บท 16: The Five Statues and Ancestral Hall
Late noon, the sun was setting and the elderly returned to their homes to prepare their meals and rest. Those of middle-age were teaching the children of age ten and above in various skills, such as: tracking, fishing, hunting, along with combat. The younger children watched in the distance with glowing eyes, a fervent passion as they too desired to train.
The elders of the village prohibited them from taking part in any special training until they were ten years old, only giving brief physical training during the mornings to help them build a muscular, yet flexible, physique.
Having spare time, the children would wander the village amok, though they understood not to go too far with their mischievous actions.
The children ventured throughout the shallow woods in the first forest zone, chasing after one another as they played different games, one of which would remind Rentaro of a version of tag, had he been watching.
Naturally, this game of "tag" was much more amped, as the children had much stronger physical abilities than children of their age in Rentaro's previous world. These kids seemed to have the strength to punch a tree down with brute force alone.
Soon, the sky darkened even further, prompting the children to return back to their homes. The children ten and above were dismissed from their training, excluding a few who remained to practice skills such as tracking and hunting in the dark.
Others took up a quiet spot in the woods, cultivating in the dense conglomerations of energy which became visible to the naked eye as mist during the night.
The wooden houses within the village were lit up, fragrant aromas drifting out from the doors and windows which caused the children's noses to twitch, urging them to rush inside for their meals.
One house in particular was lit brightly, revealing three figures.
The three figures sat around a small, wooden dining table. Covering the table were numerous porcelain plates with only crumbs and stains as traces of an earlier meal and empty cups with few drops of liquid within.
In the same room, a small fireplace lay burning, ashes drifting up what seemed to be a makeshift chimney and the fire giving off a warmth . The glow of the fire revealed the three figures to be Icrin, Rentaro, and Roy.
"Hahh, I could still eat a few more plates of food." Icrin drooled.
"You're kidding, right? You've said that at least twice already, having eaten three rounds of food now." Rentaro refuted almost immediately in response to Icrin, who took on the appearance of a young glutton.
"Hehe, Second Brother, I agree with Icrin. Don't forget that every time we've gotten another round of food, you've eaten your fair share! I guess you've been so hungry you didn't even notice, huh?" Roy's voice resounded as he licked his last plate clean.
'He's right... my appetite has drastically increased, hasn't it?" Rentaro thought.
Slow footsteps trailed Roy's sentence, as an aged voice followed.
"Well, I for one agree with young Rentaro. This is the last round of plates I'm bringing you kids, you can get any other food yourself afterwards. I'm too tired to keep doing this, and my brittle body can't sustain anymore walking back-and-forth! Oh, and make sure you clean up after yourselves!"
Elder Astrona laughed as he entered the room, holding a large tray with multiple plates of food, along with a fresh pot of tea. He spoke as if he were annoyed, though the doting look in his eyes and soft smile spoke otherwise.
"Thanks, Gramps!" Icrin's voice resounded, his eyes shining with a voracious light as he eyed up the plates of food.
"Thanks, Elder!" Roy and Rentaro's voice sounded alongside Icrin's as Elder Astrona set the plates on the table with what little space he could make between the numerous empty plates. Like-minded, Roy and Icrin started digging into the food as soon as it was placed.
"Haha, You kids eat up. Rentaro, Roy, if you two have any questions, feel free to ask me any time." Elder Astrona wore a small smile on his face as he looked towards the two, his glance settling on Rentaro.
"Um, Elder, I have a question about the forest zones."
Rentaro already had some theory on the forest zones from Wilhelm, but decided to clarify his understanding on how they labeled the forest zones.
"Oh? I expected you to have questions, but didn't think they'd be regarding the forest zones. Well, you must be planning on using them to train, right?"
"Yeah, if that's fine with you and the village..."
"Haha, Don't worry. Using the forest zones to train is much more beneficial than simple meditation or spars. I planned to have Icrin start training in the second forest zone soon, so having you two accompany him would be perfect. Before you three venture out alone, I'll have one of our teams of hunters take you three out for experience."
"Really, Gramps! You're finally letting me hunt in the forest!" Dropping his food back on the plate, Icrin looked up towards Elder Astrona with starry eyes.
"Yes, only the second forest zone however. Until you adjust to the second zone and I think you're strong enough, you aren't to go any further! Understood?" Elder Astrona spoke strictly, his manner of speaking with Icrin similar to Wilhelm's manner to Rentaro in regards to the "Dawnbreaker" revolver.
As Icrin faced Elder Astrona's stern tone, he cut any mischievousness from his voice, "Understood!"
"Excuse me, Elder. What's up with the five different animal statues? They are all very life-like. Also, why are they placed towards the end of the path, in front of that big building?" Rentaro questioned.
"Oh, you mean the five statues that are placed in front of our Ancestral Hall? The only one who knows their exact origin would be Nento Krose, but he left us long ago. I wasn't even born during the same time-frame he lived. Sadly, he didn't leave many records pertaining to the statues."
"While we don't know their origin, we do know one of their main functions. The five statues and the Ancestral Hall help to stimulate our bloodline awakenings, with each statue representing a stage of the bloodline and the Ancestral Hall being the final stage."
"When the children in the village reach the age of ten, we test all of them at the statues and see if any of them are able to awaken our ancestral bloodline. Even if they don't manage to awaken our ancestral bloodline, they still possess our innate affinity with the element of lightning."
"Icrin had experienced the strongest bloodline awakening since our village was created, having surpassed the five statues and entered the Ancestral Hall. As for what's in the Ancestral Hall, only those who reach it know and it seems that it will stay that way, as Nento Krose left behind several restrictions to prevent those who reach the Ancestral Hall from telling others much about it."
