04. Breath of Heaven and Earth

Time kept passing by and rumors about an intellectual prodigy spread through the Balvan family.

"I heard he was able to talk fluently only one year and a half after he was born"

"I heard that kid started running around every morning before breakfast only three months after he learned to stand up."

"You won't believe me, but I personally saw that kid going alone in the library of the guests' building trying to pull books out of the shelves. Believe me, I was doing the cleaning service there at that time, and I found him looking at the symbols on the book as if he could read. And he was only two at that time!"

"That's impossible, his mother's request to get him a teacher was approved two years and a half ago, are you saying that he knew how to read before he even got a teacher?"

"I'm only stating what I saw. I'm not sure he was reading, but he looked like he was trying to"

Rumors like those spread everywhere in the guests' building, passing from servant to servant.

While Noah was busy, forcibly pushing his body through its natural growth process, everyone else was waiting for the next record the bastard son would break.

Five years had passed since his birth in that world, with him working hard to improve himself and gain a stable foothold in the family.

He kept running every day, adding some light workout to bolster his still frail body.

That gave him a slim but rosy figure, and he felt like constantly growing stronger.

Yet, even if he was more robust than the average kid, he was still just a kid.

He would only do half an hour of training per day since that was the limit of his young body.

The rest of his daily routine was spent sleeping, reading, and eating large meals made of rice and meat.

Two and a half years before, he had finally obtained his teacher, so he could stop sneaking out at night, trying to decipher the strange symbols they called writing.

His teacher's name was Li Neregnes. He was one of the scholars hired by the main family to instruct their descendants, and his position in the family was quite high for a guest.

Noah's father, Rhys, personally accompanied him to the outer ring, underlying how much the instruction process should not be taken lightheartedly.

Apparently, the scholar position was of a higher rank than his in Rhys' eyes, since that was the first time Noah saw his father after his birth.

Li Neregnes was a man in his sixties, with grey hair tied in a ponytail and a short black well-kept beard.

He had an apathetic face as if nothing was of his interest and explained things in a slow but concise manner.

Yet, even that lofty character had to get used to Noah's attitude when he found out that he had learned how to read in less than six months.

After that, he would finish every book the scholar imparted him in less and less time, and he even had time to rent books of his interest from the library on the ground floor.

The servants were so used to him picking books that they would not even remind him to bring them back.

At the age of five, Noah had a general understanding of the topography near the mansion, of the social status of the Balvan family, and finally, he found something regarding cultivators.

Balvan mansion was situated in the countryside near the Evergreen Forest, called after the trees that are found in the area. The wide stone road that started from the main gate flowed into an even larger road that led to the nearest big city, Mossgrove, ruled by the Shosti family.

The Balvan family was an underling of the Shosti family and had to pay an annual tribute in gold or goods in order to keep its rule over their part of the countryside.

They were the landlords of the fifty square kilometers surrounding Balvan mansion and had to exact annual taxes from the villages in that area and protect them from the attack of bandits or magical beasts.

Magical beasts!

In that world, there were species of animals with the innate gift to absorb energy from the world and use it to empower their natural abilities.

The lance of flames used by the dragon years before was an example of how the energy of the world could be used to enhance its already powerful flames, by granting more range and a higher level of destructiveness.

Finally, about a year before, Noah had found a book about cultivation.

It was an old and heavy book, written by a cultivator who wanted to spread the notion of cultivation among the commoners, and that later became a classic of literature.

The cultivator's name was lost over time, but the name of the book was still known to all people of culture as the "Yin-Yang system".

'According to that book, the energy of nature is called "Breath of Heaven and Earth", and cultivators and magical beasts absorb and store it to empower their bodies, prolong their lives and use magical techniques. The "Breath" can be used as a means to boost physical performance and martial techniques or it can be linked to someone's own mental energy to release elemental attacks. The seven elemental types are light, darkness, fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning, and someone's aptitude to one of these is decided at birth. Generally, everyone has the aptitude toward one element, yet the difference in mental energy decrees their ability to manipulate that element.'

Noah was currently attending a lesson with Li Neregnes about philosophy in a room on the first floor of the guests' building, but his mind was constantly wandering the topics described in the "Yin-Yang system".

'Magical beasts have an innate ability to manipulate and absorb the "Breath", and they will learn to use it naturally in the course of their life, it can be said that their bloodline is quite advantageous according to this aspect. Yet, Heaven and Earth are fair, so most of them lack the intellect to properly use their gifts.'

'Humans, on the other hand, can make a lance out of rocks, and bow and arrows out of a tree, but they need techniques to absorb and use the "Breath" and even special devices to understand their aptitude toward an element.'

'No wonder this book wasn't destroyed by cultivators and managed to survive till now, even if you know the general theory behind those powers you can't do much without the proper techniques. The best this book can do is give a better understanding of the supernatural to normal people.'

'Heaven and Earth are fair he says, yet if you are born in a poor family, you can just dream about obtaining techniques. Even for me, being born in a family with cultivators, it's hard to say if I'll ever be able to take a look at these magical techniques... Fair my ass.'

Even though Li was engrossed in his exposition, he started to notice that Noah would just nod in answer every time he would look at him, while his eyes had been fixedly staring at the same point of the book in front of him for one hour.

A bit enraged, Li took a wooden stick from behind his back and slapped it on Noah's left arm.

SNAPP!!!

A slapping sound echoed, and Noah lifted his head to stare at his teacher while holding the spot where the stick had just hit.

"Are you still thinking about that cultivation nonsense? How many times do I have to tell you: don't waste your time. You are just a bastard of a medium-size noble family, even if the Balvan had some techniques, they are not meant for you. Moreover, literature is the real representation of humans, cultivation is just about killing and getting killed, there is nothing noble in that."

Li scolded him a bit apparently, that was not the first time Noah's mind wandered.

Actually, it was since he had finished the "Yin-Yang system" that he had completely lost interest in the study of literature.

After all, he had reached his objective of finding out more about the world of cultivation, so those lessons became only an annoying obligation.

"But teacher, even the wisest man has to bow his head to the weakest magical beast. If you don't have the power to protect yourself, all your knowledge is useless."

SNAPP!!!

Another hit of the stick landed on Noah's right arm.

To teacher Li's helplessness, Noah would just hug his arm and let a little grunt out with no trace of fear ever appearing in his eyes.

'What's wrong with this kid, I instructed the son of the patriarch's firstborn, and even now that he has turned twenty-five, he still fears my stick. This kid though...'

Those were the thoughts of Li Neregnes, incapable of taming a five-year-old kid.

"Never mind, just go rest and don't wander in the library all night like your usual. I'll see you again in two days, and you will have better forgotten about all that cultivation garbage."

Massaging his temples, he said that while pointing at the exit door.

At his words, Noah got up, picked his books, bowed, and then left the room.

****

Edited by: Alessandro Sica