DEPARTURE.

He was finally leaving.

He was finally leaving Earth and going to see the world beyond it. Looking at his surroundings with excitement visible in his eyes and looking up at the blue clear sky, memories couldn't help but pop up in his head. Memories he was probably going to miss a bit…

"EJ, come on, why do you still keep staring, you've been looking around with weird eyes for so long now". Ijin found himself tipping the corner of his lips up into a smile hearing the voice that spoke up as he replied, "You act like you're aren't going to miss it, but you're probably the one going to bawl and cry when we take-off".

Today was the day they were leaving and heading to the legion's headquarters, he met up with Damian and Ayo, his two best and only good friends, yesterday. And they were both awed and excited when they heard from him that the chance the three of them had been waiting for, to leave earth to explore the space beyond, had finally come. They had so many thoughts and speculative questions that they had spoken all afternoon and night before they eventually knocked off early this morning and barely got any sleep in. They all had to sleep over at Ayo's home, where they stayed all day, stuffing themselves with food nonstop as they sat in his room that doubled as his little lab. Ijin wasn't entirely sure about most things though, so the three of them had let their imaginations go wild with loads of crazy thoughts.

"I would cry?!, heck that's the funniest thing I've ever heard, don't make me pass some gas", Ayo was originally a scoundrel fatty, so his words had always tended to sound like one, as he spoke, he made a face that made it seem like he was having a constipation. Ijin and Damian immediately distanced themselves from him in a swift step sideways.

"Stop making a fuss and let's get going, stay close together" then Kasali showed up behind them with Maria walking past them as she looked up at the sky for a brief moment. it was Kasali that spoke, smacking Ayo in the back of the head as he passed by them,

"Brats, you all have to get ready, the legion isn't a place where you can dally along, it's where real warriors are born, the exercises I've had you go through will be multiplied dozens of times, you gotta be ready for it, there's a reason why the legion can reign as one of the supreme forces in the Oasis.".

"Old man keeps on lecturing every single time", he didn't dare speak up but Ayo couldn't help but grumble silently. Unfortunately, Kasali was able to pick up on his words clearly, making steam almost come out of his head. "Who are yo-" Kasali was just about to lash back at the boy when Maria cut him short,

"Alright that's okay, we're leaving now. …Reina, bring us up" she spoke to keep Kasali quiet and then suddenly spoke out like she was talking to herself. The trio looked up but didn't notice anything, until a response came moments later and the group of boys noticed a semi-transparent ray of light appear around them. Immediately after that, their visions darkened.

When they were able to perceive light with their eyes again, they were standing on a silver platform that screamed sleekness to them along with the interior of where they were now currently stood. Sadly the boys weren't focused on that as what they felt just now had their eyes displaced to the back of their heads…

"Awwww…" the sound of groaning was first heard from Ayo, who eventually slumped on the ground after trying to stand with wobbly legs "The h*ck just happened right now, my head feels like it just went on a rollercoaster ride, aww…", in the end they all managed to barely get themselves together, "I think I'm gonna be sick", maybe not…

"Wimps" Kasali muttered under his breath.

They seemed to be in somewhere like a hallway, they were able to see three different paths on their left, right and front views, the lights coming from hemi-spherical protrusions on the ceiling reflected on the walls that gave off a deep vibe with its deep black coloring.

"What you're feeling right now is an aftereffect of the rip space teleportation technology employed to bring you boys up, you should and will get used to it", suddenly they heard a voice speaking, and were immediately drawn to its beautifully pleasant and attractive tone. When they looked to see who was talking, the three teenage minds went blank.

Although she was in what they recognized to be a one-piece battle suit that wasn't too tight or revealing, it couldn't hide the fact that she was a fine movie to watch with a heart shaped face and a perfectly proportioned jaw, pink lips that were slightly full and a body that couldn't be any more curvy, and although her hair wasn't the silvery-white color like Ijin or deep black like Damian's, it seemed to have a special appeal with its red coloration that matched the blood-red color of her eyes.

