Yes, I still have much to learn but apparently this kid still had patience to spare even after talking for half an hour straight his throat should have been parched, is this what Energy does, hydrates you to camel' levels?
Just as I thought that "I'm actually barely holding on, you think any normal person could have the patience to educate a fool like you whose brain should've sorted itself out by now"
That can't be right, this is how my brain normally is, and he read my mind again? This can't keep happening.
"Alright, it's time for the final stretch before we both get some rest, Saturdays are always exhausting for me. You know about Cosmic Energy, Yggdrasil, the Three Planes and five Energy types. But do you know why we train, just what the 'original nine' is and who our strongest Users are?"
"No…" I guess I questioned the second one and just dismissed the others."
"Something happened in the past; it caused wars between two different races to be banned. It was enforced by Celestials and all the other races agreed to the treaty, there hasn't been war since then." He spoke very solemnly
"What happened" I asked tentatively, I almost didn't expect an answer and was surprised when he replied.
"War. War happened" just one…?. He paused this time without moving. It was different when he was talking to the man, it was almost as if he was remembering something, but that can't be true. I probably shouldn't ask more about it
"So they don't fight anymore, shouldn't that be more reason to stop 'training' or whatever it is you do"
"Only bad people cause the existence of weapons to turn bad, weapons are neither good nor bad"
"Right..." it's true, but it seemed like there was more to it than that.
"Yeah, but the war hasn't disappeared, only moved to behind closed doors"
Like married people?
"Do you know how the power system in this world works? Only the strong are acknowledged. Everyone else can go piss off!"
"The strongest people are called Rankers. They are the 100 strongest people who can still train Energy. They possess the strength to make or break the lives of millions of people with both words and actions.
Everyone of them in the Rank Court are supposed to be responsible for the lives of weaker people but it all went wrong"
'Interesting' he continued his monologue not hearing what I really thought about another person's problems
"One thing you come to learn, everything you see has the interest of one party behind it; from their heirs down to the goods their companies make. Development is just a 'tool' in their hands so it's actually good that a strong neutral power emerged to rein in everybody in one fell swoop.
They could't fight anymore and people like you thought; what is the need to train again, what is our purpose. They couldn't fight for the people they used to serve, most of them only knew how to fight. What were they to do then 'defy the treaty' was basically a longer process of suicide.
Until the then strongest person came out of isolated training only to make an announcement.
"There is still a higher rank"
"Someone like you can never imagine what sort of impact these words had on people everywhere. In that year alone new groundbreaking inventions were created as people picked up their tools and continued their work with renewed vigor and all Planes, even the Celestial Plane saw an average increase in overall quality of life by 2.24%!
'Why?'
"The people were tired. Believe it or not society is a collective, almost like a hive mind, they all live different lives doesn't mean that they each cannot sense the overall trend and come to their own conclusion.
"After they cooled down from their bloodthirsty high only, emptiness was felt. The same routine over and over is what the Unawakened thought. "The same routine over and over again" is what the Awakened from the strongest t weakest thought. The Entertainers, the Craftsmen, the common person was going insane, people were so tired that they committed suicide, so stupid" after that he collected himself
"Anyways those dark days are long gone, people have found a new mission. From the oldest User who can still train, to the youngest who just stepped into the newly established Training schools, everyone has made it their mission to reach the stage 'above the Rankers'. It's the highest trending hashtag on all the top training related forums and even on social media."
"People who train go there and leave a post to show that they existed, and they gave it their all, and then type their name #AboveRankers. It's so simple but yet so effective.
Everybody's wondering, 'shouldn't the Celestials have reached there by now' they have better quality Energy, right?' well after asking themselves that question, it soon turned into a declaration of 'Better Energy isn't everything, I should just focus on myself' so maybe your question wasn't that stupid.
Maybe a higher plane ISN'T all that, I will become the first person to enter the rank of #Aboverankers that others dream of" I could sense the burning ambition radiating from this kid! 'He wasn't cocksure or overconfident, he WOULD do it, I believed in him!' after I made that declaration I felt like something attached to the back of my head peeled off. I traced it back to the boy's head without really seeing it.
'Could that be a psychic skill?'
Okay. That concludes today's lesson. Space Mage-hopeful" After saying that he directly stood up from that desk chair he was sitting on for who-knows-how-long-really' and walked towards the door
NOT! After standing up in a hurry over an hour of relaxed muscles were still relaxed and he somehow ended up looking like he was walking on heels for about one second before falling directly into my outstretched arms.
"Thank you" surprisingly polite for an intelligent kid, almost doesn't seem like a kid at all?
"It's okay" I said while leaving him to stand on his own, albeit shakily. And, is that female perfume or are things done different in this world
And before I knew it he was already rushing towards the door, wait!
"Wait" he stopped just outside the door, looking puzzled as to why I called
"It's actually a bit stupid but, what's your name" I asked nervously