6 Chapter 6

There was unfortunately one thing that I did not like that resulted from my match with Rand, a lot of people started paying more attention to me and with that came the attention of the female population. I was cordial with everyone for the most part but I had no issues with hiding behind Delia if anyone started sniffing too close, that seemed to amuse Delia quite a lot for some reason.

The money that I won was promptly cashed in at the Four Empires Bank and instead of lugging the large amount around, I put in 15,000 gold in an unbound magicrystal card so I could directly give it to Wharton to use and the remaining 800 after deduction of the bank fees I kept on hand in my dorm in case of emergencies.

The very next day, while I was still working on my enchanting project at my dorm, I was notified by one of the servants of the institute that a person by the name of Hillman was at the gates requesting to see me. The institute was normally very strict and did not allow just anyone within the campus, only some important officials of the Holy Union or some very powerful Nobles were allowed in provided the noble's wards were students. Others had to notify the attendants or servants manning the gates to issue a request to meet someone inside the campus, the management also kept track of all the students' whereabouts, if they were within the campus or out in the city on a rest day or even out on an assignment in the outside world. The guests would be promptly informed of the specifics and either asked to wait if the student could be made available on the same day or to come back some other day if they were off campus.

Either way I rushed to meet Uncle Hillman at the gate and found out from him that father had indeed tested out Wharton's potential to be a Dragonblood Warrior and found out that he met the requirements.

"That is great news, Uncle Hillman. I will be coming home for the holidays so we can all celebrate together." I respond with enthusiasm.

"That is wonderful, Linley. Now, I better get going as I have a lot to do. The Lord is planning to send Wharton to the O'Brian Warrior's Academy in the O'Brian Empire and that requires quite a lot of funds. I need to head back to see to the tasks so that the immediate required funds can be mobilised." He said before making a move to head off.

"You need funds, Uncle Hillman? Come here to the side for a second." I call him over to a more remote side of the road and also discreetly cast some spells to ensure there are no observers around. I then take out the unbound magicrystal card I had prepared and hand it over to him.

"Here you go, Uncle Hillman? This is a magicrystal card containing 15,000 gold coins, give it to father. Don't worry, I won this amount from a wager with some rich student here after he challenged me to a duel and I beat him." I tell him. He went bug-eyed when I showed him the card as well as the coin balance in it. I knew I could trust him as he was very loyal to my family so I had no issues with giving the card to him.

"This… Linley… What about you? Surely you will need some money for your own use, I've heard that it takes a great deal of money to become really successful as a mage after all?" Uncle Hillman asks for clarification.

"Don't worry Uncle Hillman, since I'm a citizen of the Union my tuition fees here are covered, as for any additional need, I have found a good teacher and he can take care of it. Just tell my father that, he will understand. One more thing though, could you ask father to not send Wharton away immediately, please tell father to at least wait till after my vacation. My teacher has taught me much and I think it would be good for Wharton too if I share some of what I learnt, also I have some gifts for my little brother that he would find useful." I tell him.

"Very well Linley, I will convey the matter to Lord Hogg. Now I must hurry back to the town, I'm sure your father will very much appreciate what you gave me just now. This should make things a lot easier for us, it certainly is more than what I would get doing the tasks the Lord had requested of me. See you soon Linley." He wished me before heading back home, magicrystal card safely secured in his jacket's inner pocket.

"Safe travels Uncle Hillman, I will return home for the holidays in a few days so see you again then." I wish back and return to my dorm to finish my projects.

As expected, I finished my projects on time and spend an additional day just testing that all the items work as expected. Once I had confirmed everything was in order, I packed it all up along with my other belongings and was on my way out of the institute after I wished all my friends goodbye. I left for home soon after, the journey back was quick as I avoided the circuitous and crowded main roads, there was no one around for me to hide my strength from here so I cut loose at my fastest speed. I was back home before lunch time and received a warm welcome from my family, father and Wharton were especially happy to see me. Father hosted another feast that night and after the celebration, he called me in to his study for a private word.

"Linley, it is so good to have you back, we all missed you very much, your little brother especially. I am glad to hear you are doing well, even capable of beating the other young talents from rich noble houses. The money you sent back with Hillman helped a lot." Father warmly told me. I knew we weren't so well off financially so I tried my best, I already had some strength of my own and I was well on my way to improve both my financially and personal power, so this was really not much.

"I'm only doing my duty as a member of our family, father." I tell him as much.

"Good good, no matter what had happened in the past, the Baruch clan is truly blessed to have such wonderful hardworking and talented members like you and your brother. He has been following that training method your master had taught along with me every day and has made remarkable progress, much more than this old man I must say." He responds in the happiest tone I had ever heard him speak. He must truly be proud of us.

"I'm glad to hear both you and little Wharton are doing well father, and speaking of my teacher's training methods… I have something that he requested I pass on." I say in a more serious tone.

"Ah yes, Hillman told me about that. What is this thing your teacher is gifting Wharton?" Father asks with a very eager look.

"This father." I say before taking out the enchanted journal I had made and handing it to him. He excitedly and reverently receives it and proceeds to examine it every which way before opening it to pursue its contents. He then frowns in confusion upon finding numerous children's tales after flipping through the pages, he seems a bit frustrated now.

