When Fang opened his eyes, he was greeted by a white ceiling. He was currently laying on a soft bed and he was wearing extremely comfortable linen shirt and pants. As he sat up, glanced at his surroundings. The first thing he tried to do was think back to what happened before he lost consciousness.

  He was currently in a small room with only a few plants, a bookcase, a table with a chair and a small closet. Besides these things there was a small window that overlooked a small yard. As he took in his surroundings, the door opened and Xie Meng walked in with a small tray that held food.

  He smiled at Fang and put the tray on the table as he took the chair and sat next to the bed. He asked gently, “How do you feel?” Fang cautiously answered, “I feel good. The best I have felt in years.” Hearing the answer, the old man smiled and nodded his head.

  He then asked, “How did you even enter the Passage Way?” This was the thing that bothered him the most. That passageway should be in the middle of nowhere, deep inside Magical Beasts territory, and even though humans sometimes stumbled in there, they were made quick work by the defensive formations. This was the first time a child had entered that passageway.

  That was also the reason the Spirit had even told the old man. Usually, it didn’t even bother him when there were trespassers and took care of them according to the orders. However, this time it had been a child and even one with a Magus Aptitude that wasn’t training in any path.

  This piqued the old man’s interest so he had deactivated the defensive formations and had instead let him undertake the Aptitude Test. Fang collected his thoughts and started, “I was born in a village named Aronde. It is a small village with barely one hundred people that is right next to the Death Cave. Due to circumstances, I was forced to enter the Death Cave and well, you know the rest. I stumbled along the path until I entered the Test.”

  Hearing this, the old man fell deep into thought as he asked, “A human village?” Fang nodded his head. Seeing the nod, the old man sighed and said, “Seems like I have been in seclusion for a bit too long. That world seems to have changed quite a bit from the last time I visited it.”

  Fang tilted his head to the side as he didn’t understand. Currently, he wanted revenge on the Village Chief and his son but for that, he needed strength. To get strength, he needed to be on this old man’s good side as currently, he was the only person that could grant him enough strength for it. The subtle changes in the young boys eyes didn’t escape Meng’s eyes as he observed him.

  He asked, “Now then, is your village very poor?” Fang snapped out of his thoughts and nodded his head. His eyes turned colder as he said in a cold voice, “Our village was originally quite okay. We had enough food to feed all the families and even some left over to store as reserves.”

  He took a breath as he continued in a depressed tone, “However, once the new Chief took over 7 years ago, it all went downhill. Now people barely have enough to stay alive, not to mention having a full stomach.” After saying so, he shook his head dejectedly. The old man asked with a curious glint, “Why didn’t the villagers stand up against him? With one hundred people, it should be easy enough to usurp him, no?”

  Fang sighed even more deeply as he said, “Five years ago, through sacrificing nearly three quarters of our villages resources, he managed to forcefully awaken his sons Magus Talent and enrol him in an Academy. We don’t have another Magus amongst the villagers, so the moment our village does anything against them….” Hearing this the old man sighed, “The Academy would wipe the village out. So they have no choice but to endure this, no matter how unwilling they are.”

  The old man could do nothing but shake his head to this. No matter which world it was, strength ruled supreme and ones personal strength determined everything. The old man could see the general picture now, Fang had Naturally Awakened, so he had become a threat towards the current status quo in the village.

  If a Magus passed by and sensed the young fellow or if he managed to enrol in an Academy, he could overthrow them easily. Naturally Awakened Magi were far more valuable than Forcefully Awakened ones. The path of a Forcefully Awakened Magus was extremely limited and it was a miracle if they could even enter the ranks of Arch Magi.

  However, that required extremely hard work and incredible luck. However, for Naturally Awakened Magi, it was only a matter of time and training. Suddenly, Fang however sighed and shook his head, “That is what the grown ups amongst the village told me… As far as I remember, we have always suffered like this. But, well, after I my parents died from the lack of food, soon the two charged me with some bogus crimes and threw me to the Death Cave.”

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  The old man sighed even more deeply as he shook his head. His new apprentice was a peculiar fellow indeed, his calmness and intellect seemed to surpass any of his peers by a large margin. The old man asked, “Have you received some sort of formal tutelage from somewhere?” Fang look puzzled as he answered, “No, Grandpa had travelled around a lot in his younger years so he taught me to read and some simple etiquette when I was smaller.”

