guilty for belittling Maling in his thoughts.

Maling is a Bestowed Knight, a commoner given the Knight title and control over a region, only commoners who have went above and beyond the call of duty were bestowed Knights, and everyone in Black Iron Region knew him as a hero and Lord of Black Iron Spire. He had valiantly performed beyond his station in the past major conflict which more than a hundred years ago.

There are many other types of Knights in the Imperial guards and Military, but not all of them were Lords of Regions, albeit most of them have lands and castles. While there are others who only hold the title for notable contributions to the Empire.

Ling Han Wei was one of the other Knights, although not a bestowed Knight, he held the tile of “Captain of the 3rd Imperial Calvary” with more than 100 other Imperial Knights, with a total of 1 million troops under his command. The post had the equivalent of a General’s stipend.

Maling was also close to Ling Han Wei, and at times treated the Chen clan favorably, this was even before the Chen clan was decimated leaving behind Daquan as the sole survivor.

“I was made aware of your situation from reports received at Black Iron Spire” Maling went on to say, Black Iron Spire was the regional capital.

“It seems somehow the measuring device had ceased functioning” he further explained.

“Cease functioning?” Xiaoxia asked.

“Yes, the reason why I am here is because this is not the first time it has happened on the 1st colony before. Similar incidents have happened on many occasions over the eras.”

“M … Lord Maling” Xiaoxia had almost forgotten the honorifics before he spoke “How did it cease functioning?”

“Haha, young child, I do not pretend to know the details, only the makers can inform you on this. However you have to thank your lucky stars you were not last in line for the test. It was only because the device failed to measure anyone else’s Ki talent that the examiner became suspicious and tried it himself. Of course needless to say nothing happened”

“You mean he had no talent?” Xiaoxia was still confused, apparently his head was still refusing to believe the situation that happened earlier on.

“No silly child, it meant that the machine broke. Since he reported it in full details, the only explainable reason was that you broke it”

“But I didn’t do anything” this time Xiaoxia totally forgot Maling’s station and blurted out loudly. In a split second he realized his mistake “Sorry Lord Maling, I was rude!”

“Haha, no worries my young friend. It was not your fault, as far I know, your talent may have been too much for the device and it broke. I personally came to bring you to the colony’s capital, Crescent Lake” Maling announced.

“Too much for the device? But Lord Maling, how can this be” Wanmei who was keeping silent, decided to speak up and ask.

“It’s simple, this devices are really old, if the talent exceeds its capacity, then it will break. Of course it may have been a coincidence or even a faulty device” Maling said and continued, “The examiner has already request for another device, and we will be sending over a replacement as soon as one is available from test being done elsewhere”

Without pausing he added, “However, since we do not know the cause, I will not risk breaking another device”

“Lord Maling has informed me you will be under his care for the journey over there” Daquan informed his family.

“That I will be, we can’t afford to lose more precious devices can we?” Maling grinned and winked at Xiaoxia

**********

Ki talent devices were in no ways easy or cheap to produce. Hu Yuan Empire only had about 300 thousand units needed to measure hundreds of millions of children.

The units used to measure the far reaches of the empire were lower grade ones, even then the cost of producing one was worth the ransom of a Gold class city.

The higher capability devices are restricted to the Examiner General’s branches situated in most Colony Capitals as well as Kingdom Capitals, they were deemed too precious to be transported around.

There was only 1 such device that was capable to measure Special class talents and it is kept under heavy guard and security in the Imperial treasury of the Empire.

Such was the case, as the cost of this device was more than a few kingdoms combined.

**********

“Come Xiaoxia, lets us go”

“Yes Lord Maling”

“Just remember to close your mouth” Maling jested.

“Huh?”

“Ah … nothing” Maling replied with a mocking look in his eyes.

As they arrive at the village spatial transportation device, Maling took out 2 stunning azure crystals, everyone who looked was amazed, as they were Ki crystals of very high value.

Most of them had only seen cheap crystals that were used to travel a few thousand leagues, but these were in another class of their own.

“Hmmm, Xiaoxia, I hope you are worth the effort to bring you to Crescent Lake” Maling looked at him with a doubting look in his eyes. No one can blame him as he had a quirk.

“Lord Maling, how come we are using these, don’t we normally use the dull grey ones for spatial transportation?” Xiaoxia asked.

“Well my young friend, Crescent Lake is on the other side of this world, to travel 500 thousand leagues would require more Ki as compared to travelling within Black Iron, those dull grey ones simple won’t do” Maling replied.

Xiaoxia had read up on Ki crystals and their various shades and colors, the highest quality he has seen so far were the neon green ones used to power the tesla furnace. It even required 20 of them and is said to very costly.

“Now hold on to this” Maling handed over one of the azure crystals to Xiaoxia.

Xiaoxia nervously accepted the crystal and treated it with utmost care, it was 2 ranks above the neon green ones. In proper crystal rankings, each rank was 100 times the value of the previous rank. Which meant the azure crystal is 10,000 times more valuable than a neon green crystal.

“Okay as you enter the spatial transportation device, hold the crystal close to your chest, the transportation device will do the rest” Maling instructed. “Okay let’s go!”

Without replying Xiaoxia just nodded and followed Maling through the spatial device as he tightly held the crystal against his chest.

Chapter 7: Peanuts

click to show/hide spoilers

“Whooooosh”

Two figures appeared in the dead of the night, apparently stepping out of thin air. These two were Maling and Xiaoxia. At the same time and thereafter a few thousand others popped up at various spots nearby.

No one took heed as it is common for the spatial transportation hub. The new arrivals proceeded to the arrival checkpoint to register their credentials and purpose of visit.

As each person approached the symbols on the ground before each checkpoint it gave a momentary flicker and a hologram will appear in front of the checkpoint staff.

It showed in comprehensive details bio-metrics, race, origins, allegiances, past travels, familial roots and connections, profession, Ki Realm and other relevant information.

“Ugh” Maling let out note of slight discomfort, his had a slightly green cast to his face.

“Lord Maling, are you ok?” Xiaoxia asked while looking at the now dead Ki crystals, all that was left was a colorless transparent sphere.

“I am fine, are you ok?” Maling replied and asked in return.

Xiaoxia nodded, the moment he arrived, he was in awe of the city. Lights stretch out as far as one can see, and they looked like earthbound stars. Majestic skyscrapers filled the skies and even in the middle of the night people filled its streets.

The whole city was alight, illuminated some form of contraption. The opulence and extravagance of the illumination was not lost on Xiaoxia, back in his town, there was no such opulence and illumination was used in bare sufficiency.

Maling grinned to himself as he looked at Xiaoxia, however he also had a quizzical look.

“Young friend, do you not felt anything when we arrived?”

“Lord Maling, nope, should I be? Do you want this back?” Xiaoxia asked passing the now used crystal back.

“Oh never mind, it’s nothing” Maling replied, which a wave of his hands.

The hub was immense and surrounded by energy barriers, there were around a hundred such hubs catering to the gigacity they were in. Crescent Lake had almost 3 billion inhabitants and the city stretched out from its center almost a thousand leagues in all directions.

Every hub was designed to have a clear view of the city, the planning team and designer wanted to show off the splendid views to new arrivals here.

On a daily basis tens of millions of merchants and others constantly travelled between various parts of the colony to Crescent City. Besides people, unimaginable amount of cargo and goods were transported at bigger hubs. The number of hubs were barely sufficient, due to the constant maintenance down time of a large number of hubs at any given day.

“Lord Maling, how long will we be here for?” Xiaoxia asked. He first hoped that if more time was spent here he could perhaps explore the city a little as he parents had given him 2 neon green Ki crystals as trip expenses.

After seeing a single trip costs an azure crystal worth 10,000 neon green ones, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to stay for long.

“Once you earn enough to leave this city” Maling tried to antagonize him further, somehow knowing Xiaoxia was a little anxious of costs now.

Much to Xiaoxia’s surprise, he soon found out that Maling was 207 years, much older than his parents. He knew he had taken part in the last major conflict a hundred years before, but never guessed he was that age. Xiaoxia knew a few others in his town who were around 200, and they looked much older.

As they moved from their arrival spot to about three hundred yards to their right, they approached an array of check points with various signs catering to various groups, ‘Merchants’, ‘Residences’, ‘Non Residences’, ‘Military Personnel’ and a host of others.

However Maling was heading towards one without any markings. It looked like any other, except it was situate on the far end, quite a distance from the main checkpoints.

“Lord Maling!!!” a sentry saluted as they approached.

“Ah! Shhhh” Maling hurriedly covered the sentry’s mouth looking embarrassed, all eyes in the hub suddenly turned and were looking at them. Maling avoided announcing his station wherever he went, as he was a commoner by birth. He still did not adjust properly to his higher station even though it has been many years, and he avoided public functions or interaction with crowds.

“Sir, your arrival is timely, Her Royal Grace Arch Duchess Amelia has only just disseminated instructions for your presence!”

“Oh? How did she know I was coming?” Maling arched his one of his eyebrows in question.

“Sorry Lord Maling, we are not privy to such information” the sentry replied.

Without saying anything else, Maling nodded and walked past the checkpoint with Xiaoxia in tow.

As they exited the checkpoint, they entered a lobby that was finely built, from the polished floor to the intrinsically chiseled statues that covered the walls. The ceiling had a mural that actually mimicked the skies above.

Towards the north east side as they entered, there was a rather lavish dais, it had precious metals and gems engraved and set into it.

As Maling and Xiaoxia stood on the dais, there was a light emitting from Maling’s insignia on his collar that was in sync with the same color the dais gave off. Within a blink they have arrived somewhere else.

**********

“Hmmph that rascal Maling, always moving around and never replying to my summons” vented Amelia to her chamber maids. The maids however knew better than to reply.

This is the Arch Duchess Amelia, princess of the Imperial family by birth and granted the title Arch Duchess by her 1st century.

She is 184 years old now, but still had an ageless beauty common females her race. The Hu Yuan Empire is rule since antiquity by the Sha Mo Ren. Only about a dozen of so empires had a history like theirs.

“Blingaling!!” a short crystalline sound came from the door. The door maid look through a visor and slowly opened it.

“Your Royal Grace, Lord Ma has arrived as per your request!” an Imperial Guard announced. Imperial Guards only serve members of the direct royal family. The Emperor had other siblings, but they were not considered his direct line, and did not have claim to the throne.

“Show him to the private meeting hall” Amelia replied.

**********

If the view of the city at night had amazed Xiaoxia, being at the palace of the colony capital was jaw dropping, in fact his jaws managed to reach the floor.

The palace was the highest structure in the whole capital and the view of the city stretched out into the darkness, a view more splendid than what he had saw earlier.

Upon arriving at the palace transport hub, they had to traverse another 3 more checkpoints within the humongous structure before reaching the Arch Duchess’s private meeting hall.

Xiaoxia found out later it was designed to hinder trespassers.

The hall was situated on one of the upper spires that made up the flotilla of others that raised up like needles in the sky.

“All kneel for Her Royal Grace the Arch Duchess of the Hu Yuan Empire, 12th in line of succession by decree of his Imperial Majesty Emperor Qing!” a grand voice announced.

Upon hearing this, all present knelt and Maling as well as Xiaoxia followed suit.

“Maling you bastard!” Amelia shouted the moment she appeared onto the throne.

“Your Royal Grace, I do not understand” Maling replied.

“Leave us!” Amelia told the Imperial guards as well as her other attendants.

“Yes your Royal Grace” they replied in unison and shuffled out the main door.

When all of them left, Amelia turned to Maling and Xiaoxia “You two, raise!”

“Thank you your Royal Grace!” Maling acknowledge and gave a mischievous grin in the direction of Amelia as he stood up.

“Ah! You are incorrigible” Amelia laughed.

“Your Royal Grace, you look as beautiful as they day we first met” Maling slightly bowed and flattered Amelia.

“You scoundrel, no need to flatter me, I have been trying to contact you for over ten years now and you never even reply to my summons”

“But your Royal Gr…”

“Cut with the pleasantries, there is no one here, just call me by name”

“Okay, but Amelia, I really was busy with regional duties”

“Excuses! Are you trying to go back on you promise!!!”

“No I am all for keeping it, but it is not within my power” Maling lamented.

