Chapter 4: CHAPTER 4 - ADAPTING TO LIFE
Vlad: "Valun, just like you heard me through telepathy, Rieft is in action that means-" *Before he could speak Valun cut him off and spoke. *
Valun: "Pheonix Arm is already working in the shadows. I know, but I didn't expect him to act this early, and why is he observing me? From the Ether eyes we've understood that he's observing us but doesn't have ill intentions, as we could understand because Raven might have increased the security measures after my incident.
Valun: "But the fact that he's working in the Red House and Raven hasn't done something means, that Pheonix already had him here from the start and Raven doesn't know that Rieft is Pheonix's aid. Wait, could he be the one behind my accident?" *Valun was sitting on the chair close to his desk pondering, as he was thinking about the chances of it being a coincidence. *
Vlad: "From the looks of it might be possible, as he's the only one other than Exodus who would likely have the power and influence to do so, but the thing is what could he gain from killing you? No matter how you think about it it was not even specified in the Novel, the reason for Valun's death was a catalyst for Kaiser's path and it was done by Exodus but there wasn't anything related to an incident at this point of time." *Vlad said as he was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed and engrossed in thought. *
Valun: "There are too many unknown factors we must be cautious about it, from what we know Pheonix would like to know almost everything about me and anything new or if he were behind the incident he would also want to know about how I've survived. This is frustrating."
Vlad: "Ahhh, I know what you're talking about he was an annoyingly thorough villain, even the Sage and Payne faced similar struggles like our current predicament."
Valun: "Wait now that you said it, isn't Covert Dagger working for Pheonix at this point in time? It was said that Pheonix arm and Covert Dagger have been working in the shadows before the destruction of the Aranzyde House. It was in chapter 79."
Vlad: "Are you saying that he might have sent a Covert Dagger's assassin to harm you or worse kill you? But it doesn't make sense, does it? I mean Raven- Wait Raven wasn't here, if Raven were here the accident itself wouldn't have happened, but even if he's away, he shouldn't have been so far away that he wouldn't be able to detect you being in danger."
Vlad: "I have thought about a theory though it might be hard to believe but it also is the most reasonable theory. I am guessing you already know where I'm going with this."
Valun: "Yeah that is farfetched but that makes the most and perfect sense to me too."
Vlad: "well it's not like we can do anything about that anyway, I am just going to keep training in the room whenever you summon me, it would be better if you summoned me in the mornings for Archery practice and the rest of the day, I will train in body strengthening. We wouldn't want to give out any unnecessary information to them more than what we already have."
Valun: "Sounds good, let's just keep communicating through telepathy, and I think we should probably inform Raven about Rieft, no Lucas (Rieft's identity in the Red House), we should make it so that Raven gives him a lot of work, so to do that we should give him more work by ourselves as he can't really refuse my orders."
Vlad: "Sounds good, but don't go too overboard Raven might notice the change in attitude towards him."
Valun: "Yeah I have to be cautious, well then it's nighttime I will let you sleep too Vlad, retrieve." *Valun gets up from the chair and unsummons Vlad while Vlad waves good night. *
The next morning,
Lucas (Rieft) was doing laundry while making mental notes of what he saw yesterday, he was perplexed with the newer environment as Raven has already taken the security measures since Svetlana has ordered him to do so. Lucas couldn't even try getting closer to Valun let alone follow his daily life, more guards were assigned in the Red House and more skilled than usual guards. Lucas was having trouble to even observe Valun for a solid minute, he was getting frustrated, after he finished doing the Laundry he was going to try and take breakfast to Valun to finally get close enough to observe him.
Lucas: "This is getting harder and harder to do, but I guess the information I have currently is not that bad either, what bothers me most is the fact that I've not been able to discover who had saved Valun, or what caused the curse and poison to fail, as strong as Raven is it's still not possible for him to heal the curse and poison. All I've learned till now is that Svetlana has taken an interest in Valun and Analita, Valun has suddenly started training in Archery which no one uses at all, that's not even worth mentioning to the Lord, but what's interesting is that the sudden change of mind as from what I could remember he was addicted to play swordsman with that war rat (he is referring to Kaiser who was a war refuge saved by Lecion.). There's been no evidence of the Rank 4 assassin or his left-over things, I can't even find one single trace of him." * While biting his nails in frustration, Lucas couldn't really understand where to start investigating."
