3 Years Later…
Blazing Sun Kingdom...
K-District in Imperial City…
K-District, one of the most developed areas in Imperial City excluding the aristocrat housing area. Every house here was a mansion housing an influential figure in the city, starting from a well-known businessman to a famous movie star, all chose a district such as this to build their house.
if looked from high above, the mansions along with their private garden around were arranged in a matrix formation.
One such mansion stood out from the rest, it was a mansion of a symmetrical octagonal floor plan, it had a flat roof and veranda all around. Its unusual shape and appearance were quite different from the rest, which was what made it stood out even when every mansion had its own special infrastructure.
In the dining room of the mansion…
A glass table was present in the center of the room, surrounded by red wooden chairs. A boy was sitting on one such chair.
The boy was 15 years old, he had silvery-white hair that were neatly combed to the right side, his skin was soft and tender just like a newborn baby, he had a temperament that showed his innocent yet mature side to the onlookers. The most attractive thing about the boy was his eyes, his silver eyes that shined every time he blinked.
The boy was looking at Riyan who was writing something on a portable whiteboard hanging on the wall.
After he finished writing, Riyan looked at the charming boy and asked "Kale, don't even try, you cannot escape today's lesson. I have told you the basics about the practitioners' system right? So now it's your turn to give me a brief explanation,"
Kale giggled, he seemed reluctant but still answered "Practitioners are the people who cultivate using origin energy in the universe to gain strength and evolve their body into a higher life form,"
As soon as he finished, Riyan asked again "Practitioner cultivate using origin energy, elaborate this part,"
Kale expected this, he said "Origin energy is the mixture of various mysterious energies that are present in the universe. Practitioners use the primary cultivation technique to absorb the origin energy in their body then they use the secondary cultivation technique in succession, which helps them in extracting a part of the origin energy and refine it into a different kind of pure energy.
Depending on the type of secondary cultivation technique practitioner uses, they are mainly categorized into three parts - Mutants, Battle-Knights/Martial-Artists, and Mages.
Mutants are the humans that are born with supernatural abilities or the ones who acquire them using the power of science, the secondary cultivation technology they use converts origin energy into psychonic energy and help them develop their mutant abilities.
Battle Knights are also known as Martial Artists, the secondary cultivation technique they use allows them to turn origin energy into Battle Qi, the Battle Qi strengthens their body, and coupled with special martial techniques they can display amazing physical abilities.
Mages, the secondary cultivation technique they use converts original energy into mana, mana can be used to cast spells, spells that could bring out the power between heaven and earth and cause the unnatural phenomenon.
All three of these paths have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the mutant path doesn't naturally provide any high increase in practitioner's physical capabilities that's why they need to use a lot of enhancers and body strengthening drugs which requires a lot of money and connections.
Practitioners following martial path need suitable martial techniques which are not easy to get if they are not a part of a big sect, academy, or clan. As for Mages, it requires the practitioner to possess high concentration power, intellectual and calculative abilities to understand and execute those complicated spells.
The highest number of practitioners are martial artists because it requires less money and is more practical from the beginning. Although it's hard to find rare martial arts but normal ones are still common.
Mutants require a lot of money to progress, while mage needs to have a good aptitude for mana and comprehending complex spells.
Regardless of what path practitioners follow they only have one goal, which is to advance and evolve into a higher life form,"
Riyan nodded in satisfaction "So, are those three really the only paths practitioners can follow?"
Kale shook his head "No, these three are the main and oldest categories, in time many practitioners combined and deduced several other paths resembling these like Mutant Martial Artist, Martial Mage, Mutant Mage, and even Mutant Martial Mage, these paths are made after the fusion of different paths so they are not regarded as the true main paths but they are quite famous because although they require more resources to follow but the benefits are also high.
Furthermore, Mutants, Battle Knights/Martial Artists, Mages… etc., are just the main categories they have several subcategories in them. For example,
Mutants have three-man subcategories.
> Influencer type - those who can influence their surrounding.
> Transformation type - those who can transform into a different form.
> Augmenter type - those who can alter their own body factor.
Martial Artists has too many subcategories and it won't be unusual if more is discovered in the future. Depending on the way they refine their Battle Qi in the future, they will get divided into categories. For example:-
> The one who turns their normal Battle Qi into Flame Battle Qi would become Flame-Path Martial Artist.
