Nero Foundation, named after one of the sole legends of the past, whose students were considered elite, was at its crisis. The academy which didn't fell second in anything was again miserably defeated in the first elimination round.
"However this sleepy fellow here thinks otherwise," the professor said as a slim boy with mediocre built woke up from his classroom sleep. "Since you seem to find my class boring enough to sleep. Please resume from where I left" he continued.
The boy casually peeked the page number from the nearby student as resumed "This continent has seen many battles that decided the fate of the whole world, out of which the most catastrophic was the battle between the singularities. The reason for the fight is unknown, but it is said that one controlled the element of ice and the other controlled the flames. They are suspected to be at a mythic level and only after that fight did the portal of the netherworld started to appear and the climatic conditions were changed. they were considered to be the very first cultivators the world has ever seen" he said
"What is your name?" the professor asked
"It's Samuel Ray sir" Samuel replied
"And what was this era also known for?" he continued to question Samuel
"It's also known as the end of the era of technology" Samuel replied
"What is your cultivation level?"
Samuel flinch internally for a moment as he replied him back in an indifferent tone "Soldier four-star" he replied as there was small laughter among the students, soldier tire was made for children who are born, as they grow up they intake the energy around them and hence levelling up, furthermore more solid four-star was the lower star level in soldier tire.
The professor frowned with disapproval thinking it is not surprising Nero Foundation was failing miserably, the professor suddenly no longer acknowledged him in the classroom as Samuel sourly went back to sleep. Rumour spread like wildfire about the student who joined in the midterm being at the lowest tire. There are eight tires in cultivation soldier, warrior, knight, elite, master, grandmaster, emperor, singularity. Each tire is ten times tougher than the previous one to cultivate and thus a commoner can only reach the tire of a soldier or warrior, whereas a member from the Noble family can usually reach the tire of an elite or master. Furthermore, the fight between two cultivators also depends on the kind of cultivation they perform and the kind of artefacts they use.
Samuel has always felt the isolation from the people around him. It's not that he didn't try to cultivate. It's just that he can't no matter what he does. In a world where the strong prey on the weak he was the weakest. The world around him constantly searches for ways and reasons to abuse him. He was idiotic enough to tell his class about his cultivation level, it was only a matter of time before the students hear about him and come searching for him as they did previously. The realization almost made him feel like throwing up.
His parents were never around much since they rarely acknowledge him as their own since they were traveller cultivators.
Travellers cultivators are those people who roam around the earth hunting for lost Artefact and lost cultivation techniques since most of the ancient artefacts were lost.
The only thing he could control was his knowledge so he decided to make up for his cultivation with that. He learnt about warfare, the human psyche, weaponry, martial arts, strategic planning but no matter what he could learn knowledge isn't always power. It never was it never will be.
"Time to try and cultivate again," he said as he took a deep breath. Whenever he tried to cultivate he fails to do it for some unknowable reason.
Samuel entered his house and sat for cultivation, after taking a deep breath he tried to cultivate again as the barrier was felt in, hen he forced to pass through the barrier, he fell on the floor, his whole body burned with pain as he breaths rapidly in agony, it felt as if someone stabbed him a thousand times. After what felt like a century, he finally fell asleep in that state.
Unknown to him outside his house two person were standing
"Are we at the correct location?" a girl's voice was heard as she looked around her surroundings "I feel no presence here" she continued
"The boy is in the house at the right corner of here," a man said softly as he stares at the house
"Are you sure it's him?" the woman asked with a hint of certain disappointment.
"Yes. I can recognise that seal placed on him anyway" the man replied as he takes his hood down revealing his silver hair as the woman followed his leader taking off her hood as they both wore their masks
"Are u sure about this?" the woman asked from behind the mask
"It is a long shot, but it might be worth it" the man replied
"You do realise that we are breaking our word to him by doing this," the woman said and by the sound of her it was obvious that this was something that was eating her alive
"He will understand." the man replied in a stern tone as the woman finally quietened down realising she is already pushing the limit. As the duo appeared inside his house they witness his condition
"What happened to him?" she asked the man
"It seems like he was forcefully trying to break the barrier put on him," he said kneeling Samuel "Let me help you with that kid" he continued placing his hand on Samuel's chest a pale green aura was flashed through him to Samuel as he stood up
"There u go," he said. However after few heartbeats a voice of pure pain rang throughout the room, Samuel's whole body was brimming with light as his hair starts to turn red "the energy his body absorbed all these years are suddenly rushing his way into his soul" the man said cursing.
Gimmeaarption core" he orders the woman as she quickly extended her hand and a small sphere appeared in her hand "Here," she said passing it to the man as he held the sphere in his left hand and grabbed Samuel's face in his right pulling him up in the air as the white energy slowly passed through the man into the core until all of the energy was stored into the core, his hair didn't revert to his original state.
After feeling what felt like hell Samuel was vaguely conscious about the presence of two people in his house. "Keeping his core in your tube, raise the temperature of your bathing tube till steam starts to generate and then bathe in it for an hour, do this every day until the core loses its colour," a man said to him keeping a core in front of him and a book along with it.
"Consider this a gift, you need to have a foundation of a knight within a year or your unstable energy level will destroy your soul. This book will help you achieve this goal" he continued.
"Temperature that high will burn my skin" Samuel barely replied, the woman laughed hearing this "Do not worry child, you have a firebase soul," she said, Samuel wanted to say something but he doesn't know was it because he was tired or because of the man wave of the hand he lost his consciousness again.
"Do we need him?" The woman couldn't help but ask the man again
"A time is coming when we will be needing him. Everyone. The seal is almost among us and we need more from the new generations than they can currently give us. Every soldier will count, every weapon will count, every bloodline will count." he said as the woman quietly listened.
"The bloodlines will never come together, there's been just too much bloodshed to make peace." the woman replied.
"They have to. Or we all die. There's no doubt in my head. We need to find John as well."
"The bloodlines will never come together." the woman repeated coldly.
"They- Ohh." the man said with a sudden realization. "You need to put it behind you Andrea." the man said softly as Andrea didn't reply.
"I have a new mission for you." the man said finally breaking the silence.
"What is it?" Andrea asked indifferently
"Watch over that kid and search for John. He was last seen in this realm"
"Okay. Can I ask something?" Andrea said with curiosity
"What is it that you would like to know?" the man asked
"What is behind the seal?" she asked
"There is a species in the seal and it's breaking. Soon enough they will break it and descend on our realms for revenge. The ancient named that species god." he said