"Umm… What exactly is this Linley?" he asks in a neutral tone. He is kind of caught at feeling insulted by this as well as not wanting to offend my mysterious Saint Magus teacher.

"Hehe, here father, let me show you how to properly use this." I say before taking the journal back and opening the first page before putting it on the desk. There is a stylish drawing on this page that most people would easily overlook but in actual fact the master rune set is hidden here, I place my hand on this diagram and channel some of my unique multi-element fused mageforce through it before cutting open my finger and putting a drop of my blood on the centre of the formation. The book soon glows with a soft light as my father looks on in wonder.

I then close the book and turn it so that the spine of the journal is facing upward, parallel to the ground. "Here father, make a cut on your finger and put a drop of your blood on the centre design of the spine here." I tell him while indicating the spot I want him to smear his blood on. He does not hesitate and promptly follows my instruction; the glow of the book increases some more briefly and soon completely dies out. It's now back to normal and looks like any other book.

"Here, open and read through it again father." I tell him to go over the book again. The look on his face is almost screaming out all the questions he seems to have but he holds it back and does as requested first.

"How can this be?! I just read through some of the contents before and now it's different." Father exclaims in shock at the change.

"That is an enchanted journal father, it contains some of the training methods of my teacher as well as all the knowledge he learnt from our ancestors pertaining to our own methods. What you saw before was part of the magical protections my teacher put on the book; anyone I do not authorise will only be able to see it as a book of children's stories. To see the actual contents people must be keyed in; this will protect us and in turn the journal as no one will be interested in what seems to be a simple story book." I explain as the look of wonder grows on father's face

"This is a priceless treasure!" He exclaims. "Linley, you must thank your teacher on my behalf… no on our entire clan's behalf for this wonderous gift." He tells me before going back to the journal and its newly revealed contents.

"Hehe, the methods in this book are truly wonderous father." I explain some more. "My teacher has already thought me most of what is in there so for the rest of my holiday I will be helping you and Wharton get started on all that is listed here. I urge you to memorize as much of this book as you can father as I intend for Wharton to take it with him when he leaves for the O'Brian Empire. Given his young age he will need it more, I will be happy to help you myself whenever I visit home but I certainly won't be able to do that for Wharton." I explain to which he nods in understanding.

Father then promptly calls for Wharton to his study as well so that I may key him in to the journal as well. We both strictly warn him to be careful with this though and also give some simple instructions to Grandpa Hiri without revealing the specifics just in case. I then start explaining some of the contents of the book at father's urging, he certainly seems eager to get started on training as soon as possible.

The rest of my holiday month went by in training myself or instructing father and little Wharton in all the basics of my 'Teacher's Journal'. Some of the concepts mentioned in the book seemed beyond them at first but after referencing all the examples mentioned and hearing my own explanations as well, they seemed to be getting it. Father especially valued all the information on yoga as well as the Blood Essence Refinement technique as they were a great help in loosening the shackles on his cultivation, he was already working hard to improve his strength and was not letting up despite the meagre returns, this was quite literally the pie that dropped from the sky to end his hunger.

While father focused a little more on techniques that would give him more direct benefits for the body, I explained to both him and little Wharton the importance of developing the mind and spirit. I especially emphasised their importance for young people as they were most easily influenced and would benefit the most if they regularly practiced the methods to nurture the mind and spirit from early on. Father took very little convincing especially when I mentioned that it was what my teacher recommended, soon we had coaxed little Wharton to keep at it despite his somewhat initial reluctance, like any young kid he was more taken by the flashier and more cool looking physical strengthening methods but we had extracted a promise from him to not focus only on them and we also had Grandpa Hiri make sure he did not neglect it later on.

The end of my month-long holiday came all too soon and I felt that both my father and little brother had sufficient gains and understanding of the methods I had taught them to continue on their own from now. Both Wharton and I departed from Wushan Township on the same day, there was a bit of a leakage issue from the Wharton Water Works as the little guy was crying his eyes out. He was very young after all and he was going so far away from his home and family, I naturally took some time to console my cute little brother and eventually we all went our way on a happier note.

On returning to the institute, I threw myself into my own training and drastically cut down on the classes I was attending. I did not attend more than 2 classes per week for any of my listed affinities and for the earth style classes especially I barely attended one class a month. I was obviously way ahead of the rest of my class and I got better results from self-study and research using the institute's facilities so I saw no reason to constrain myself, plus this gave me a reason to avoid my new fan base and also better hide my strength by not demonstrating it in front of anyone.

I was still practicing with my dorm bros everyday as well as training with Dixie and Delia, no way was I going to ignore their growth. We had all grown close over the past year, just my spat with Rand last year was telling since we were all quite powerful now and even Yale and Delia could have given him a beating let alone Dixie, George and Reynolds. The fact that they let me handle it showed they were also somewhat looking out for me as that twat Rand seemed to be chasing after Delia, and since we were somewhat in a relationship the rest of my dorm mates decided to leave it up to me by some unspoken agreement. Good to know that the bro-code is still in effect no matter the world. I also spent the first month back in school planning out how take the training for my friends to the next level as I thought that we were close enough now and could trust one another, there was also the need for me to give Dixie and Delia the Tigerstriped Warrior training manual.

