In a vast stone paved courtyard located high up in a mountain range surrounded by clouds. The first blood moon of the year shone down on a quietly standing figure.
Donning a black robe with wide sleeves and a belt around his waist, Gai stood quietly in the center of the courtyard with his eyes closed and his head down.
His figure was relaxed as his hands laid calmly by his side and his legs were slightly open, it looked like he was just casually standing. Except he had been in this pose for the past 3 hours.
Even when the blood moon first descended, he didn't flinch. He stood quietly like he hadn't noticed it even though it was the first blood moon he was experiencing.
A cold mountain wind blew past and ruffled his robes gently, and in that moment when his body was trying to resist the numbing chill.
THWACK!
A projectile shot out from his surroundings heading towards him with blinding speed! His whole body suddenly tensed as he quickly struggled to identify the location of where the sound was coming from in that split second.
PAKT!
His fist lashed out instinctively towards a certain direction and he was rewarded with the sensation of his knuckles smashing into something.
Gai showed a small smile as he opened his eyes and looked at the results. A thick piece of black wood was laying on the floor, a bit bruised on the surface from taking a full out attack from him.
"Very good"
An aged voice suddenly sounded out accompanied by the sound of a stick hitting the floor.
A figure emerged from a corner and headed towards Gai with slow measured steps while using a plain black wooden stick as support.
It was a beastman that looked to be well on in his years. He had long white fur covering his body, a pair of curved horns stood on top of his head and within his squinting eyes, you could barely see his yellowed eyes with horizontal irises.
He was a goat beastman.
He wore a pure white robe with a white belt and although his figure was a bit stooped, he still had an imposing aura which contrasted greatly with his kindly face which held a small smile.
"Excluding the fact that you managed to damage a piece of Eldem wood that is significantly tough…"
He tapped the floor a few times with his walking stick which was made with the same material.
"Your perception is also developing at a terrifying rate, I must commend you"
Gai who had stood to attention when the old beastman appeared couldn't help but feel happy inwardly. Although he wasn't the type of person who usually felt proud from certain sense of accomplishments, this time was different.
He had just been here for barely three days. After leaving Laron with the Old man based on the agreement they previously had, they met up with a yellow cloaked figure after entering a deeper part of the forest.
The old man and the cloaked figure exchanged a few words before the figure stepped back and clasping it's hands like it was in a prayer, started a long chant.
After that, there was an ominous cracking before a spectacular scene appeared before Gai, Marco and Ann.
A terrifying aura burst out of the cloaked figure as the space directly in front of it ripped open like a piece of fabric under a knife.
Gai briefly saw a dark endless void that was filled with a deep unfathomable aura and he felt overwhelmed for the brief second it was opened before the scenery suddenly changed to that of a quiet scenery filled with mountains and clouds.
The old man thanked the cloaked figure who nodded back before he hurried them into what was obviously a portal.
The three of them had stared stupidly at the mysterious figure as they stepped in and before he entered, Gai could have sworn that he saw a pale white thing showing from inside the sleeves of the pale yellow cloak.
After they appeared through the portal which was another experience on its own, they had visited a small village at the bottom of one of the numerous mountains which he came to know was referred to as the eastern mountain ranges.
The village was small and rustic and it was filled with mostly beastmen with a few dwarfs seen to be visiting.
They had easily met with one of the old man's contacts which led them to a tiring ascension of the mountain on the endless steps that were hewn into the mountain side.
One thing led to another and he was now here, training under the tutelage of a beastman who was rumored to be so strong, he had defeated a primordial beast whose powers were known to be so terrifying, normal people couldn't comprehend them.
Looking at this beastman who had the firepower of a kingdom's full forces within his body, Gai couldn't help but feel reverence, and fear.
The old man had constantly told him to treat the beastman with immense respect but Gai felt that even if he hadn't said anything, he wouldn't dare act unruly in front of him.
He couldn't really understand what such a power level was but that was what terrified him the most. To know that someone with the capability to level mountains and split seas like he would see in a fantasy novel was standing right in front of him gave him an instinctive suppressing feeling.
"Look up"
The beastman pointed to the sky with his short black stick. Gai lifted his head and his eyes instinctively shifted to the blood moon.
The round sky ornament seemed to be glaring down at him with un-hidden malice and he nearly flinched.
"Did you feel anything when you focused on it?" the beastman asked as he came next to him, he was a head shorter than Gai.
Gai nodded as he answered.
"An uncomfortable feeling, it felt like countless insects were crawling on my skin."
"That's good." The old beastman nodded his head slightly as he slowly voiced out.
"The essence of being a cloud monk is perception. A cloud monk must be able to view the heavens and the earth and gain an understanding of everything between them with a single look to be able to truly achieve the pinnacle. Sensing intent and aura with just a single glance, that is the pinnacle."
He said something Gai would normally attribute with somebody suffering from 8th grade syndrome but he had already learned from his past few days of staying here that everything the beastman said was far more profound than he originally thought and would require him to seriously think about it to barely grasp the meaning.
