Kapitel 12: The Hastam kingdom

Luca looked past the endless green grasslands that stretched as far as the eye could see. Feeling the heat on his body from the sun in the clear blue sky. But this was all irrelevant to him as he looked at Damien who was in his fox form. That blue fox was a few feet away from him looking back at him as he spoke to Luca.

"I know you can't wait to learn a new spell, but we should do something first before that."

"What is it" Luca was impatient as he spoke fast and tapped his feet nonstop.

Damien laughed as he continued talking,

"Now that you're at the Mind consolidation stage we can finally do a ritual that I've been wanting to try. It will let me see and hear what you see and hear, it will also let me communicate with you outside of the shard, you will hear me speak in your head. We do this by using the shard to connect us together." Damien spoke seriously this time

"Sure, why not." Luca shrugged his shoulders as he responded fast.

Damien looked surprised as his eyes widen a bit, but his fox eyes quickly returned to normal himself as he continued talking.

"To do this you need to leave the shard and put the shard near your heart. You will say this chant, I who seek for a deeper understanding will willing bond my senses to the shard, in demon tongue. If you want to communicate with me just think it and I will hear it. It's that simple and will be convenient in the future whenever you run into trouble"

Luca nodded his head and left the shard in a hurry. As he returned to the real world he saw the sun was setting with its red light greeting his vision. Luca was surrounded by trees everywhere. He was sitting on the grass in the temporary camp that Sergio and him set up. As he got up and the put shard near his heart. He did what Damien told him and when he was finished, he could hear a sudden deep voice in his head.

"Can you hear me?"

Luca immediately knew who the voice belonged to as he smiled. He tried to think in his mind and responded.

"Yes, can you teach me a new spell!?" Luca's voice was quick.

"Send your conscious back into the shard," Damien said

Luca's eyes sparkled as he sent his conscious back into the shard. He was back in that endless field of vibrant green grass. As he walked towards Damien.

"Before you say anything, learning and mastering spells take longer as you progress. Due to the complexity of the spells. They get hard because of the amount of power they use and the because they have a stronger influence on the laws that they wield." Damien was serious again as he spoke with a stern voice.

Luca vague understood what Damien was saying but he stayed quiet. He knew that Damien would teach him if he was patient. Though it was hard as he was a young teen who wanted things now.

"I will teach you an advance mind consolidation spell related to shadow merge. It called shadow walking, it allows you to teleport to any shadow in sight. But the longer the distance the more primordial energy you will consume. Usually, it's every 15 meters that you feel a drastic increase in the amount of energy needed to teleport. This one is an advanced teleportation spell that only we can use. You only need to send primordial energy into your legs and eyes. You image yourself jumping in the shadow, you must look at the spot you want to teleport to or it won't work. The upside is that there isn't any chanting meaning that once you master it, it'll be instantaneous. The higher you get in your cultivation levels the farther you can travel without wasting high amounts of primordial energy. Alright that it's for today" Without looking back Damien walked away with his tail moving side to side.

Luca still wasn't sure while Damien no longer stayed behind to help him when he learned spells. The last time he learned a new spell quickly and he saw Damien, in his human form, cursing about how life was unfair. And how the heavens where bias, as he walked away giving the sky a middle finger.

He shook his head as he stopped his thoughts from wandering. He went back to learning shadow walking. He saw a tall tree in the distance casting a shadow to the side. He sent his primordial energy into his legs and eyes as he looked at the shadow. He imagined himself jumping in the shadow. He then felt pain and was staring at the sky. He was already in the shadow, but he was on his back. He got up and supported himself on the tree.

He teleported so fast that he didn't even realize that he had already teleported. It was hard controlling how he landed, and he tried doing it repeatedly. He could teleport, but not once did he land on his feet. He was close one time but slipped and fell. He never got over the fact that he could feel pain in here and so he stopped and left the shard.

By the time he got out of the shard, the sun was already rising. He had spent the whole night in the shard. Lucky for him his body was in a limbo state whenever he was in the shard, well that's what Damien told him. It allowed him to get rest, but it wasn't as good as a normal night of sleep. He stretched out and yawned as he got up from the floor.

He looked around past the countless trees and bushes till he found Sergio who was on top of a branch meditating. He looked at peace, but his closed eyes opened and looked right at Luca. It spooked Luca as he stumbled back. He knew that Sergio was at a way higher level of cultivation. But he wasn't use to how alert Sergio was at keeping watch on his surroundings. Sergio was smirking as he saw Luca almost tripping over.

"Don't be scared, we don't want you shitting your pants. Jokes aside we have to get moving, we're almost there" Sergio jumped off the branch and land on the ground without creating a single noise.

Luca face was red as he packed up. Putting his black spear on a backpack that Sergio made from animal hide where he could put his stuff and hang the spear sideways on a strap built in the backpack. He picked up his curved saber that was in its scabbard, made from beast leather. Sergio made him a belt just, so he could hang his saber.

He put his stuff on and looked at his black leather pants and a plain brown shirt that was made from animal hide. He made them himself, a skill he picked up from watching Sergio. He smiled slightly and puffed his chest in pride knowing that he made them.