Lucas: "Hmm, let's just observe his training and mealtimes for now I guess, but I still have to try and get closer or else Lord would not forgive me." * Lucas was boiling inside as he was making soup for the siblings. *
Vlad: *while doing handstands, Vlad activated his Ether eyes. * "Looks like he's racking his brain up with all the thinking he's doing about trying to get closer to us." Valun: *In the training ground practicing his double shots, and Kaiser was beside him swinging his wooden sword. Valun spoke through telepathy. * "Hmm, maybe he's looking for the person who caused the accident, as even Uncle Raven couldn't find out where the person was, as Raven can even find the dead's trace, he wouldn't not have found it out. But what worries me is that Pheonix arm getting more information on us, so we have to-."
Vlad: *As Valun was going to finish the sentence, Vlad cut him off. * "Oi No:1, instead of us trying to restrict him from information, how about we feed him some bait?"
Valun: *Valun's eyes rose up as he drew another arrow back* "Oh you mean give him false information while making it seem genuine, and to not let him catch on that we know what his identity is or what he's here for. That's not a bad idea but won't Uncle Raven be suspicious if we suddenly start having a servant following us around which we've never done normally."
Vlad: "Well that man currently adores us and personally I think it would be alright as Uncle Raven doesn't know that Lucas (Rieft) is someone who works for Pheonix arm."
Valun: *Valun walks back to the targets to retrieve the arrows he shot from them. * "Well, I guess for now we just have to think about what type of bait we are going to throw Lucas (Rieft), it shouldn't be baseless but at the same time we can't have it being too believable."
Vlad: "Maybe we could just do what kids do, wanting to go out and play, eat more, and act like we have some unrecovered side effects from the accident. What might make it more sensible is the fact that we are still a 6-year-old child." *Vlad said after he sat down to rest after finishing his workout. *
Lucas: ***Knock Knock*** "Young master I've brought you some breakfast, would you like me to come at a later time or would you have it now?" *Rieft stands outside with some breakfast on the food trolly. *
Vlad: "Please come in!" *Vlad put on some clothes real fast. *
Valun: "Oi, Oi, I am still in the training ground but since no one's watching I will be trying to get back to the room discreetly and ask for double the food that we have currently, I am sorry, HeHe." *Valun was talking via telepathy and making his way up to his room without anyone noticing, however Raven did notice Valun but didn't really care for it as he thought Valun was playing around. *
Vlad: Through telepathy 'Dumbass, Raven already noticed your sneaky ninja act, you still are not using your Ether eyes properly, ahh ahh, just come up quickly.', "Ah Lucas could you get me double the amount of food I am starving."
Lucas: * In his mind 'Whaatt? This kid wants to eat 2 times the amount an adult man would eat for breakfast? Has he been malnourished? Or is this a side effect caused by the curse? Ah it's not time to think about it, let's just remember this mentally.'* "Young Master, would you really be able to eat that amount of food? I don't mind bringing it, but you might have an upset stomach if you eat that much."
Vlad: "No, no, I can eat it, could you please bring me that food?" * 'Well currently we're both eating that said food so if I go back into Valun he should be able to absorb the said food and workout's progress, and to be honest we could eat more but that might increase unwanted suspicion and questions.'*
Lucas: "Yes, Young Master, I will be back in just few minutes." * Lucas left quickly to get the remaining food asked for Vlad. *
Valun: "Ehhh, I thought you were going to ask for 3 times the amount, but oh well we can't be greedy, I guess. By the way, how are you more proficient at using my abilities than I am? You've been able to constantly use Ether eyes and more efficiently than me, I want to be able to do it too."
