Chapter 63 - The Letter
"By the way, congratulations Nerun. I see you've finally broken the barrier and become a Qi Grandmaster. That is worth celebrating a lot. You are a true genius of this orphanage and a 12 year old Qi Grandmaster is not common in the Kingdom" said Maya happily as she approached Nerun with a pretty smile on her face. She didn't even turn to look at the unconscious hooded man who was stuck to the wall.
"Thank you Big Sister. But I would not call myself a genius. I have barely tied to Big Brother Elijah's record, and then, I've spent 6 years going from the level of a Qi Master to the level of a Qi Grandmaster. Even Silvester only spent three years doing so. I would say I've barely passed the mark to proudly say I'm a member of this orphanage." said Nerun in a self-deprecating way.
"Oh boo hoo, Nerun, come on, who do you think you are fooling? Even though you were only a "Qi Master" I could barely go toe to toe with you. After you started mastering Father's Ancestor's Martial Art I couldn't even touch you when I became a Qi Grandmaster. And now, I'm already a Qi Praetorian and I still fail to see how I could beat you. You are the real monster of this house", Said Silvester as he also left the building towards the backyard. Silvester had grown much much taller, already a 16 year old boy, and was almost 2 meters tall. He looked like the son of a Giant, even Nerun couldn't help but wonder if Maikal had gotten Silvester from a Magical Beast's nest. Silvester was not only quite tall, but also quite fat, like a small fortress. Though one would be misguided by thinking that fatness was all there was to Silvester, since a wall of muscle was hiding behind him.
He had also grown surprisingly nimble, and even though he was not as talented as Elijah, he would be considered a good material to hire and be trained by some elite armies. He would be considered a bonafide genius in some small clans. His strength was off the charts. His naturally endowed body allowed him to fight head on with Magical Beasts of the same rank, and his physical strength was very close to Malo's, the Rhino Beastman that had previously fought with Elijah.
"Hahaha, Fatso, that's all because you have not put enough effort in learning the Martial Art that Father left for you. I know you consider it boring and not cool, but I'm sure you could dominate the world with it if you seriously practiced. Father said it himself, it's best to master a single technique to the top, than knowing a thousand moves and not being able to use them properly" said Nerun while laughing.
He was actually feeling genuinely happy.
"Is he the one we were expecting?" asked Silvester after approaching the hooded man. "Damn, Nerun, you really did him a number. Even if he recovers, he will barely be able to use 60% of his power for months, that's if he ever manages to reconstruct some of his meridians. You are getting more and more ruthless".
"Now who is the one making jokes fatso? Last time there was an issue, I remember you sitting directly under the poor sod who tried to rob Maya. The bones in the poor man were totally wasted." said Nerun while examining the man.
"Please stop with your banter. I'll go calm the kids. Silvester, take the man to the storage room and tie him up. Make sure he is not able to commit suicide" said Maya calmly, and she went right back into the house. Silvester and Nerun then followed Maya's orders and went into the storage room with the man they had captured.
Nerun quickly and nimbly searched the man's possessions, to see if he could find out anything about his identity, however the man seemed to be more cautious than he appeared, since there were no particular things that could help them. There were some gold coins, and a small dagger, a bit heavy, a rank 6 weapon. "Good Stuff" couldn't help but claim Silvester when he saw it. "This is worth at least a thousand gold coins". It may even have a secret skill bound to it. Heh, too bad he never got the chance to use it."
Nerun searched for any spatial rings the man could be wearing, but there seemed to be none. After being a bit disappointed, they took out his hood and the rest of his clothes. It was then, they found a small leather parcel attached to the side of his body. Inside there was a small notebook, marked with a strange symbol, of an inverted mountain with clouds shrouding the base of it.
Nerun investigated the notebook and noticed that it was actually a log record. He scanned it really quickly and stopped in several of the entries. His pupils constricted a bit. In one of the pages there was the mention of a name. Armand. Nerun trembled for a bit, but quickly calmed down and kept checking the notebook. Besides the mention of Armand's name, there was no information whatsoever about him, much to Nerun's displeasure. There was also a mention of a man named Mikael, and the likely relation between both, but it was not confirmed. The log record showed the different inquiries the hooded man had done over the years in the search for clues in Ansem's borders about this and other issues.
When Maya entered the room, she didn't even flinch after seeing the man stripped of his clothes. Nerun passed the notebook to her, and she also read some parts of it quickly. Then she said to both of them: "Go to sleep boys. You did well tonight. I'll interrogate this man, and tomorrow, we might have to make some decisions."
Both Nerun and Silvester agreed with Maya, and returned to their beds. Silvester was a bit pouty, since the door to his room had been smashed, but he could hardly complain, since he had done it himself. Nerun, on the other side, returned quietly to his room and laid on his bed. He was not sleepy though and picked a small leather case from under his bed. Inside there was a letter, a bit yellow already, and with the edges worn out. It was quite apparent that it had been held and read time and time again. This piece of paper had become Nerun's treasure. This was a letter from Maikal to him. The last words he left for him before disappearing.