In the end I decided to come clean to my group on most matters and just use the excuse that most of my special training methods was from my Dragonblood Warrior legacy. With most of the details decided and a plan hashed out, I invited my dorm bros as well as Dixie and Delia to a picnic in the back mountains on the first rest day after the first month back in school. Everyone was a bit surprised as we all usually went to the city to hang out and relax, but they all still agreed as it would be a nice change of pace. I had already set up everything for the picnic and had even spent a good amount of gold to buy high end ingredients to cook up some special delicacies, I just hoped that would smooth things over and make them forgive me for what I planned to do to them before that.

"I must say Third Bro, this is a nice change of pace from our usual visits to the city." George said as he trekked alongside me over a remote trail in the mountains behind the Ernst Institute.

"Humph, what is so good about this? We could have been relaxing next to some beauties at the Jade Water Paradise instead of trudging through this wilderness." Yale mock complained while Reynolds nodded along in agreement. Though they said that it was more in the form of a joke and they were not serious at all, they just thought that they had an image to uphold in our group.

"Humph, and what is so good about that… place? I still can't believe you two dragged Dixie, Linley and George into such establishments in the first place." Delia retorts with disdain, she also didn't really mean it and it was all friendly banter, mostly. Though I still sensed some discomfort from her when she mentioned me and Dixie being dragged along to those places, need to catch her alone later and explain I have no such interests.

"Let them be sis, you just cannot change some people after all. Where are you taking us to anyway Linley?" Dixie tells her, before asking me a question.

"Oh, not much further, there is a really good clearing a little way further here with a wonderful scenery where we can have our picnic." I respond. The place I was leading them to was indeed very nice but I wasn't feeling all that great about what I had set up to do a little before we reached the place.

As we proceed further away from any other any sign of human presence, we come by a place with a uneven gravel filled grounds with large boulders strewn about. One side of it is covered with thick forests with many thick and winding roots on the ground that make traveling through the place at speed a challenge. The other side is the bottom of a cliff-face with a rough and jagged stone wall rising straight up so one cannot escape easily from this place. All in all, this was a perfect ambush location and the site I had picked for 'Act 1' of my plan.

I confirmed with my magic one more time to ensure we were alone and no one would come to disturb my plan, I also had Grandpa Doehring double check just in case. He was somewhat reluctant about my plan but could not deny that it would be very helpful to my friends and also be a timely wake-up call for them. He was only be on board with it because he knew for sure that I did not mean them any harm and there was no real danger of things getting out of hand as I was far stronger than anyone else here.

"Any of you ever felt that life was unfair?" I asked them in an ominous tone after I had confirmed that we were all well and truly alone. There was no chance of some random passer-by coming and ruining my setup so I began the act without delay.

"What do you mean Third Bro?" Yale asked me with a confused tone, my question must have really thrown him off.

"How is it fair that I am the most talented one of us but I have so little resources compared to all of you? How is it fair that even though I am a descendant of a powerful clan, my family lives in poverty while all of you have it easy?" I turn to face them with a sneer.

All my friends were somewhat shocked but Yale decided to speak out again- "Third Bro what are you talking about? We are all good friends, there is no need for such distinctions among us, if money is the factor, I can help you out?" He tries to reason; he does seem to be a little disturbed by my words but the friendship we had built up over the year would still compel him to try and reason with me and my other friends nodded along. That just made me feel really happy knowing that I made such good friends but it also made me feel really guilty about what I would do next even if it was only an act.

"Cut the crap! You think I need your pity? That I need your little handouts and scraps?" I yell out in mock rage before charging Yale and punching him in the gut. Previously in our spars I was very careful to limit my strength to 2nd rank warrior or mage at the most so with me now revealing my actual 4th rank warrior strength would catch them by surprise. "Humph, the mighty and rich young master Yale, I wonder how much I can obtain as a ransom by kidnapping you?" I continue the act.

Now everyone is surprised and more on guard at the surprising development and is shouting things like- "Boss Yale!" … "Linley, How could you?!" … "Third Bro, why?!"

I pay them no heed- "Now though I can kidnap all of you and hold you hostage for my benefit. My life as a poor countryside noble is over, your families will surely fulfil all of my demands to safeguard such talented young geniuses." I declare like some cliché bad guy before attacking the rest of the group.

"You b**tard, I thought you were different!" Dixie was the first to regain some levelheadedness after this new development and the first to put up a fight. "But you really have a high opinion of yourself don't you, saying that you are the most talented one among us knowing that I am also here." He continued while readying a few rank-1 wind spells to distract me and buying time to use something more powerful.

Reynolds and George muster up a defence as well but are still somewhat in shock as if unable to believe what is happening, Delia is completely in denial and shaking her head as if trying to convince herself that this is all a bad dream and Yale is still on his knees and trying to breathe properly after my gut punch winded him badly.

