"Stop being all sentimental and caring towards me, tell me what you want or I'll leave immediately."
All of a sudden Sol became stern.
'For every action there was a cause, the old man said he would protect me from the claws of the noble family so there had to be some benefit to him'
The old beggar rubbed his beard.
"Who says I need something from you? The younger these days are so presumptuous nowadays, speculation on something they shouldn't, if I wasn't so kind…huh?"
While the old beggar was zoned out mumbling to himself, Sol had already left.
Since the old man wasn't willing to state his hidden purpose there was no longer any need to stay.
He had already wasted enough of his time talking to him; Sol was extremely eager to, go home, study martial arts and realize the increase in life level caused by his advancement of martial arts.
"Interesting, to be able to sense the concealed strength of a ninth-stage warrior, his spiritual talent must be unparalleled, if not for the inadequacy of his body I would have taken him as a disciple."
.....…
Naturally Sol did not hear the strange words of the old man behind him, he had left the craftsmen street long ago and arrived back at the residency area where he lived.
His steps were light and rthymic, neither fast or slow, they had a certain pattern to them that never changed, even when he was close to his house he didn't speed up.
Haste made waste, so even if he was excited and wanted to immediately realise the change in his life level he forcefully calmed down and took the walk here as a kind of mind refining experience.
"Uncle Sol! Uncle Sol! You're back."
A young boy about twelve years of age hugged the bottom half of Sol.
"Yes, yes, I'm here, you don't need to act so immaturely you're turning twelve soon by then you'll be six years younger than me you can't be so immature."
Sol said so while putting on his serious face; with no hint of amicableness and dead eyes that seemed to have no trace of vitality.
Eyes like that, seemed to convey the true meaning of despair and were proof of the futility of human life
Staring at those eyes Arit couldn't even hear the words which Sol was saying, only an intense sense of panic filled his heart.
Sol had always felt a bit off to Arit before but today that feeling was infinitely magnified.
What had changed about him?
While Arit was panicking internally Sol was a bit puzzled.
Why was Arit looking like he was about to cry? He only put on his serious face so Arit would take his lesson to heart but he didn't expect him to start crying, if Maria came to him right now he really didn't know what to say.
"Hey! put your mind together, you can't go around crying everywhere when you want to be a warrior in the future."
Sol stern voice hit Arit's ears like a drum.
"Do you think being a crybaby can make you a warrior? Huh?" He questioned Arit, his facial veins threatening to burst.
Seeing Sol's scary face with blood here and there Arit really wanted to cry but remembering Sol's disapproving look he became too scared to cry.
Wanting to cry but having no tears Arit felt aggreived.
Sol looked at Arit and saw although he still trembled from time to time he had calmed down.
'Do I really look that scary?' Sol wondered.
'I should probably smile to calm him down.'
So Sol smiled, as wide as he could and put all his sincerity into it.
"Arit why are you here? Did your mom send you?"
But although Sol put his all into it and felt it amicable Arit did not find it so, instead a few drops of sweat dropped down his head from fear.
If Sol had a heart it would have been pierced, with him seeing Arit become more frightened even though he wore his biggest smile.
'Forget it I was never really good at acting either way.'
It was just like what his co-workers said 'no matter what you do you look dead either way'
'Plus they say that Children have the ability to see through all pretenses and see the essence of the soul so it would not be a surprising for a child to not be fooled.'
"I'm-I'm… I'm here because mom was worried because she didn't see the light of your gas lamp yesterday."
Speaking of that Maria did live quite close to him but he didn't expect her to notice his absence so quickly.
Having such sharp neighbours might not be a good thing, especially now that he was a warrior he was bound to have more secrets.
Looking at Sol in frowning in deep thought Arit had an internal struggle for a while before he spoke out.
"Uncle Sol you better not let anything happen to you atleast before my twelveth birthday or else my mum might not let be a warrior."
Looking at the pure and determined eyes that pleaded to him, Sol was unaffected.
"Yeah, Yeah, whatever you say, just go home your mom must be waiting for you."
Sol pushed Arit aside and continued walking home.
"Home"
Sol felt no ripples in his heart when he gazed around the place he had been living for the past two years.
But when he felt the cold touch of the martial arts book on his chest waves erupted.
Sol quickly had his bath, changed his clothes, prepared a meal, eat the food and meditated before he started reading the second martial arts book Maruim gave him.
It read;
There are nine levels of vitality in the human body which correspond to the different levels of a warrior.
The goal of each stage is to refine or temper the body so the body's vitality increases and increases before condensing into form.
You can refine the body by…