The Third Party - Chapter 31

3rd Person’s POV (12 yrs. and 3 months old)

The next morning, everyone was at the field getting ready for the class, while the masters are with the dragon kingdom’s envoy outside of the entrance of the village.

“Thank you for visiting us Indur, I hope you have a safe trip back.” said Klein addressing his friend, while the envoy was just about to be ready to depart.

“The pleasure is ours. Not to worry, our journey back will not be dangerous.” replied Indur to his friend, with a hint of mischief to his tone, Klein caught what Indur meant for the most part, as for the important one, he frowned, then smiled lightly.

“Can’t say I didn’t warn you.” said Klein. Indur frowned then chuckled mischievously.

“We’ll see what your disciple can do, but on another hand, I’ll bide my time, and prepare for the extraction of the artifact.” said Indur, effectively changing the mood as tension in the air feels as if the onlookers could touch it, the other two masters are left confused of the sudden change of events. Klein’s frown returned.

“In that case, I won’t hold any responsibility to whatever may happen to you when the time comes.” He said, his posture hardened as the weight of his words settled.

“Oh I’m pretty sure I’ve got this one well taken care of.” replied Indur, he turned around to address his subjects to move out before turning back and said…

“I hope you’d reconsider your decision Klein, what we are about to accomplish by taking custody of that artifact may very well lead us to the truth behind its origins.” staring hard at his friend.

“My decision is final Indur, and you cannot make me change it.” said Klein staring right back into the eyes of his friend, Indur sighed, before his demeanor turned into that of an uncaring one.

“Suit yourself.” said Indur as they finally decided to depart. The two other curious masters who don’t have any clue on the matter shuffled close to Klein with the intention of wanting to know what happened.

“What was that all about?” asked Lana, and so Klein told the two of them what he and Indur talked about yesterday when they saw Ken’s scythe float and disperse magic, the other two dreaded the thought of ever having the scythe stolen or even worse, demanded from Ken, they don’t want to dare think what kind of catastrophe this will bring.

But on the other hand, they cannot help but think of what the head researcher meant about the truth behind the scythe and the moon, they already know that Ken was the blessed child, still the question remains, why did the so called object in the sky that can be seen at night, appeared.

Returning back to the disciples at the field, everyone was busy exercising, this time Glen was the leader, Glen’s pace in exercising was one of a kind, since having been introduced to the various methods Ken taught them, he was nothing but ecstatic of the results he garnered throughout the years, as some of these methods helped greatly in his body coordination and resilience.

Although his beastly instinct had already sharpened his edge in mind and body, he could not deny the fact that the exercises helped him tone down on things he would not be able to notice such as core strength and overall physique.

Due to his eagerness in both such aspect, his pace in exercising was greatly fast than the others, sometimes the others would struggle keeping up but fortunately would not lag behind, except for Ken, who always kept up with his pace, now, wonder what the other four could be thinking as of this moment.

The group finished their exercise drenched in sweat, but with a water and wind spell from Ken made the uncomfortable feeling of sweat and dirt wash away as they prepare for magic training.

“Celine? Does Ken always do this every time?” asked Princess Lang as she rested beside Celine, surprisingly the two girls got along well, really well after yesterday.

“Hmm… Not much, maybe because Glen’s the one who lead the exercise earlier, coupled with today being very hot, I think that’s the reason why.” replied Celine, Princess Lang nodded in confirmation and rest easy to recover some energy.

“Umm, princess, is it really okay for me to be friendly with you?” Celine asked, Princess Lang noticing the conscious look on Celine understood why.

“Of course, why do you ask?” she replied looking at Celine.

“It’s just that you’re a princess, and I’m just a common person.” Celine said.

“Well, we’re both training under the same masters aren’t we? That makes it that we’re equal, if you’re wondering if I’m disgusted with having to train with people like you, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here.” Princess Lang said offering a smile, making Celine’s eyes widen.

“It’s just that, we were told by Ken to be weary of Royal or Noble people, or so he says, for they are full of contempt for common people.” Celine explained.

“Oh that part never faded away.” Princess Lang said, making Celine sigh sadly. “But it didn’t mean all common people, I prefer to distance myself from common people for a reason but not out of contempt.”

“Then what do you think about us?” Celine asked gesturing to herself and the group.

“You’re all fine to me since I got to know you and them too. At first I thought this would be a training unworthy of my effort and time, but was I surprised when I’d found someone strong here.” Princess Lang said eyeing Ken, Celine noticed her eyes looking directly at Ken and understood.