"Sensing intent and aura with a single glance…." He murmured these words under his breath before suddenly sitting down into a meditative pose and started ruminating on the words.
The beastman nodded with a satisfied expression before slowly retreating to the dark corner he had previously emerged from.
Although his stick was hitting the ground, no sound could be heard as he moved like he was floating on air.
"You have really grown soft over the years, to think you could teach without using your fists even once."
A low voice called out to him from the corner.
"He is a really good student"
The beastman blinked his yellow eyes as he looked through the darkness at the old man who had brought his student to him.
"It is you who seems to have grown senile over the years instead. You just randomly picked up a summoned you found on the streets and brought him here, I still can't find any of your actions to be rational."
The beastman's aged voice said mockingly as he looked at the man who was wearing a sky blue robe.
"And to think you even got in contact with that person to transfer you here. If the you of years ago heard what you were doing now, he would probably beat you up."
The old beastman said in amusement as he looked at Gai's meditating figure.
The old man sighed at this before lowering his head and stared at his palm. When he willed it a bit, a clear black tattoo of seven triangles arranged in a circle while pointing outwards with a ball in the middle appeared.
It disappeared as he clenched his fist but there didn't seem to be anymore hesitation in his eyes.
"I have truly grown old. Unlike me, that boy didn't even hesitate when I told him of my request. He didn't even doubt me, can you believe that?"
He chuckled a bit.
"At first I thought he was just naïve but….."
He shook his head.
"The reason I chose him wasn't so simple either. I know how this will sound to you old friend but these eyes, they have seen something."
This statement piqued the old beastman's interest as he turned to face the old man's now grim face. This person's eyes were not simple at all!
"Come" he suddenly said.
"I am the head of this cloud temple so I have unrestrained access to the temple's cellars. There are wines in there that have been aging for a thousand years, I am sure they would suit you fine."
The old man smiled as he followed the beastman down a set of stairs that led into the mountain.
"That is good, I haven't had a taste of Purple cloud wine in years now, I can almost taste it already" he chuckled to himself in anticipation.
The old pair went down the stone stairs and left Gai's lone figure on the courtyard that laid on top of a jutted extension of a craggy mountain face.
The outside scenery was filled with endless clouds and mountain tops, the imposing eastern mountain range.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rastel had just woken up from a good night's rest and his eyes met the glaring midday sun that shone through the forest canopy. He had taken the time to log out and take a well deserved break after spending so long in the game.
He woke up on top of the moving carriage and stretched for a while before jumping off and greeting the old man and looked for Myra and Amba who were sitting in the cart.
After confirming their direction and hearing they would reach their destination latest by the next morning, he scuttled on top of the cart once more to act as a lookout and took out a sculpture out of his inventory.
It was a beautiful metal sculpture of the magnificent bulee he had seen the previous day and he turned it around his hands happily.
Everything from the representation of the fur, to it's powerful looking antlers, to its intelligent eyes was captured as best as he could and it looked quite impressive.
'This is progress' he thought to himself as he remembered how at the beginning, he couldn't even make a decent cut with the knife.
The first strike of the carving series proved more and more useful as he became more proficient with it and for once, he was actually anticipating getting another move from the series.
'The Immortal's diary hasn't updated has it? I should probably take a look just in case.'
He took out the yellow book from his inventory as he flipped through the pages. Apart from the previous content, there was no new page suddenly appearing after he reached the last one.
With a sigh of disappointment, he put it back into his inventory. He was just about to close the screen when something caught his eye.
'I can't believe I forgot about these!' he exclaimed as he took out a bunch of books.
These were the books he had stolen from the mage's room when he rescued Myra. He had planned to find the time to comfortably read them but since he had been jumping from one thing to another recently, he had totally forgotten.
Now that he was free, he picked up one that he found interesting and opened it.
'Theory of magic, hmm? I remember this one. Should prove to be useful somewhat.'
He sat down comfortably on top of the carriage and began to read the thick book.
The group moved peacefully for the next two hours with nothing eventful happening. Rastel spent this time reading the book on the theory of magic and his expression kept turning from confusion to realization to excitement!
'So this is how it is! I never realized that I could do something like this! Wait, haven't I done something similar before?'
As he was ruminating over something he had just read, he suddenly heard an exclamation from someone in front and the cart stopped abruptly!
"What is it?" his mind went on alert as he swiftly jumped down to the floor to see the problem.
The settlers were huddling behind the cart in fear as they whispered among themselves. The cart rider was the tough looking man Rastel had met guarding the children at the stream side back at the settlement and he looked to be at a loss on what to do.
Right in front of them, the figure of a girl could be seen running towards the cart from the opposite direction. She was struggling with something in her hands while muttering under her breath but was also maintaining an impressive agility.
And right behind her, a massive beast that resembled a jaguar of some sorts if it suddenly went on steroids was pursuing her silently.
The beast was massive and now that Rastel could see it, he could faintly feel the tremors from the earth as the beast pursued the girl doggedly.
"Oh fuck" his brain went on overdrive as he saw the approaching calamity.