Vlad: "I really don't know much to be honest, maybe because you summoned me with Ether eyes and forcibly used mana with that, so maybe I have an inkling to more mana and Ether eyes usage than you, Oi, Oi, your dumbness is rubbing off on me, I can only use or do what you can that means you are just not using your abilities at all, let alone properly." *Vlad's forehead had a vein twitching out indicating him being mad. *
Valun; "ahh, Sorry, sorry, it's just that I am not used to using such abilities as easily as breathing, I guess I should start using them regularly to increase my proficiency in it. But mainly I want to learn how to manipulate and control mana and Ki, if I could I want to infuse them both together, since we already know the Heavenly Dragon Lord's Breathing arts and how we should do it from 19th Volume it is much easier for me to get stronger and maybe it might probably be the only way to infuse both mana and Ki, since the only one who infused mana & Ki used an inferior dragon breathing arts."
Vlad: "Well, I don't think the age for mana sensing would matter to you or Kaiser, as you guys are different than others. However, you are right since we know about the Dragon Lord's Breathing arts, we could probably start trying to use mana & Ki but infusing them into "Magicka" is going to be hard as Esparuda obtained that after centuries of training and research, she was lucky enough to be an elf."
Valun: "Well, it was surprising that she did what even Kaiser, the Dragons and that guy weren't able to do, if only she could have taught Kaiser or anyone, but well since we can possibly do it better and faster than her, I don't really mind." * Valun was stuffing his mouth with the food Lucas previously got. * "Oh, he's back that quickly."
Lucas: "Young Master, I've brought more food, I'm coming in." *Lucas was slowly opening the door to get in. *
Valun: "Retrieve!" *Vlad immediately went back into Valun. * "Thank you, Lucas, I really appreciate it."
Lucas: "Yes, Young Master, please take your time to finish the meal!" * Lucas felt tired after bringing in so much food. *
After finishing the meal,
Valun excused himself from Analita and Kaiser after training with them for few hours, Valun and Vlad went into the personal closed training ground and closed the doors, so no one noticed what they were doing, Valun now felt different since Vlad went back to Valun after training he felt more than stronger than before, both Valun and Vlad felt the difference in their increase in strength. After checking out their improved conditions, Valun and Vlad started training in the Breathing arts;
Valun: "Let's start now, shall we?" *Valun sat down in the lotus position facing Vlad who was doing the same thing as Valun. *
Vlad: "Yeah, let's do it!" * Valun put his hands together and focusing on his abdomen, Vlad did the same as him. *
Valun & Vlad in unison: "Now, Ether eyes activate, re-organize Heavenly Dragon Lord's Breathing arts, Alignment of Mana and Ki circulation." * Valun and Vlad began by using the 1st step of the Breathing arts by initiating the flow of both mana and Ki within your veins. Through deep meditation and concentration, drawing upon the abundant mana in your surroundings and channel it into your body. Simultaneously, tap into your innate well of Ki, allowing it to circulate alongside the mana. This step establishes the foundation for further manipulation and fusion of these energies to enhance the probability of Magicka's usage in the future. * "
Valun: "Let's call it a day, even though we could push through I don't think it would be a good idea as Lucas would probably be trying to find what we're doing."
Vlad: "Yeah sound good, let's work on the step 2 two days later, for the next 2 days, I will keep working on the circulation step in the room and you train as per usual, so neither Lucas nor Raven doubt anything." *Vlad gets up and dusts himself off. *
Valun: "Retrieve! Alright I have to go back quick, Lucas might already be waiting with the food!" *Valun calls back Vlad and goes back to his room quickly before Lucas checks on him. *
After 2 days,
Lucas: "Young Master I've not been able to see you a lot in the training grounds these days, are you bored?"
Valun: "I just happen to be tired nowadays, that's it, but I will start training again after few days." *Valun notices Lucas's desperation of trying to get more information. *
Lucas: "Oh, I understand Young Master, please be cautious as you've just recovered from an accident not too long ago, so what would you be doing today?"
