Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

Over 10 days passed after Stone fell down the cliff. Now when he was finally back in the camp he felt relief wash over his body as his knees buckled. He hadn't had proper rest since the raid. Only in the camp where he is sure nobody won't attack him his nerves finally loosen.

Thankfully he was found by the scouts in the vicinity of the camp who escorted him back to the clan. Right now he was supported by one of them to stand.

"Stone! You are alive, after all! Ha ha ha, I knew it!" He heard the loud voice of Degres from the distance. His eyes were blurred from the strain so he could not see far.

"Yes. I am fine" He answered curtly.

"No, you are not. What happened to your arm? No matter how I look at it this isn't a fresh wound. Yet it didn't heal yet." Kaoran who was just a step late after Degres came before Stone and made a simple assessment with the look.

"Well... It got torn off... So I just put it back..."

Kaoran facepalmed at this as he felt that this was really inconceivable. He thought that he knew the limit of the boy's gift after knowing him for so many years but now he knew he was wrong. This power had infinitive potential. But when he looked at the wound he frowned. The wound was ugly. Even if it heals there is a big chance it would not only leave scar but also other problems.

Having a scar was actually something to pride yourself but if it heals in a bad way making the arm unusable then it could ruin it for good.

And so he hurriedly told off the scouts and started to head towards his tent.

"Degres. take him now. He needs the treatment before it is too late."

Degres simply grunted and took the boys from the hands of the scouts who then went to do their thing. Stone was carefully held by Degres as he helplessly watched himself being taken. But he didn't struggle since he knew his arm was in a bad state. He already thought if he should self-operate himself but he didn't have any tools for that.

As such he hurried to the camp knowing that Kaoran would be able to help. At the moment he didn't think about those strong creatures, Theras clan, or whatever transpired but just wanted his deserved sleep...

........

Once Stone finally woke up he felt refreshed as never before. There was still stinging pain in his right shoulder but it was migitated so he didn't care. He was still in Kaoran's tent lying on the makeshift bed sleeping after the operation.

When he looked at his right shoulder he saw that his arm was already in better shape. His arm was hinged on some cloth holding his hand in one position so he wouldn't move it. The closer look at his shoulder makes him sigh in relief. Not only it was stitched up neatly, but it was entirely shifted so the arm didn't fuse with the shoulder badly.

'Kaoran is still the best.' Sighed the boy realizing that he is still far from Kaoran's ability.

"Ugh.." As he moved wriggled around the pain pulsated from his shoulder to the head. He went through worse things but this was the first time something took so long to heal. It was kind of unsettling.

"Is this how normal people feel?"

"No, normal people would already accept that they are armless, hehe." Kaoran who just entered the tent heard his murmur and answered him with an amused chuckle.

"Oh..." Stone nodded at this.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess. The wound is sore but it is much better."

"Haha, That's good to hear. I had to separate some of the muscles and nerves that already regenerated in the wrong way. That way it could take years to fully heal even with your regeneration rate. Thankfully your gift can instinctively regenerate in the way it should so those were just small procedures."

Kaoran explained Stone's situation as he sat on a seat close to his arm.

"Lie down, I still need to check on it, every so often."

Stone obediently waited as he watched Kaoran staring at the shoulder while muttering something. Then he reached his hand and kneaded the wound a little. Stone expected the pain but instead, he saw some kind of particles of deep green color flowing around Kaoran's arm and his shoulder. Those particles seeped into his shoulder and seemed to help in the recovery of the wound.

He recognized them. It was the Spiritual Energy. This one particular was close to the Primal Energy of nature. He knew it since he could see them sometimes when he meditated but only sparsely. But now he saw them so vividly that he was stupified.

"Kaoran... What are you doing ?" So he asked stupified.

"Hmm? I am trying to accelerate your recovery. I already showed you during the treatments of patients, didn't I? You will be able to learn it too once you reach the threshold of the spiritual-"

"Not that. Why can I see it so easily now ?"

"What ?" Kaoran stopped and looked at Stone. He stared deep into his eyes as he took a moment to understand what the boy was hinting at.

Then his eyes shined with excitement.

"Boy, tell me what happened to you during the raid. Quickly!" Stone was surprised to see Kaoran so excited.

But who could blame him? He didn't expect Stone to progress so quickly with his talent. He already understood that something had to happen during the time he was missing and thus asked. He didn't want to ask so soon as Stone was resting but now it was something completely different.

And so Stone explained how he got chased by Triston. He wanted to show the jagged blade as evidence but he didn't find it anywhere near him.

Kaoran calmed him down and showed him the blade that was hidden from the naked eye.

"Don't worry. Degres already recognized the weapon so we will hold it for you until you recover. We already surmised that you met the Chief of Thearas Clan during the raid once we saw it. Tell me what happened next."

Stone nodded and said that he had pursued so long and that when he went towards the camp of the alliance it was deserted. Stone looked with a questioning gaze at Kaoran. But the shaman only shook his head and gestured him with a hand to continue.