“Oh is it? Anyway I have good news for you” Amelia replied.

“Good news, erm, your definition of good news is sometimes skewed” Maling jested.

“Grrrr, is that so?”

“Yes it is, every time you gave me ‘good’ news, I end up doing something tiring and troublesome”

The last 3 times Amelia gave him good news was 50, 60 and 90 years ago. All were rank promotions from Knight > Knight Lieutenant > Knight Captain > Knight Major.

It all involved forming his own Knight crops and training them, as well as regularly serving as a deterrence against rampaging beast at remote areas, where precious resources were being mined and gathered.

“Well its different now, as per entering into the Ki Grandmaster Realm Expert Rank a decade back, you are now qualified and have been bestowed the title of Viscount of the Empire” Amelia smugly said, noticing Xiaoxia had widened his eyes a little on hearing that.

“What! This means more travel! Ugh! Oh No! This means spending more azure Ki Crystals!” Maling responded unhappily.

“Azure crystals? Pfft, those are peanuts, you will get sufficient monetary compensation as well as a bigger coffer for your new status. Besides no one asked you to travel the way you do” Amelia replied.

Maling could only nod at this.

“Oh by the way, you are now in charge of our colony’s Scarlet Condor Province.”

“Nooooooooooooooooooo” Maling could only cry inwardly.

Chapter 8: Weird

click to show/hide spoilers

Xiaoxia stood silent as he listened to Amelia and Maling’s conversation. He somehow felt small and inconspicuous in their presence. At the same time noticing Amelia’s aura was comparable to Maling’s.

However when Amelia had noticed him earlier. She had thought that Xiaoxia was Maling’s squire in attendance and didn’t think of it much even as she sent off her personnel.

“Young friend, just who may you be?” Amelia asked warmly, taking a motherly tone to Xiaoxia.

“Young one greets her Royal grace, my name is Chen Zhen Xia and I am from Black Iron Anvil Village” Xiaoxia replied.

“Ooh, Brother Ling it is not like to you to pick up kids and move around.” Amelia look at Maling with a questioning look then turned back to look at Xiaoxia, maternal instincts abound.

“Ah sorry about my manners, I chance upon an anomaly during a Ki talent ceremony and it happens this young friend is the root of it, he is now in my care” Maling candidly replied.

“What anomaly?” Amelia looked interested, turning back to Maling.

“He apparently caused a measuring device to fail, as this device that was used in other communities with no problems, we could only surmise it was an inherent fault or his Ki talent overwhelmed it. However to be prudent I have brought him here instead of waiting for a replacement, who knows if his Ki talent is really overwhelming, another device will be damaged” Maling truthfully replied.

“Overwhelming Ki talent? Never heard of it, even Special class Ki talent children couldn’t damage a device” Amelia said skeptically, turning back again towards Xiaoxia with a warm look.

“Well devices are really expensive and there is no way my office could replace one on a whim easily” Maling kind of objected.

“Doesn’t matter, I will arrange for my people to bring one over now” Amelia activated something on her throne, and within the next breathe a relatively young man appeared and knelt while cupping his hands towards Amelia.

“Your Royal Grace, as you summoned”

“Shi Min, this is Viscount Ma of Scarlet Condor Province, recently promoted and his young friend Xiaoxia, they have a matter that requires immediate attention, please bring the Ki talent device to this meeting hall as soon as possible” Amelia gave the order.

“Yes your Royal Grace” Shi Min still knelt cupping his hand and then turned to Maling.

“Congratulations my Lord on your promotion, I have long heard of your exploits since I was born” Shi Min said, then he turned back to Amelia.

“If I may so leave your Royal Grace” Shi Min still kneeling asked.

Amelia waved once and Shi Min hurriedly shuffled out of the meeting hall.

“Splendid young man you have there, Fan Ren?” Maling asked.

“Yes and a rather capable one at that, he have reached Ki Master Realm Lower Tier, and only in his early twenties, he is my quartermaster” Amelia informed Maling.

“Ah a genius among Fan Ren! It is such pity they are a short lived race, only the past legends in Fan Ren history could live beyond 500 years old, sadly not one has been discovered in the past era” Maling sadly shook his head.

**********

Most races in Yuan Zhong have a peak age, however with each breakthrough in Ki realm, their lives extend by a proportional amount. The reason Maling and Amelia look younger than they should.

The biggest jump is between Ki Grandmaster and unknown realm, it takes a tremendous amount of effort and resources as well as an innate understanding of one’s abilities to break through this realm.

The reward for accomplishing this effort is well worth anything else, as it significantly increases a person’s life expectancy by many folds. On top of this their Ki stamina increases by leaps and bounds and many who achieved this have developed their own unique skills and abilities.

This was the Holy Grail especially for the Fan Ren who were the shortest lived race in Yuan Zhong. Within the hundred thousand year history of Yuan Zhong, there were Fan Ren who achieved the unknown realm and lived till about 500 years, and the very rare occasion where some even lived for more than an era.

But its effects were greater for higher ranked races, who lived easily over an era when they broke through this realm.

There were many well known individuals from the higher ranked races who have achieved Ki Grandmaster Expert realm and have their names recorded in their empires annals. Unfortunately many lived out theirs lives at this level.

In official recorded history, the total number of those in the unknown realms only numbered slightly above 20,000 across all races. An insignificant number compare to the quadrillions of inhabitants living today.

**********

Without needing to wait long, Shi Min reappeared with an entourage carrying a big trunk. The trunk was 5 feet high and 7 feet wide with a depth of 4 feet. It was transported on a floating platform. Around it were members of the Imperial guards who guarded Amelia.

“Your Royal Grace” Shi Min called out, and knelt in front of Amelia, all the other knelt in unison as well.

“Bring out the device and prime it” Amelia ordered.

As they begun to remove all the clasps as well as restrains on the chest, a large object appeared.

It did not even bear any resemblance to the one used to measure Ki talent in Xiaoxia’s town. That was a small portable device and this was many times bigger than it.

As the device was being assembled, many contraptions could be seen being inserted in a myriad of spots on it.

“Your Royal Grace! Am I actually seeing this?” Maling let out a whistle of amazement. Falling back to honorifics in the presence of Amelia’s subordinates.

