Chapter 5

'Do you call this fire? Pah, this is nothing more than a spark.'

Ignoring Hadeon Karaş's bullying comment, he focused on controlling the fire he had created. Two years had passed since the mana test, and in that time he had completely read and understood the book Hadeon Raksa had given him as a gift. The book was about the creation and control of fire-type mana. It was truly strange that Raksa had given him such a thing after the results of the mana test, and no matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand why the man had done it. Yet, he was grateful to him. Thanks to him, his mana had increased very quickly. Moreover, the brown-haired man had not been satisfied with just this book, he had also gifted Hadeon books on different types of mana, or 'accidentally' dropped and forgotten them in his room. About a month ago, he had also 'accidentally' dropped a sword mastery technique. A rather valuable one...

When Hadeon heard footsteps approaching his room, he quickly dispersed the fire he had created and pretended to be looking out the window. He had done this just in time, because seconds later a servant entered and placed the evening meal on the table. The servant paused for a few seconds, looking at Hadeon, and then left as he had come. After taking a deep breath, Hadeon sat at the table and ate his meal, while also wrestling with his thoughts. Today was his 11th birthday. This meant that he would soon be able to leave this place. Every child of Phasnis blood who turned 11 went through training to become a sword master, and Hadeon would be no exception. He believed that the reason Raksa had given him all those books was for this purpose. He had wanted to tell him, in a way, to develop yourself until then and show what you can do. For this, he was indebted to the brown-haired man.

After finishing his meal, he approached his bed and reached for one of the books he had hidden under it. The brown-bound book was not something he could currently use. It was not a mana technique, but a sword technique. It was certain that he did not have a position where he could secretly bring or hide a sword in his room. He opened the book's cover and started reading. Thanks to the small help of Karaş and Raksa, he had quickly mastered reading. His dawn-colored eyes moved ceaselessly between the lines. When he was able to raise his head, he realized that it was completely night. Sleepiness had overcome him, and he felt too tired to resist Morpheus' call. So he decided not to push himself too hard and lay down. He had even forgotten that it was his birthday. Because if instead of sleeping, he had looked out the window a little longer, he could have seen the rising blood moon and the half-moons shining in a reddish color on his cheeks...

A few days after his birthday had passed. It was noon. Hadeon was enjoying the time he spent with several animal friends, until the door was knocked. Knowing who would enter, he fixed his eyes on the door. A few seconds later, Raksa had entered and was approaching him with a barely visible smile on his face.

"Hey Deon, how are you?" Raksa asked, using the ridiculous nickname he had given Hadeon.

Hadeon smiled in response and did something that surprised Raksa.

"I'm doing very well. Thank you for asking. How are you?"

As fiery letters appeared in the air, Raksa watched in amazement. This was from one of the books he had given Hadeon. It could be called a technique for creating a message based on mana control. Thanks to this, Hadeon, who had difficulty with communication, would now be able to express himself more easily. Raksa smiled and tried to pat Hadeon's head, but remembering at the last moment that the child didn't like it at all, he withdrew.

"It seems someone has made good use of their gifts."

"Yes. After all, it would be a shame not to use them."

Raksa's smile widened as he looked at the fiery letters created by the child.

"Anyway, do you know why I'm here, Deon?"

"Of course! Today is the day I start my training, isn't it?"

"Absolutely. We're going to the ninth training ground. That means we'll be using a carriage."

"Great. Then let's get going."

Raksa nodded in agreement, and he and the walking Hadeon left the room. As they walked through the corridors of the annex building, some servants began whispering to each other. This was something they were used to, so they ignored the unnecessary human crowd and completely left the building. A carriage was waiting for them outside. As Raksa helped Hadeon into the carriage, he made sure the child with dawn-colored eyes did not fall. He then got into the carriage himself and sat across from Hadeon. As soon as he sat down, the carriage started moving. While Hadeon watched the scenery outside, Raksa studied the child for a while. This gaze alone was enough to understand how much he had developed. He could easily see and feel the flow of mana circulating within the child.

The journey lasted about half an hour. When Hadeon got out of the carriage with Raksa's help, he examined the completely unfamiliar buildings a little. Noticing this, Raksa gave him some time to inspect.

"It's nice that you find this place interesting, Hadeon, but we must go now. You wouldn't want to be late, would you?"

