Rune Teacher

'I guess I have to wait for mother to tell me...'

Cyrus sighed but there wasn't much he could do, he limited himself to read the rest of the book and skimmed through the other.

The next day Oriana had Cyrus follow her after breakfast into the Grand Hall, by now Cyrus understood that the Grand Hall was where they greeted visitors.

When they reached there, a person with reflective gray robes stood radiating pride.

'Is this guy going to be the snobbish kind?'

Cyrus could already feel the headache what kind of teacher he would be when suddenly a surge of Ki appeared beside him.

Runes started to appear in space itself as it tore it apart and a passageway was created.

"Finally." A voice echoed from the passageway and before Oriana and the gray robed person could react the passageway collapsed and in its place was an old man with red robes, it had bright blue, golden and dark red designs.

When Oriana saw his robes she quickly reacted, "Junior greets Ancestor!" Oriana quickly bowed with her hands together.

The gray robed man was similarly stunned and stared at the Ancestor in awe, hearing Oriana's greeting he quickly greeted the Ancestor.

"It is the fortune of a lifetime for me to meet Ancestor!"

The Ancestor didn't bother to reply to him and dismissed their bows.

"Who's the one here with Prodigy grade rune talent?"

Oriana and the gray robed man looked puzzled and the Ancestor took notice.

"Hmm... then who was the one that had their talent graded yesterday?"

"That would be my son... however his grade was Genius in Runes."

The Ancestor didn't reply and simply waved his arm, runes appeared in the air around Cyrus and sunk into his skin. Cyrus hurriedly checked his insides, the runes passed his skin and entered his bloody. It circulated around his body, entering all crevices of his body.

Cyrus started to feel a little violated when it dissipated suddenly.

"I was wrong... we have a divine level talent here..." The Ancestor's voice was solemn but Oriana and the gray robed man both had faces of shock, especially Oriana, maybe it was because he was her son that she received even more shock.

"Kid, what's your name"

"I'm... my name is Cyrus. Cyrus Igni."

"Cyrus, I am one of three Ancestors of the Fire Phoenix clan, Ignatius. Do you take me as your runic teacher?"

Cyrus wasn't sure, in the first place he wasn't even sure of this ancestor's capabilities. Sure he tore a hole in space, but in his mind it was something anyone could do when they were strong enough.

Cyrus stole a glance at his mother and when she noticed nodded her head faster than a woodpecker.

"...Okay...?"

Oriana facepalmed at his answer, and transmitted a Ki message into his head.

[You're suppose to kowtow three times! Then say I, Cyrus Igni take Ignatius Igni as my master.]

Cyrus quickly got on the floor and did as she said, finishing with, "I, Cyrus Igni take Ignatius Igni as my master."

Ignatius dismissed his first reply and simply turned around and opened another runic space passageway.

"Come."

Cyrus glanced worriedly at his mother but it seemed she had endless trust in Ignatius. Seeing no escape Cyrus stepped into the crack.

Cyrus suddenly felt like he entered an aquarium, there was a walk space and around him was a truly invisible barrier he couldn't see blocking off some purplish glittery liquid. In the distance was a white light like the end of a tunnel.

'Let's hurry I don't feel good about this place...'

When Cyrus left the passageway, he immediately felt burdened yet his body screamed in ecstasy. The energy in this place was Immense, it's density was so high he was physically burdened by it.

Cyrus was sweating just trying to stay standing, he didn't notice Ignatius standing before him.

Ignatius saw this and nodded, it was better if the kid was a clean state.

"Follow this and circulate it."

Ignatius tapped his finger on Cyrus's forehead and information poured into Cyrus's mind.

'The Body of Steel?'

Cyrus couldn't think much as he was getting tired. Cyrus circulated the art and he immediately felt his body growing stronger. When he felt the burden lift a little Cyrus read the entire manual to see what it did.

'Body cultivation... Increases overall statistic of body, has an unlimited amount of growth. Grows through taking damage, when enough stress is taken the art can go to the next step.'

