Chapter 4 - The Shaman

After a couple of days a medium sized cart with 2 horses attached to its front showed up in front of Ren's home. It was accompanied by 3 other horses that the guards rode on. Ren's parents wrapped Ren a blanket and put him in the cart. After getting Korya and settling into the cart, they were ready to go.

After about a couple of days traveling they were nearing the shamans house. The guards had been laughing to themselves about something and the cart driver himself was scared out of his mind the entire ride.

Suddenly the cart stopped while crossing a ledge. "Haha we actually fooled the sons a' bitches! Get out the cart, now!" Those guards weren't guards afterall, but bandits. The cart driver had been promised his life if he helped them lure some people into their cart.

Ren's father was an ex-soldier but they had placed a curse on him before kicking him out making it so his meridians were crushed and he couldn't enhance his body at all. "I knew you had something suspicious about you! Explain yourselves! I am an ex-military squad captain, let us go and you will leave with your lives!" Daniel tried his best to intimidate them, but they weren't having it.

"Aren't you the same old man who had his meridians crushed? Dare to speak so bravely huh?" They got off their horses and started coming towards the cart. "Stay in this cart and run if I say so!" Daniel made Carla promise to run with the kids if he said so, she wanted to cry but had to keep her composure.

Daniel came at them with nothing but a stick he found on the floor, he tried to do what he used to in his prime but was crushed by the overwhelming strength of the bandits. Reality had struck. "RUN! CARLA! TAKE THE KIDS AND RUN FOR THE HILLS!"

It was not looking good for the family. But in a single moment a flash of light hit all three of the bandits and knocked them all down. It appeared in front of Daniel and transformed into a human.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" It was the shaman. Or better yet, the Grand Mage of the empire. Daniel knew this the moment he saw him. The Grand Mage of the empire was a title given to someone who was the second strongest in the entire kingdom, and in charge of the Magus Association. The king's right hand man.

His aura was immense. Like a mountain looking down upon a mound of dirt. "Sir!" Daniel bowed down to him in quick fashion. Merlin had a tall and strong stature. He was 6'0 and had a long white beard. He had glasses and a white robe that never got dirty.

Merlin was a conjurer at the Warlock rank.

"No need to bow, hohoho. Why have you traveled all the way out here Daniel."

Daniel and The Grand Mage had a good relationship while he was in the army. The Grand Mage Merlin Imnegreth was like a teacher to Daniel. When he got banished to the slums, there was nothing Merlin could do about it, he felt horrible about what had happened to Daniel but he had duties which he had to uphold.

After everyone introduced themselves, the cart driver was thrown off the cliff like the rest of the bandits and they rode their way back to his home, the shamans residence. After they arrived, Merlin checked on Rens condition.

As soon as he opened the cloth he knew what was wrong with Ren. "This! This should be impossible! A full mana ocean creation at the age of 11!" Merlin was all kinds of shocked. A mana ocean was something the slowly developed as a mage got older and stronger. But Ren's mana core was developing at an insanely fast rate at such a young age.

At age 20 would be when a person's mana ocean would truly start to develop, but Ren's mana ocean had already started to develop at such a fast rate at only the age of 11. This was due to the NEC-19.

Merlin had always hated the current king of the country, the king would pride himself in his power so much that he would ignore and kick out any who he saw to be not worthy of his presence. He was the one to create walls separating the rich and the poor.

Merlin wanted to have a disciple that could carry on his legacy and bring justice to the kingdom, after looking for years Merlin had given up due to age. He was over 65 years old and thought that there was no person with the potential of overcoming the kingdom... until this day.

He saw something his the eyes of Ren who was screaming at the top of his lungs due to the pain. He saw that Ren still had the determination to not quit, to endure the pain no matter how painful it got.

Merlin then stepped back from the bed that Ren was laying on and chanted something. "Malfas Séverin Vyn!" The entire room got a slight green tint. Merlins hands now glew bright green, the light coming from his hands radiated throughout the room.

"His body is continually destroying and building itself. If the destruction beat the creation, he could up dying! I have to stop this." Saying this, Merlin hovered his glowing hand on top of Rens head, but his hand got immediately repelled back.

Merlin had never witnessed something so bewildering. A kid having the power to repel one of the strongest mages in the kingdom. "Unfortunately I cannot stop this from happening, I can only calm some of the pain. It is risky to let this continue but if everything goes well his body should be much stronger and efficient than it is now. We can only hope he stays safe during the process."

Ren's parents were surprised that their son had such a bewildering condition. They were told stay until he got better, they would be provided with food and everything else that they needed.

After 3 more months of pure hell, Ren awoke anew. As soon as he opened his eyes he felt the cool breeze hit his eyes. He took his first ever breath of first air in 4 entire months. It was the most refreshing feeling.

He sat up, expecting his body to ache, but it wasn't. He looked down at his body and it was different. His muscles were more defined and bigger. He got up and looked at a mirror nearby, and he noticed his height was also affected. He was already around 5'0. This was very tall for an 11 year old.

"What the hell happened to me?" Ren said while tilting his head at himself. Ren saw a figure of light teleport behind him in the mirror, he looked back and it was Merlin. "Hello kiddo! Good job on surviving."

After explaining everything to Ren, Merlin talked about what was going to happen next.

"Ren will be staying with me for a year! He will become my ultimate disciple who will come to rule this nation! You got any problems with that?" Ren tilted his eyebrow and looked at Merlin confused, he had no say in this.

Ren's parents did not want to leave Ren for so long but they had to trust the Grand Mage and what he was saying, so they agreed. Soon after, Merlin used some kind of magic to pick up Rens family in mid air and take them back to their home. He also chanted something before doing so. "Zorion Séverin Vyn."

[ Magic spell heard, would host like to copy spell "Zorion Séverin Vyn" ? ]

"Huh??"