I easily evade Dixie's spells and continue my assault. There was little they could do seeing as I had caught them by surprise and the fact that they never expected me to be so strong, they were already aware that I was stronger than I let on but they never expected the gap between us to be so wide. I did not let up on my attacks and along with my superior warrior abilities I throw around rank- 3, 4 and even 5th rank spells around to control the pace of the battle and prevent anyone from escaping. That came as a real shocker to everyone as they never expected that from me, everyone in our group honestly thought that Dixie who had reached rank 3 already was the strongest of us. I mostly used my spells to control the terrain and prevent anyone from escaping, don't want to actually hurt my friends after all even by accident.

"Hehe, the so-called number 1 genius of the Ernst Institute, never thought that you would experience something like this did you. Really how the mighty have fallen." I mock Dixie as I easily over power him. One of the first things that Dixie had done besides attack me was to look for an opportunity to distract me so that at least Delia could get away safely. That proved to be a wasted effort though as I proved to be too much.

I eventually pulled out a dagger and cut a line across Dixie's shoulder drawing blood. Delia screamed in terror at the sight and fell to her knees in shock. Seeing her like that really disturbed me so I quickly rushed behind her and knocked her unconscious with a careful application of my self-created lightning spell- 'Touch of Lightning' which covered my hand and had a taser like effect. I made a show of cutting her in the back with the dagger to collect some of her blood as well to add a more dangerous tone to the act.

"You b**tard! I'll kill you!" Dixie disregarded and charged at me in a wild dash. My dorm bros were also sufficiently shaken up now and no longer pulled any punches and went all out in trying to beat me up. It didn't do them any good though as I completely out classed them and in less than 2 minutes all of them were on the ground unconscious. I quickly collected the blood from Dixie and Delia's injuries before healing up their wounds with a healing spell before proceeding to cast some light healing spells on my dorm bros as well. They were all still unconscious though but no longer looked like giant bruises that were cut up a bit, no reason to prolong their suffering now that I had made my point, plus healing them back helped reduce some of the guilt I was feeling.

I quickly used the blood I collected from Dixie and Delia to test out if they were actually descendants of the one of the four supreme warriors let alone from the line of Tigerstriped Warriors. I knew the Transmigrator was able to make some changes with some wishes but I needed to be sure. I already had the testing device ready; I had made it from some of the materials Yale had gifted me. I released a sigh of relief once I had confirmed that they were indeed members of the Tigerstriped Warrior clan and that nothing had changed from my expectations.

"Squeak squeak!" Bebe calls out to me. He sounded upset due to my actions but I reassured him that this was only a show and that I would never hurt my friends. I had also asked him to not take part in my beat down of my friends so he was also a little upset about that.

Anyway, I had Bebe act as a look out and slowly carried my friends over to the place where I had set up for the picnic which was not far from here. They were all still pretty out of it and I made sure to be gentle with all of them as I still felt like a piece of sh*t for what I had done, especially to Delia. She had such a heart broken expression before I knocked her out, I just hoped that she would eventually forgive me.

I had gathered everyone to the picnic spot before any of them regained consciousness so I arranged them all comfortably on the blanket with the basket of food ready at the side. Now the only thing left was to practice and rehearse my plea for when they wake up and hope desperately that they would forgive me.

It wasn't long before they all started to come to and they all woke with a start. They all looked around every which way to take stock of their surroundings, especially as their most recent memories were particularly disturbing. As soon as they spotted me, they all jumped back a bit and got into a fighting stance once again and I winced, yeah, I may have taken that a bit too far.

"Ok, relax all of you. Let me start off by saying that I'm really very sorry about before, I know that is not enough by any means and I will have to work a lot to regain your trust but for what it's worth I really am sorry and I didn't mean anything… well most of what I said." I tell them.

"Yeah, I don't think so!" Dixie calls out before starting to chant another attack spell. The others seem to be hesitating now but are still very much on guard.

"Oh, come on guys, tell you what I will let you guys beat me up later since I deserve it but could you at least hear me out first." I plead some more.

"Brother stop, we can at least hear him out. We all don't seem to be restrained or even hurt anymore either." Delia, ever the gentle soul tries to calm her brother down to at least hear what I have to say.

"Alright, Linley. You obviously had all that planned out before and you seem to have some goal so start talking. Let me warn you though that if we don't like what we hear, a beating will be the least of what we give you. It won't matter how strong you are, we will find a way." George, who was the most diplomatic of my dorm bros responds and Yale and Reynolds nod along. Everyone is still tense and, in a combat ready pose, but at least they are giving me a chance to explain so that was good I thought.

"Well, let me start off by saying sorry again. I really did not mean much of anything I said before." I say while kowtowing before them to show my sincerity. "I am truly grateful for all your friendship and all you have done for me so far in accepting me into your circle. I know that normally a poor noble such as myself from a little backwater town cannot offer much but all of you accepted me without looking down on me so I will be forever grateful."

"Well, that was a fine way to show your gratitude." Yale scoffs and I wince at that. His tone was particularly cold and he seemed to be genuinely hurt by my actions earlier.

"Yeah, I probably deserve that and more for what I did before but I just wanted to help you all. You all are obviously from a much more powerful and wealthy background than me and anything you need; you can easily get. You all did not treat me as an outsider either and freely shared your resources with me regardless and I just felt really bad that I could not give all of you anything of value in return." I carry on.