“Hahaha! Of course, I am after all the most precious great granddaughter of the Imperial Emperor” Amelia laughed as she haughtily replied.

“Your Royal Grace, Lord Maling, sorry for my interruption may I ask what is it?” Xiaoxia was a little confused.

Even before Amelia had a chance to reply, Maling answered him,

“Young friend, even if I only heard of it, it is clear to me what we are seeing here is the latest line of Ki talent measuring device, its efficiency and capabilities far outstrips the one in the Imperial Capital, even though it is made of lower grade materials. However it is just as valuable, due to the astronomical difficulties to produce one! In fact the entire Yuan Zhong only has less than 30 of them and…”

“And they could succinctly measure not only your Ki talent but suggest as to which path you should take in life” Amelia cut in, a little annoyed with Maling for answering before her.

“Path in life?” Xiaoxia asked.

“If I may?, I have more experience in this compare to your Royal Grace who only have one path” Maling, smiled his most charming smile at Amelia, knowing she was annoyed when he answered before her earlier.

Amelia nodded for him to carry on, a little frustrated, but knew very well that , Maling in comparison has more experience in matters pertaining to life choices.

“Young friend Xia, do you know what the difference is between Ki Realms and Professions, as well as the talent measuring system?” Maling asked.

“Yes my Lord, I learnt this from my parents”

“Good so I will skip that part. Let me quote one right from experience. For example there is no measuring system for military strategists, no doubt Hu Yuan Empire’s top Field Marshals and Generals all have Ki realms mere mortals are not capable of, majority of them do not excel in war time strategy. It is not to say they are idiots or anything, but as compared to our top military strategists, they really pale in comparison” Maling cast a quick mischievous smirk at Amelia when he said the last sentence.

Amelia could only roll her eyes as Maling continued.

“Moreover, do you think that there are measuring systems for being street smart with good instincts?” Maling asked.

Xiaoxia thought for a moment and shook his head.

“Correct! You may be the smartest person in one of the finest academies, brought up in the highest standards of chivalry. But when chucked unto the streets with nothing but your wits, you would not be able to survive. On the other hand a person who doesn’t have the education or standards of chivalry, but is street smart with good instincts will survive without a problem”

“But Lord Maling, is there a path for a street smart person?” Xiaoxia asked.

“Yes there is, any empire has a need for such people especially when it comes to monitoring their neighbors. There are even a few street smart people in very high station who have helped the Empire avoid disaster.” Maling replied and continued,

“At the end of the day, this are but just two examples, there are many other paths that does not correlate with the interest of the empire, many may be of personal benefits or even beneficial to a community or your family. The rare ones are those that can benefit the world” he added and still continued,

“In the past it was not a simple process, talents in such areas were not easy to come by, and many have been overlooked. However with this new measuring device it have made it easier, from what I heard, there are plans to make more portable versions for lighter use similar to the size of the devices used in Black Iron” Maling ended his explanation while looking at the device, with a profound look of respect.

Xiaoxia nodded and went back to looking at the device, assembly was now almost complete, and they only needed to prime the device before it can be activated.

His heart jumped when he saw them taking out a Ki crystal, it was this size of a man’s head, and the one he used was only 2 inches in diameter. This Ki crystal was also a few ranks higher than the azure crystal, it was incandescent vermillion with red tendrils of energy surrounding it. Even where he was standing he could feel its aura.

Even Maling was looking at it in appreciation, in fact everyone was, with the exception of Amelia who had a nonchalant attitude.

Once the crystal was place in the device, Amelia approached and placed her right hand on the device and it suddenly came to life.

“Without the touch of someone approved by the Emperor, this device will never activate” she explained and continued,

“Come young friend, step over here” she beckoned to Xiaoxia gently.

Xiaoxia obediently took a few steps and stood on the dais.

As he stood there he could feel a rush of energy in his surroundings, and it circulated his entire being. He felt the energy coming from the machine and interacted with his Ki center. The sensation of floating took over, and then it suddenly just stopped.

Thinking it was another failure, he quickly looked at Amelia and Maling, but they were not looking at him, but at the hologram on the console of the device.

“Weird” both of them said in unison.

[mythlegend]

Chapter 9: An official request

click to show/hide spoilers

Subject: Chen Zhen Xia Race: Sha Mo Ren

Allegiance: Hu Yuan Empire Origin: Black Iron Region

Age: 7

D.O.B: 10th Day / 1st Moon / Year 107,924 (107th Era)

Residence: Chen Clan compound, Black Iron Anvil Village, 1st Colony, Hu Yuan Empire

Next of Kin: Chen Daquan (Father), Wanmei (Mother)

-END OF PAGE 1-

Ki talent: Positive -ERROR- unknown value

Talent category: Positive -MULTIPLE ERROR- unknown value

Life path: -MULTIPLE ERROR- unknown value

Summary: -MULTIPLE ERROR- undefined loop

-END OF REPORT –

Amelia and Maling could only stare at the report. They had absolutely no idea what is happening with all the ‘errors’ in the report.

“Argh! He broke it again! I am not going to pay for it!” Maling said as a matter of fact, totally forgetting the honorifics at this point.

“Relax you rascal, no one needs you to pay for anything” Amelia glared at him.

“Young friend do not worry, one thing for sure is you have talent” Amelia kindly told Xiaoxia while pointing out the ‘Positive’ printed besides the Ki talent.

Xiaoxia was relieved, some talent was better than no talent.

“Your Royal Grace, perhaps you can ask Shi Min to take the measurement” Maling remembered the honorifics this time.

“Good idea” Amelia replied.

In a moment, Shi Min’s results came on the hologram.

“Everything looks ok, let’s try others” Amelia selected some of the entourage as well as Imperial guards.

When everyone finished, the results were all within expectations.

“This is really weird, the device is definitely functioning, however it cannot seem to be able to measure our young friend’s talents and others” Amelia remark, curiosity clearly shown in her eyes.

“Let us try again” She indicated expectantly for Xiaoxia to step on the dais.

After 2 more tries, she gave up.

“Ah, this is going nowhere!” Amelia said in frustration.

Looking at a device at the other end of the meeting hall, she motioned for the device team to pack up the device and leave the hall.

