9 Understanding

"Barong" Cyrus muttered under his breath.

This was a surreal experience for him. Ever since young his curiosity was impossible to satiate and the lack of answers kept him up for nights on end. Now with an outlet, to scratch this itch, he was excited beyond normal reasoning.

Continuing to read "So we actually live on a giant land mass called a major plane.....".

"No way, there are actually multiple other races besides the Barong!"

After a few minutes of awe and sudden realizations from reading, he gained a general understanding of this boundless unvierse. His horizons expanded, Cyrus started organizing all the information for later reference.

This world was seperated into these massive land pieces that float in the void, some bigger and others smaller. They were further divided into major and minor planes depending on the density of Origin Essence in the atmosphere, the energy used to cultivate. Surprisingly with how broad this world is, it was confined to this 'region' with chaotic space turbulence as its borders.

Within however, these landmasses are ruled by a myriad number of races seperated into clans, kingdoms, sects, and orginizations. Travel between these planes was difficult, requiring powerful spaceboats to navigate the desolate void and combat its bestial inhabitants. As the book was not that specific he did not get much detail, but Cyrus was satisfied enough with this.

The other information was mostly general knowlege of planes, resources, races and common knowledge about the cultivation world. Most was kept to the basics leaving Cyrus with many questions. Oddly enough, there was detailed information about planar upgrades and spotting resource areas.

Discaring the seeminly unnecessary details, the innumerable number of races mentioned definitely attracted his attention. For a general idea, the book only stated that the 3 main species that were split into multiple different sub-races without much further detail. The general perspective was that Gods were imperious putting no other race in their eyes, while Devils were a group of cunning bastards, and Demons fought their own parents after coming out the womb, leaving only the weak Humans.

Besides these major races, there were also the roaming vicious beasts like dragons, phoenixes and a multitude of others. In the end it was a massive jungle with strength as the only law and truth. Up to this point, Cyrus felt incredibly miniscule knowing he was just one person in this world filled with trillions upon trillions of life forms.

That little bit of confidence he had from his special body was crushed to nothingness. He was not one to give up though and had faith in his future potential. Especially now that he had an idea of the general situation of his current home plane, he was filled with a desire to expand his horizons through blood-pumping adventures.

Currently he lived on a plane called Tyfarum with an incredibly bio-diverse landscape according to the book. Fitting the criteria of a smaller than average plane, it was about 25,000 mi long and 19,000 mi wide (about the length of earth layed flat). Also it was in the proccess of asscending from a minor to a major plane, steadily increasing Orgin Essence concentration.

This large variety of enviroments was also home to many different races that did not neccesarily see eye to eye. Population density was also a major issue here as it was a very attractive base location. More people leads to more finite resources causing many conflicts here, especially with the advent of the planar upgrade. With time ticking away to aquire resource zones before they expand rapidly, major losses of life are bound to happen.

Remembering those details from earlier he came to a realization that they were preparing the guards for something big.

Being apart of the Barong race, Cyrus infered the guards would most likely particpate in these events. For a person that has never killed before, he was a bit shaken at the prospect of taking a life. Death, however, was not a new thing in his life since living as a slave was not a peaceful occupation. And with a possibilty of war on the horizon, he had even less hope of any care in their deployment and treatment on the battlefield.

"Some things can't be avoided and can only be handled with brute force. Focuss on training myself to the best of my abillites will be the only thing keeping me safe" Cyrus muttered under his breath.

Don, standing beside him, looked over weirdly wondering if this guy had some issues. Cyrus blushed red from embarresment before shaking his head acknowledging that everything was fine.

As not much information was given on the surrounding areas situation, this was the basis of what he knew. They did not even mention the power distribution or give a map of the plane. Cyrus was desperate to know more but had to satiate his appetite with this little information.

A little depressed he grabbed his sword and books and turned towards the huts. Gazing at those run down shacks, they called shelter, he tried decided to pick a random one and call it a day.

He had already noticed the 3 well insulated single bedroorm rooms with a seperated bathroom area while looking. Being much more comfortable than the others., it would most definitely provoke the jelasouy from the others in the group. Engrossed in the book earlier, he had already missed out and did not plan on taking part in the 'festivities'.

Shaking his head at the missfortune others are bound to have, he walked over to his hut. Taking a gander inside he sighed again realizing he had been dissapointed a lot recently. Suddenly his mom's little reminder that every sigh would lead to a year off his life gave rise to a little chuckle at the happy memory.

As a 4 year old at the time, sighing like that was weird but also strangely funny. Looking back now, he felt a lot less lonely being here by himself. Just as he was reminiscing on the good times a sudden knock sounded at the door.

Getting up to answer the door a familiar ordinary, honest face popped up in front of him. Without even waiting for an invitation inside, he walked around the room like it was open house on the market before turning around and greeting Cyrus.

"Thanks for letting me in! So, you want to hang out?" Then he proceeded to lay on the bed like it was his own home.

Cyrus thinking about this whole situation and found it weird remembered something his mom told him. "Last time I checked this was my room. Hmm.... I think mom said to be wary of the honest and friendly looking ones."

With a suspicous look and his guard up he asked, "Do you need something Don? If not, you should probably get your own room as we need to use every second training before the survival test."

A little bewildered at the serious answer Don replied with a little bit of a cunning glint in his eyes. "We can be considered friend right Cyrus?"

Nodding my head a bit he continued, "You seem like one of the stronger guys around here. How about you and me do a little bit of negotians with our fellow participants."

"I don't think it's worth it seeing how we will be put in a survival test later. Deciding to trust people this early on is not a good idea in my opinion." Shaking his head Cyrus was prepared to usher him out, but was stopped by Don.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, I was talking about getting the nice rooms. I can't even imagine not having my own bath and we might even....." getting a lot more quite Cyrus had to lean in to hear him. "be able to lend it to the girls."

Cyrus almost fell on his face. I mean looking at this guys honest face Cyrus could not help but praise his mother for teaching him well. Even though he was five he new a bit about a man and a women after hearing his parents, as they live in a small space.

After blushing a bit he got a little angry and said "What are you talking about! I'm more foccused on how I will survive through this test!!!"

Putting his hands up like he was surrendering, he muttered a bit under his breath "Why can't you just help a brother out."

"GET OUT!"

"Calm down brother Cyrus." Wrapping his arms around Cyrus he smiled that trademark honest look "It's never to early to start my friend. I may be 8 but I have seen a good part of the slums and can tell you that you are missing out. We got some quality goods here and we need to scout it out early. Like the old sages say, 'the early bird gets the worm'."

Cyrus inwardly was chanting 'shameless' over and over like a mantra. At this point he figured he should just get him out the house to bring back his peace and quite.

Taking his arm off with practiced ease, surprising Don, he moved him out he the house before he could keep talking. A kick on the butt and slam of the door it was finally quite... before Don said "Alright I'll come back tomorrow to discuss the dao of beautiful women with you buddy."

"Ayeee, I should have listened to mom." With that last thought Cyrus went through his sword practice routine twice before meditating with the last rays of the sun.

By this point he did not have any of that black stuff coming out of his skin and just smelled a little bad after each meditation. To Cyrus with no experience cultivating, it looked like he was making progress while also feeling physically stronger and more entirgetic.

After finishing his routine and the sun past the horizon he made a quick meal before sleeping soundly.

..........

On the edge of the forest, multiple pairs of yellow blood shot eyes stared at the huts on the open field with a voracious light shining within. As if contemplating something deeply, those eyes reluctnatly left in silence waiting for the night to grow deeper. Howls of wolves and roars of beasts filled the night as a dangerous feeling settled in around the unsuspecting children.