Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Spirit Roots
When I noticed everyone else had finished their food, I decided now would be the best time to ask when I could start cultivating like them.
"So, will you guys finally teach me how to cultivate!"Asked Elif with slight excitement leaking out of his voice.
"As it's your birthday, by tradition, your mother or I will show you how to cultivate so that you can start your journey as a cultivator." Replied Marcus, answering his son.
"But before that, there are some things you need to do and information you must know." Said Tyler while standing up from his seat, followed by everyone else.
Cocking my head to the side in confusion about what I must do before I can finally cultivate, I was about to hop down from the seat and follow them when Elaine suddenly disappeared from my hands. Looking around, I found father holding her in his hands; when father turned and looked at me, I put on a pouting face which sadly didn't work like it usually does.
"Nope, not today, Elif; I need you to pay attention and not ignore everything else while playing with Elaine; once everything has finished, you will be able to play with her later today." Said Marcus with slight seriousness in his voice as he played with his daughter.
"Hmph," Replied Elif with an attitude as he hopped down from the seat he was sitting on while his father was walking with everyone else.
Once I landed on the ground, without falling this time, I walked out of the dining hall and ran after my family that was further ahead; when I arrived next to them, I suddenly appeared in a different place, and not surprisingly, I was being held in my grandmother's arms. Suddenly appearing in grandmother's arms is quite common to me now, although I don't like it when I'm playing or reading some book and she is suddenly holding me, and even when I complained to her, she just laughed it off and continued doing it. When I looked at grandmother, I noticed a mischievous smirk on her face while she was holding me, which irritated me even more as I knew she was doing it to get a reaction out of me, but since I've gotten used to her too doing this, my reactions are minor now.
"Can you stop, grandmother? I can walk on my own. Besides, I'm about to start cultivating like you, so soon you won't be able to do this to me anymore." Said Elif with a victorious voice and an arrogant smile.
"Well, let's just see about that, my little Elf." Replied Tiana with a smile that seemed to hold a hidden meaning.
As grandmother and I continued our little banter, it helped quickly pass the time as, before I knew it, we had stopped right in front of some giant doors. Looking around and not noticing any of our servants or guards, I figured this was an off-limits area, where only Royal Elfs are allowed entrance. Grandfather walks forward and opens the doors revealing a beautiful lush garden that looks similar to the one I would usually play in outside, with grandfather walking in first, we follow him, and once we are all inside, grandmother finally sets me back on the ground. Inspecting the area, I notice everything is pretty much the same as the gardens outside, except for the big tree straight ahead of us; I mean, the tree ahead isn't big at all if compared to the ones outside, but compared to the ones in here, then it's pretty big.
Not knowing what to do, I follow everyone else as we make our way over to the big tree; once we all arrive within a few meters of it, we all stop before Mother gives me some instructions.
"Alright, dear, the first step before learning how to cultivate will be to test your talent and potential; the first talent we will evaluate will be your Spirit Root. This tree in front of us is called an Acacia Tree; by putting your hand on it, it will resonate with your Spirit Root, and its leaves will change colors to match your Spirit Root." Said Maria while looking at Elif.
"Oh, I've overheard the servants talking about Spirit Roots before, but they've never mentioned anything about color, does the color matter in a Spirit Root?" Asked Elif with a hint of confusion.
"Sort of, as the Spirit Root is the only organ that resides within your soul and body simultaneously, there are many different ways to evaluate a Spirit Root, but we use the one that involves color. The higher the rank of a Spirit Root, the greater their ability to absorb Qi and light, which means the Spirit Root will be darker the higher its rank is." Replied Tyler with a twinkle of intelligence in his eyes.
"Anyways, all you need to do is touch the Acacia tree, and we will know your Spirit Root rank." Said Marcus.
Nodding my head, I start walking toward the Acacia tree, and when I'm within arm's length of it, I reach my arm out and place my hand on the tree. Right, when I did, I could feel something flowing through my body, and it felt very comfortable, so comfortable that I didn't even pay attention to the leaves that were starting to change color.
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While I was watching my little boy walk to the Acacia tree, I started wondering what his Spirit Root would be; I mean, it doesn't matter even if he doesn't have a Spirit Root, which is impossible for a living being, let alone a Royal Elf; I'll still love him all the same, but I'm still curious what it will be.
"Mother, father, what do you think the rank of Elif's Spirit Root will be?" Asked Maria while eyeing her child walking closer to the tree.
"That is quite a tough one to answer; with our Royal bloodline, he is at least guaranteed a middle Divine Spirit Root, but with him being a mutated Elf on top of our Royal Bloodline, I'd dare say he will at least have a middle God Spirit Root or above." Answered Tyler while also eyeing his grandson, who had just arrived next to the tree.
"I have to agree with Tyler; Elif has shown to be quite talented. If I recall correctly, it only took Elif three months to speak his first word and another two months to learn the common language; not only will his Spirit Root rank be high, but I also believe his comprehension is quite monstrous as well." Answered Tiana, who was watching as her grandson placed his hand on the Acacia tree.
When Elif placed his hand on the tree, we all watched him closely without blinking, not wanting to miss anything that might happen; while watching him, we noticed how his expression slowly morphed into one of ecstasy as he closed his eyes.
'Probably should've warned him about how soothing an Acacia trees Qi is, whatever it's nothing harmful to him, besides he looks adorable with that peaceful expression.' Thought Maria.
As time passed, we saw the leaves above start changing colors, from pure white to gray to light yellow, and then to orange, pink, red, purple, and violet, before finally changing color to light black. When we saw the leaves go all the way up to dark violet, we were thrilled, but when we saw it change all the way to light black, we were beyond ecstatic.
"Hahahaha, What did I say? My grandson is a Royal genius! Hahaha!" Said Tyler as he was laughing excessively loud, not from something he thought funny but from pure joy.
"Oh my, I knew my little Elf was special, but this exceeded my expectations." Voiced Tiana in surprise but also in happiness.
"Hmph, but of course, he is amazing; I gave birth to him!" Declared Maria while she puffed out her chest in pride, with a giant smile on her face.
"He is also my child to don't-" Said Marcus, who was holding Elaine in his arms, but he stopped talking in utter shock when he noticed the leaves on the tree turn even darker than before
Wondering why my husband stopped talking mid-way through, I looked over to him and noticed his jaw hanging down and his eyes wide open in disbelief. I followed his gaze, which landed on our son, but when I did, I'm sure my state was no better than his, as I saw the leaves, which had turned black when I wasn't looking, slowly turning even darker to the point they became invisible. The reason for them being invisible is not because they somehow turned invisible; no, the reason is that the leaves were sucking in so much light that none of them were capable of reflecting back, making it essentially invisible; using my divine sense, I could still observe them, but other than that it was impossible to see them.
It also seems mother and father noticed what happened with the leaves when I heard their shaky voice.
"I must be going senile for me to be seeing this," Whispered Tyler in complete disbelief.
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