Turning to Maling and Xiaoxia she extended an invitation “Tonight you shall stay in the palace and tomorrow morning I will be contacting the Artisan City. That is all, I will be leaving now”

Activating a device on her wrist, she vanished leaving Maling and Xiaoxia on their own.

“Lord Ma, young master Chen, please follow me to your quarters” Shi Min bowed and waited on them.

“Well young friend Xia, guess this trip is getting more worth it as time passes” Maling grinned at Xiaoxia.

Xiaoxia just nodded in his usual demeanor, still happy that at least now he knew he has talent.

**********

Morning came unexpectedly fast, for Xiaoxia he still felt somehow the day’s events has worn him out, he did not sleep till much later that night and only managed a couple of hours before the sun rose.

“Lord Maling has arrived!” the guard outside his room announced.

“Oh I totally forgot” Maling said as he entered the room.

“Huh?” Xiaoxia was still in a dazed, raising his head sleepily at the entrance of Maling.

“Black Rock is at the other side of this world, it is now night there, what you are experiencing is spatial lag” Maling explained.

“Lord Maling, then why is it you are all bright and sunny?” Xiaoxia had a hint of annoyance in his voice due to sleep depravity and being woken up by Maling.

“Haha, I am 207 years old my young friend, I have been trained in the military as well, a soldier sleeps whenever he cans regardless of the environment” Maling replied.

“Here take this now and take these later tonight” Maling said as he passed a few vials to Xiaoxia.

“What are these?” Xiaoxia asked a little confused.

“This pale yellow one is what I like to call a ‘wake me up’ remedy to help with your sleepy head. The others have a commercial name called ‘Sweet Dreams’ and works as the name implies”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t thank me! Hurry up and get dress and from today onwards drop the honorifics and call me Maling” Maling replied adding, “I have been hearing too much Lord this and that since yesterday”

“Oh and forget the shower, we do not want to make Amelia wait” he added as an afterthought.

Xiaoxia quickly jumped out of bed and headed behind the changing screen to change. He discovered the clothes he was wearing were no longer there, and replaced with another set that look refined and expensive.

“Ah I would have guessed she felt all motherly after seeing you” chuckled Maling upon seeing Xiaoxia coming out behind the changing screen.

Even though it was seldom mentioned, Xiaoxia was a striking and handsome young man, he still had baby fats and added to his features, it could melt the heart of any motherly figure. However he was more concerned with the matter at hand.

“Maling, these are really fine clothes, do I have to pay for them?” Xiaoxia asked immediately took a liking not using honorifics.

In the meantime he did not know how much they cost, but was willing to spend the 2 neon green crystals he had. Even then he did not have a clue about prices in the world.

“You are an invited guest of the Arch Duchess, everything is covered. The Imperial family’s reputation will be ruined if it was found they were charging invited guest for staying in the Palaces” Maling said and quickly added, “Don’t let anyone hear you saying this, it is quite an insult for them”

Xiaoxia nodded and followed Maling as he walked out into the corridor.

A little distance from the guest quarters, there was a dais that transported them to the private dining hall of the Arch Duchess.

This was a huge palace, its massive structure spreading over a few leagues, its compound was triple its size and surrounded by an energy barrier reinforced wall a few hundred feet high. Moving from point to point needed spatial transportation devices in the form of dais.

The guest quarters were in the south wing, roughly a league away from the private dining hall. Since many other areas of use were spread throughout the vast area of the Palace, spatial transportation devices had to be installed, and for aesthetic purposes they were in the form of a dais

With the advent of personal spatial devices, senior ranked officials and key household staff each had one, allowing access depending on their clearance to parts of the Palace. The Imperial guard garrison had access to strategic areas within the palace not accessible by others.

Only the Arch Duchess’s high grade personal device could allow her to access any point in both the city and palace without restrictions. Any distances longer than the city limits will cause the device to break under the intense stress and pressure generated as a result of latent energies released when spatial warping.

These devices were not issued to guests, hence Maling and Xiaoxia used the dais with assistance from the palace staff to traverse in the palace.

“Lord Maling, young master Chen has arrived!” announced the herald.

“Leave us” Amelia told her staff.

When the staff all left, Amelia turned to Xiaoxia.

“Did you sleep well? Are you hungry?” she asked Xiaoxia with an expression of concern.

“Yes, your royal Grace!” Xiaoxia exclaimed.

“Haha, he was born hungry” Maling jested.

“Shush, don’t bully the kid” Amelia reprimanded Maling. Turning to Xiaoxia she said, “Please call me Aunty, your Royal Grace coming from you makes me feel ancient”

“Yes Aunty!” Xiaoxia grinned and smile, looking sweet and innocent. This totally melted Amelia’s heart, and her face blushed with happiness.

“Ok let’s eat, and later we will have a conference with the Artisan’s city MeisterSchloss” Amelia quickly declared.

The spread laid out on the massive dining table was stupendous, numerous types of pastries, dairy products, eggs dishes, selection of different syrups and treacle, puddings, breads, croissants, sausages, fresh fruits, hot and cold beverages and a whole myriad of fresh vegetables and other farm produce.

Soon heaps of food vanished. But it is not surprising, the males of the Sha Mo Ren were big, their appetites even bigger. Moreover Xiaoxia was a growing child and he had an almost bottomless stomach.

On the other hand Amelia was also not a small women herself, being a little over 7 feet, although slender and beautiful, it hide her voracious appetite perfectly.

“Ah! That perfectly hit the spot” exclaimed Maling, he alone accounted for more than half of the food eaten. He was nearly 8 feet, taller than Xiaoxia’s father.

“Well are you sure? I will ask my maids to clear the table away and get right down to business” Amelia said.

“Erm, ahem, then again I think I will take another bite, who knows when the extra energy is need” Maling quickly added, while helping himself to an unidentified hot brew.

Shortly all three of them had ate to their limits and even as the maids cleared table, the food was already being quickly digested.

Without much delay Amelia got right down to business, “I managed to send a message to MeisterSchloss last night and was alerted earlier this morning that a conference with spatial communications has been arrange, it is almost time, lets us move to another area”

Amelia motioned for one of the attendants to escort Maling and Xiaoxia, while she herself activate her personal device and disappeared.

