Asher arrived at the residence of the village's chief, he stared at the scenery that he was now used to. The gardens, the maids, the adornment at the villa, everything seemed tranquil to him. The maids and family members of the chief had gotten used to his presence, upon seeing Asher arrive, they had gone to contact the chief.
The chief promptly came and began practicing according to Asher's instructions. Asher took some steps back and continued watching the chief practice the movement martial skill. Asher originally decided to make the lessons crude which intentionally made them more difficult to grasp. He had done so to buy enough time to practice if in case the village chief or anyone else had ill intentions towards him. As time went, Asher had started making it easier for him to grasp the various aspects of the skill.
While the chief was practicing the skill, Asher sat down in a meditative posture. He was currently cultivating the natural energy of the world. During the past month, Asher had increased from a peak level 4 warrior to a mid level 5 warrior. If anyone knew he had increased by that much within a month, they would have labeled him a demon. It was uncommon for anyone to increase in strength that fast, and by regular logic, the higher you go in cultivation, the longer it takes to grow. Of course, Asher was an exemption, he had a godly soul which was many times stronger than any mortal, and he also had devised a way to get some spiritual energy to further nourish his soul.
After the fight with Quin, during the graduation ceremony, Willard had forcefully opened a path to cultivate elemental energy. After that day, Asher had noticed he could now more freely gather elemental energy. Usually, one would have stabilized their natural energy level, by reaching the 10th level and then focus on cultivating elemental energy that they had an affinity to. Asher was a massive exception to this rule. Because of his soul, he was able to sidestep this required process. He had continued cultivating earth elemental energy and now had reached the late level 2 stage of earth elemental energy.
Asher continued meditating at his own little corner. Occasionally, the chief would get stuck and come ask Asher for some help, who in turn will offer some advice in the guise of assisting. By the end of the session, Asher said his goodbyes and made his way straight for home. While walking home, Asher started making plans for his final move out of the village. Asher could sense that he only required a month's time for him to breakthrough to the 6th level of natural energy, and after attaining that level, and adding his elemental energy cultivation, he would be qualified enough to get into some schools. "It's almost time for me to use my third demand." Asher thought while smiling.
The Red River village could be said to be lifeless. Nothing rarely ever happens that could be considered worthwhile. The days went on, as usual, weeks came and gone. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Asher was sitting some distance away and watching the chief perform the martial movement skill. The chief's training had gone well according to plan, it could be said that he had almost mastered the technique.
"Chief" Asher called, "I will be leaving the village in two days to try and enter a martial school in Bavalri city," he said in a somewhat respectful manner. "Please remember my third demand." He concluded.
The chief had a strange look to him, he had his right hand on his chin and stared to the ground in a contemplative manner. After a couple of seconds, he stared Asher directly and said, "As agreed, I will assign five warriors who will escort you to Bavalri city." The chief said and paused. He later then continued, "They will be waiting for your departure by the village gate, in two days time."
Although the chief was originally angered by Asher's demands, after spending some time with Asher the chief had come to realize how crafty he truly was. At the back of the chief's mind, he was secretly happy having Asher leave the village. Now that he had practically acquired the martial skill from Asher, he could care less where Asher went. The chief was happy to send him away while having people monitor his prospective endeavor.
"Thank you, chief," Asher said while bowing to the chief. The chief nodded in approval of Asher's action and began walking back to his villa. Asher made his way back home, he had previously told his parents of his plan to leave the village and had made adequate preparations to do so. Tonight was going to be the last night he would spend with his parents for a while.
When Asher arrived home, he immediately noticed the banquet-like dinner his mother had prepared. There were lush delicacies scattered all over the table. Although the Zintako family could be considered poor, tonight's dinner was a vast contradiction to that statement. Asher sat and enjoyed dinner with his family, they chatted about several things and recalled distance memories of things that had past. It was concurrently a joyous and somber event for the family. At the end of the dinner, Kuvoki had prepared a gift for his son. "I got you this gift for travels," Kuvoki said while stretching his hand towards Asher. In Kuvoki's hand, he had a ring with a peculiar green gemstone that he purchased at what seemed to be a good deal. Asher graciously accepted his father's gift with a smile.
Something struck Asher as off with his ring, and he immediately decided to briefly inspect the ring. To his surprise, the ring was void of any energy. Usually speaking, any crystal created in the mortal world would have a trace of a source elemental energy, but this his ring had no elemental energy. That struck him as odd, but he this wasn't the place and time to think about it. Asher spent the rest of the night chatting with his parents before they all went to bed.
Early the next morning Asher was set to leave the village. He said his goodbyes to his parents, and immediately made his way to the village gate. On reaching the gate, Asher could see five figures standing in front of the gates. As Asher got closer a sinister smile appeared on his face. His plan had worked smoothly. Of the seven warriors that the chief had sent to escort him, Oliva was one of them. Asher still had the same resolve as Brabus the god of destruction. One of Brabus's policies was that he will punish all that offended him.
When Asher had asked for escorts, he had a rough estimate of how many warriors would be free to join him. Oliva who had finished tutoring his class was free. He had asked the chief for a large enough number of warriors, so it would definitely include Oliva. Asher stared at the bunch like a beast staring at its prey. "Let us head out," Asher said while leading the way.