"Hello Nerun. If you are reading this letter, then it means I'm already gone from the Orphanage. I'm sure you're quite angry about me leaving without telling you anything about it, but that's just the way things have to be. It would have been too hard for you to say goodbye".
Having read up to this point, even though he had read the letter thousands of times, Nerun couldn't help but curse to himself 'you shameless old thing. It's you who couldn't stand saying goodbye'.
"I had to go. I had talked to Elijah and Maya both, and I just had to leave. The first reason is that Sylas Du Sacar identified me during the fight in Sagat's lair. That would have been ok, even though I have some enemies from bak on the day, most of them have no idea where I am, nor would they care about an old man like me, and even if they did, It's not like Sylas knew where I was before, and I could have simply changed my identity while taking all of you. The thing is that Sylas quickly saw through my Martial Art.
He specifically mentioned my Martial Art, which wasn't weird to me at the time, but after careful thought, I noticed something important. My Martial Art, I have only taught to two persons, one is your brother Elijah, and the other is Armand. Armand himself made himself quite famous with it. Maybe I'm overreacting, but when you get to my level, you kinda start making a bigger deal of your intuition, and in this case, what I feared most was that someone would come looking for me due to Armand's situation.
I won't tell you many things about your father. After you leave Radem, I know that you will come to hear many things and rumours about your father, so I'm sure you will come to learn the gist of it. Do not believe any of them, even for a minute. Some of the rumours made up about him are quite vile, but they are the by-product of jealous and rancorous minds, trying to dirty his public image. I know you'll want to do something about it, but I urge you to take it for now, and after you have enough power, is only when you will really be able to do something about it.
Train hard. Only if you train hard and you become powerful enough will you be able to understand and discover the truth of the matter. Your brother Elijah and I have already made some advances, but they are quite limited right now. So I'll make a proposition for you. If you manage to become a Qi Monarch by the time you are 20 years old, maybe you will be able to start making some inquiries, and your brother will tell you about our findings on the matter. But if you have not reached this level of power by then, then please forget about it.
Actually I have been tempted time and time again to just let you forget about them. So you can lead a happy and normal life. Maybe that's what your parents want for you. Whatever your decision may be, remember to keep living. Living is the most important thing.
Anyway, if you do decide to become stronger, then I will leave you a final gift. Adjoined to this letter are the seven forms of my Ancestor's Martial Art, the Free Flowing Fist. If you manage to have a small success with the first three forms, I'm confident you will have become a powerful warrior. When you become a Qi Grandmaster or someone of such level, if you have truly decided to keep improving, I urge you to go to the capital. You can decide on your own path, but do look for your Brother, he will try and make some arrangements for you, though in the end the decision lies with you. You could also go to an old friend of mine, one of the very few friends I still have left. He is a perverted old coot, but he is quite strong, I might add. Your brother knows who I'm talking about, so you can ask him about it."
'It seems that people of the same nature flock together' thought Nerun, as he continued reading the letter.
"Be diligent when training with The Free Flowing Fist. I know that you will be able to bring this sacred art that my Ancestor used to the apex of the continent once again. It could be even better than the Path of the Interceptor Fist that I proudly created. I know that you lost most of your Qi and Mana in the fight, but I also know that that is hardly enough to keep you down, and that you will rebound even harder and reach even greater heights. These kinds of setbacks are good for your future growth, hehehehe.
Finally, take it slow and be patient. I insist, you can do nothing about what happened to your parents if you have not become strong enough. But you must not be hasty and seek for quick success. Time spent sharpening the axe is not time wasted when cutting the trees later. Sharpen your strength and learn to use every ounce of your strength. Then you will truly be able to call yourself invincible. Everything else is just poppycock.
Anyway, I've lost track."
'Typical… Old man, I wonder if you are ok right now. Do you still remember us?'
"I've left several riches and techniques for you and your brothers. Do not try to learn everything, after all, remember that a warrior can learn a maximum of 4 techniques per level, after each auxiliary meridian. So choose wisely, techniques that are useful to you and that compliment your fighting style. Teach this to your brothers, especially the fatty. I'm sure he'll try to cover much more of what he can.
Be careful kiddo. If EON allows, we'll meet each other. Don't worry about this old man. I'm not so weak anyone can just bully me. I also used the 7 drops of Millenial Stone Milk you left for me, and my power has stabilized in the Qi Emperor level. Even though I won't be able to recover my full power just yet, this is enough for me to do a lot of things. If many years go by and you still hear nothing from me, then forget about me. I've lived a long life already. And all I want from you and the rest of your brothers is that you live happy and fulfilling lives.
Take care brat."
Nerun folded the letter, and carefully put it in his bosom. He had read this letter time and time again. The letter gave him some sort of strength. He could see a path for his future and the concern from Maikal.
"Don't worry Old man. I've taken your advice fully and I've been sharpening my axe diligently every single day for the last 6 years. I believe now, It's proper for me to chop some wood with it."