"Naturally, Icrin isn't the only one who has awakened the ancestral bloodline, as most manage to do so, just not to Icrin's extent. Though the majority only manage to awaken a sliver of the ancestral bloodline, they have a stronger affinity for our traditional techniques than those who haven't awoken the slightest bit."
"Among Icrin's generation, one has awoken the fifth stage, two children have reached the fourth stage, while four have reached the third stage. The vast majority have only attained the first and second stages."
"However, we determine the next grand elders, elders, and so on based on cultivation levels, not their bloodline awakening stage. Of course, those with higher bloodline awakenings have a greater likelihood of attaining a higher cultivation stage than their peers."
[Statues and an Ancestral Hall that can stimulate bloodline awakening, huh? I'll have the system run a thorough scan to see if there are any matches between the system's knowledge base and these statues.]
'Alright, I'll leave it to you.' While Rentaro was astounded by the statues and Ancestral Hall's functions, he continued his questions and left the research to Wilhelm. If even the system didn't have information on the statues, he couldn't hope to find the answers to his questions at this time.
"Um, Elder, don't the statues have anything to do with the forest zones?"
"Hmm, What made you think that? There are five forest zones so I guess there is some reason as to why you might connect each statue to a zone, but you haven't been here long enough to know the amount of zones, a lucky coincidence I guess. Simply put, the statues don't have any actual connection to them."
[Ahem. There wasn't much information to go on at that time, Rentaro. I tried to make a connection as I saw fit, but I don't know everything in this world.] Wilhelm's voice resounded in embarrassment.
Slightly embarrassed, Rentaro changed the content of his next question, "Well, do the statues have any specific meaning alongside their order?"
"Each statue holds questions and insights that merge into the body which further awakens and strengthens the bloodline. The bird statue represents the insight of a bird flying in the sky, living with freedom above the earth, but imprisonment below the heavens. Is freedom an illusion or reality in our world? Are we truly in control of our own destiny?"
Icrin shot up in response to Elder Astrona's words, "Uh-hm, through the insight of freedom and imprisonment I created my skill, Spectral Chains: Spectral Imprisonment. One day, I hope to be free above not only the earth and the sky, but also above the heavens. I'll imprison even the heavens and gods if I must!"
Astrona's expression couldn't help but reveal a small smile as he continued, "The fox statue represents the insight of a cunning fox, more specifically the insight of perception and delusion. Are realities always true? Are illusions always false? Based on what evidence can we turn to these conclusions? Maybe it's your perception that deludes you into thinking along a certain path while ignoring all paths that differ from your own."
"The serpent statue represents the insight of rebirth. The serpent sheds its skin, while we shed our naive and narrow perception of reality. There are times when one must accept an illusion in order to destroy it, and the same goes for reality. Only by accepting a reality can you resolve yourself to go against it."
"The wolf statue represents the insight of a loner through the perception of a lone wolf, while also representing the insight of a leader through the perception of a wolf leading a pack. Two different paths, which path is right for the wolf? The path chosen takes the position of reality for the wolf, while the path left untraveled takes place as an illusion of what its reality could've been."
"The bear statue represents the insight of protection. The bear protects their cub for a year after its birth, only to abandon their cubs so they can grow up on their own. Some people view such an action as being cruel. Are they blinded by their own perception? Unable to consider that different environments lead to different lifestyles? Merely hiding behind the illusions of their own self-righteousness?"
"Lastly, the Ancestral Hall awakens the bloodline to the fullest extent we have records of. Our ancestral bloodline's element of illusion is fully awakened by the Ancestral Hall imprinting our ancestor's Sacred Writ of Illusion and Reality into our bloodline, or so the records say. Icrin cultivates lightning in his left blue eye, while he cultivates the illusionary element in his right grey eye."
"Uh, Senior, should you really be telling Roy and I all of this information? Isn't it, you know, rather important to keep such information a secret?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's not forget, Icrin has already declared you two as his sworn brothers. In the future, I'll rely on the two of you to watch over him if he gets into any trouble. Ohoho. I guess we haven't had any official ceremony though, have we?" Elder Astrona laughed out merrily in response to Rentaro's questioning.
Elder Astrona continued, "Before you respond with anymore nonsense, I'll leave you three to talk among yourselves while you finish up your meal. Rentaro, Roy, you two can live here during your stay. I'm heading to my room, but I've already moved two extra beds into Icrin's room. Goodnight you three, make sure you rest well. Tomorrow morning, the three of you can expect to venture into the second forest zone, but make sure you follow our hunters' orders when you do."
"Goodnight, Gramps!"
"Goodnight, Elder!"
Before leaving, Elder Astrona rubbed Icrin's head with a small smile on his face, his smile seemed to bring even more warmth to the trio than the fireplace.
Finishing up their meal, the three were quiet as they pondered over the thought of entering the second Forest Zone. Rentaro asked Icrin if he had any prior knowledge on the forest zones, only to hear that the hunters went there to hunt weaker beasts for food, and that was it.
As they finished up and cleaned their dishes, Icrin led the two to the room. The two originally planned on returning to the guest house, but Icrin immediately refuted with sad puppy dog eyes. Furthermore, Icrin's room was much larger than they expected, fitting the three beds while having room in-between to add furniture and dressers.
The two finally agreed as they felt a sense of belonging, a trace of warmth and closeness towards Icrin and Elder Astrona. With this feeling warming their hearts, the two drifted off to sleep alongside Icrin, waiting from dusk till dawn to see what awaited them the next day.
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