> The one who turns their normal Battle Qi into Ice Battle Qi would become Ice-Path Martial Artist.
> The one who turns their normal Battle Qi into Earth Battle Qi would become Earth-Path Martial Artist.
Just like Martial Artists, Mages also have several subcategories, moreover, even their subcategories are divided into different categories. For example:-
> Mages like Fire Mage, Ice Mage, and Earth Mage all come into the Elemental Subcategory.
> Mages like Wood Mage and Weather Mage comes in Environmental Subcategory.
The subcategory in mages is only to make it less complex and nothing else, it's normal for a mage to cultivate different subclasses from different subcategories.
Furthermore, the number of subcategories is not absolute as there are always exceptions and there are also people who had built their own subcategories, it's just about if we know it or not,"
Riyan nodded but again asked a question "Okay, last but not the least, what are the life form levels you talked about,"
Kale sighed "Dad, you only told me about Mortal, Enlightened Mortal, and Elemental Mortal so I only know that much. Are we done? Now shouldn't you get ready for your trip? Big Sis would be troubled if you got late this time too,"
Riyan was about to speak, but he heard footsteps and looked at the door.
"I am troubled since the day, I was assigned to work with your dad," Ashley walked in and furiously rubbed his head.
"My hair!" Kale quickly covered his head to defend his neatly combed hair but he was too late, Ashley chuckled at his cute reaction.
She then looked at Riyan. he shrugged his shoulders then left the room to get ready.
Ashley then took a chair near Kale and sat on it.
"I heard you want to become a Mage? Which one?" She asked while looking into Kale's shining eyes which were an attraction on their own.
"I want to become a Plant Mage," Kale said in an excited tone.
Ashley furrowed her brows, she then said "You brat who gave you the idea of becoming a Plant Mage? A Plant Mage is a 2nd advancement class, a Tier 2 class mainly followed by Pharmacists, if you don't want to become a Pharmacist then it's a waste of effort. In my view, you shouldn't become a mage at all, the ‹Bone Manipulation› trait you got as a mutant is good. You can become a powerful mutant if you put it up to good use, the only reason I didn't deny your wish to become a mage is because of your excellent inborn comprehension ability and the other trait ‹Auto Photographic Memory›,"
Kale averted his gaze, he was reluctant to change his decision "This… I don't think that mutant path suits me that much, and I once tried to use the abilities from trait, I tried to alter the shape of my finger bones, they turned into the sharp nail and pierce through my fingertips, although I managed retract them back but the wound it caused on my fingertips remained, that day I bleed for a long time you know, my hand was covered in blood," He stretched out his hands showing how much he suffered.
Ashley smiled seeing how he was explaining everything like an innocent pure-hearted child. She thought 'Well, if he wants to be Plant Mage that much then letting him be would be good, he had to first become a Wood Mage or Earth mage for that anyway, he has a lot of time to change his decision. Riyan should be thinking the same,'
"So Plant Mage it is, it's fine though, as long as you are happy," Ashley said.
Kale smiled knowing that she understood him, he said "I will keep Big Sis's advice in mind. In fact, I was thinking of becoming a Mutant Mage but I am not sure if I could handle it so I decided to wait and first see, I will confirm it after joining the Academy,"
Ashley nodded.
Just at this time, Riyan walked into the room, he had changed his clothes, he was carrying a gift box and dragging a tourist bag behind him.
When Kale looked at the gift box, his eyes shined "Is it for me?"
"Hehe… Of course, how would I part with my boy without a gift?" Riyan said then handed the box to him.
Kale took the gift box and quickly removed the wrapper, it was a white box made of a plastic-like material. He opened the box, there were only two things in the box, an injector already loaded with a cylindrical glass tube filled that had colourless liquid enclosed in it and a pure white bracelet with a small red heart that had a green + sign on it, it was the symbol of GHO.
"Oh, a portable body scanner?" Ashley looked at the content of the box in surprise. A portable body scanner uses NanoTech, she knew that the liquid inside the cylindrical tubes was filled with Nano Bots, it was not something that just anyone could get and for those who can, it requires a lot of money to buy it. There was no doubt that Riyan had spent quite a fortune to get it.