  The old man nodded his head and said, “Now then, as you have become my apprentice, lets first talk about your future.” Fang’s eyes glittered as the heaviest stone was lifted from his heart…. “It hadn’t been a dream! I really did become his apprentice.” As he thought that to himself in excitement, it didn’t escape the old man’s eyes as he grinned saying, “Before we start your training, let me explain a little about this world, Magi and different worlds too.”

  Fang asked in astonishment, “There are other worlds out there as well?” Meng nodded his head and said, “There are countless worlds out there, every one of them has their unique Laws, environments and inhabitants. Those countless Worlds are all part of a Plane. However, currently that is all you need to know. As you grow, I will naturally tell you more as you discover more about our Plane.” Fang nodded his head as he had gotten an answer to his question.

  He was interested in the other worlds but currently, he lacked the means to go there any ways, so even if he knew, he couldn’t go there. Seeing the slight disappointment on his face, Meg slightly shook his head with a smile as he thought to himself, “Ahh, youth.”

  He then continued, “In our Plane, there are seven elements that Magi can train in. It doesn’t matter how many Elemental Affinities they have, they can only train in one Element.” He then took a breath as he said, “You have an outstanding Affinity to the Darkness Element and good Talent for Fire Element.” Seeing the confusion on Fang’s face, the old man explained, “Remember the Slab of Measuring? It is a tool used in Higher Worlds to determine the talent and affinity of new disciples to determine the most optimal path for them to train.” Fang nodded his head as he understood a bit.

  The old man then continued, “For example, you will have the best results if you train in a Darkness Element Art. You will have some results and accomplishments when you train in a Fire Element Art but seeing as your Talent in Darkness Element is a 9, it would be too much of a waste.” Saying that Meg shook his head. Fang then asked, “Is there a difference between the Magi?”

  Meng nodded as he continued explaining, “The Seven Elements have created Seven Organizations. Each Organization follows the path of a certain Element. For example, although the relationship between us is harmonious, none of the Organizations take in a person with another element that easily. As another example, if you decide to follow my teachings and walk the path of the Darkness Element, you will be automatically considered a part of the Darkness Organization. It would be impossible for you to join a Light Element Organization.” Fang understood from the explanation that the Element you trained in directly decided with Organization you belonged to. However, there was something off.

  As Meng saw Fang in thought, he smiled as he explained, “Even though we are all one Organization, there are countless Schools amongst the various Organization. We might seem as a single Organization but that doesn’t mean that all of our views are the same. For example, I am part of the Soul Magus School that specializes in controlling Undead and in the Soul and our relationship with the School of Poison is extremely bad.”

  As he explained, the most relevant comparison Fang could make was his villagers. Even though they were all part of the same village, the Chief and his son and the other villagers didn’t get along at all as one side suppressed the other. The village was an Organization and School of Poison were the Chief and his son. Him and the rest of the villagers were the Soul Magus School. To the outside world, they were one people but they couldn’t stand each other.

  Even though he understood this, one thing piqued his interest more than the Organizations…. Control over the Undead. From his memories, he could remember that his Grandpa had told him about these kind of Magi. There were known as the vilest Magi out there that tortured people to death and then controlled their corpses.

  Fang’s face paled as he remembered that and looked at the old man in fear. Seeing that look, Meng sighed deeply as he said, “So, you have heard of the rumours about us….” He then took a deep breath as his eyes turned serious. He said in a cold tone, “Everything you have heard is bull crap. None of the Soul Magus has ever “risen someone from the dead”. The skeletons we control come from a certain World. In that World, the Undead are the only inhabitants of the World.” Hearing this, Fang tilted his head in confusion again.

  The old man sighed as he explained more in depth, “You see, an extremely strong Soul Magus once discovered a World filled with Undead. After centuries of trail and error, he discovered the way to take control of those Undead and developed the Path of Necromancy. All those stories about us killing innocents and then refining them into our Undead troops are complete bullshit made up by Light Magi.” Towards the end of the explanation, there was an obvious tinge of annoyance and hate in his tone.

  The old man then calmed down and sighed again, “All we do is connect to that World and using the Ancestors method take control of the Undead to work for us. Those ten I gave you are the same.” Fang thought about it deeply as he didn’t know what to say. He had always heard of Necromancer’s raising corpses to fight. Seeing this, the old man sighed as he stood up and said, “Come, follow me.”

  Fang hurriedly stood up and followed behind the old man. After walking a bit, they reached a giant gate. This gate had a Skeleton standing with a sword in front of it on each half of the Gate. Seeing this Gate, Fang looked at it with wide eyes as he asked, “What is this?”

  The old man said seriously, “The Gate to the World of the Undead.”