Chapter 8: Chapter 8
'The path of Transcendence?' Ash thought. He had learned a few things about martial artists since he had come o this new world, but he had never heard of the Path of Transcendence. Miss Glaze focused her intense eyes onto Ash. "The Path of Transcendence is separate from the path of Cultivation yet also inextricably linked. You can tread the path of Cultivation without embarking onto Transcendence but one can not follow Transcendence without being a Cultivator as well." After she said that, she turned her head and spoke to the rest of the children as well. "Many of you already know through rumors or some of you through your families, but all powerful cultivators have different colored eyes. The reason for this being, only Cultivators with two eyes each a different color can tread the path of Transcendence. Even after millennia of research and study no one knows why that is. What they do know is that those on the path of Transcendence can easily overpower others in the same realm." She focused her gaze back to Ash.
"Because of your talent, and the faint signs of spiritual essence in your body already, when consuming the soup you stepped onto the first step in the path of Transcendence. This called the Awakening realm. This is all I will tell you for now. Whichever school you choose will tell you the rest." She removed her intense gaze from Ash and resumed eating. When he opened his eyes Ash was greatly surprised. Not only was the piercing pain gone but it was like a whole new world had opened before his eyes. It was like someone had upped the contrast in his vision. He could see a little farther and what he could see was more clear than before. Besides that, all of his thoughts seemed a little clearer and he could think a bit faster.
'So this is the path to Transcendence?' Ash thought. One thing that really confused him though was the need for different colored eyes. "How strange..." Oops, his thoughts were not just thoughts this time. "What's so strange brother?!" He liked Evan but 'Could he not keep yelling brother like that all the time?!' Ash thought. This time it was not aloud thankfully. "Nothing." Ash said. "It's nothing." It seemed like Evan had already forgotten about it. He was fork deep in his food already. Looking over, Emily appeared the same like she had not heard anything. Ash continued eating along with everyone else. After about 2 hours, everyone had finished and the mayor announced the end of dinner. "Alright children, I think that you have all had enough excitement for one day. So long as it is okay with Miss Glaze, you should all retire to your rooms for the night. For those of you who have a breathing technique already, a simple round of practice should help you to digest the rest of the energy from the Black Shelled Turtle."
In response to the mayor's words, Miss Glaze nodded. She left from her chair and went through the dining room door. "Aldwi, my steward, will show each of you to your beds. Run along now children!" The same old man who had served the Black Shelled Turtle soup stepped out and directed the children to the door. Once outside of the dining room, he could not see Miss Glaze. Thinking she had probably retired to her room, he followed the steward to his own room. By the time he reached it, Emily and Evan had already come to their rooms.
When he entered into the room he was surprised once again. There were four pieces of furniture in the not at all crowded room. There was a large bed similar to a king size on Earth. The sheets were a light blue and the softest silk that he had ever felt. At the foot of the bed was a large copper chest with no markings. Upon checking the chest, he found that it was empty. On the wall opposite of the bed and chest was a simple but sturdy desk. Ash could not tell what material it was made of but it appeared to be a type of wood he had not seen before. Above the desk was a large window. The frame was of a similar material to the desk. Outside of his window he saw what appeared to be a training ground. Even though it was already dark by the time dinner was over, there were still a few people out there training. Ignoring them, he walked over to the bed and sat down cross legged. He started his breathing technique and after a full circulation, he noticed that it was a little bit faster than normal. It was not much but it was still a noticeable difference. He circulated his technique for about an hour before he grew tired and then went to sleep.
Ash woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. The voice of what he assumed to be a maid was heard from outside the door. "It is breakfast time!" She said. Ash heard the sound of footsteps and then another knock some distance away. He climbed out of bed. He had slept in his clothes last night so there was no need to get dressed. He left the sheets a mess and opened the door. He walked down the same hallway that took him to his room and when he passed by one of the doors, Emily stepped out. "Did you sleep well?" Ash asked. Emily nodded at him and then started walking down the hallway. Ash noticed that since her family had tried to take her away she was less talkative. He decided not to continue trying to talk to her and walked silently down the hall.
At some point Evan had showed up beside them. "Good morning!" He said. Ash replied back but he was not really in the mood to talk. He was thinking about how power was the thing that mattered most in this world. Unlike on Earth where a normal humans could sit in the White House and be the leader of millions of people, here, martial artists had incredible power individually and could only be ruled by those with even more power. Evan apparently noticed that neither of them wanted to talk so he also continued down the hallway. The only difference being that he was humming an unknown song.
The group of children all returned to the dining room from the night before. Ash saw that the mayor and Miss Glaze were already seated. As if some pre mediated plan, everyone sat in the same seat as well. The servants and maids entered the room and brought a sumptuous breakfast to them. There was no food glowing with light this time. It seemed they would not be lucky enough to have such nourishing food two meals in a row. Breakfast was silent. There were no interrupting speeches from the mayor or otherwise this time. It was over in approximately an hour.
After they all finished eating Miss Glaze spoke for the first time this morning. "Now that you have all had breakfast it is time to leave. Outside are three carriages. The first one is off limits. Split yourselves between the two others." After she finished speaking she quickly left the room to head outside. The children and the mayor got up to follow her. When Ash got outside, he saw three carriages lined up. There were no horses tied to the carriages. Each one had walls half of the way up with the rest being windows all around. They did not differ from regular carriages other than that except for the wheels. They were made out of wood but plated with metal. Carved into this metal were mysterious markings that he had never seen before.
Once he got into the carriage, he realized that it was very spacious. It could easily fit all 20 or so of them in 1 but with 2 they were all able to stretch out a bit and relax. Inscribed onto the roof of the carriage were more of these mysterious markings. They were different than the ones on the wheels though. After looking over the carriage he noticed that the markings on the roof produced cool air inside the carriage. 'It was almost like air conditioning on Earth!' Ash had thought. He had a shocked expression on his face when Emily looked over. She spoke for the first time this morning. "These are called runes. There are many different occupations in this world. They include Alchemists, Smiths, Artifact Creators, and the only ones who can inscribe what are called runes. The people who can make these runes are called Runemasters. Using spiritual energy and rare materials, Runemasters inscribe runes on objects to give them power. The runes in here must be the elementary frost rune. At this level they can only give off cool air to cool small spaces like this carriage." She looked amazed while she talked about the runes. Ash was definitely impressed himself. While the air conditioning on Earth was obviously better, this was just an elementary rune. Before he could think more about it, the carriage magically took off due to the runes inscribed onto the wheels. This would mark the beginning of a lifetime.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone