- Thank you very much for the instruction. It's time for me to go, today I'll only take those on the table
- You're welcome
Haldar thanked the elder and decided to take away the stack of books that Banlak had laid out on the table. The elder, looking at Haldar's back, smiled.
- Will go far, I took only those that I personally chose
These were the Works of the ancient ancestors of the creators of the art of the spear, and if he decided to choose from those that were around, then the chance that he would find like these ten was equal to 0.1%.
Banlak's heavenly eyes shone mysteriously, and his gaze swept across the entire floor. Few knew the secret of the 0th floor, namely that a small part of these books could not be assessed.
Some of them were beyond comprehension, and others were too difficult to study, so they could not be appreciated, and they remained on the 0th floor.
If you want to hide something, do it under everyone's nose, and no one will guess. And those ten books that Haldar took were from the very first eras, when the Ascension did not yet exist.
***
Coming out of the tower, Haldar saw Erald chewing a fragrant piece of meat.
- Oh, finally out. I thought you went to bed there
- I talked to the elder, and why didn't you go to rest?
Haldar could not understand how Erald, the eternal fidget, waited for him. Erald finished the meat smiling:
- I went to the dining room again, and then came back and decided to wait for you for a few minutes while I finished eating and here you are, it turns out I was lucky
- Yeah.. Then let's go to the fourth building?
- Well... let's see what's there, and then we'll go to rest.
Haldar remembered the road to the fourth building well. He immediately made notes to himself which buildings were more important than others. After fifteen minutes of walking and discussion, they began to approach a rather impressive building.
It was comparable to the second building, and the first and third were slightly small in comparison with the second and fourth.
- Well, let's go
They entered and found themselves in a large hall, in which there was not a soul. Looking ahead they saw a familiar large table that was filled with all kinds of books and various things, but whoever was supposed to be sitting there was not there.
In each building, at the entrance there was usually an Elder responsible for it, but right now for some reason he was not there. In the academy, as they heard, there were only five elders and three Supreme Elders.
They had only seen Elder Empor and Elder Banlak, and they had not met the others yet.
- Umm
They looked at each other and decided to look for the Elder since walking around here alone, not knowing where anything was, was not such a good idea.
The hall was huge. It could be seen that the building had only two floors, but this was not certain. From the hall, only two staircases and only a few corridors were visible. Two spiral staircases led to the second floor; in addition to the stairs, there were four corridors that led deep into the building.
Each of those four corridors was marked with a different color. The first is green, the second is white, the third is brown, and the fourth is red. They all led in different directions from each other. Erald was about to move into the red corridor, but suddenly a voice sounded not far from him:
- Are the kids lost?
Suddenly, a tall man from the race of giants appeared in front of them, and after examining them, he remembered a recent letter from Banlak. They immediately bowed and by his robe they realized that this was most likely an elder, for Banlak and Empor wore the same one.
- Hello
- New students?
- Yes, elder, it's us.
- Ho-ho, okay, I'm Firtsar, the elder in charge of the fourth corps. Would you like to master a specific profession or just want to briefly get to know them all?
- Well, I think..
- Briefly
Before Haldar could begin his speech, Erald interrupted him and immediately spoke briefly, because he did not want to get so much on his own head on the very first day. Firtsar grinned as Haldar looked at Erald in bewilderment, who simply shrugged his shoulders.
- Okay, then I'll tell you briefly about the fourth building and about the professions that you can master here equally as directly in the guild. Each of our professors is one of the highest officials of their Guild, so I advise you to be more polite with them, you need to study, not them
Don't forget basic courtesy
- As you know, there are countless paths of Ascension and innate talent is not the only requirement to rise high. Too many people think that talent is crucial, but in this world everyone is talented, no one is real trash
- How is that? If he has no talent, how will he reach a high level?
Erald could not understand, because for him everything always depended on talent. If he did not understand and could not follow the path of Ascension, then it was not worth continuing. Firzar nodded and then explained:
- Your Development depends not only on talent. Some are gifted with extraordinary strength, others with a penetrating gaze, others with patience, and even more with understanding... Everyone may think that you are trash if you have not found your right path
- How can we find the right path?
Haldar listened carefully to every word of the elder. Every dialogue with them was full of wisdom and knowledge. All he had to do was remember and think about them. Firzar saw that Haldar was listening to him attentively:
- First you must accept yourself as you are. This is where it all has to start. Yes, it's hard to accept, everyone around you will prevent you from becoming what you can become, but if you don't give up, you will overcome it
- There are no truly strong people in our world, there are only those who stop trying to become strong. I'll tell you a story
Once upon a time there lived an ordinary boy, he was the son of a blacksmith and wanted to continue his father's work, but he had no talent. His body was frail, and he did not understand the essence of blacksmithing, although he worked from morning to night, but without talent, he could only persist.
In his free time from training and study, he loved to look at the heavens and stars, and he also liked paintings, and then one fine day an artist came to their village. He was looking for an idea for his painting and found a hill from where the boy always watched the sky and stars.
After his work, the boy, as always, went to rest and relax when he noticed that the artist had settled down in his place and was painting his new picture. The boy enthusiastically watched how a masterpiece was being created, and the artist, not paying attention to him, continued to draw.
It took the artist the whole day to paint the picture, and the guy watched him all this time, not paying attention to the time. The artist was not simple, but a master of the Ascension. He noticed the boy a long time ago and decided to invite him to his place.
The boy was excited and learned how to draw for the first time. And so every day he came to the hill and learned to draw from the artist. The artist knew that the boy was the son of a blacksmith and saw his hands, which were all covered in calluses and wounds, but his talent lay not in this, but in art.
The artist decided to teach him how to climb and take him on as his student, but the boy had no talent and he could not quickly raise his level. The artist was disappointed and left the boy, but the boy continued to paint, despite the fact that his teacher had left.
He accepted that he was unable to become a blacksmith so he decided to become an artist and he was good at it. Even despite his father's prohibitions, he continued to run away and draw in his free time.
Every year he continued to draw. He sold his blacksmith's products and bought paints with which he created beautiful paintings. Even his strict father was soon convinced that his boy would not become a good blacksmith, but a good artist.
And then one day his paintings began to influence the world around him. Sitting on a hill, he drew a thunderstorm and the next day it began. He didn't just paint a picture, he painted reality, his understanding of art was great. He couldn't control it at first, but after drawing in the forest, he was able to get his abilities under control. He was afraid to tell others, because who knew how they would react.
One day, his village was attacked by an enemy army that was passing by, capturing his country, but at that time the guy was captivated by his paintings deep in the forest. While drawing his new picture, he noticed a large cloud of smoke coming from the direction of the village. He quickly ran and saw destruction and death.
Standing on a hill, he saw how all the villagers were killed, raped and captured as slaves. Among the dead, he saw his father, who fought with the soldiers to the last. Tears and blood flowed from his eyes. He cried because he was useless and weak, but after looking at his paintings he made up his mind, and then began to paint with his tears and blood.
Meanwhile, the soldiers, having completely robbed the village, retreated to their own, and then noticed thunderclouds that were getting bigger and bigger every second.
Clouds spread from the village towards the vanguard of the Merciless Sun Army. Suddenly, lightning began to strike the ground, their strikes sending out sparks like golden snakes that made a loud and contracting sound.
Lightning strikes struck and found the fleeing Empire soldiers.
Zzz! Boom!
Numerous lightning bolts merged and destroyed hundreds of soldiers, turning them into ashes. The sight of their squad being torn apart by lightning greatly puzzled the vanguard of the Empire.
Thunderclaps and numerous chain lightning soon reached the very vanguard, spreading death and chaos between the soldiers and cavalry. It is unknown how many were killed at that very moment.
Initially, the Empire Army showed pressure and power, but now its greatness has disappeared, and Chaos has come in its place. The soldiers of the empire could not understand what was happening.
- General, these thunderclouds are unusual, it is most likely the magic of the Kingdom. They are deliberately attacking our army!
At the same moment, several magicians and scouts came with a report:
- Commander, the clouds are only above us, and behind them there is a clear sky!
- Let the Count and his army blow away the storm clouds, and let the rest move on
- Yes!
On the General's orders, the Count and his Ascension Masters flew out and used wind magic and attack skills, planning to destroy or push the clouds away from their army.
Right at that moment the guy came down and sitting next to his dead father, he finished the second painting. His grief and sadness were fully reflected in these paintings. A heavenly tornado descended from the thunderclouds directly into the attacking masters.
Around the tornado there were thunder dragons that burst out of it and devoured the soldiers of the empire. They could handle one tornado, but there were dozens of them that combined to create a huge tornado.
The count's warriors were devoured and then burned like paper at the stake. The huge Thunder Dragon roared at them, and then devoured the Earl.
It didn't matter whether you were mortal or superior, everyone was equal before the wrath of nature.
Then it started to rain, which only increased the radius of the lightning strike. Thunder snakes crawled away from the blows and devoured the soldiers, and the tornado crushed them.
- What a demonic attack! Merciless, forward!
The General, seeing the Count's defeat, was furious and personally marched with his detachment. He soared up and headed towards the tornado with the thunder dragon along the way, destroying ordinary tornadoes and dispersing thunderclouds.
Lightning tried to strike the general, but his armor easily repelled them, and his Merciless, with the help of their combined power, easily protected the army from the attack of nature.
The soldiers, seeing the power of their elite, soared in spirit. The officers immediately restored order and control over the army by executing all the deserters, and then regrouped.
Meanwhile, the captured villagers returned back to the village and saw what was happening, as well as the reason for it.
Arkham, the son of Arnad, crushed the great army of the empire with his paintings.
At that moment, another picture was ready, it was painted on the largest canvas, and then sent into the sky. He called it "Hundred Supreme"
After she disappeared into the stormy skies, majestic, evil, powerful, insidious and strong all kinds of Supreme Ones appeared from the thunderclouds and attacked the General. The general was amazed at how hundreds of Supreme Masters would appear in this place.
Then the fourth picture with a blind archer flew out. This was the greatest hunter that Arkham read about as a child and with the help of his imagination he brought him to life with the help of paints.
Meanwhile, the Merciless also entered the battle and, with the General, began to push back these hundred top ones. Suddenly, a giant blind archer appeared from the vortex. The tornado became his bow, and the thunder dragon became his arrow.
As soon as the General saw him, he froze in fear and shouted:
- We retreat!
- This is a story about a mortal Artist who, with the help of his paintings, destroyed the Vanguard of one of the Great Empires
- What happened to him next?
Even Erald became interested in this story and its ending. Haldar was also completely absorbed in it. Firzar nodded and continued:
"No matter how talented he is, everything is useless before real power." After the defeat of the Vanguard, the Main Army approached, which also suffered defeat until the Commander-in-Chief of the Empire came out and killed him
- After all, the gap between them was too great, but this is an example that even an ordinary mortal, having found his way, can stand on a par with the Great Masters of Ascension, like that general and his army
- I can't even imagine what he would be like if he had a talent for climbing
Haldar could not even imagine how strong this Arkham would be if it were of a high level. Firzar, hearing Haldar, shook his head:
- Nobody knows, maybe he would not have been able to achieve such an understanding in art, because he would have had to spend his time on Ascension and other things, and without this he could have completely devoted himself to Art
- I understand
- Well, okay, we've digressed from the topic. You came to see the professions, let me show you. Let's start with the green department
Firtsar decided not to detain them any longer with his stories and led them into the first corridor, which was marked in green.