All in all, she was a real blockbuster and the males in the group standing on the platform seemed to agree with that.

Ayo in particular had his mouth open for a while before he instinctively spoke up "Wow…". "The brat has a good eye at least", the one to mumble was Kasali who was also staring and he immediately got jabbed in the side by a woman who looked to be in her late thirties, "You're still ogling women at the age you are, you should be ashamed".

His ears went red and his face heated up at the comment "Of course I'm not, I simply noticed he has good eyes. Nothing wrong in that, is there Matilda?".

"…Hmph" she stared at him silently for a while before looking away not bothering to say anything more.

"Boys, this is my assistant Raven, she's mostly going to be the one with you guys at times when I'm not present alongside Kasali". Maria finally spoke up breaking the perverted silence in the air.

At this point, Ijin was barely able to become clear headed again as he tried to speak up, "It's uh… nice to meet you". He stretched out a hand for a handshake with a polite gesture which Raven then held and gently shook with an amused look in her eyes. It wasn't odd or embarrassing for her that the boys reacted like that on seeing her for the first time, she got reactions like that a lot, but it was surprising that the boy shaking hands with her was able to clear his head much faster than usual especially since he was still a pre-evolved that hadn't synergized yet, hence not having much developments yet. With this, he became a tad more interesting to her.

While these thoughts passed through her mind, Ijin almost lost his head again at the feel of her hands but held it in. "My name's Ijin, and these two are Damian and Ayo",

"Of course I know that. A heir of the legion can't be unknown…" 'A heir?, I'm not the only heir?', he thought to himself as he heard what she said clearly so he didn't doubt his ears. He looked to his mother and seeing she only kept on smiling, he decided to ask about it later instead.

"Alright boys, your luggages are in the quarters you'll be staying in for the journey on board, Mathilda will take you there, so you should go get some rest, while I'll be there in a while with some snacks to pass the time with".

The room Mathilda opened for them was one that was like that of a king's chamber from ancient times. They felt surprised and intrigued but the reason for the surprise wasn't only for the room's size, but also the fact that the whole space was made to look like they were still back on Earth, like it was a separate space from the rest if the spaceship. Mathilda noticing their awe smiled slightly as she walked towards the kitchen and inwardly wondered when Ijin would finally adapt to his proper status and level if only a trivial room space could excite him so, in fact, if it wasn't for the fact that Maria didn't want the boys bored and hence put them together, there were readily two equally sized bedroom that was set aside, but Maria felt it better for them to be in the same room and keep each other's company. 'In the end, he's currently only a young boy' such was the thought she eventually concluded on as she moved briskly with expectation for the future.

Moving further down the hallway, she moved straight down for some time and reached a place that had the same device like the one she and the others had appeared on and moved to step under it as she muttered words to no one in particular "Command hallway". As she said it, the platform under her feet lit up for a second before dying out with Mathilda nowhere to be found.

And then she appeared on a similar platform in a hallway with silver walls, moving straight down she came the front of a silver door which was well endowed in size and for a second, a white net patterned beams of light moved over her whole figure before going off and then like a 'ghost', that they all seemed to be, she moved through the giant silver door. Moving through the door, she came into a room that boasted several screens and chairs here and there that brought the scene of a command center from a Star wars movie to mind, within the room was Maria and Kasali looking through the ship and watching the boundless dark void within their sight.

"Ahhh… I think I may have missed the sight of this a little, how nauseating, the Xinite glass used to forge the entire head of the ship had always been a good idea.", Kasali with a pleased and relaxed look on his face was saying as Mathilda walked in.

"Of course you did… the boys should be settled in by now right?" Maria agreed with a smile then spoke up as she felt Mathilda's presence, "Yes, they should be getting comfortable right now. Why don't you have them go through the ceremony right now when there's nothing wrong?" Mathilda asked a slight perplexing look in her eyes, "I don't need to rush it, it's not a ceremony that will take a long time anyways, let have them have some more time to themselves".