When Cyrus finished scanning the manual his body had already received enough stress and advanced to the next step. The art could passively collect stress and advance but the efficiency of collecting stress was extremely low.

Cyrus circulated the art so it could collect more stress so he could quickly lift this burden. Time seemed to blend as he focused, when the burden lifted Cyrus looked around him and saw Ignatius nowhere.

He was in a bedroom of some kind, it had an old historical Chinese look. A red robe similar to Ignatius was folded neatly before him, a note on it read, 'Take a shower when you wake, if you had impurities in your body the art would have forced them out. Wait in this room for me, if you feel hungry just ask someone outside to bring you food.'

Cyrus found black slime stuck to his skin and smelled terrible, he had to hold in the urge to puke.

After changing into his robes Cyrus didn't wait and peeked his head out the sliding doors, as he glanced to the sides there was a maid to the right and a lady in red robes to the left, the maid seemed to be dozing off.

"Um... excuse me but can I ask if master mentioned when he'd be back?"

The maid a little startled by my voice stammered, "M-master told me to inform young master that he would return before night. Young master, is there something you need?"

The maid bowed and looked at the ground, disallowing me from seeing her face.

'Is she doing this out of respect or because she was drooling...'

Cyrus glanced at the warrior who hadn't moved.

'And her... did Ignatius sent her to guard me? Where is this anyways?'

"Yes, what time is it"

"Young master, it is 3 pm."

"Right... why are you calling me young master by the way?"

"Master informed us when you arrived that you are his disciple, so you are naturally the young master."

"Right... where is this place anyways?"

"Young master, we are on the Flying Island. Master is the owner of this place and is the only floating piece of land in the world!"

"Okay, who are you guys?"

"We are people master picked up from the streets and slums, giving us a new lease in life. After the Transcendence 18 years ago many had a hard time adapting. Kids that were born from the survivors had a chance to not inherit any abilities were thrown away since they had no value, were picked up by Master."

'So we are back in my original world?'

"Alright. Enough, go get my food I'm starving."

"Yes young master."

"Ah! Wait!"

"Yes young master?"

"What's your name?"

"My name is Nino young master."

"Got it."

Cyrus turned and returned to the room, there wasn't really much to do in the room so he started opening drawers and looking out the window while waiting for the food to come, thankfully the wait wasn't too long.

Soon a knock came from the doors and a voice followed after, "Young master, the food is ready. I also have a message from the master."

"I see."

Cyrus opened the door and headed to the dining room with Nino at the lead and the warrior following behind.

"Master told me to inform young master that he is to head to the study after eating."

"Understood."

Cyrus was surprised when the food served was from before the Transcendence, after an inquiry Cyrus learnt that a professional chef from before the Transcendence was living here.

After eating Nino led Cyrus to the study, when they reached the doors another maid stood guard before it.

"Young master, Nino. Is young master here to see master?"

"Yes."

The maid nodded, she knocked on the door and said, "Master, young master and Nino is here."

"Send my disciple in."

The maid pulled open the door and I headed in, I expected Nino to be behind me but she had stopped at the door and closed it.

"Come, sit."

The study was not extravagant, the room was barren and only had a long table with a sitting cushion on either side.

As Cyrus sat down Ignatius said, "If you have any questions ask now, if not we can start."

'Shit i have so many questions but priority yes... my flames what are my flames?'

"What flame is mine...?"

Cyrus conjured the flames in his hands, as soon as the flames appeared it was immediately snuffed out by Ignatius's pressure. Cyrus felt like he was buried under the ocean, his mind blanking, and as quickly as it came the pressure lifted.

"Phew... seriously?" Ignatius started muttering, "Fuck... what kind of heaven sent talent is this? Is this because of the unsealing?"

"Um...." Cyrus broke Ignatius's ramblings.

"Ah, right. Ahem well... your flames... sigh... well lets explain Phoenix flames first." Ignatius shifted in his seat and continued.

"Phoenix flames specialize in purifying things, sure we can burn stuff but mainly our flames purify things. To what end depends on the flames and user. Your flames... they are called Mortal Phoenix Flames, they are... or were considered taboo in this world. Sigh... the flames... they purify, or rather remove the aspect of immortality from something."