“Then what do you think about Ken?” asked Celine.

“He’s fine I guess.” Princess Lang said.

“Would you consider him being your friend?” asked Celine again.

“I could but I’ll consider him as my rival.” said Princess Lang, Celine nodded.

“Then what about me?” she asked. Princess Lang smiled in amusement of this girl’s insistence.

“Of course I consider you as a friend, didn’t I already made that clear?” she said, as Celine nodded and laughed awkwardly in embarrassment.

“Umm, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you find Ken as a rival?” Celine asked, curious as it concerns her friend. Princess Lang got deep into thought before saying…

“At first I found it contradicting for a human to save my father, but having to face the one who saved my father’s life made me deduce how strong Ken is, I was terrified knowing the extent of his power but getting to train alongside him made me think that maybe someday I can go head to head with Ken in combat.” Celine was amazed at the enlightenment of what Princess Lang said but still it made her question.

“Why?” she asked, Princess Lang knew what she meant, she pondered what she would say but lastly settled on one.

“Because as the soon to be queen of the Dragon Kingdom I must face these challenges in order to grow and earn experience so I can rule my kingdom wisely.” Celine nodded in understanding but the context made her think, she’d already known that she also looks to have a similar role with the princess so maybe that was why they could converse with one another so easily.

Then again, she cannot help but feel contradicted on the matter, she shook her head to shake away the worry she feels for the moment and focus on what’s important now.

“Shall we join the rest?” Celine asked as she stood up and dusted herself and Princess Lang followed.

“We shall.” The two approached the others and continued with magic training.

“Great, now we’re all here.” addressed Ken to the group. “For today, just like yesterday, we will be accumulating world mana, but this time I’d like you all to use this world mana to enhance your personal mana, specifically aimed at strengthening your elemental magic of choice.”

He explained, but he got confused looks from the group, it was their first time hearing of such method, even for those who have been with him for eight years now.

“O-kay, here I’ll show you.” Ken held out his hand to show them his purpley blue mana and slowly but gradually it turned blue like that of water, the water also formed on top his palm, and they circulated in a clockwise motion horizontally.

“For me, the key of achieving this is by imagining your mana infusing the element of your choice, or in this matter, your favorite element.” He said, as he showed them the other four basic elements, small in size but has distinctive features, brown for earth, light green for wind, and red for fire, with their elemental symbol.

“Mine are the four basic elements, but I cannot accumulate mana on all four at once so I resort to enhancing one at a time.” He was met with angry stares.

“What?” He asked.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner you had this kind of method?” said Lila.

“Is this even safe.” said Allen.

“I’m not trying this!” exclaimed Wilbert.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking but leave me out of this.” said Saber.

The chatter of complaints did not end as the others approached Ken threateningly, the other four are left awkwardly, wondering what is going on.

“Okay, alright, you don’t have to hog me, I confess that all those experiments in the past were not thought well of but please, not with the physical torture!” Ken exclaimed, but he was just raised by their eyebrows, he sighed and pouted at them.

“This time it’s different.” They still wore their angry face. “I’m serious! I’ve long prepared for this method three years ago, I just did not introduce it yet for I thought you guys wouldn’t be able to handle the backlash.” He pouted again.

“So I had you guys undergo all those experiments to test your resilience and defensive capabilities, Peace.” He made a v sign to his two childhood friends, obviously directing the message to the two, what can they say, Celine and Wilbert were the focus of each experiment conducted, only Ken didn’t voice it out, thought the two suspected it, they chose to ignore the fact.

“What were you guys doing in the past?” Icarus can’t help but interject in, as he was feeling left out of the conversation, can’t say the others feel the same way too.

“Ken here made us undergo mana alterations many times than we could count.” said Wilbert.

“Ranging from water, to fire.” -Celine-

“From earth, to wind.” -Wilbert-

“Ice, to lava.” -Celine-

“Lightning to Arcane.” -Wilbert-

“Even his supposedly overpowered magic.” -Celine-

“Yeah, can’t forget about that one, it was like a living nightmare.” -Wilbert-

“So we’re very conscious when he mentions anything mana related.” said Allen joining in on the conversation, Ken pouted some more projecting his annoyance at Allen joining, Allen stuck his tongue out at him while Ken did the same.