The three of them met up in another room which was smaller as compared to all other rooms, it had a few luxurious seats surrounding an oval desk and what looked like a mini dais right in the middle. This looked like the ones Maling and Xiaoxia used throughout the Palace, but much smaller and its design was more intricate and elaborate.

“Ok you two sit close to me” Amelia instructed.

She then took out a Ki crystal that was azure in color and inserted it into a receptacle that was in front of her, and a stream of light ran from the receptacle to the dais.

“Bzzz….Bzzzz…Bzzzz…. ttrrrriiiinng” the dais sounded.

“Hello my dear Arch Duchess, it has been awhile” a large hologram had appeared floating above the oval desk. In it a vague figure could be seen, and its voice clearly heard.

“Your Eminence, not too long actually” Amelia replied with a smile.

Soon the image sharpened and a figure of an old man appeared, it was obvious he was neither Sha Mo Ren nor Fan Ren. Beneath his ancient looks, he had a midnight blue tinge to his skin as well as upswept eyebrows and ears.

“Oh is that so, I must be getting old” the old man replied, apparently making a light joke.

“Haha, my dear old man. You were born old” Amelia jested.

“Hahaha that may be true. So what can I do for you young princess” the old man asked, he seemed very familiar with Amelia and very soon dropped all honorifics.

“First please allow me to introduce Lord Maling, recently promoted Viscount of the Empire, and ruler of Scarlet Condor Province. This young friend is young master Chen” Amelia introduced Maling and Xiaoxia to the old man.

“You two” she said turning to them “This is Grandmaster Artisan, Vice Lord of MeisterSchloss, His Eminence Menon” Amelia announced to them.

“Your Eminence” both Maling and Xiaoxia stood up and bowed while cupping their hands.

“Huhuhu, enough with the honorifics, this old one is only a glamourized blacksmith’ Menon replied.

Xiaoxia look quizzically at him.

Seeing his looks, Menon replied “Well it’s true, I am a blacksmith by trade, just that I have many more years than all the other younglings to polish my skills”

“Menon is part of the Moon Elves” Amelia added.

Xiaoxia nodded still unsure what it meant, as besides what he learnt from his parents, he only knew about the Fan Ren and Sha Mo Ren. Although he heard about other races.

He was not educated on other races, as there was not much literature in his town on these matters.

Rarely does a person from another race appear in his town, perhaps once every few decades, but none since the day Xiaoxia was born. Other than that it was just Sha Mo Ren and Fan Ren.

“Hmm looking at his face I guess this young one still doesn’t know much about the world, there will be another time another place for this. So let’s get down to business, what do you need from this old one?” Menon asked Amelia

“Please take a look at this” Amelia attached the information from Xiaoxia’s tests to him.

“OH!!! Interesting, this is very interesting!!” Menon exclaimed, his facial features seeming to light up and made him look much younger. His hand had also started trembling.

Looking at Amelia, he said with a serious countenance “Amelia on behalf of MeisterSchloss, I will like to officially request this young man be sent here immediately, all cost will be borne by us”

[mythlegend]

Chapter 10: Getting ready

click to show/hide spoilers

There was a moment of silence between Amelia and Maling when they heard this. Xiaoxia was still in the dark, he couldn’t really follow the dialogues between them.

“Menon, I will see to it that he will arrive shortly once everything is arranged, my staff will contact your office when we are ready,” Amelia said, breaking the silence.

“Understood, take care,” Menon said, and the hologram faded after that.

“Xiaoxia, seems like you have become a person of interest for the much vaunted MeisterSchloss,” Maling informed him.

“I do not understand,” Xiaoxia replied.

“Well it is common for our empire to request MeisterSchloss to send their Artisans over, but there hasn’t been any record of MeisterSchloss asking us to send someone over,” Amelia informed him with a gentle voice, a 180 degrees to the voice she uses with Maling.

“We even requests training for some of our own like Amelia over there, who doesn’t know how well she has it,” Maling replied with a joke.

“Oh just shut it. Anyway young friend Xia, you will be in the care of Menon for this trip, Maling and myself will not be able to follow you,” Amelia glared at Maling while telling Xiaoxia the plan.

“This is true I will not be able to guide you, since I have been promoted to Viscount and Lord of this bird blood something province, I will be swamped with work and perhaps die along the way, but hey it’s a promotion,” Maling sarcastically added.

“It doesn’t matter if we wanted to go or not, besides having our duties to carry out for THE EMPIRE, it was clear only you were invite and not us,” Amelia emphasized ‘the empire’ clearly for Maling, who was an excellent warrior as well as strategist. But he always drags his feet when it comes to administrative stuff, which he surprisingly excels in, although everyone could do without his constant complains.

Leading Maling and Xiaoxia to the antechamber, Amelia beckon to one of the maids and spoke to her briefly.

Awhile later, Shi Min, an older man, as well as military officer appeared.

“Your Royal Grace you summoned?” they knelt and said in unison.

“Yes have you arranged for what I asked?”

“Yes your Royal grace,” the answered.

Shi Min passed the requested item to Amelia, while the older man passed her a device.

At the same time she indicated to the military officer and turn to speak to Xiaoxia, “Young friend Xia, please come here.”

Xiaoxia obediently approached.

“Please stretch out your hand,” the military officer spoke.

Xiaoxia stretch out his hand and the officer place an object which quickly diffused onto the back of his hand. A glowing rune appeared and slowly faded without a trace.

Still looking as his hand he turned around as Maling said “That is a high grade registration tag, without this you will not be able to use the inter-system spatial transportation systems. Only ranking members of the empire, elites of society or extremely rich merchants could be granted one.”

“Also to travel to MeisterSchloss, you need a unique identification registration pre-approved by them, and only high grade registration tags have them. The one your parents registered for you on your birth is a common one that is unable to do so,” Maling added.

“Minister Lee, have you informed MeisterSchloss the prearranged time?” Amelia asked the older man.

“Yes your Royal Grace,” Lee replied.

“Xiaoxia this is a high grade quantum-bag, please harness it to your belt, it has the biggest capacity of its kind and there are some items contained there for your trip as well,” Amelia passed Xiaoxia what looked like a tiny bag.