"It allows the undying to die."

Ignatius glanced at Cyrus's face but he didn't expect much, the kid was still young and the concept of immortality wasn't very impactful yet.

'Seriously? I can kill immortals? Wait can I die then?' Cyrus's thoughts spun in his head.

"Don't think about it too much, just know that your flames specialize in removing the aspect of 'Immortality' or 'Everlasting' it's hard to tell, there was only one Phoenix that lived long enough to master the flames, and even then he was hunted down. Most Phoenixes that own this flame are killed on sight."

Cyrus nodded and then asked, "Where did master bring me?"

Ignatius nodded and answered, "We are in our original world. You may not know this but during my youth we did not live in the monster realm, instead we lived in this universe. Currently we are on the Human's planet. The name has changed and currently the inhabitants call it Earth. Before, a planet like their own also existed which contained the people of the Monster Realm, after a war our planet was sealed in a separate space which became the Monster Realm. The Human's planet before was destroyed as well but it seems their powerhouse reformed the planet, though it has shrunk significantly."

"...I have no more questions."

"...sigh... sure you don't. If you ever have any questions just ask me alright."

Ignatius flicked his hand and a books appeared on the table.

"Read these, ask if you have any problems. Have you learnt any cultivation manual yet?"

"No not yet."

"Good. Take this, read it in your free time and practice it."

Ignatius handed a separate book to Cyrus.

"It's special cultivation manual for us rune users, I optimized it so make sure not to spread it without my permission."

"Yes!"

'My first cultivation manual!'

Seeing Cyrus's exited face Ignatius reminded him, "Read it later, focus on the books on the table for now."

Cyrus nodded and put the book to his side. The room became silent as Cyrus started reading the books, Cyrus found the books were all runic textbooks.

Maybe it was his divine talent or his experience, but the books were easy to understand. Hours passed and Cyrus didn't have any questions to ask, which prompted Ignatius to nod his head in appreciation of his talent multiple times.

When Cyrus finished the books he discovered it was already night time, and Ignatius was nowhere to be seen. His stomach rumbled like thunder and Cyrus stepped out of the study.

"Young master, is there anything you need?"

"Ah, yes. Bring some food, also where is master?"

"Master said he had some business to attend to, he will return tomorrow."

"Alright."

"Excuse me young master," Nino bowed and left to get food.

Cyrus returned to the study and picked up the cultivation manual. Reading the introduction, just trying the manual required a level Grand runic mastery to cultivate.

'Wtf? Grand? which level is that? Shit... lets just read it for now... sigh. Yeah lets memorize it for now and when we reach Grand mastery we can cultivate it.'

As Cyrus started memorizing the manual, unknowingly his mastery over runes had started to rush past the Lesser stage. The more he read, despite only truly understanding 1% of the manual, his mastery had reached the Lesser stage and was rushing towards the next.

Cyrus was hit with some kind of enlightenment when he reached Lesser stage mastery. Reaching out his palm, a blazing fire manifested before it and with Cyrus's intent it quickly formed into a simple rune.

The surroundings then started to cool quickly, soon the room temperature decreased to a comfortable chill.

Cyrus was surprised, when he reached the Lesser stage he simply needed to intend for his flames to become a rune that lowered the temperature of the room to something comfortable.

'Is this the Intent stage that's written in those novels? It feels a little... cheating? Maybe it's just my divine grade talent. Which reminds me... the orb didn't say it was divine why did Ignatius find out my talent for it was divine grade?'

"Young master, are you there? The food is here."

"Ah, yes come in Nino."

"Excuse me young master."

Nino slid the doors open and pushed in a cart with food. When the food was presented Cyrus found himself hungrier then ever and started wolfing down the food.

When Cyrus was finished Nino cleaned the table and left with the cart. Immediately afterward Cyrus felt drowsy and indulged in his body's need for sleep hunching over the table. Without prompting when Nino returned, a blanket was held in her hands, draping it over Cyrus's sleeping body.