“Then what’s the difference now?” asked Riyah. Ken stopped his attempt at defiance and said…

“Why can’t you guys be like her? At least she’s asking the purpose of my method in a different angle.” exaggerating his action by holding out his hand and leaning his body forward.

“Last time we did that, we were plunged to the ground directly from the sky without even so much as a warning, do you remember that?” said Lila, Ken hung his mouth down, then scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Right, hehe.” He made another peace sign and acted cute, but the slowly growing male did not look any cute to his companions at all, they all know how this person can turn mischievously on one side if not monitored properly, or so they thought.

“Explain.” said Princess Lang, turning all heads her way, seeing as no one spoke she continued. “Explain furthermore what this method is.” the group understood and so their menacing aura retracted, which Ken perceived.

“Okay, so in this method are just as what I said earlier, but don’t worry I won’t be experimenting on you guys anymore, as I had already trained you guys about cultivation by accumulating world mana now we just need to use it to enhance your elemental affinity, go on try it, but do it small for your first try.” Ken said, the others complied by squatting down on the ground and doing the procedure.

Not long after, complications emerged, most commonly in the form of their accumulated mana turned into an elemental spell.

“Ahh I see the problem.” exclaimed Ken as he watched Allen’s spell. “Try envisioning the mana strengthening your own, as it also strengthens the element you are affiliated with, the problem here was that you were strengthening your elemental affinity without strengthening your mana,

Causing the element to turn into a spell, quite a powerful one at that.” Ken demonstrated again the method but with precise procedure on the operation by showing Allen how his own mana strengthened itself alongside the element of water, both were swirling with one another, Allen nodded and followed what Ken showed him.

The others who had similar problems all did the same thing as they dispersed their spell and cultivating as what they were told. Others had different problems.

“Ken what about mine, I can’t call out my fire attribute.” said Wilbert, Ken walked to him and instructed him to summon his magic, at first the magic was fine, but as Wilbert slowly used the method in cultivating the fire that was circling his mana snuff out.

Ken wondered too what was happening and so he asked Wilbert what other elemental affinities he has, Wilbert confessed that he doesn’t really use other elements aside from earth and fire, fire being more frequent so he thought it was his affiliated element.

“How about the light element, have you tried that one?” asked Ken.

“I guess I did, we were taught light magic by Master Lana before, I’ll give it a try.” said Wilbert, he summon forth a light and did the method again, surprisingly, the light mana stayed as both aspects were being cultivated by Wilbert.

“There, you have your answer.” said Ken, leaving Wilbert to concentrate. Ken noticed something amiss from Celine, and when he approached her, he can’t help but be dumbfounded at what he is seeing, two elements were circling her mana, water, and earth, and he seem to be noticing a faint light element, he was even more shocked now.

‘Where is her shadow element?’ Ken thought. ‘Wonder why Wilbert’s other elements doesn’t show up when cultivated.’

He continued to observe Celine as she cultivated, remaining vigilant as to prepare for the worse, and it did come in the form of Celine vomiting, blood.

Ken hastily approached and created a barrier around them to not disturb the other’s concentration, he knows that with the slightest tip of their concentration, would upset the balance and can cause them serious backlash, he’s now regretting ever introducing the method to them.

“Here, some water to recuperate.” Ken held his hand out towards Celine with the water he conjured floating just atop his palm, as Celine was used to such way of drinking, she did not hesitate to drink the floating water leaving almost half behind.

“Thank you.” said Celine.

“You’re gonna have to be careful with this method.” He said apologetically. “Although it may serve you well in the long run, it needs focus in order not to get backlashed.” Celine nodded as she felt Ken heal her.

“Now, let me just conjure barriers so that everyone won’t be disturbed.” with a swing of his hand, he created nine barriers surrounding the others that effectively nullify sound and any other disturbances from the surroundings.

“Can you still continue?” he asked, Celine nodded. “Okay, I’ll leave you here now.” Ken walked out of the barrier and Celine resumed her cultivation, Ken looked at the others before coming to the conclusion that he’ll cultivate too, but something bothered his mind.

‘Isn’t this the first time their doing this kind of method?’ he thought.

‘Yeah, you remember when you first did this?’ -White-

And that’s when he remembered.

‘Oh shoot, I forgot to warn them (slaps head). I’m such an idiot!’ -Ken-

‘Good thing you know that.’ -White-

‘Not helping.’ -Ken-

White chuckled at Ken’s dilemma, but composed himself right after. The two talked some more about what to do with Ken’s companions before coming to a decision of informing the people important to them.

