"Teacher-"

  "Master"

  Right

  "...Master, I was wandering, where did you get this scroll?"

  "From a forgotten cache several months ago in the Demon Realm, why?"

  "Just curious about where it came from, the technique is interesting."

  "I would agree on that, but until you complete your martial training, it is foolish to consider going there."

  "Complete my training?"

  "I'll talk of it later, for now, you should focus on simply learning your techniques."

  Master arranged the three scrolls in front of Jack. Unfurling each, the first scroll he sighed in annoyance, evidently, the writing was still in English. He rolled it back around the black and yellow cylinder, handing it back to Jack.

  "An annoyance, but if you can read it, then it'll be up to you to read it."

  Undoing the other two scrolls, Master held the black steel technique for a moment before sealing them back up and handing it to Jack again. Following his master as he stood up, the not so blind man waved his quill once more, and an image of a black wall replaced the four elements.

  "It will be your duty to read the dragon arts and report its contents to me. As for the other one, I cannot make sense of its words nor the power it offers, so for now, you will hold it for me until we have a more proper time to study it. For now, let us focus on your Black Steel Fortress."

  On the canvas was the image of a man next to the wall.

  "This technique is a variant of a somewhat common one called the Enduring Iron Fortress, made popular by the Myriad Metals Sect in the south."

  The drawn man changed so that he was being attacked by several people around him.

  "The purpose of it is to train a sage to strengthen their body, granting incredible endurance in the face of adversity."

  The wall shrank and was placed on the man's chest; the spears, swords, and arrows of the image were redrawn as though they were being repelled by a force.

  "It is a useful thing to know, but there are more powerful ones out there, such as the popular Mountain Heart Path. But scrolls are already rare as is, and such a valuable one even less. So, for now, we will settle for this one."

  The canvas cleaned itself, folding back into itself until it returned to a regular size. Both of them sat back down on the stone floor, his master taking out several bottles.

  "For this and the next day, we will focus on this technique; the others will come later or in your own time, and to that end, these cultivation pills will help speed your progress along. Now, once you take one, I want you to focus on learning the paths of your dragon veins, the pathways of spiritual energy in your body. Try it as though you were infusing, but on yourself.

  Popping one of the spherical pills into his mouth, he chewed and swallowed it, getting a near molten rush of heat near his heart. Closing his eyes, Jack recalled the feeling of power moving through his body. He felt the pleasant warmth moving from his chest through his arms and legs, soothing his starved and bruised body. Jack could feel fire in his blood and the sun in his stomach.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  As he continued circulating his power through himself, he could feel a sort of...unfeelingness begin to form. It was barely noticeable at first, a slight chill in his feet and hands that came and went, but the cold would start to cover more of and deeper into his body. This continued until he felt he was almost shivering in how cold his body felt, how empty he was starting to feel without the blazing heat of his power.

  He felt a firm hand shake him as the chill became painful.

  "Good job, but try not to let it go this far. you might be a genius, but don't hurt yourself in your eagerness. Your body can only hold and circulate so much spiritual energy before much worse things than a bit of cold wind gets you. Let your body rest for a moment, then begin again. Make sure to take a pill beforehand, I have some side business to attend to, so I will be back later."

  He stood up and left through the door, the guard bowed to him on the way out. Jack felt in that same place where anxiety usually is, excitement, joy, and hope that this was all real, that he could be something more here.

  Jack sat there for a moment longer, feeling out his 'inner self' as it were, familiarizing himself with how spiritual energy felt in his body, the way it ebbs and flows through his body, it was living art in his opinion. Of course, that was until he grew bored of sitting there. No, he was not, likely was never going to be, bored of the cultivation part of it, nor the beauty that came with it, but the fact was that he could feel every drop of energy being put into his body. Several hours later, he popped another pill and started circulating his energy once again. This time, however, he tried to do it slowly, letting the warmth seep into his bones as he felt better each moment he sat there. Hearing the door open, he heard his master return once again.

  "You've quite the talent there, you're already circulating as well as most your age, your body is even starting to heal itself."

  "Do people begin their training when they get older?"

  "What? No, most begin when they're children, five or six about. You're about where you would have been if you had been training for a decade or so."

  "...Would you happen to have a mirror, something to see myself in?"

  He drew an elegant sword, shined to perfection.

  Looking into the blade, Jack knew something was wrong.

  "Does cultivation affect how people look?"

  "Somewhat, it mostly keeps us from aging after our prime, something most would thank the heavens for, who would want to be stuck as a child?"

  "Hmph."

  Staring at him was not the thirty-year-old scrawny face he knew, but instead the sixteen-year-old Jack who had just had his first kiss. here he thought he was being called a young man cause his teacher was so old.

  Wait

  "How old are you exactly?"

  "Old, and let's keep it at that. For now, we'll begin with the fortress technique."

  He produced three sheets of metal and set them on the ground.

  "Before you are a sheet of bronze, iron, and steel. Their purpose is to help you cultivate your first breakthrough, and I can tell by your face you want to ask, so I'll explain before you open your mouth. Your first breakthrough is always the easiest, so don't worry, it simply helps set the tone for your later cultivation, in this case, a body-centered foundation. To begin, you will hold all three in your lap and feel them out as you circulate your power, only this time I want you to absorb the energy into yourself."

  Closing his eyes, he did as instructed. While his energy felt like magma in his veins, the energy of the metal felt cold, solid, and of a certain enduring feeling. As he pulled the energy into himself, he felt... weird, good weird, but weird. He could feel his pores opening and closing, thick sweat running down his face, and an ache in his bones not unlike an intense exercise. It was an unpleasant experience, but after a few minutes, he felt a paper-thin barrier on his body break and a newfound strength radiating from his body.

  Looking at Teacher, he saw approval in his eyes, along with disgust on his face.

  "Did I do something wrong?"

  He waved at Jack, covering his nose and mouth with the other.

  "No, no, it's just that your first breakthrough expels some of life's impurities. I don't know if it's fitting that you should have so many, given your descent."

  Looking over himself he would agree, it wasn't sweat that was coming out of his pore, it was a thick black goop that streamed down his body.

  Sniff

  He had to swallow back his lunch. He had taken his first step into the world of sages, smelling like a pile of shit.