Progress?

"What a coincidence, kid," Shang's tone sounded almost like he was trying to hide something. The man hurriedly dried the boy, Kayden should learn this type of magic, it could be very useful.

"That wasn't a coincidence, was it?" Kayden was sure that the blonde must have been waiting for him at some meeting point and, when Shang didn't show up, he was tied to a tree.

"Of course not, Kayden, stop being so suspicious," the man hid the bottle of drink behind his back.

"You forgot, didn't you? Did you get too lazy to wait, did you come here to spend some time and forget?", Kayden got it right by Shang's embarrassed look, but it would be easier to get milk out of a stone than to make that shameless person admit something.

"Of course not, Kayden, it's just a coincidence of fate, now get out of the entrance, you're disturbing the customers", there weren't even 5 people in that place and hardly anyone would arrive in the rain.

'Shameless,' Kayden cursed in his mind as he was pulled to a random table.

"Give me another shot of this joke here," Shang pointed to his bottle, "and bring…what do you want, Kayden? I'll pay this time," that was the furthest he would get from an apology from Shang.

The man probably used the club's bathroom to avoid having to pay for water use in his own home.

'Stingy', Kayden spread a macabre smile on his face. Shang didn't like that smile.

"I want 3 portions of the most expensive item on the menu and 2 snacks with everything included", Shang almost didn't get up to take the order sheet from the waiter's hand and stick it in the boy's dick.

But he controlled himself, sometimes sacrifices were necessary for the greater good. Conjuring a bubble of mana, the blonde turned to the boy.

"And then? How it was? You were only there for 5 days", 5 days? Kayden looked like he had spent weeks down there, every time the guide turned him off he felt brand new, almost like he woke up to a new day.

"It was good, I managed to lose my fear of killing and even reached the 5th rank", the boy was unable to continue speaking when he was interrupted by Shang.

"5th Rank!? What the fuck is this?!" Shang was sure that the boy was still a long way from advancing on stage the last time they met. 8 years old and 5th rank, this talent was at the level of the top geniuses in the kingdom.

But that wasn't the big problem. Rank was something easy to climb when you had talent. That's right, talent. But Kayden was a mere level 1 natural talent. The math didn't add up.

"I had an epiphany that helped me breakthrough," now it made sense to Shang, an epiphany was something truly magical. Often, people were able to understand in hours or days things that would take years and years.

"I see, any more gains? How was your combat performance?" Shang seemed to know a lot about the test.

"I did well, I learned a lot, it opened my mind on how to use my spells to maximize their effect with my fighting style", Kayden began to explain some of his changes while they waited for the dishes.

"I see, what about your psychological evaluation?" Kayden took a moment to respond as the plates were placed on the table.

"Broken", Kayden didn't know how to put into words the result given by the guide, broken was what best summed it up. Shang was silent for a few seconds before starting to respond.

"I did the same training when I was 10 years old," Kayden was surprised, it was difficult to tell the right age of people at that time, increasing realms granted a lot of longevity. "My test was healthy," a cynical smile appeared on his face.

The two continued their meal calmly and when the rain passed, Shang offered to accompany Kayden to the train station. The boy knew the last question was about to come. In the end, the training had only one purpose.

"I almost died in the first fight I had, but it was an opponent far below my rank at the time, it took me a long time to forgive myself, there were hours and hours of conversation", the blonde seemed to be immersed in memories. "I killed 6 people," the man let out a sigh.

6 peoples? Kayden was surprised. That was low, he killed 15 people himself. As soon as he thought about it, the boy realized. 15 murders, he was practically a serial killer. Maybe he went a little overboard.

"How many people have you killed, boy?" There was the question of millions, Kayden didn't know what to answer. Should he tell the truth? He already told Shang the result, his number couldn't be low.

"9 people, Shang," Kayden decided to play it safe, he didn't want Shang to think of him as a psychopath. "I'm not going to fight at the club for a while, I need to digest everything I've learned", the boy tried to change the subject.

"Relax, when you get back…" Shang didn't find the right words to delicately ask what he wanted.

"Yes, I will participate in life or death fights", Kayden knew what the blonde wanted. The two continued their way in silence.

Kayden was fully aware that at some point or another, he would have to participate in this sport. It was inevitable on the path to power. The path to the top could not support the weak and to be strong he must push himself to the limit again and again.

As they said goodbye, Shang left one last warning for Kayden.

"Come find me when you are ready, I need to pass on some teachings before you participate in life-and-death fights," Kayden nodded.

....

2 months later, a boy could be seen on a mountain peak. The peak was a projection outward from the mountain; it was a piece of land suspended in the air. The winds were strong and violent.

But that was no big deal, the strange thing was that well… there was a huge storm in place. The rain fell nonstop on the ground. Tirelessly, as if his goal was to tear down the mountain through his insistence.

Lightning should be seen in a storm of this magnitude, but there was a large metal rod, rising at least 10 meters into the air. This was not the work of nature.

BOOM!!

The shrill sound of lightning was heard. The metal rod absorbed all the energy coming from the lightning and distributed it onto the mountain floor. Kayden didn't even sway at the loud sound.

His clothes were soaked and his bones were practically frozen, but it didn't matter, the boy was getting closer and closer to understanding something essential. A few minutes and a few dozen more lightning strikes later, the storm stopped.

'Failure,' Kayden sighed. But what was he doing there? To do this we have to go back to a small fragment of memory.

...

Kayden met with Heimer as soon as he arrived from his daily training. The boy didn't notice anything different about Kayden, but as the two used to eat in the living room, the old man found them.

"Kayden? 5th rank? I'm crazy?" For a second, the old man couldn't believe his eyes. Heimer stood frozen for a moment before jumping at the boy.

"TELL ME KAYDEN, WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE?" This was the only plausible explanation for the boy's level to rise so much in such a short time. Jesus, it hadn't even been 6 months since his last progression.

"Very well," the boy let out a sigh, his expression was serious, making the old man and Heimer pay attention to him. "This is something I developed with a lot of effort with David, I'm only going to tell you two because you're my family."

The atmosphere became quiet, the two did not expect the boy to bring up such a delicate topic out of nowhere.

"Father, please erect a barrier, this secret is capable of causing a civil war," his tone was serious, causing Han to erect the barrier without asking any further questions.

"Kayden, you don't need to tell your secrets, everyone has theirs", Heimer started to feel a little bad, it seemed like he had pressured Kayden into this.

"It's okay, Heimer, I've wanted to do this for a while," Kayden sighed. "First you must simulate the lightning in your hands", he demonstrated the process, and the three did it together.

Kayden showed a few more steps where he circulated his mana and held the lightning in his hands. It seemed like completely random steps to both of them, but they continued without asking questions.

"Very well", the three were already sweating, the boy made them spend a lot of focus on their concentration. "Now the final step, raise the beam to its maximum power without it killing a human being and... each place their beam in the other's leg."

The two did so without hesitation. Before they started struggling, they could see the wide smile on Kayden's face. A few seconds later, the two woke up.

They found themselves sprawled out on the floor covered in drool.

"It looks like we failed the last step, how about we do it again?" The miscreant's voice can be heard waking them both up from their stupor. Heimer was the first to compose himself and stand up.

AN: hello readers, I got original works to feature, so I'll be releasing two chapters today, thanks for the support