The two of them ran from place to place -or just Ken- to inform the parents and guardians of his companions, gathered them up on one place and told them what their children were doing.

Let’s just say that things were complicated at first, especially for the four new comers, but having been reassured by the people of higher status coming from the village eased their worries away, and were told to trust in Ken’s skills.

-The Next day-

‘Oh my gosh, are you serious?! It’s almost a whole day now, I’ve been looking after them since yesterday, and they’re still not even done?!” exclaimed Ken who surveyed the progress of his friends as they are still immersed in cultivation. Him squatting on branch of a tree.

‘That’s your problem.’ -White-

‘How did I even get to befriend such talented individuals, while it took me almost a year to devise such method, or better yet, I should start calling it a technique now, and half a year to make the technique work.’ -Ken-

‘You’re pretty talented yourself, you created a technique that no one would have thought of, unless they were curious as to how they would improve themselves and created a technique similar to yours.’ -Ken-

‘You could say that. Now that you’ve mentioned it, there might be someone who created such a method in becoming strong.’ -Ken-

‘Nope, sorry to break it to you, but no one was introduced to such a method or created one.’ -White-

‘No one?’ -Ken-

‘Yes.’ -White-

‘Really?’ -Ken-

‘Why do you feel sad for that? Shouldn’t you be grateful that you created one?’ -White-

‘I could but I didn’t want to create something that was derived from other worlds, this might become controversial.’ -Ken-

‘Then you’ll just have to pray that it won’t upset anything or anyone otherwise things would become chaotic in the future.’ -White-

‘What do you suggest I do?’ -Ken-

‘Either you make up a credible story behind your method, or you let other people take the credit.’ -White-

‘Hmm that could do, either of the two are hardly beneficial, but I’ll examine first which one of the choices are safest.’ -Ken-

Silence fell between them as Ken immersed himself in his thought for his protection, as soon as his mind was not filled with other thoughts, White voiced out one of his concerns.

‘Have you prepared them something to eat? They’ll be starving by the time they’re done.’ -White-

‘Yeah, and if they refuse my food because their brain or body says so I’ll force them to eat *chuckles*.’ -Ken-

‘Harsh.’ -White-

‘Hey!’ -Ken-

Ken noticed something on his peripheral vision, a red dot, oh must be another notification, he presumed.

‘Hmmm, so I got another side mission. It says here that “Continue to teach them the Elemental Affinity Strengthening method until grandmaster grade or level 50”, huh, then what level are they now?’ -Ken-

An icon popped out in front of him presenting the levels each individual have. He was quite surprised of another new feature aside from the other five, this one is like a monitoring tab. The icon showed him their grade and level.

‘Hmm, so far all of them are adepts, with their level ranging from 20 to 30, wait did the system say grand master level?’ Just as he finished his thought, everyone was steering awake as they slowly finished their cultivation.

‘Wow, that’s you’re only thought? What about the rewards?’ -White-

‘They’re mostly just points, and are far too low to make my skills or talents move to the next level.’ said Ken into their mind link, White was silent and in thought.

‘Must prepare the food.’ Ken thought, as he leaped down to the ground and went to the town to tell the villagers to bring the food for their lunch.

Yes the cultivation process almost lasted until lunch the next day, and so Ken helped the townspeople bring the containers with food, almost ten with a size just as big as Ken’s body, and settled them down on the table and extra tables laid.

Ken already deduced that his friends will be very much hungry and he remembered how hungry he was after his first try of the cultivation method.

The things used to contain the food were made out of steel, surprisingly, this adaptation of kitchen cutlery was first introduced by his parents to the village and was incorporated very fast as it was convenient, easy, and efficient to use.

Now all he has to do is wait for his friends to fully wake up and shove up the food to their mouths, just kidding, he thought. Jokes aside, he sighed as he thought about what to do with the increase of his workload.

‘Why can’t this just be some sort of buff for them.’ Ken thought referring to the cultivation method.

‘It is a buff, and at the same time it’s a process, you’ll have to bear the work, after all you’re here to improve the quality of their lifestyle, or more specifically, this world’s course.’ -White-

‘Agreed.’ Ken grinned. ‘Let’s do something fun then.’ White looked at Ken worriedly, and then with a shook of his head, if he had any, he thought to himself what more work he’ll give for his mischievous host.

——-