Valun: * Valun was surprised as he didn't expect Lucas to be so desperate that he started making it evident that he wanted information. * "Ah, I am going to train with big sis and brother Kaiser, and I want to ask Uncle Raven to teach me magic." *This was the bait he threw to Lucas, as even though it was half true, it was still fake and useless information in a sense that no one at the age of 6 can use mana, but not only Valun started using mana he also started learning Ki, which is just pure energy inside a person, unlike mana which is not only all around the world but some people are born with it and some are not at all, but the people with no mana are as rare as people who use Ki which even in the Novel 'The path of the lonely swordsman' you can count them with one hand. *
Lucas: "Haha, sorry Young Master, you are still too young to be able to learn magic as you have to be at least 8-9 years old to learn how to use and control mana, but I am sure you will become a great mana user in the future." *Lucas tried to hide his frustration over Valun, as he thought he was still acting like a child and wanting to learn magic at such a young age. *
Lucas: "But, what are you going to do by learning magic this early Young Master?" *However, even though he was annoyed Lucas pushed through with his 'innocent questioning'. *
Valun: "I want to fly like the birds in the sky, build giant sandcastles and also to grab the sun." *Valun said with an innocent smile and sparkly eyes, and being embarrassed as acting this cute with a mind of a full-grown adult is quite the hurdle, however, in the last part Valun tried to hint Lucas about the Red sun symbol on Pheonix's hand to shake him up, as even though Lucas is currently struggling with Valun, he was one of the most keen informant and spies Pheonix arm had. *
Lucas: * 'What? He wants to grab the sun, what does he mean? Does he know something about the Lord? No no there's no way I'm overthinking too much, he might just be joking like every other child.'* "Ho, those are some big goals, Young Master, but what do you mean by grabbing the sun?" *Lucas questioned with a sweat drop flowing down his face. *
Valun: "Oh, I've read in a book that a kid once flew so high that he thought the sun was a fruit and almost ate it. I want to be like that kid too." *Valun said with a small smile. *
Lucas: * 'phew, kids really do love their fairy tales, I got scared for nothing.' Lucas sighed internally with relief. * "Oh, that's great, Young Master, then I will take my leave I can't have you all to myself when Madam Analita and Mr. Kaiser are waiting for you." *Lucas bowed and left. *
Valun: "Okay! Bye." *Valun went to the private training room before he went to the training ground. * "Vlad! I will let you continue with the Dragon breathing; I am going to go train with big sis and Kaiser."
Vlad: "Alright sounds good!" *Vlad sat down in their regular position and started practicing his breathing technique. * "Step 2, Elemental Harmonization" *Vlad started to follow the technique as he activated Ether eyes. * "Expand your control over mana and Ki by harmonizing them with the elements. Slowly practice breathing so it can attune the energies with the elemental forces present in nature." *By aligning with the elements, you enhance your ability to manipulate mana and Ki in accordance with their respective properties. Mana & Ki slowly accumulated throughout his body slowly while encompassing each and every part of it. *
Vlad: "Phew that took a toll on me, if we did it together it probably would've been better doing it myself was kind of tiring, but oh well this was at least useful to create water now." *Vlad finally finished mastering the first 2 techniques, and then started creating water out of his hand through Mana and quenched his thirst. *
In the training ground,
Valun: "Ah, I almost shot you big sis, you are too fast, it's cheating." *Valun was lying on the ground with his bow beside him. *
Analita: "HA HA HA! You are still 100 years too early to be able to beat me." *Analita said with humorous laughter and swiftly dodged the incoming attack from Kaiser and hit his head with the wide side of the wooden sword. *
Kaiser: " Ow! You really act like a 100-year-old granny." *Kaiser dropped to the ground after letting out a scream of pain. *
Valun & Analita: *laugh in unison. *
Analita: * 'However both of them are far stronger than what kids their age would be even if they train as much as these 2, these guys are just absolute monsters, even though I am holding back quite a lot they are able to push me back this much, I don't want to face them in the future.'*
Raven: "I assume everybody's hungry, as we have a lot of food prepared for lunch today." *Raven bowed and called out to the siblings. *