"So, you decided to give all of us a beating? How will that help us Linley?" Reynolds pipes up with a look that was a mix of pouting, rage and sadness. I wince again, these guys really know how to pile on the guilt.

"Well not exactly, I thought long and hard on what I could bring to our group. There is really not much I can bring forward that you all do not have or can get and after much deliberation I thought that I could share some of my clan's secret techniques and methods to get stronger." I answer with a small hopeful smile.

They all pause for a moment in surprise as they were not expecting that. "Your clan's secret techniques? You will really share something like that with us?" Delia was the first to break the silence.

"Pah, all I'm hearing is excuses. I thought you were different, Linley. I thought you were not like those others who only approached us to get something out of it." Dixie retorts, he seems to still be quite upset which was understandable, the friendship between us was the shortest after all so we were not particularly close. "Besides how great can the techniques of as you said 'a small clan from a backwater town' be." He continues his spiel.

"Would you like me to beat you up again and demonstrate?" I ask and could not hide a small mischievous smirk when he and the other doubters shut up. "True my clan is now small and weak, but it wasn't always so. I know it might not mean much to any of you but since I know you are all from powerful backgrounds and are well informed so let me ask you, have any of you heard of the Baruch clan of warriors… anyone?" I ask.

They all ponder a bit trying to recall any information their families might have said to them about a Baruch clan. All said and done, they could not deny the strength I had displayed earlier now that they can calmly think about what had happened. Sure, I had taken them by surprise but they also remembered my insane physical strength as well as my mind-blowing magical feats. The magic part especially was intriguing for them as they were still in shock from the high ranked spells I had used earlier and the reality had not settled in properly for them till just now.

"What?!... that was… that was…" Dixie was at a loss for words as he just recalled some of the details from earlier.

"Wow, Third Bro, I never knew you were so strong. Those were 5th rank spells, right? Have you already broken through to the 5th rank as a magus?" Reynolds asks, being the first to actually voice out his questions. I also noted that he was back to calling me Third Bro so that gave me some hope that I hadn't completely wrecked my trust and relations with them yet.

"Hehe, that's right Fourth Bro, I'm actually a 5th rank as a mage and 4th rank as a warrior." I confirm for him before adding on- "But please don't go spreading that fact, I don't want my true capabilities being spread and made common knowledge. I know that nothing will excuse how I acted before but that was one of the reasons that I attacked you like that before. I had to give you all a decent demonstration of what I had to offer as well as make sure my secrets were kept, my clan has a lot of hidden enemies which is why we have fallen so far and I cannot risk getting the wrong sort of attention. I also request you all to keep this and the other matters I tell you a secret for now, at least for a couple decades until I have enough power to protect myself and my family." I add on.

Everyone is quiet for now slowly digesting what I had revealed, the silence lasted for a little while longer before Yale asked me- "Baruch clan… any relation to the Dragonblood Warrior clan of the four supreme warriors legend Third Bro?" Looks like he had heard of us before.

I break out into a wide smirk and respond affirmatively- "The very same. My clan has a history of having produced many peak warrior Saints and they had also interacted with plenty of Saint magi so they had left behind quite a bit of information that I will be happy to share with you all. Some of it you may not be able to use like our clan specific Qi cultivation methods as you would actually have to be of our bloodline to use them but I'm sure a lot of the general things would be useful to you just like it was for me." I explain more on exactly what I am offering.

"Wow, really Third Bro. That is so cool, and you'll share it with us?" Reynolds asks in wonder.

"Linley… no Third Bro, this is very precious, are you sure you want to share this all with us?" George also asks with a nervous look. He might still be a little upset over my actions earlier but after hearing what I had to say and what I was freely willing to share he sort of understood and forgave me.

"Linley… this is too precious. You don't need to share this with us." Delia was also somewhat willing to forgive me now and was still sort of looking out for me as she declined to accept what I was offering.

"No Delia, I want to share this with you as I have come to care for all of you. This will never wash away what I did earlier and nor should it, I am not asking any of you to forgive what happened before because of what I am offering now." I tell them seriously before continuing in a similar manner- "What I actually want in return for me sharing this with you is your promise on not sharing what I divulge with anyone. Don't share it with your family even, at least not until you are confident in your own strength to protect yourself and them. I am really serious about this, my own mother was kidnapped when I was very young and no one in our family knows what happened to her so I know that our clan and those of the other supreme warriors have many enemies. They may target you in the future so I want you all to keep what I teach you a secret and work hard to grow powerful fast, the world is dangerous and you never know who you can trust and who you can't." I warn them.

They all swallow heavily after my strict warning and promise to keep this a secret, Delia even approaches me and gently squeezes my hand in comfort after finding out about what happened to my mother. She really is too nice for me I think in my heart, there is simply no way I will let her go or neglect her I promise myself.

