Chapter 6: Trouble Along the Road
Marcius slightly moved to the left to avoid the incoming slash. He stepped back for a distance as his attacker prepared for another strike. As the expected strike came down, he parried it with his sword and went for the opponent's right foot with his left. As per Marcius's calculation, his opponent jumped up to avoid the foot.
He quickly spun around and kicked his adversary who was still in the midair. As the opponent soared through the air because of the kick, he followed behind closely with astonishing speed. When his target nearly landed onto the ground, he went in for the kill with his sword tip pointing at his foe's chest.
Marcius lightly tapped the opponent's chest with the tip of his sword.
"You are out." He spoke.
"Yea, I'm out. Good fight." His opponent replied from his place on the ground.
It had been three days since Marcius killed Felix. His plan worked out nicely and the Sergia clan had been painted as the culprit of the murder of Argus family's second son.
There had been some retaliation from Sergia clan and Argus family. Some of the Aemilia clan's stores and properties were attacked. Some guards had been gravely injured, but aside from that, there was nothing else serious. If he had to quote his mother,
"They are just fools throwing eggs at a rock."
There was that. Besides, Sergia clan and Argus family were too busy targeting each other to focus on Aemilia clan.
"I just love it when a plan comes together." He thought.
"What Leon said is correct, young master. That is a good fight. The moves you did just now are fluid. The footwork is also incredible." Ser Janus said, as he walked closer to the sparring duo.
They were in the clan training yard. Marcius and Leon were sparring while Ser Janus watched from afar to instruct on areas they might be lacking.
"I learned some new moves in the past few days." He replied while helping Leon got up from the ground.
"Those moves are wicked. You need to teach me that." Leon said with an excited voice.
Leon Forra was the nephew of Ser Janus Forra. He was also a very overactive person whose mouth worked faster than the brain. And that had gotten him into many troubles in his past.
He was also the only friend Marcius ever had.
Marcius, in his past, had spent most of his days at the training yard. He never had a social life. Leon became his friend only for the reason that, the nephew of Ser Janus was the single person who would ever spar with Marcius. The others were afraid or nervous about Marcius's status within the clan.
"Leon! You can't just ask young master to teach you. He also has other duties." Ser Janus scolded.
"It is alright. I'll teach you later when I have time, Leon." Marcius stopped Ser Janus from going off on Leon.
The techniques Marcius used were the techniques he learned from the skill book rewarded by Kio. The name of the book was called 'The Five Arts of Chaos: Part one.'
From what he had learnt, it was a martial art with five parts. The book he obtained was part one and it described the 'movement of Gaea.'
It was a technique which relied on both agility and flexibility. If trained to perfection, he could move with such a fluidity that the opponent could never guess from which angle he would be striking next, because he could just change the direction of his strike in the middle of the attack. The technique could also grant him an astonishing speed of movement via complicated footwork.
Of course, the technique would be very powerful if it was paired with the spirit energy. But one could also practice and use it without the help of cultivation.
It was just a perfect technique for Marcius. It wouldn't be so powerful now, but he had future plans to fix his problem, which is the absence of cultivation.
The system was very generous with him. And when he asked, Kio replied that the system took into consideration of the user's conditions, what he would be lacking and what he really needed, when it calculated the bounty rewards.
Marcius was more than fine with the explanation.
After obtaining the skill book, Marcius had been training nonstop for the last three days. The way the skill books from the system worked is that it didn't give him all the information instantly. He had to read it but once he read the book, he would instantly gain a comprehensive understanding of what was written.
No matter what he read, Marcius would instantly understand it. That was the wonder of skill books provided by the system.
Although he had to train his body step by step, having a complete understanding of the technique helped a lot.
It was like an adult learning to walk again. He knew the process completely but he just had to take the steps little by little, until it reached perfection.
It was also when the old habit of Marcius came under the spotlight. He was a monster at training. Before the accident, he was able to challenge peer cultivators with physical training alone.
His 'movement of Gaea' was yet not perfected, but he was getting there slowly.
"Young master, lady Aemilia had sent for you!" A servant came into the training yard to inform him.
"We will spar again tomorrow. I need to test out more with my new moves." Marcius said to Leon as he walked towards the benches at the side. "Same time tomorrow?"
"Same time tomorrow!" Leon agreed.
Marius nodded and picked up the towel to wipe his sweats away.
"Lead the way." He said to the servant who followed him to the benches.
*** *** ***
Marcius had to walk back from the clan compound to the lord's keep. When he arrived at his mother's office, he saw two additional people inside the room.
One was his father dearest and he didn't know who the other person was.
"Hello, mother. You summoned me?" Marcius asked as he walked up to the table around which the three people were standing.
"I did. Marcius, this is John Valens, or Ser John. He is one of your grandfather's personal guards."
"Ser John." Marcius addressed the soldier.
"Well met. Young master Marcius." Ser John greeted back with a respectful bow.
"Your grandfather sent him ahead with a wonderful message." Helen said. Her voice was very joyous. "He will be arriving the city tomorrow. Your grandfather has succeeded in finding a soul medium for you."
Marcius cursed in his mind soon as he heard his mother words.
Soul medium was an item of magical origin which could allow the people born without the spirit beast to be able to cultivate. The way it worked was the medium would act as a bridge that connected the person's soul with an external spirit beast. As a result, the individual could possess a spirit beast even if he was born without it.
Soul mediums were very rare. Their method of creation was lost in the past.
Spirit beasts which were born naturally and not within a cultivator were even rarer. It was very difficult to find and capture one. Or if a person wanted it very much, they could use some ancient rituals to extract the spirit beast from a cultivator, willing or unwilling.
So, in order for Marcius to obtain a spirit beast, he would first have to find a soul medium and then capture or extract the spirit beast. It would be a very lengthy and difficult process.
Extracting the spirit beast from another person could be very much easier, except the extraction rituals were very ancient, very complicated and had very demanding requirements and ingredients.
Nevertheless, Marcius's grandfather had found a soul medium and it seemed like a step in the right direction.
Except it wasn't.
Marcius had plans for his path to cultivation. None of those plans involved the soul medium his grandfather was bringing back.
The soul mediums were rare, true. But for Marcius who had a comprehensive knowledge of Rubrum, most of those soul mediums would be mediocre.
He wanted a very specific soul medium and a very specific spirit beast. In order for him to obtain that, he couldn't take the soul medium his grandfather was bringing back.
From Joseph's memories, he remembered that it was mentioned in the book. His grandfather succeeded in finding the soul medium, but when he arrived back, Marcius was already dead.
Still, the fact remained that his grandfather managed to bring back a soul medium. The information had just completely slipped his mind. And now he was in deep trouble.
Besides, his grandfather might have faced many difficulties to obtain the treasure. He might even have experienced a near-death situation.
For him to not accept the soul medium with anything but highest gratitude would be like saying,
"Hi, grandpa! Thanks for all the troubles you have gone through for my sake. Here! Have a mud cake to the face."
As he left after saying goodbye to his widely smiling mother and ever stoic father, all he could think of was how to get out of this situation he was unwillingly forced into.
Because there was just not a good explanation for not wanting to infuse with a soul medium and gain a spirit beast. He just might have to formulate a very outrageous story to justify his decision.
"OHHH… I'm so screwed."
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Author Notes
Hello! MidnightMK here!
Marcius is now in trouble. Not a bad kind of trouble, but he still needs to figure a way out of it. We'll see how he does that in the next chapter.
I do hope you enjoy this chapter!
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone