Dreams Sprouting-Chapter 1

''Mom, read this story again. The one about cultivators!'' Albert whined. His eyes seemed to be sparkling with joy as he brought his favourite book, to his mother.

Noah, rolled his eyes, apparently already used to his brother's enthusiasm, but still sat at the corner of the room to listen. With a small pout, Albert waved his hands in front of Noah's eyes to try and annoy him.

The mother had a wry smile on her face, perhaps already used to her sons antics. Waiting for their fun to be over, she began to speak.

''Long, long ago the great Kingdom of Zhou was entangled in a war with Zhu and Xin.

Zhou was barely able to defend the west and north fronts against the two kingdoms after transferring most of its forces to it. They sent messengers to Xiao to ask for reinforcements.

Unexpectedly, the Kingdom of Xiao, which had always been on good terms with Zhou, attacked the south side.

The situation of Zhou was declining day by day, many people lost hope of winning the war in those times.

But unknown to other countries, Zhou's ancestor was a cultivator. Though he passed away long ago, he taught methods to draw qi into their body.

Thus after exhausting most of the resources of major families, they made the prince into a strong cultivator.

He singlehandedly decimated the other three armies, and was even accepted into an immortal sect.

And after forcing the other three armies to accept a treaty, he left to reach further on the road of immortality.''

With a sigh Noah talked to Albert.

''Come on, we already heard this story multiple times. It's been 200 years of peace, the prince will return and avenge the recent skirmishes with Xiao. That's why we should do our best: farm food, feed soldiers.''

Annoyed by his brother, the sparkles in Albert's eyes seemed to be illuminating the room.

''But what if we can become Cultivators?

We could go everywhere. Good food everyday. We can even become richer than the governor!''

...

''Hah, Albert grow up! Cultivators don't exist'' 

Annoyed at Albert's idealism, some of the boys in the village disliked his airheadedness.

Throwing pebbles at Albert, they start jeering at him.

''If you're gonna be an amazing cultivator, then you're gonna need training!''

''Yeah, we're helping you!''

''If you can't even dodge these few pebbles, then how can you be fit to be a cultivator?''

After chopping wood, Noah was greeted with this on his way back home. He immediately got ready to fight off the bullies.

''Run! It's his brother, Noah!''

Throwing the rest of the rocks at Noah while running away, they got flashbacks to how they were cleaning the mud he shoved down their backs as revenge last time.

Though Noah wasn't really hurt by it, he felt annoyed from what they did.

Picking up some pebbles, he also starting throwing them at the group running away.

''Oww!''

With incredible accuracy, he hit the head of them with nearly every single pebble!

Even he was a little shocked at his accuracy. Looking at his hands, he had a thought pop into his head- was he a genius?

The sniffles of his brother brought him back to reality, he helped him stand up, was leaned on, and went back home so his brother could rest.

...

After the previous incident, rather than stop, the bullying got worse.

Light lessons wouldn't give enough intimidation, so he resolved himself to fight with fists the next time it occurred.

Unexpectedly, this came sooner than he thought.

After watering the farm, once again, he saw his brother being bullied

He sprinted at them and pushed one to the ground before punching around. The others tried to stop him; a flurry of punches came from all slides, but the punches of children weren't too strong, even to those of their age.

Noah dodged a few, and withstood others, landing a few of his own. He started understanding the rhythm of the battle, backstep, kick their leg, punch their stomach, tackle into him.

The children grew frustrated that Noah wasn't going down, a few started running away.

Pain was something all children liked to avoid, thus the those that fled caused a cascading effect with those remaining, and soon the land was clear.

Noah stood their panting. His eyes wide open.

Though to others it might've seen like he was hurt badly, he knew that he instinctively minimised the damage.

Retreating when hit, transferring the force to the ground and using others to attack, flowing with the force and dodging and understanding how they were going to fight.

Once again, he was shocked at what his body had done. This time, even more so.

Why did he get this talent, why not his brother who also wished to fight and become a cultivator.

Why him?

Why was it he, who had no dreams, be granted talent.

...

''Good luck foraging, Albert!''

''Right, Noah.''

Albert left, barely giving greeting to Noah.

Noah was saddened, that after Albert found out his talent, he started alienating him.

Their mother was growing older, both Noah and Albert had more responsibilities to bear, but the increasingly tense relationship between Albert and Noah, despite Noah's best attempts to repair it, seemed to make her worry far more than her death.

From a strand, to a bundle, then her whole head, grey hair started being seen from her.

From a young age, Albert would always listen to his mother, and seemed to idolise her.

However, her attempts to repair their relationship only made it drift apart more.

And faced with the choice between the older brother, Noah, and the younger brother, Albert.

Noah was discarded,

And Albert chosen.

Thus eventually Noah stopped caring.

About either of them, and left them to their own devices.

...

''I wish to join the army.''

At the silence of dinner, Albert dropped a bombshell.

The army started enlistment a week ago, to fight the Kingdom of Xiao once again.

The increasingly tense situation at the front lines, allowed soldiers an opportunity to grasp mountains of merit.

Albert, saw this opportunity.

An opportunity to beat his brother's talent with his hard work

And maybe even allow him to become a cultivator.

His mother vehemently opposed Alberts decision.

Albert pretended to accept, but at the dead of night he silently left the village, to pursue his dream.

Noah watched with a silent grin.

A week later, his corpse was sent back home.

Thus Noah only waited for his mother now.