"Right! Enough of all that now, I actually did have a picnic planned with food and all so who's hungry?" I call out after everyone promises to keep my secret. After getting a round of confirmation I turn around to the food basket I had made ready while unknown to me my dorm bros would have silently communicated behind my back. With a nod from Boss Yale, the three dorm bros would all pounce on me who was still busy setting up the food. They would tackle me clear off the blanket I had spread thus also saving the food from being tossed and spoilt, they then started beating me up in retaliation for earlier.

I wouldn't bother fighting back and just focus on protecting my head and nether region, I just let them vent out the frustration from earlier. There were some points where Dixie had half a mind to join in on pummelling me but eventually thought better of it, Delia was still trying hard to get us all to stop the nonsense. They stopped eventually and were all quite winded, though I was much stronger them physically I wasn't unscathed after that especially since I didn't defend myself much.

"Huff…Puff… There, now let that be a reminder for you to not do such stupid things instead of just talking to us." George tells me.

"Yeah, Third Bro, I sort of understand but was there really a need to beat us up so much. I still feel a bit bruised from earlier." Yale also complained.

"Haha, I have beaten up a powerful Dragonblood Warrior." Reynolds happily declares, he was actually one of the first to forgive me and was now just going along with the flow for the fun of it.

"Haha, really you guys…" I say with a smile before chanting a short life attribute healing spell that caused me to glow with a green light a bit and then I was fully healed.

"No fair…" Reynolds whined at seeing all the work he had done vanishing like mist under a hot afternoon sun.

"You can cast healing spells?" Dixie asks me to which I respond- "Yeah, I also used the same to heal all of you up. I really didn't want to hurt you after all but I did want to make you all aware that you will have to be careful in the future. I also wanted to impress upon you the importance of personal power, no matter what else, if you are strong enough, you will be able to deal with anything."

"Third Bro, that did not look like a water attribute healing spell also the last attack you used on us felt very different. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a spell from earth, wind, water or fire attributes, what was that exactly?" George was also a water mage so he knew a thing or two about it and with him being the most scholarly one in our dorm besides me, it was not much of a shock that he picked up all the small clues I dropped.

I spent the rest of the afternoon explaining some of my full capabilities as we all ate, I revealed much including my real multi-element affinities much to the shock of all my friends. To say they were shocked at the extent I was hiding my abilities was an understatement but when I told them that I would also be willing to share my understanding of each element they were happy. It was already well established among all of us that I was the best at magic theory and now with them knowing I was able to give them personal guidance on their elements, they were very pleased.

I also directly told them that I did not know everything as most of what I knew was self-taught after a few pointers based on my ancestor's teachings. Yale offered to cover up my weaknesses by offering to request a full set of magic theory books even for the higher ranks beyond the 6th from his family provided I help tutor him. It was well established now that I also had a talent for teaching where I could grasp complex concepts and then explain them in simpler terms, so he told me that all this was a small price for getting a good personal magic tutor. He also did mention that he would only be able to get me stuff related to the 7 elements though, the knowledge on the 4 edicts was truly very rare after all.

In the end everyone enjoyed my lunch and had much more to digest beyond the food after that. I then told them that I would be making a new schedule for the improved training I was going to have them undergo, I explained the gist of it to everyone much to the groans and complaints from Yale and Reynolds at having to work so hard. In the end before we dispersed, I requested for Dixie and Delia for a private word, I wanted to share my knowledge of their legacy as they really seemed clueless about it.

"Dixie, Delia, could I have a word with you two in private." I asked them. Delia seemed ready to comply and follow along but Dixie was still a bit hesitant and grabbed her hand, holding her in place.

"What is this about Linley? Why can't we just discuss it here?" Dixie asked, he had gone back to being a bit distant just like when I first met him. Looks like I have to spend quite a bit of time and effort to re-earn that trust it seems, oh well.

"Yeah, Third Bro, what is this all about that requires so much secrecy?" George asks as well.

"Look, all the things I shared so far were secrets of my clan or about myself so I had no issues sharing them with you all. What I need to discuss with these two involves some personal matters between our two clans and I don't think it would be appropriate for others to know about this. No offence to you guys, I am fine with sharing but this involves secrets of their clan as well so I cannot just make this decision by myself." I tell George and Dixie. They are from noble clans after all, so they understand these kinds of things.

Dixie is thinking about this really hard, to say he was not even a little curious was a complete lie. As far as he knows their Leon clan has no connection with the fabled Dragonblood Warrior clan so he has no idea what I want to discuss and is somewhat wary still. Seeing the doubts still on Dixie's face clearly, I recommend a middle ground. I take out my privacy ward enchantment project and after explaining about it and having everyone test it out, I led Dixie and Delia a little way away from my dorm bros and set up the ward so we could hold our discussion within. This way our conversation would be private enough and Dixie was also somewhat relieved to know that witnesses were close at hand to prevent foul play.

"So, what is this thing you want to discuss that is a personal matter between our clans, as far as I know my Leon clan has no prior dealings with your clan?" Dixie cuts straight to the chase.

"True, we have no relation or dealings with your Leon clan but we may have some relation to some of your ancestors and clan members from your mother's side." I explain to which both Dixie and Delia raise their eyebrows in curiosity.

"Look, I remembered a conversation I had with Delia before the end of last year about warrior training and the troubles the members of your mother's family seemed to have with it." I start off by means of explanation but am soon cut off by Dixie as he quickly turns to question his sister.