Sergio was ready and waiting a few feet away. He finished up and followed Sergio into the forest. We walked for a while until we could hear the sounds of civilization again. Past the trees, he could vaguely see a town with tall and sturdy walls. Bigger than ones back at his hometown. Which brought him sadness when remember his hometown, squeezing his hand into a fist.

Sergio had a conflicted expression when he saw the flag flying over the town. It had two black spears crossed together with a red crown in the middle. The rest of the flag was white. Sergio pulled out a pocket watch that had the time and month on it. He sighed as he put it away. Seeing his expression Luca asked him what was wrong.

"I didn't expect we would run into a town owned by the Hastam kingdom. They're a rival kingdom to my family. I'm sort of important and so people know what I look like. I need to get a map because I didn't expect to find the owner of the demon fox bloodline to be so young, so I changed my plans on the spot. Taking to the academy wasn't planned but I do vaguely know that deadline to join is coming up but I'm not sure where its located. I don't want to waste the time to go around their territory that would take time and we don't have a lot left. Just follow me I might be able to get by if I keep my face covered with a hooding or a mask. Also, hide your cultivation" Sergio said that while he pulled out a jacket and put on a mask to cover his mouth and nose.

Luca wasn't too sure what was going on but he nodded his head and followed behind Sergio as they made their way towards the town gates. He heard Damien talking into his head,

"It seems your friend here is more important than he's letting on. I don't see this plan working out but it might be fun!" Damien said in an amused tone

Luca still wasn't used to the whole speaking into his head thing but he nodded his head in acknowledgment. He trusted Sergio, so he followed along as they got closer to the huge gate that was guarded by archer towers and soldiers that are protecting the entrance. There ten of them 5 on each side. They had chainmail on that had Salvon runes carved on each metal ring. They had a pointed helmet and a sword on their side.

He saw people right in front of them, they looked like merchants. They were riding inside a simple carriage, without any decorations. They where next in line, one of the guards went and asked for their papers and another checked the cargo. They past by and they were next. He could sense their cultivation levels, they were in the peak body refinement stage. One them had a scar on his face.

They stopped us before they could speak Sergio spoke first.

"Where wanders and are in need of some materials"

The guard looked at both of us and since Luca recently learned how to hide his cultivations he looked like a normal person. The guard asked for 10 copper coins and let them in. Luca was glad that they got inside without any trouble. They walked through the gates and saw a big brick road go through the middle of the town. There were stores to the left and an adventurer's guild to the right. There where weren't a lot of people on the streets. He would only see small groups walking and a carriage here there. He could sense a lot of strong people on the right of the street that got his attention.

The building where made from gray stones and wood. All the building were two stories tall except for on that was in the middle of town. That one was 4 stories tall and looked the most expensive. He would see the occasional flag of Hastam on some buildings. He followed Luca who asked the ordinary people where to find a map. After an hour of searching, Sergio found a map that had the academy on it.

Sergio refused to stay the night as the sunset to avoid any trouble. When they were about to leave the town. They saw a beautiful girl who was walking with six guards. She was wearing a red frilly dress. She stopped and stared at Sergio's eyes, she looked at him hard and then her eyes opened wide in surprise as she yelled.

"What's a prince of Octsio doing here!" her voice sounded like if she found a priceless treasure.

The guards near here pulled out their swords. They were wearing red knight armor with a crest of the Hastam flag on their left chest. They immediately revealed their cultivation levels. They were two at the peak power expansion stage and four at the peak mind consolidation. Luca felt their killing intent and his body automatically transformed into his demon fox form with his claws out. Sergio furrowed his brows as he took off his mask.

"You bitch, just you wait, ill teach you a lesson for blowing my cover!" He opened his palms and two black war axes appeared in his hands. He got into a fighting position.

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A man of average height was inside a magnificent castle. His brown eyes were focused on the piece of paper that he is writing on. He had brown skin and long shiny black hair, he looked like he was in his later 20's. If you looked at him, you would realize that he looked a lot like Sergio. There was a knock on his door. He let the person in who was dressed in black and white clothing, he was a servant. He handed over a document and spoke.

"Sir, the prince was spotted entering a frontier town owned by our rivals the Hastam near the edge of our kingdom. He fought his way out" The servant was humble and avoided direct eye contact.

The man put down his quill pen and grabbed the document with his eyebrow raised. He took the document and read it over. He finished reading it and put it down but was lost in thought. With a hand on his chin, after a while, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"That unpredictable son of mine is always causing trouble" His face didn't change but his voice was rising as he spoke, a hidden fury waiting to explode.

The servant was affected by the voice and was frightened. The man was holding the report but didn't speak afterward but it seemed like he was calming himself. He spoke again while he rubbed his temples.

"Alright send the Bloodsworn to help him" he sighed as he looked at the ceiling.

The servant bowed and left in a hurry.

The man stopped looking at the ceiling and went back to writing the document. This man's names was Stephen Octsio the king of the Octsio Kingdom and Sergio's father whos better known as Sergio Octsio, the third prince of the Octsio Kingdom