Yao Jun.

The morning sun had just risen, but Yao Jun's upper body was already drenched in sweat, his fists sore and aching. He had a handsome face with smooth features. His black hair cascaded down his back, sticking to his skin. His eyes were underlined by signs of sleep deprivation, but his black eyes still sparkled like the stars in the light of the morning sun. He wore an emerald robe that almost made him blend into the forest.

He stood in a horse stance in front of a tree, the spot on the tree directly in front of him was devoid of any bark, instead only holding the faint outline of a fist. Every day, Yao Jun would wake up before the sun rose to take a light run through the forest, ending up in front of this tree. He would then take up his stance and rhythmically punch the tree, slowly strengthening his fist and increasing his endurance against pain.

Yao Jun had been doing this every day for almost 7 years. He started when he was 8 years old and hadn't missed a day since he started. He had just recently turned 15, but he still kept up his habits.

When he was 7 and his inborn spell turned out to be a dud, a useless spell, he was crushed, but thanks to the urging of his parents, he started doing physical exercise. If he couldn't become a mage, he should just become a warrior instead. It was less lucrative, but if he did good enough, the clan would still provide for his parents.

Yao Jun had been training for 7 years, but all he had to show for it was a body that was slightly stronger than his peers, but if he fought with them he would still lose. The only reason for this was because their inborn spells were better than his, allowing them to use it in combat. They could also use their Qi to strengthen their bodies, achieving in a short instance what had taken Yao Jun 7 years of hard work to accomplish.

Yao Jun had always found it unfair that he who worked so hard got worse results than others who worked less than him, but as he grew older, he simply came to accept it. All he could do was chalk it up to his own misfortune, if he had gotten a proper inborn spell, he would probably have it just as easy as the other kids of the Yao clan.

His inborn spell was a summoning spell that manifested as a small gate located next to his heart, but it was defective, it couldn't summon anything, the gate was empty. Due to this Yao Jun could only go the physical route in training, using hard work and the Raw Qi in the air to slowly strengthen his body.

"Jun'er, you should come home now, breakfast is ready." Just as Yao Jun was about to continue his training, a warm voice rang out from behind him.

Turning around, Yao Jun saw a middle-aged man with a slight stubble head towards him. The man's head was covered in brown hair and was well built, his face carried a warm smile.

"Just a few more minutes father, I feel like I can go a bit further today." Yao Jun spoke politely. This man was his father, Yao He, the man who had taken care of him all his life.

Even when his inborn spell turned out to be a dud, he wasn't disappointed, he simply showed Yao Jun all the other options he had available to him and encouraged him to chase after his dreams with his all, no matter how low his starting point was.

"Now now, be patient, even the mightiest oak was once just a tiny seed." The man gave a small laugh as he looked at his son, others may not know, but he had seen how hard his son always worked.

"What you plant now, you will harvest later.." Yao Jun tried to give an excuse, but his father had already grabbed him by the shoulder and started dragging him back to their house.

"Yeah yeah, stop being so cheeky and using my own sayings against me. Breakfast will get cold and at that point, your mother will scold both of us." Yao He gave a laugh as he dragged Yao Jun towards a small cottage a short walk out of the forest.

Entering the house, the smell of warm soup and bread hit Yao Jun. After entering the door and heading into the kitchen, he sat down at the table that was filled with a fragrant soup, some bread, and some steamed vegetables.

Already sitting at the table was a mature woman with long black hair, black eyes, and smooth features. She wore a kind smile and poured a bowl of soup for Yao Jun. This woman was Yao Jun's mother, Yao Xun, it was from her Yao Jun got most of his features.

They sat around the table eating their food in a tranquil silence. They were part of the Yao clan branch family located in Flying Fish Town, it was only a small town, so there was rarely anything happening. Yao Jun spent most of his time training or studying in the library, rarely being at home.

The excuse he used was that he simply wanted to get in some more training, but how could he hide anything from his parents? Both his parents had inborn spells that could be used in combat, so they used to be part of the main clan's combat corps, only retiring when his mother was pregnant with him.

Both his parents had good inborn spells and even had a glorious history of fighting for the main clan, but he himself only had a dud inborn spell, he was ashamed of his own inadequacy, so all he could do was train his body and study. But even then the results he got were barely on par with the results of the other kids who had good inborn spells.

They never said it out loud, but his parents were always worried about him, for him they had even left the main Yao clan, coming to this tiny branch so that he wouldn't be bullied because of his inborn spell.

Coming to the branch clan led to the quality of his parents lives dropping, no longer getting the same delicacies that they got in the main clan. This was another thing Yao Jun regretted, that his parents had to make their own lives worse just because of him.

To him, all the encouragement his parents gave him were like hot coal, forcing him to walk forward faster and faster. He wanted his parents to have a better life, to no longer worry about him and be proud of him, so every single word of encouragement they gave him became both another one of their hopes that he had to fulfill, as well as another piece of motivation to work even harder.

Finishing his bowl of soup and the bread, Yao Jun gave his thanks for the food before heading out again. There was no times for breaks, if he wanted to get anywhere, he would have to put in at least twice the effort of everyone else.