"You told him that? That was supposed to be a family secret, why would you tell him that?" He demanded of her.

"Oh, relax would you, it is not much of a secret anyway as our clan focuses more on magi and besides, we both have good talent for magic anyway. It is not that important if our family has a little trouble with Warrior training." She explains to which Dixie releases a groan of frustration.

"Ahem, anyway I couldn't help but notice that the problems your mother's family faces are similar to my own family's condition so over the holidays I went home and rechecked our clan records to see if they were any similarities or solutions." I decide to push on. Something also told me that now would not be a good time to tease Dixie about his childhood dream to be a warrior.

"Really?! What did you find? We are not related or something right?" Delia asks with curiosity as she was always curious about this matter. Dixie was quiet for once as he too was interested to know the reason for his family's odd condition.

"Well, we are not directly related, not as far as I could tell. You need to understand that all the four supreme warrior clans besides being powerful warriors and rising to fame in the same time period, also had some other similarities. Like for instance, did you know that the four supreme warrior clans were actually in an alliance with each other or the fact that their clan members could not cultivate with just any Qi technique and needed their own unique clan technique to cultivate Qi." I give them some clues.

"You don't mean… we are… are we?" Dixie asks in surprise. He was expecting a lot of things, but certainly not what I was currently implying. He was prepared for a lot of crazy things including me weaving up some story to try and convince him that his precious sister should be betrothed to me to fulfil some old agreement our ancestors had made, well it had happened before. He had one day over heard his father having a heated conversation with another noble head of house of the Yulan Empire over a similar topic, the other noble house in question had in fact turned up to propose a marriage alliance with both Dixie and Delia. The fact they had turned up after news of the two sibling's magical talents spread was telling enough about their actual intentions.

"That's right, I tested you two using some of your blood from… before. You two are descendants of the Grimori clan, more famously known as the clan of the Tigerstriped Warriors. Here, this rightfully belongs to you." I confirm their speculations and hand over their clan's training manual before continuing- "Like I said before, the 4 warrior clans were in an alliance and we had each entrusted the other with our secret training tomes just in case something were to happen to one of our clans." I add on.

Both Dixie and Delia are still in shock, their mouths are opening and closing like a goldfish with no words coming out. Eventually Delia grabs the book from her brother's hands and opens it to start reading its contents. Dixie soon snaps out of his dazed state and joins his sister reading his supposed clan's lost legacy. Before they get too into it though I warn them of all the possible dangers as well.

"Alright, you can both go over that slowly later, let me just explain the basics to you that my father had warned me of as I doubt that any seniors of your clan are in any position to do the same for you." I manage to pull their attention back to me for the time being at least.

"The first thing you need to be aware of is that you need to keep your legacy secret and only share with those you believe you can really trust. I took some time to actually get to know all of you including my dorm mates before I felt confident enough with sharing with them, in the end who you share with is up to you but as I had warned before, our clans have enemies so be cautious. That also means no telling your parents through some coded letter or something, wait until you see them face to face before sharing this with them." I warn them.

"Second, don't rush to train with the Qi methods mentioned in the training manual, as a general rule don't rush to train in any technique until you feel you have understood the principles enough. The four supreme warrior clans had great strength but they were also bound by some unique limitations. Take my clan for example, we simply cannot train our Qi if the concentration of our special dragonblood in our veins is lacking. To awaken and activate our dragonblood enough to train our legacy we need to ingest the fresh blood of at least a rank 9 dragon type magical beast. That is easier said than done as it very difficult to get the blood and all that doesn't even cover the fact that according to my father, every member of our clan who had tried this method died in a gruesome manner after failing to handle the violent energies of dragon blood." I continue lecturing them about all the things I thought were important.

"It was only recently that I found a work around for this issue but let's leave this matter aside for now. Your Tigerstriped Warrior legacy is a little different from my clan's technique after all and your clan's manual seems to have the appropriate warnings and tips. If you read through your clans Qi technique carefully you will find that your clan's seniors have set a minimum requirement that must be met before you can cultivate battle Qi. It warns all members that anyone wishing to train in the clan technique must have reached the 6th rank as a warrior in terms of their bodies alone and must have practiced the exercises included in there from a young age. Those exercises are important as they improve flexibility which seem to be vital for your clan, from what I could gleam. My understanding is that just like the speed and ferocity the Tigerstriped Warriors were known for, their Qi is much the same. If the practitioners' body is not strong or flexible enough to handle the fast and violent Qi, they could risk death from having all their bones broken and tendons snapped." I seriously warn them not to rush ahead and hurt themselves in their ignorance.

"Take it one step at a time, you have the training tome anyway now so there is no rush. Feel free to ask me anything if you have any doubts and I will do my best to help out." I finally finish and both the siblings seriously nod their head and thank me for my help. I then take down the ward I had put up and we join my dorm mates who had been waiting on the side patiently. We then pack up everything and head back to the institute proper.

The following days progressed as normal for me but for my friends… they felt like they had just stepped into hell after being shown a vision of paradise.