After Mathilda left the boys, the unruliest of the three ran to the big round bed in the center of the room and jumped on it. Using his body to claim the big feather-soft bed Ayo spoke up "I could get used to this real quick, wait… I already am, having a friend like you is a blessing from my past life Ijin". Ijin rolled his eyes at the comment knowing fully well how much he liked to exaggerate things like this.

While the wealth and lifestyle may not compare to the amount as a family of the legion that Ijin had learned about recently, he knew Ayo and his family could easily afford the trivial things like a spaceship like this and beds like this within their home in their real estate.

"I choose the high bed on the left" for the first time in a while Damian spoke up, claiming ownership over another bed in the big room. There were three places to sleep on in the room, there was the big extra comfy looking bed in the center, the high bed on the left that was basically just a bed supported in the air with a sort of levitation technology that kept it floating in the air and a hammock type bed that was suspended from the ceiling of the room.

"Guess I'll take the hammock then" Ijin said after Damian claimed possession of the high bed. Then a silence prevailed in the room, it wasn't an awkward kind but the comfortable type.

Ijin walked to a corner in the room that caught his eyes, it was a cubic space cut into the wall that displayed books of various colors and sizes. Immediately interested, he took one with the title "Elemental Cultivation".

Although he had heard about the two paths of cultivation, namely the Elemental and Spiritual path, he had actually never been told anything about them yet. Kasali always told him to be patient and wait till the right time. Now that he could start cultivating at any time, since the opportunity to learn about the intricacies presented itself to him, he naturally wouldn't pass it by.

Opening it, he began reading and pretty soon forgot about anything else, even when Ayo posed some absurd questions as he usually and joked around, he didn't realize it. It was until he and Damian raised their heads to check and they determined the cause to be the book in his hand did they leave him be.

Although intrigued neither of them went to the bookshelf themselves to look through it, Ayo usually had a hard time keeping focus when reading and Damian felt the need to train his punches and kicks some as he went over to the training dummy placed at another point in the room, this one here though was of a higher quality.

And so they passed the time doing their individual things and it was until when Mathilda came back with the snacks about more than an hour later that Ijin was able to stop his reading. He had learned a lot. Although it was mostly only on the fundamentals, he could finally say he knew more of it.

When the Old people of the ascended Earth began to awaken, a divide was established. Although all humans gained the ability to cultivate and affinity to wield the elements, not all of them possessed bloodlines. A bloodline is an inherent strength passed down through the DNA situated within the genetic make-up of a person's primary cells, it was a symbol and proof of a great strength from the past age and a display of talent and strength as it had various uses. One of those uses being the ability to induce better synergy between the human body and environment and hence open the body to further cultivation.

It was said that those without bloodlines were able to awaken their affinities with the help of mnemonic chants, infact even those with bloodlines used mnemonic chants, the difference was when the moment of awakening arrived, what awakened was their bloodlines which would automatically lead to synergizing, those that only awakened elemental affinities couldn't undergo such effortless synergizing. So after synergizing, one became a red star warrior and for one that also awoke spiritual powers, a red star warlock. After the red star stage was the orange star, the yellow star, the green star, the blue star, the purple star, the violet star, the white star, the black star, the silver star and finally the golden star, it was all amazing to read for Ijin who took it all in.

After about an hour after they ate the snacks Maria brought and the boys were just lying on their respective beds, a knock came from the door after which it opened up with no delay. Not bothering to give the boys any face in the least, Kasali intruded into their room without delay. He said to them, "Get down and out of your beds, it's time to take your first little baby steps on the journey ahead of you". And then he left the room, waiting outside in the hallway while the boys inside exchanged looks of excitement with one another, they could somewhat guess what was about to happen.