9 The Trio Assembles

Adventure, a word that can only be described as his true romance, made Eric's eyes glow like diamonds in the sunlight. This glow of the wishful young eyes made the grandmaster chuckle.

"Just as I thought, young minds are so easy to understand but remember Sterling, in life you get choices which will decide the fate of those around you. Take that as a piece of advice from this old man" he said as he shot a glance towards Eric with eyes that spoke lengths about the man's experience and wisdom. In return, Eric just nodded as the grandmaster left the room.

"Sterling, I cannot share wisdom with you, nor can I share power but all I can tell you from my experience of life is that you should always make choices that you'd never regret in the future. Thinking things through is important, but when you come to a point in your life where nothing makes sense, listen to what your heart speaks" he said as he patted Eric's shoulder and left the room.

Now only Eric and Robert stood in the large room and the only sounds that came were from the steps Richard and the grandmaster took as they walked away from the room. Robert looked at Eric with confusion clearly visible on his face, as in an attempt to ask what his father meant. As an answer to the never asked question, Eric just shrugged as a way of saying he didn't know any better.

"Hey, Robert can you tell me more about the guy with the eye-patch?" Eric asked Robert. With a nod, Robert replied, "His name is William Grey. Master Grey was one of the strongest people in the sect who belonged to my grandfather's generation. He is well versed in the path to power as a marksman and is renowned throughout the world by the name 'The Black Eye'. His skills with guns are one of the best in the entire Federation."

"What do you mean by was? He is no longer in the sect?" Eric questioned. "Master Grey retired a few years ago together with my grandfather, they now enjoy their leisurely lives," Robert replied. "What do you mean by marksman?" Eric questioned again.

"Marksmen is the path to power which is attained by gaining mastery as a gunman. It's said to be a path that requires calmness and patience yet agility and quick wits. It's such a powerful path that people following said paths are said to be lesser weapon masters." Robert exclaimed in excitement.

"What is a weapon master?" Robert was dumbstruck as Eric's question was something he never imagined he would be asked.

"You don't know who a weapon-master is!?" Robert questioned Eric to which Eric simply shrugged. "What were you doing when we were being taught the paths to power? This is one of the most important classes!" Robert exclaimed.

"You know me, I must be bunking classes to train most probably," Eric replied. Robert sighed as he heard what Eric said, of course, he knew Eric, famous for bunking classes, caring not what the teachers or the seniors said.

"Let me teach you then. There are primely three main ways to the path to power. First is the one of a formation master, the second is of a weapon-master and the third is of a realm master. A formation master is a warrior who brings forth their powers through formations. They are warriors who are well versed with how divine energy flows in a formation circuit. A weapon-master is a warrior well versed in fighting with magic weapons. One can only be called a true weapon master if they are a direct blood decedent of the true monarch, known as the first weapon-master. A true weapon master can materialize weapons out of nothing and are well versed with every type of weapon. A lesser weapon-master is one who is so well versed with his type of weapon that they can fight on par with a true weapon-master. There are different types of weapon-masters, such as a marksman or a gunslinger."

"A lesser-weapon master in a way is also a formation master as they also use the magic formations on their weapons to bring forth their powers. A realm master is also called to be a true master. They are one of the strongest people in the whole world and are in full authority of their realm. They bring forth powers from their realms at their command, their powers are leagues above at what we can even think. Currently, there are ten realm masters in the world, who also constitute the high table".

"The high table?" Eric questioned again. "It's the only body in the world which is not affected by wars, treaties or nation and was laid by our ancestors. My grandpa is also a member of the high table." Robert said with proud clearly visible on his face. "So the grandmaster is a realm master?" Eric asked. "Yeah. He controls one of the ten realms and is known as the 'White Tiger' of the high table" Robert replied.

Meanwhile, Ella was being escorted by a maid after she was asked to put forth her part of the story to what happened. "This is the room," the maid in front of her said as he slowly bowed and left. It was a pretty long day for Ella, as things after others kept happening to her. 'Am I that unlucky today?' she questioned herself as she walked into the room.

Opening the door she saw Eric and Robert sitting on the ground with their legs folded, talking amongst themselves. They sat above a carpet with flowing designs which captivated her eyes. The beautiful embroidery was breathtaking and the way the bird was etched into the red carpet made it look like it would fly any moment now.

"Oh look, who joined us!" Eric said mockingly. "Seems like you gentlemen don't know that furniture exists" she replied mockingly as she walked towards them. "One should always be connected to the roots," said Robert nodding to himself. "How did it go?" asked Eric in a serious tone. "I told them everything, they said that Anna will be punished but will still attend the academy." Replied Ella. "Good enough," said Robert.

"Almost time for us to leave. Where is this anyway?" asked Eric as he gazed towards the window. "This is the northern border of the Federation. It is guarded by our sect." Said, Robert. "Guarded against what? The Allies are towards the South, we don't have any attackers towards the north." Asked Ella. "There are several attacks on the northern borders every day. The bandits and a few sects that are said to be with the Empire attack the borders." Robert replied.

Eric furrowed his brows as he heard this and a pondering expression came on his face as he stroked his chin with his hand. "Seniors…" Ella said with a pause. "I wanted to ask if I could join your team for the Grand War Games." She said as she bowed down. "Of course, you don't have to lower your head, Ella. We are friends aren't we" said Robert with a smile. "We had a team?" Eric questioned.

"The idea does seem interesting though," Eric said stroking his chin. "What are your powers ?" he asked Ella. "I can change the size of objects at will, but I need to touch them." She replied. "Can you show us?" asked Eric.

Ella nodded and set her foot on the carpet they were sitting on and as soon as she did that, the carpet started to shrink. Eric and Robert who had been sitting on the carpet now were on the floor, while the carpet shrank to a size smaller than that of a handkerchief. "Interesting" Robert said as he inspected the now shrunk carpet in his hands. "How are your battle capabilities? " Asked Eric as he furrowed his eyebrows. "N-not good…" she said as she looked down towards her legs and blushed.

"I knew it," said Eric with a sigh. "For now, let's just submit our team for the grand war games. Who will be the leader?" asked Eric as he looked at the other two. Ella was still blushing while Robert seems to be… picking his nose? "And I'll be the leader." Eric continued.

"We will start training from tomorrow, we need to improve our teamwork. Let us meet tomorrow, contact me on my PDA" Eric said as he took out his PDA and started taping the screen. Two buzzes were heard in the room as he completed, Ella and Robert took out their PDA and simply nodded in response.

"But why do we need to train?" Robert asked Eric. "Other teams which will be participating have great levels of team synergy and to fight against them we will need to be familiarised with each other." he continued. "Makes sense, let us start it from tomorrow then!" Robert said enthusiastically.

"I'll drop you at your home, Ella, where do you live?" Eric asked as he stood up. "Let me send you the location senior," Ella said as she sent the location through her PDA. Eric nodded and a pitch black circle opened in-front of Ella. "Thank you, senior," Ella said before bowing down and walking into it, after which it closed.

"I'll see ya later then." Said Eric. "Alright, but why are you taking the carpet?" said Robert looking at Eric. "I don't know what you are talking about" replied Eric with a smile as he jumped into his portal and vanished while Robert was left behind sighing on his friends.