"Aaahhh… huff…puff… you are very… huff… mean Third Bro… puff… you enticed us… huff… with your… puff… amazing strength… huff… but neglected to… puff… tell us that…huff… the training… puff… would be so hard." Reynolds complained pitifully and the rest were in no better shape.

"Wheeze… I swear… pant… if I did not know better… pant… this was revenge for us beating you up at the picnic earlier… wheeze." George adds.

Those two still seem to be somewhat fine but the lazy Yale and the newcomers Dixie and Delia are out cold from the intense work out. This will not do I thought after 3 days since the start of the new training regime, I remember some stupidly intense workouts that I was forced into from my Transmigrator memories and I hated them, it got so bad that I hated it with a passion and dropped out of the whole thing entirely. I quickly decided to dial back on the intensity of the training for my friends as they seem to not be able to take much more of it.

I gave them a couple of days off so I could rework the training plan much to everyone's joy. They were suitably aware of the dangers of the world now and were all serious about improving their personal strength, they just preferred to be alive to experience the improvements they achieved. With all that in mind I set about to creating a personal training plan dedicated to each of my friends.

I eventually understood they were not like me, even Dixie and Delia who had the legacy of being members of one of the four supreme warrior clans could not bear the intense workout sessions like me. My condition and rapid progress seemed to be unique and the result of a combination of numerous factors. First off, with respect to me achievements as a mage I had to be grateful of the fact that I became a powerful soul mutate after the fusion of the old Linley and the Transmigrator. Any progress I have made since can only be considered fast if not monstrous like my initial growth and even that fast growth could be attributed to my unique methods of increasing spiritual essence via stone sculpting, cooking, music, etc.

With respect to my body's strengthening, my powerful spirit and mutated soul also helped me push past the limits multiple times and constantly endure the brutal pace I kept up. I knew that most damage would not be permanent for me as I could heal up using life magic which was hailed as the most potent recovery magic after all. I also not only had the fact of being from the Dragonblood Warrior clan to be thankful for but I was blessed with all-element affinity to fortify and strengthen my body enough to withstand the intense training I put myself through. I also supplemented all that with yoga and the Blood Essence Refinement technique for better effect.

Lastly, I was somewhat made aware of all the challenges I would have to face eventually thanks to the Transmigrator's memories as well as a good way to achieve my goals, with a clear target in sight I was able to constantly push my body past its limits and improve rapidly.

All this made my progress unmatched in all of the Yulan continent's history so far, so I thought it was reasonable to not expect the same potential and growth curve for everyone else. I severely cut back on the training load for all my friends after I realized all that, I still pushed their limits with every session but made sure not to completely break their limits and body to dust from now on. They were all still in awe of my training load as I made sure to train alongside them, that served to motivate them to continue to improve as I was not giving them some impossible tasks while taking it easy myself.

I readily shared my yoga techniques as well as the Blood Essence Refinement technique to supplement their body training. The yoga proved to be especially useful for Delia and Dixie as it complimented their need for a very flexible body quite well.

I also made sure to ask around for all of my friend's elemental affinities regardless of talent in it just in case so I could help them more easily, imagine my surprise when I found out that Yale and George had average affinities for light and darkness respectively that they had kept hidden from everyone else. We understood the reasoning behind it being the stupid political policies of the Radiant Church and Cult of Shadows so we were not bothered by it and promised to keep quiet about it and help them practice it as well. Reynolds only had exceptional fire affinity as far as he was aware, Delia had exceptional affinity for wind and high affinity for water and lastly Dixie had exceptional affinities for both wind and lightning with average fire affinity.

I also shared my quick spiritual essence growth techniques based on the affinities they had, so Yale picked up painting as he had average light affinity in addition to high lightning affinity, George took up both painting and calligraphy to compliment his water style, Reynolds took up cooking due to his fire affinity and both Delia and Dixie took up music as they had exceptional wind affinity.

With everyone more comfortable or at least no longer suffering under the new training load the year flew by and everyone saw remarkable improvements. Not even half way through the new year Yale, George, Reynolds and Delia had broken through the 2nd rank as magi and Yale, Delia and Dixie were solidly in the peak of 1st rank as warriors, the latter two having improved so quickly thanks to their supreme warrior heritage much to Yale's chagrin. George and Reynolds also managed to reach 2nd rank warrior before the end of the school year so that was great too. I for one easily advanced to peak of 6th rank as a mage and peak of 4th rank as a warrior. Training my body up was getting more and more difficult and I was no longer shooting up the ranks like before.

By then we had all come to an understanding to be careful and not reveal our power to outsiders easily so none of us took part in the year end tournament again. All of us also decided not to promote to the next grade too fast, the promotion to 2nd grade now would not seem strange as the gaps were small right now so we went for it. We decided to talk and discuss carefully before signing up for each grade promotion especially in higher grades. Dixie had already had a somewhat bad experience with too much attention in his first couple of years at the institute and now knew the value of blending in better. That was not to say we dragged our feet too long as that too would be suspicious and just decided to pace our promotions according to our first talent assessment and the average time taken by our peers. Even with all that I felt that our group was getting a little more attention than I wanted, oh well, guess we just have to be more careful no one spies on us or something.