"It's the latest version, moreover I had it modified, it isn't connected to the net and only uses phone's VPN to update its inbuilt software, all the data inside is encrypted and it remains in user's hand," Riyan said in a prideful tone, he then picked up the injector, removed the lock and walked behind Kale "Champ, it might hurt a little, so hang on,"
Kale looked a little nervous.
Ashley gently grabbed his hand and cheered him "It will be over in a second,"
He took a deep breath and nodded.
Riyan used a cleaning spray on Kale's neck then placed the tip of the injector on the surface, he pulled the trigger, and the liquid inside the tube emptied immediately.
Kale tightened his grip on Ashley's hand for a second then loosened it soon after. All of a sudden, he felt a cool sensation spreading all over his body starting from his neck.
"It's done," Riyan said, he then placed down the injector, picked up the bracelet, and put it on Kale's left wrist. After a few adjustments, he took out Kale's phone and used an application to connect it to the bracelet.
"I have already set your basic profile in it, now go ahead and check it out," Riyan instructed him on how to use it.
Kale clicked on the app icon according to his instruction then the phone's screen turned black for a moment before several notifications began to appear on it.
[Starting system….]
[System successfully started.]
[Starting body scan….]
[Body scan complete.]
___ ___ ___
Name: Kale Oshwatt
Race: Mutant Human
Health: 100%
Stamina: 97%
Class: None
Life Level: Mortal
Progress: 00%
Foundation: None
Traits: Auto-Photographic Memory & Bone Manipulation.
___ ___ ___
Riyan checked then nodded in satisfaction "It's working fine, the status will be updated whenever you would use something new from now on, new features will be added as you progress and yeah, it has an AI with voice command feature installed in it, if you don't understand something or directly want to do it then use voice command to do it," He said then, he looked back at his wheel bag, thinking of something, he asked "Kale have you seen my packet of cigarettes? I can't find it anywhere,"
"Dad, it's not good for your health to smoke so I threw it out with the garbage," Kale said while admiring his new toy.
"Sigh... Doc bringing such things at home when you have a kid, don't you have a little consciousness?" Ashley said while adjusting her glasses.
Riyan rubbed the back of his head and bitterly smiled "I only smoke on Sundays at most, and the packet isn't of the high grade so it has almost to none effect on me,"
Ashley didn't stretch the topic and said "It's time we should head out,"
Riyan nodded.
***
A few minutes later outside the house…
Riyan placed his luggage in the black SUV, then sat inside, Ashley who was sitting on the driver seat started the car.
Riyan stuck his head out of the window and looked at Kale "I have transferred 50 Gold into your account okay? If you need more, then give me a call,"
Kale nodded. At the moment he was wearing orange colour glasses that hid his eyes from the people around him.
Riyan spoke again "If a stranger gives you something or tells you to follow them don't listen to them and press the power button of the phone three times to activate emergency help message okay?"
"I know dad, I am not a three-year child," Kale said.
"Well, technically you are a three-year child, or should have been," Ashley sitting on the driver seat said.
"…" Kale.
"I have settled the matter of Imperial Academy for you, okay?. If you have trouble doing something, then give me a call, and if I don't pick up the call, leave a message, I will answer as soon as possible," Riyan said again.
"Dad, are you going or not?" Kale's lips were twitching.
"I know, I'm just telling you, Kale, there are many bad people in the world. Not everyone is innocent as you so… Huh? hey wait," Riyan was just saying when Ashley changed the gear and drove away from the car, as the car left she stuck her hand out of the window and waved at him while saying "See you later Kale, take care,"
"I will," Kale waved his hand.
"Hey, I was still speaking, stop the car…"
"You have said it a thousand times, even I remember the whole line. Kale grows at an incredible rate you know, he spends so much time with you, if I can remember it then how wouldn't he?"
"But you know, it's better…"
The sound of their bickering slowly disappeared as the car went far.
Kale kept standing there until the car disappeared from his vision.
He then closed the gate, and walked towards the mansion.
The smile on his face slowly disappeared and got replaced by a sneer, Kale furiously rubbed his hair with his left hand before combing them backward using his fingers, he took out a black string from his right pocket, tied his hair behind his head in a ponytail and exhaled deeply, "My Demonic Angel is now finally free,"