After eating Valun called out to Raven, Analita and Kaiser together and called them all to his room,
Valun: "Uncle Raven and big sis you are teaching brother Kaiser how to use mana right? Could you teach me too? I want to learn it too." *Valun requested with the most adorable sparkly eyes, ever. *
Analita: "Valun, even if you are good at using a bow, being able to use mana at the age of 6 is unheard of and Kaiser similar to the Sage who is a special case was 7 when he started using mana, that's why me and Uncle Raven are helping him, but it's not that easy for everyone. But it's great that you've got the spirit, I will train you personally when you turn that age, Okay?" *Analita knelt to talk to Valun face to face with a hand on his shoulder assuring him. *
Raven: "Unfortunately Young master, it's just as Ms.Analita has said, it might be too early for you, so please have some patience, we will train you once you're of age." * Raven tilted his head in a polite way to face Valun and said with a pleasant smile. *
Valun: "Kuku kuku, but I already saw what brother Kaiser and sister were doing while training and I can do it too." *Valun said rubbing his nose with his index finger showing his pride in doing so. *
Raven: "Young Master seeing something being done and doing it are 2 different things, but it's-." *Before Raven could finish that sentence, he felt something. *
Valun: *Valun closed his eyes and put his arms beside his abdomen and started breathing in and out while slowly focusing mana alone through his body. *
Analita & Raven: "WHAAAAAT? How is this possible?" *Both of them screamed in unison. *
Analita: "Wait, Valun how are you able to channel mana? No how are you even able to sense Mana? This is not normal, right? Raven?" *Analita was astonished and shocked, at the same time same time she reminded herself again 'Yeah, these guys are monsters all right! And chuckled in her mind. *
Raven: "Ms. Ana, I am going to put up a stealth barrier now at once. Young Master, you can stop doing that now." * Raven put his hand up quickly and formed a stealth barrier so that no one could sense or hear what's going on in the room, and asked Valun to stop channeling his Mana. *
Kaiser: "Ohh, that's my little brother, he's super right?" *Kaiser didn't really understand the gravity of the situation but was happy for Valun. *
Raven: "Super? Master Kaiser, you are understating this, this is what you call a monster among geniuses. Not even the Sage was able to do this at this age." * Raven was sweating profusely, due to how immense this achievement was. *
Analita: "And not only that he said that he saw us train and grasped the breathing technique to channel mana, he did that with just watching. This is unprecedented, no one's revealing this to anyone, Kaiser and Valun especially you two. You guys should not reveal that Valun can use mana if you do, we will be facing trouble. Do you guys understand?" *Analita put her palm on her face sighing in loss for words.*
Valun: "So I can learn spells too, right?" *Valun said with a mischievous smile.*
Raven: *Looked at Analita, making both of them nod their heads in acceptance. * "Yes, you can Young Master, but once again you can't reveal this to anyone and use mana outside either mine or Ms. Analita's supervision."
Valun: "MHM!! Understood." *Valun was kicking the air in happiness in his mind as he can properly use spells and not hide it. *
The siblings and the butler left shortly after that spectacle,
Valun went back to the private training ground and retrieved Vlad while doing so progressed in his 2nd step of the breathing technique, as Vlad had already mastered it. Valun then started training his control in elements slowly in his room, he was trying to use other elements but the most he was able to use was water and wind, he was trying to experiment more, but he didn't want Raven and Ana, to come knocking on his door.
Next few days was as per usual but with a slight twist,
Valun was training in mana control with Raven in the morning the private training room, so he left Vlad in his bedroom to follow the breathing technique,
Vlad: *Step 3, Draconic Amplification: This develops the skill of amplifying your mana and Ki energies through focused breathing. While doing so you will learn to increase the intensity and potency of these energies within your body, allowing them to resonate at higher frequencies. This amplification enhances your overall energy reserves and strengthens your connection to the spiritual and magical realms. * "Hah, this felt much easier than step 2, step 2 was annoyingly tougher than Step 3. Well, I guess because I mastered step 2, Step 3 was much easier." *Vlad was done for today and then talked to Valun via telepathy. * "Oi No:1, I'm done here, how long are you going to play around with some mana spheres."