Hadeon looked at Raksa and nodded with a smile. Being late was the last thing he wanted right now. Inevitably, he would be exposed to the gaze of his peers, and if he was late, he knew these gazes would increase. So he followed the walking Raksa.

'I can't believe they really accepted you into the training! Why didn't they abandon you from the very beginning?! You're a useless piece of trash!'

'Of course, whatever you say,' Hadeon replied silently in his mind. He had really gotten used to Karaş's comments. Of course, this didn't mean he wasn't affected by them at all.

After a few minutes of walking, Raksa stopped in front of a door and turned to Hadeon.

"I can't accompany you from here. You'll have to handle the rest on your own."

Hadeon nodded in agreement.

"Good luck, my boy," Raksa said and started to walk away.

Hadeon watched Raksa's back for a few seconds before turning back to the door in front of him.

'Why are you standing there, you brat? Don't you have the courage?' Karaş taunted.

Hadeon pushed aside the god's words that were trying to dampen his morale and, suppressing the tension he felt, opened the door. There were about twelve people inside. Half of the novices who would participate in the training had not yet arrived. When Hadeon entered, all eyes turned to him. The child with dawn-colored eyes tried to ignore them and went to a corner, but he couldn't help but listen to the whispers.

"Isn't that him..? That Phasnis who was born crippled..."

"Yes, that's him. I've heard he's mute. And now he's deaf too. Why did they even take him into the training?"

"Forget about taking him into the training, why are they keeping him here in the first place? He's nothing more than a crippled bastard..."

"I heard his father was an escort..."

"Seems like it might be true... Just look at him, how... He looks like he belongs here."

As the conversations turned into something disgusting, Hadeon wished he could cover his ears. But once he started listening, he couldn't stop himself. Trying to find something else to focus on, the thought of the status window came to his mind. This could occupy him for a short time.

[Status Window]

[Name: Hadeon Caelum Phasnis]

[Title: Simurg of the Bloody Moon]

[Current Status: Karaş's Curse, Primal Fire, Physical Weakness, Mana Restriction, Batur Han's Blessing]

[Abilities: Flower of Fire, Vulpine Perception, Wrath of Simurg]

Strength: 63

Agility: 71

Endurance: 80

Mana: 41

Spirit: 11

Perception: 114

Anger: 20

In two years, his statistics had only risen this much. The points he had gained very quickly at the beginning had gradually started to decrease. Probably the reason for this was that the things he had to do to gain points with his rising scores were gradually becoming easier. If he understood correctly, the thing he needed to do to gain high points in this scoring system was to test himself with increasingly challenging methods. Of course, he could choose not to do this, but since it would cause his points to rise much, much slower, it was definitely not his preference. The characteristic with the most satisfactory statistical score he had right now was perception. It had already reached triple-digit numbers, and was far ahead of the others. The fact that his perception stat was this high wasn't that surprising, actually. The occasional forbidden books Raksa brought him were above his level of perception, and every time he read one and started to understand it a little, points were added to his perception. The use of perception was an interesting but highly useful ability. Even when used passively, it could tell the living beings moving within a certain area and what they were. When used actively, he could see the events in the area he concentrated his perception on, as if he were actually there himself... just like he was barely sensing the presence of the instructor now entering.

His perception had not deceived him. In less than a minute, a man with dark green hair had entered. He was quite tall and had a milky white complexion. His blue eyes shone in the sunlight as he surveyed the new students one by one.

"Alright, everyone look this way! Gather up! You are all here for the novice sword mastery training. I will be the instructor guiding your training from now on. My name is Arran Hayes, but you will know me as Instructor Arran! Now, if everything is understood, I would like to start the training of my newbies with a little test."

With these last words, a smile formed on the green-haired man's face. This was more the smile of a sadist preparing to enjoy a torture, rather than that of an instructor. While most of the children in the training area shuddered at this smile, Hadeon was secretly smiling under his impassive expression. It seemed this Instructor Arran would provide him with more than he expected...

'Hmm? That grass head...'

With Karaş's voice, Hadeon's attention turned to his mind.

'Are you talking about the instructor?'

'Who else could I be talking about, you stupid brat! He's the only grass head here! Well, his strength isn't too bad, but still, he's nothing more than a bug for the great Karaş.' Karaş said, praising himself.

'Yes, whatever you say.'

'Are you even listening to me!?'

Hadeon tried to ignore the god's shouts, which was not easy at all. Fortunately, Instructor Arran clapped his hands to indicate they were about to start.