"Elder you mean..."
Cody and Rei knew the old man well, never before had he used such words. At most he would just take a few kids with more than average talents and give some advice.
Cody himself, although he spent so much time in his house that he was considered an "un-official" student, was not allowed to stay there for too long.
The very fact that he used those specific words could only mean one thing, he wanted the boy to become his personal pupil.
This is what the two siblings wittily thought of.
"Come on let's not stand here like dumbasses, big fishing today! Come, you will all have lunch here with me today, ohohoh!" the Elder was in a better mood than usual.
As he walked towards the house, followed by the boys, he could be heard humming.
Rada was infected by it and smiled at the man walking in front of him.
"Cody, Rei, will you guys take care of lunch? I have some things to say to our young man."
Upon entering the house the Elder handed the bucket with the fish to the brothers, who looked at each other and nodded before going.
"Elder, we need to talk to you about a problem we ran into on the way here," the sister said in a serious tone.
The Elder replied almost hurriedly making a gesture with his hand, "You don't have to worry about what happened in the square today, no one will come to make trouble here."
The two brothers were stunned for a moment, as Rada's eyebrow rose. He had a suspicion, that the old gentleman before him was not what he appeared to be, it intrigued him not a little.
He wondered why such a person was interested in him. Was it because of the strange symbol in his hand? Despite all of the old man's good intentions, Rada still remained on the alert.
Since the Elder had taken care of the matter, Cody and Rei breathed a sigh of relief, they knew they could count on him.
So, the two siblings headed willingly to the kitchen to prepare lunch, leaving Rada and the Elder alone.
"This way son, let's sit and talk for a while before we eat lunch."
They walked a bit, before arriving at a room full of books, which seemed to be ancient to the eye, it was Elder's private room.
"Tell me Elder" the two sat down across from each other.
Before taking the floor again, the Elder paused to observe Rada for a few more moments.
"I would like to talk about your current situation boy" said the old man.
Rada nodded slowly smiling at the Elder, he said nothing, he let the man speak freely first.
"Earlier, in the house of the head-clan I asked you what your intentions were regarding the future, and I must say that you were quite shrewd in rambling. However, I could see that in truth, you have no goal, am I right boy?"
The Elder looked at Rada with scrutinizing eyes, waiting to see any "suspicious" reaction in him, but to his amazement he found nothing peculiar in his calm reaction.
"You're right Elder, it's exactly as you say, I don't have any goals at the moment," the boy replied sincerely.
"Um, I see."
The old man paused again, he was looking Rada fixedly in the eyes, without any hostility though.
Then he said: "Listen to me boy, I'll get straight to the point, I would like you to be my personal pupil."
He had been thinking for a while how to ask this without forcing his hand, but in the end he chose the direct approach.
"Sir?" Rada was surprised.
Personal student? Possible?
A thousand thoughts whirled in his head.
For some strange reason, he thought of all those stories he had read about masters and their extraordinary students, together facing a thousand situations and even becoming immortal.
The Elder saw Rada's face seized with doubt and took the floor again, nodding, "To be honest I've been watching you for a while now, you seem to know very little about the world of cultivators and possessors, how it goes on. But you have great potential within you just waiting to emerge."
Caught by initial surprise, Rada nodded inwardly, the old man's words coinciding with his thoughts. What better place to start than under the protection of the Village Elder?
He was grateful to be talking to him; although he gave the impression of a lived-in person, the old man still exuded a vigor that would make younger people envious. What's more, he seemed to have plans for him, though they were unknown to him at the moment.
"Elder, you seem to have expectations of me, expectations that I have no way of knowing where they will take me, nor of the dangers I may face."
Despite everything though, Rada decided to remain cautious of his proposal, if there was anything he understood about life, it was that no one did anything for nothing. If a person did something for you, it was almost certain that person eventually wanted something from you as well.
It was a natural thing, humans were like that, very few were exempt, very few.
The Elder closed his eyes and sneered, he nodded his head repeatedly, it was just what he expected to hear from him.
The boy had not only great skills in physical power, he also had a malleable personality, neither too modest nor too arrogant, along with an alert mind that could pick up on subtle details.
Such traits, were everything the Elder was looking for in a pupil, one just needed to work on them and see what kind of gemstone would come out of them.
"True, it is no accident that I chose you to be my pupil, to be exact my first real pupil. Clearly you need me, but I need you too," the old man said, stroking his thick beard.
Rada pricked up his ears at his words. He seemed to be putting a lot of weight on it, the fact that he had been chosen as a personal student was no small thing.
"About what in particular?" he asked, increasingly intrigued.
"We'll talk about that later, right now it's perfectly pointless, what you need to focus on is your training. There is so much to do and we are short on time, but I am confident of the results!" replied the Elder.
"That said, everything you learn will be very useful during your journey, after all, having me as your master will prove to have more advantages than disadvantages for you, well maybe not right away actually heheheh" he concluded chuckling.
The final comment left Rada puzzled. Who knows what this old fox had in mind?
"What you say is true" he said.
"All right, your student sends his greetings master."
After a moment's thought, Rada bowed in a form of respect, accepting thus, his role as a pupil. He had no reason to refuse the proposal of the old man, now his master. Plus, something told him that the old master was no ordinary person, even for the new world he was in.
"Ohohoh, the honor is all mine son!"
Rada's words made the Elder very happy, and he repeatedly nodded with an ecstatic expression.