"Later." When he said it his face seemed to cast a shadow as his expression was a little gloomy.

When Stone described how he used Triston as a shield when jumping the cliff, Kaoran's face twitched.

"Stone. Sometimes I wonder... Forget it." He just shook his head. He knew that cliff. Even he would have problems surviving it without the power of the wind. A normal person wouldn't have an intact corpse.

"What about Triston?"

"Dead."

"Good. With this, your merit is extremely high. But doesn't explain your arm being ripped off. That isn't a wound that happens after a fall."

"Our blood attracted the bear. It was most likely one of those creatures that showed up from the far north."

"Haah.. I see so those Sabretooth Snow Tigers were not the only ones..."

"That's how those tigers are called ?"

"Yes. They always come with the snowstorm and ravages everything in the area. Our tribe took a deep hit as most of our warriors died. The only comfort is that we annihilated the camp. But that won't bring the dead back." Kaoran seemed sad. But then instead of falling into melancholy, he asked about the bear.

"Describe me the bear. I can try to identify him with the description."

"Well, he had white, almost transparent fur, and some of his body parts were covered in ice reminiscent of armor."

At this Kaoran thought for a moment. Then he widened his eyes. There was only one species he knew with this description. If the armor was natural then it could be only this kind of bear.

"Armored Arctic Bear? But... How did you contend against it? Did you run? Or hide? I was surprised when you lost your arm but now that I know the circumstances it is more surprising you 'only' lost your arm."

"Well... I killed it."

"What? How?"

"I was tired after fighting during the raid and was even more exhausted after the pursuit of Triston. I was wounded and couldn't almost move. Only with sheer willpower, I managed to fight back when the bear got closer. I mustered so much power that even my muscles ruptured themselves."

Stone explained with a calm gaze despite the horror he felt during that moment.

"But I don't think that was because of my gift. It felt different."

"I see... It is not uncommon for someone in despair to use power beyond their strength. There is one master doctor from thousands of years before calling it Limit-Lifter. Basically, your mind limits your body so it won't tear itself apart." Kaoran explained.

When hearing this Stone finally understood. 'So that's how it is.'

"I didn't see you have wounded any of your muscles. That means that they healed just fine. If that is the case then learning how to lift the limiter would be perfect for you. Unfortunately, I have never heard about someone being able to do so." Kaoran shook his head in disappointment.

Stone also shook his head. He tried it before and knew it wasn't feasible.

"Fret not, Stone! Thanks to this event, it seems you awakened your awareness of Spiritual Energy! With that, you can finally learn the Spiritual Arts from me!" Kaoran seemed to be happy that Stone could finally fully inherit the legacy of shamans.

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Stone was also happy since it was finally the time to learn those arts. He waited for it for too long and was itching to do some supernatural things he heard or saw from Kaoran. He had been trying to perceive the Spiritual Energy for over three years and still, his result was subpar.

But now suddenly he got this reward making him surprised as he wondered why this happened.

An old man once said that when your mind is stimulated or extremely stressed it may generate little Spiritual Energy or even Talent thus awakening the latent affinity of the body or even creating one. It was highly probable that this was how I got my talent in the first place. I wasn't born with one but earned it after years of suffering. Is this situation the same ?'

Stone thought about the reason why this happened. He could understand that a small increase of talent could happen this way but this was too farfetched. So he thought harder.

"Is it because I reached a bottleneck and broke it this way inciting a higher reward?" So he asked Kaoran loudly.

"Hmm? Hehe, you are really bright. That's right. After diligently meditating every day you perfected your spiritual perception to the limit of your talent. After this, it would take years to make even one step. I did expect it would take you another three years or so to make progress.

But now when you got through the imaginary wall you got to a completely different realm. You reached the threshold of learning the arts that normal people can't learn." Explained Kaoran.

Stone furrowed his brows. He heard this somewhere before. Kaoran smiled and explained.

"This means that once you learn some of them, you can be officially called a 'Novice'. Just like me. It means you are on your first step towards the spiritual path."

Hearing this Stone was surprised. 'So I am still in the 'Mortal' realm so far, huh?'

Stone relaxed as he lay down on the bed. He was grateful. He knew that he wouldn't reach his 'enlightenment' during the fight with the bear if not for 'her' words. That had to be the moment his spiritual talent broke through and his limiter got lifted.

"I really have to thank her for those words."

"Who?"

"Zephyr. Without her saying those few words before we left the camp I probably wouldn't be able to fight that bear off." Said Stone while showing a small unperceivable smile. First time in years he smiled a little. But soon the smile was taken from his face.

When he explained he said it without thinking much but seeing Kaoran's face turn strange made him frown.

"What?"

"Stone, Who is Zephyr?"

"Huh?"

Stone didn't understand. Is Kaoran making fun of him or what?

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have some acquaintance from outside of the camp? After all, there is no one called Zephyr in our camp..."

"Huh?"

Merry Christmas.