Valun: "Shut up, I am concentrating on controlling my mana. Since you're done clean up the room, as me and Uncle Raven are going to be there in few minutes."
Vlad: "Gotcha!" *Vlad started cleaning the room up as it was messy due to the amount of training Vlad was doing.*
Few days later after completing both the final steps in one day together,
Valun & Vlad finished both Step 4 & Step 5 in one day due to the mastery of the other 3, it was much smoother and easier to complete, though it was an arduous task. Step 4 Dragon's Convergence: Progress to the advanced technique of converging your mana and Ki streams, akin to the majestic fusion within a dragon's core. Through precise control of your breath and internal energy channels, merge the flows of mana and Ki within your being. This convergence creates a synergistic effect, wherein the combined energies amplify and complement each other, echoing the unity found within the heart of a dragon.
Step 5 Dragon's Essence Embodiment: Attain mastery over The Heavenly Dragon Lord's Breathing Arts by embodying the essence of dragons within your being. Through profound meditation and spiritual insight, channel the harmonized energies of mana and Ki into a concentrated core within yourself, akin to the ancient cores of dragons. This core could serve as a vessel to properly infuse both Mana & Ki without any trouble, drawing upon the legendary strength and wisdom of dragons while maintaining balance and stability within yourself and the surrounding environment. *
Valun: "Pheww, I guess that's done. Now I can use mana & Ki as I wish, but to use Magicka and create a Magicka core I have to get used to the breathing technique, even though I've mastered it I still must use it for few more days to blend it in thoroughly. Unlike regular mana & ki which you can just use your body to contain, Magicka is something more intricate and complex as Magicka is something that's said to rival the power of gods. Well, I guess for now being able to control and balance both mana & Ki is good enough for now."
Valun: "Vlad!" *Vlad appears again into existence this time however Valun was able to sense Vlad's mana & Ki properly and more efficiently and feel how strong he's gotten. *
Vlad: "This feels incredible, now we just have to hasten the process of creating the core. But wait we still got that Lucas to worry about for now Raven is covering for the unusual hidden training, but he might get even more suspicious."
Valun: *Remembering about the their conversation few weeks ago about the real "Valun's death" and the theory was "Pheonix arm sent a Covert dagger assassin to kill Valun for a reason but in the actual Novel plot Raven must have been here at that time and must have saved Valun and killed the Covert Dagger's assassin, but I think Mr. Shin however made it so that Raven wasn't here and the plan to actually work so I could replace Valun." *
Vlad: *Vlad continuous after Valun. * "And Mr. Shin then erased the existence and traces of the said assassin, also most probably the Heavenly body must have healed your wounds. But Pheonix Arm is concerned and cautious because his plan almost worked which wasn't supposed to if he took Raven being here into consideration but failed because I survived the incident. This theory makes the most sense."
Valun: "Yeah for now it was good that we have Raven covering our daily activities."
Vlad: "Yeah, wait and the last thing you asked about do you want to try it? Summoning the bow?"
Valun: "Ohh yeah now that we have both mana and Ki it should be possible." *Valun concentrates both his mana and Ki on to the bow seal (tattoo) on his arm he starts sweating and heating up due to how focused he is, suddenly the seal shines and Valun finds his hand holding a bow which looked godly, and then it went back into the seal. *
Valun:"PWAHH! That was amazing but I couldn't hold it for long, I think I understand why though. I think we need Magicka to use the bow, and since infusing Mana and Ki is the base of Magicka I might've triggered the seal to open, well this just makes me want to hurry in creating the Magicka core."
[Note: This is a work of fiction any relations to reality, or real-life aspects is just used as reference and not meant to harm any specific groups or people or their respective aspects I have referenced, Thank you.]
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