“Your Royal Grace,” Shi Min cried out looking a little anguished.

“Shush” Amelia replied and continue, “Here is a universal spatial bank, usable at any establishment, if there are some establishment who cannot process this, tap on the top here to withdraw the necessary amount.”

As Xiaoxia held out his hand to receive the device, Amelia covered both of her hands and clasps the device and his hands between them. The device gave a warm glow and there were some inscription on it that changed.

After passing the spatial bank to Xiaoxia, Lee’s face turned to green.

Xiaoxia could not help but notice the faces on Shi Min and Lee.

Amelia notice it as well and said to Xiaoxia with some affection, “Do not worry about them, these are my personal travel pack and spare change whenever I need to go somewhere. They should be just sufficient for your trip.”

“Your Royal Grace what last you for a few days may last our young friend for life, Haha!” Maling laughed out, remembering to add honorifics in front of others.

Upon saying this Amelia motioned for her staff to leave the room.

Maling whistled as he looked at the card as well as the quantum bag.

“10 Imperial diamonds, 20 Imperial Rubies, 1,000 Rhodium, 5,000 Gold, 100,000 Silver!” Maling exclaimed looking at the card, he could read the inscription stating the amount it held as well as stating the owner of this spatial bank is Xiaoxia.

“High grade personal spatial communications device, High grade personal spatial transportation device, 2 lower grade vermillion crystal, 5 lower grade scarlet crystals, 10 lower grade light purple crystals, 100 lower grade azure crystals, 500 lower grade light pink crystals, 1,000 lower grade neon green crystals. Spare clothes, weapons, armor … ooh … yummy a month’s supply of Imperial cuisine in stasis containers … and what is this?” Maling was wide eyed while going through everything and exclaimed at the end.

“That you bum is a sole plate,” Amelia replied her tone towards Maling the same since the previous day.

“A sole plate?” Maling asked while grunting and struggling with effort on a pair of items that materialize out of the quantum-bag, they looked like something someone cut out of a pair of big shoes, albeit the material look suspiciously familiar to Xiaoxia.

He eventually dropped them with a loud “thud”.

“They are made of premium refined Myalithium, top of the line reverse gravity device created in MeisterSchloss,” Amelia replied.

“They are controlled by this,” Amelia replied taking out a device that looked like a pair of gloves, except the material was extremely thin and transparent with what looked like metallic webs crisscrossing around the material.

Xiaoxia understood what it meant when a material is ‘premium refine’, basically from what he learnt from his father, a material had a few grades from low to premium refined.

“It was something created a few era ago, long replace by low grade personal spatial devices,” Amelia added

The personal device Amelia have is a high grade one. The vast majority of inhabitants uses the much cheaper low grade personal spatial transportation device to warp to the nearest spatial dais hub (like subway stations) within a 5 league radius of their homes to move about the city. These normal citizens’ spatial transportation devices were only restricted to public access dais.

“Besides many still use this sole plate in MeisterSchloss, as it is fun and the view is wonderful,” Amelia warmly smiled, while remembering her younger days spent in understudy there.

“Only problem is it is so heavy you literally have to fly into your house or have a secure landing platform built, you do not want your precious sole plate to be stolen,” she added.

The Myalithium hammer lifted in his 7th month was just high grade and this premium refined Myalithium was 2 grades higher thus 10 times heavier. It was often called Black Iron and found in abundance in Black Iron region, with lesser quantities in other colonies and even on the main world.

“But why Myalithium, wouldn’t it be better to use something light?” Xiaoxia asked.

“Actually it is the reverse, the heavier and denser the material, the more effective reverse gravity works, as the name implies it is reverse gravity, so as much as a material is heavy and dense, once reverse gravity is used, it is as much lighter and less dense in reverse. Myalithium is by far the cheapest to mass produce, and been heavily used on our military warships and other floating contraptions,” she answered in summary.

Xiaoxia nodded, and left it as it is. However he asked out of curiosity, “Who is Menon and what are Moon Elves?”

“They are another race of beings, more superior to the Sha Mo Ren and they can live over an era without being in Unknown Realm, only less than a handful of other races are more superior. They are also have a close cousin the Nature Elves,” Maling helpfully answer.

“Menon is he is one of the 6 elders in the Council of MeisterSchloss, also being the oldest. I could only guess his age, since he was already very old when I first met him,” Amelia added.

“That is true, however even amongst the 6, they are still not the ruler of MeisterSchloss. All of them are Vice-Lord, little is known of who the actual Lord is, and even according to our historians, it is still the same Lord since 4 eras ago,” Amelia further pointed out.

“So what we can deduce is there is a high probability he is above Grandmaster Artisan which is an Enlightened,” Maling surmised.

“An Enlightened?” Xiaoxia asked.

“Even I do not know the details, except according to the Divine laws, an Enlightened has to have mastered more than one elemental alignment,” Amelia replied honestly.

Hence the trio continued their discussion waiting for the appointed time to approach before sending Xiaoxia off.

Xiaoxia soon found out more about other matters, like the reason why Amelia treated Maling as such. A little amazed that Amelia still had hope Maling kept a promise, even though it had been 90 years since. The promise to marry her once he had achieved at least Arch Duke.

Of course Amelia felt that impossible. He could not achieve such high status in current times of peace. To gain titles faster, he had to prove himself on the battlefield again.

Coupled with the fact he constantly dragged his feet every chance he had when it came to administrative duties. By the time he even had the glimmer of hope being an Arch Duke, Amelia felt she would have died unwed and childless.

Amelia loves children, having personally helped out in children’s shelters and orphanages regardless of her status. Her disposition towards Xiaoxia was only natural as she also had a very deep maternal instincts and always wanted to have children. Unfortunately she blame Maling as the cause of all her woes.

But she grew up in admiration for Maling during the last major war, and feelings like these do not weaken but only grow stronger over time. Hence she never thought of marriage to anyone else.

The Emperor had rejected various suggestions from other family members including her parents to marry her off to another Empire for political gains. He loved Amelia as his most precious and favorite great grandchild, and decided to let her make her own choice.

He treated her differently based on the fact she had never once asked for anything and have achieved many accomplishments on her own merit.

She only accepted favors from the Emperor when asked, and never took the initiative nor gave any suggestions or hints she wanted something.

