2 Chapter 2

*Bruum* The golden lightning stuck four times. An extreme pain engulfed Sal's body. He tried to resist it but failed miserably and immediately lost consciousness.

At some point a short haired woman appeared. She was glowing with black light but once she saw what was happening, she stopped.

"He was really eligible to become a Golden Mage…" – she muttered. Some pain, and anguish was discernable from the black lines on her face.

Probably no one apart Sal'a'Zar's father could guess what she was thinking about. Without diverting his eyes form the golden energy he said to himself but also to her – "This, probably, is his destiny."

Woman could only sigh.

*BRRUUM*

The second round of thunder arrived and the golden lightning engulfed the frail body. *Crunch* With a loud crackling sound a brunch of the stele broke off. It stopped mid air and when was attracted by the golden baptism.

"Let's see if he can directly become a I Karat master." – Said Victor to his wife.

Juliet was silently watching.

The brunch was rapidly melted by the lightning and when absorbed into Sal's eyes. Some blood formed two red lines on his plump face. After more than half of the brunch was melted it stopped entering his eyes and instead formed ad image of a golden vertical eye on his forehead.

In this moment Sal's parents became suddenly very tense.

"It's the crucial moment. Will the third round arrive?" Them both thought about the same thing.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths…the time was going but the lighting was nowhere to be seen.

Victor's gaze suddenly became very cold. Some space distortions appeared around him.

"What are you…"-Kali asked absentmindedly but a sudden realization stuck her. – "STOP!"

"Temporal Requie…"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

A third round of baptism finally arrived. Distortions disappeared and Victor sat down calmly on the ground closing his eyes.

Meanwhile a transparent coin appeared above Sal's head. After the third lightning a golden orb descended from the cloudy sky. It fused with the transparent coin above the boy's head and filled completely a 1/24 part of it.

Victor was still meditating while Juliet visibly relaxed.

Her son has officially became a I Karat Golden Mage.

"Hmmm" – not without some difficulties Sal opened his eyes. But he still couldn't see anything.

Immediately a terrifying pain assaulted his mind making him scream but a moment after the pain disappeared like it never existed.

After taking a breath Sal found a lot of new information inside his mind.

There was a not very detailed introduction for the first realm of Golden Mages.

"So now I am considered a I Karat Golden Mage…And golden mages of the first four Karats are known as Golden Slaves…But the most important problem here is: WHY CAN'T I SEE!?"

"Ah" – another new memory emerged in his mind. "Can the whole explanation appear immediately?" – he complained.

He put his hands together and mentally asked – "O Golden Will, I require the activation of the innate ability, [Insight]."

[Request approved.]

The flash of light blinded him, but then the darkness returned immediately after.

"What a hell. Is it broken or something?"

[Activation of the ability will take some minutes.]

"Ok, lets wait. So, to become a II Karat Golden…Slave I will have to buy from the world's will a so called Lumen Gold to fill my Spiritual Coin…" With a though a transparent coin filled with a bit of golden substance appeared above his head. He couldn't really see for now it but the coin was like an integral part of his own body and so he could sense it anytime.

"…but to buy it I will have to pay some form of energy, so I will have to train my qi o my mana. Damn! I was hoping for something easier…I should have listened for my parents advise and become a normal warrior…oh!"

While he was grumbling about his bad life choices inside the monotonous blackness, he was initially seeing, appeared some white lines. And after another minute they formed the outlines of the room he was in.

*Sign* "At least I'm not completely blind. Also, these Gold Controlling Arts are not so bad…"

It was another memory he acquired, the ability that every Golden Mage possessed. They could control gold. More precisely he could control Lumen Gold in his possession. It was extremely durable material but through the Gold Controlling Arts it could be morphed in every form the golden mage desired.

The door of his room suddenly opened, interrupting his contemplation, and his parents entered inside.

"How are you doing, dear?" – asked his mother all concerned.

"I am nearly blind, and I didn't become immensely powerful overnight. But apart that, everything is ok."

His mother glanced at him. "Stop sulking. At least you are alive and ok."

Victor was more pragmatic and after making sure that his son was ok, he was more interested in the new abilities that he had. - "Sooooo, what is your first ability? And why are you still able to see?"

Sal sighed and explained patiently…

[…]

"So, essentially, you're a slave who can control gold?" – His mother was very blunt in her judgment – "Useless."

"Don't listen to her, son. After XVI Karat every Golden mage will become very powerful if compared with other mages and warriors of the same level. Also, Lumen Gold which you can control is nearly indestructible because created by the World's Will itself so…"- seeing that is son wasn't convinced he sighed – "…Ok, do you know how powerful are, the low level, fire mages?"

Before Sal could answer his mother interrupted. – "A candle is more useful. The same goes for all the elemental mages. And you, even if you're now very weak, will become more powerful than all of them."

"Exactly." – Concluded Victor.

Sal was now a bit more convinced. "Ah, also I have a discount on some things if I want to trade with the world…"

"But without energy it's useless as shi…AH" – Kali punched him before he could finish.

"Damn, who taught you to swear?!"

"Ok, ok, stop you two. So, to level up you need to train in other forms of energy?

Sal was still worryingly glancing at his mother – "Yes, I have to buy from the world Lumen Gold to fill my spiritual coin and the only way to pay it is by using qi, mana or other forms of energy.

Victor turned and exited the room. After some minutes he returned with a book. It had a black cover with some purple lines on it.

"Take this book, and train accordingly to what is written inside. Then I was young I somehow was able to acquire it, but it was useless for me. It's not that powerful, but it doesn't conflict with other forms of energy if you were to train in one."

Sal took the book and read on the cover, "Colorless Peacock Sutra". Then he put it down and looked expectantly on his mother.

"What do you want? Some mana training manual? Well, dream on. My manual is useless to you, and even if I have others, you still wouldn't be able to train in them. First you will have to become a least a Warrior and then I will give you something useful."

"A Warrior?"

Victor pointed on the black book. – "It's all explained there, the levels, the techniques and other useful things. Now rest and try to train in the first level after you recover a bit."

Saying that he leaved the room.

"Train well. I have some expectations from you. Don't forget that you're my son. "- sad Juliet before also leaving.

"…Bothersome. I don't want to train. What for?..."

A mocking voice sounded from the door. – "Ah, also, don't you dare to slack of on your training. Overwise I will have to…punish you severely."

"Damn! Wy can't I have a normal and caring mother?! WHY?!?!"

"Yes mommy, sure." – Said he while smiling trough the gritted teeth and fell backwards on the bed.

"Well, lets see the manual."

"Maybe it's not so difficult to train…" – he hoped, but once he started reading his dreams of easy glory completely shattered in tiny pieces. The levels weren't many, but the training was dull and boring.

The only thing he had to do was to absorb the natural energy from the outside world inside his body, then guide it in a very precise and peculiar pattern transforming it into qi. The only thing which changed by advancing through the levels was that the pattern became more and more complicated.

Sal closed his eyes and followed the steps described in the book but after an entire hour he couldn't sense anything even less some form of natural energy he had to absorb.

"What should I do?" He was thinking. – "Oh! Maybe I can use [Insight]."

After activating the ability, a scene formed by white lines surrounded him. But this time he paid faw more attention on what he was seeing.

In the air there was some sort of nearly invisible dust. "That's it!"

Sal immediately used the method to attract the natural energy he just read from the manual and the specs of dust slowly moved in his direction and started entering his body.

Extreme joy was substituted by terrible weakness in just a few minutes of training and Sal, exhausted, fell asleep.