Thus the Emperor took a proactive step and made it a point to know everything about Amelia’s life, including who she likes or what she needed help on.

As such, she was given the rule over 1st colony, when the Emperor found out she have fallen in love with Maling.

In fact Maling’s promotion was not a matter of favor and it was totally based on his own merits. That is why the Emperor was more than impressed with Amelia’s choice. If it had been otherwise, he wouldn’t even thought of letting her leave the main world.

With regards to Maling, Xiaoxia grew accustomed to his flippant attitude, he knew very well Maling was a beast on the battlefield, and aside his endless streams of complaints, he was beyond exceptional in his administrative prowess.

He also had big issues using spatial transportation. Everyone regardless of who or what they are consumes a pill to prevent spatial sickness for vast distances, however Maling refuses to do so. That was the reason the Amelia’s statement when they first arrived at the palace.

This was much to Xiaoxia’s chagrin, as Maling didn’t or rather forgot to give him the pill. The second time he had forgotten something relating to Xiaoxia (the first being the spatial lag).

For the pills, if it were a short distance like from Xiaxia’s town to Black Iron Spire, then there wouldn’t have been any need, as the effects were negligible. But they were talking about hundreds of thousands of leagues, and people have been known to be sick for days after forgetting to self-medicate.

Maling was reprimanded viciously by Amelia, who rough him up a little as well. Maling also apologized to Xiaoxia. Soon everything was hunky-dory again.

In the little time they had, Xiaoxia found himself growing fond of Maling, even though he was older than his father and could nearly be his grandfather. There was a brotherly aura around Maling that made Xiaoxia comfortable in his presence.

Minus some characteristic flaws and a roguish countenance, Xiaoxia found he could trust Maling with his life.

As the conversation moved on, Xiaoxia also gathered more information on MeisterSchloss. It was one of the few independent nations in the world and it was ruled by a council of six elders from the different elements of Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Wood and Light.

Only at Artisan level could a crafts person unlock their elemental alignment, even then ½ of them won’t have one initially. Eventually all will achieve this over time, some even as late as Grandmaster Artisan level.

He discovered as well elemental alignment was not limited to Artisans and Special Class Ki talent children had the dormant ability as well.

When their conversation topic had changed to MeisterSchloss, Amelia had given a book on the brief history of MeisterSchloss to Xiaoxia, it look suspiciously like a children’s book with colored illustrations and big words.

Books Xiaoxia had outgrown by his 5th year. But he sat down and started to read this book.

**********

The city of MeisterSchloss is currently bigger than any city in the world, it was founded in the 29th Era. This was before the profession system was started.

The founder was a crafts person, who started with only a small outpost.

It was on a small island, only a dot on the map around 4,000 x 5,000 leagues. No one was living here, but the craftsman chose it for its strategic location.

On all sides of the ocean were a biggest empires in the world. There were many others as well. The crafts person was smart, he knew spatial transportation devices were extremely inefficient during this era.

But if people were to make a stop at his outpost, and move on from there, it will take less than ¼ of the required Ki. Thus this was very beneficial especially to merchants, who could save on the costs of Ki crystals, which were more expensive they were then as compared to now.

The craftsman was close friends with 3 of the biggest empires, he had done many important and vital things for them over many years. The 3 major empires supported him and protected him. They also acknowledge his claims to the island. This was easy, as there was no natural resources here. None of the empires bothered with it.

The craftsman lived for many years, and lived to see the outpost grew into a village, and from a village into a town and from a town into a city.

Even after the craftsman was gone, the city continued to expand. During a certain era, six elemental factions within the city built their city on the island surrounding the main city.

By connecting these new cities with a line on the map, it will form a hexagon.

Very soon the whole island was populated and it expanded into the ocean. But building over water was very inefficient and costly for them. They had pushed the limits till it could not be done anymore.

At this time, a very smart Grandmaster Artisan proposed for the city to expand vertically instead of horizontally. Everyone agreed.

So even up to till today the landscape of MeisterSchloss is filled with skyscrapers, and its people rejoiced.

By this time MeisterSchloss was already famous for being the center of knowledge exchange, as well as a hub to exchange and obtain materials and goods not available their hometowns.

Even now the magnificent city still continues to grow.

**********

It was a little after midday that the Amelia as well as Maling and Xiaoxia were at the Palace’s spatial transportation hub. It was unlike other hubs who had either localized destinations or main world destinations.

This hub could access any hub at any destination as long as the proper access has been granted.

Xiaoxia could see the obvious difference in the materials used. This gate was more elegant and well-crafted as compared to the other mass produced ones.

“Young friend the time has come,” Amelia look at him with a little sadness in her eyes.

“Hey young friend Xia, remember to contact me anytime you need help!” Maling said as Amelia approached Xiaoxia.

Amelia passed Xiaoxia a cylinder containing three lower grade scarlet crystals. Xiaoxia’s eye widen a little.

“It really far you know,” Maling told him, seeing his expression and went on saying, “It a breeze, I have already contacted your parents and you should do so as well when you arrived at MeisterSchloss.”

“I will Maling,” Xiaoxia replied.

“And do not forget to take the potions the spatial lag is just as bad there as it is here,” Maling cautioned him.

“You can contact my palace if you need to find me,” Amelia offered as well.

“Thank you Aunty, thank you Maling,” Xiaoxia bowed cupping his hands.

“Ok it’s time to enter, or it’s gonna cost another extra crysta,” Maling warned.

Xiaoxia turned around, gripping the cylinder closely to his chest and took a step.

He immediately vanished from there. In a few moments a huge trunk appear at the spot where Xiaoxia had been standing.

“As expected, Menon really does keep his promise,” Amelia remarked.

She opened the trunk and at the next moment was rather shocked.

Contained in the chest were 5 high grade vermilion Ki crystals and about a dozen or so devices that was unfamiliar.

“Wow! They did really mean it when they said they will bear all the cost,” Maling let out a big exclamation.

Taking out the note left in the chest, Amelia and Maling read it together.

“To the Arch Duchess Amelia, thank you for sending your young friend over, here is your repayment, and as a token of our friendship here are 12 prototype portable Ki talent devices.

Menon.”