Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

When the trio heard someone speak to them, they turned around in confusion. They were just trying to relax, yet someone had the energy to be hostile to them right in the morning.

At the second table, a scrawny, short young man in a baggy robe sat down and frowned at them.

Illyan didn’t recognize him, which meant that he had never met him before since it was almost impossible for him to forget someone’s appearance.

“Do you know him?” he asked the other two if they were the targets of his insults.

“No,” both of them shook their heads at the same time.

Is this guy really attacking us for what we just said? Does he have so much free time?

The moment Illyan realized the man was someone they didn’t know, he lost interest and turned back to his meal.

Why would he waste his time bickering with someone he didn’t even know?

“You don’t have anything to say, huh? Can’t you feel ashamed that you are here talking about the esteemed academic’s examination as a mere joke?” The guy continued his gibberish while Illyan didn’t bother answering him.

When the young man saw that, he felt even more irritated.

Fortunately, he wasn’t so loud that everyone in the dining hall would hear him, but a few tables around were looking at them strangely. More importantly, they frowned and stared with disdain at the man who was disturbing their breakfast.

“What’s your problem? It is none of your business what we are talking about here!” Cara, feeling indignant, puffed out her cheeks as she glared at the guy.

“Hah, what is my problem? My problem is that you peasants don’t realize how privileged you really are to even have a chance to enter this institute, yet you are still spouting nonsense,” sneered the guy.

Nord realized what the guy said and recoiled in horror.

“Y-you are noble?”

“No. I am the son of a knight! My name is Arun! Remember it!” Arun didn’t mind being compared to a noble. On the contrary, it flattered him as he puffed out his chest.

“Oh…” Nord suddenly rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t noble, then he didn’t have anything to fear.

Arun noticed his change and felt furious.

“You idiotic trio really don’t know how the world works at all! Always loitering around and playing…”

Arun wanted to retort but was suddenly interrupted.

“Can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

Illyan, who wanted to have just a peaceful breakfast, felt terrible as his good mood was gone. At first, he wanted to ignore the guy since he thought he would just throw a few insults before turning back, but it seemed he was mistaken.

“What…” Arun’s face turned red. As a proper erudite person, he always talked with reason and elegant words. Yet, this guy actually hurled such vulgar words at him?

Unfortunately for him, Illyan interrupted him again as if on purpose.

“What, what? You are annoying us because of such stupid things. Don’t you have better things to do? My confidence in passing the examination doesn’t have anything to do with you. Maybe, if you weren’t wasting time arguing with strangers and studied properly, then you would already be an academic yourself by now.”

With that, he stood up and left. He ate quite quickly as he wanted to arrive a little sooner. After all, arriving late would probably bring him minus points. They wouldn’t fail him just because of that since it took so long to gather, but they wouldn’t be happy either.

With elegant gait, he left the hall while leaving Arun with an open mouth.

“Pfff!” The other two also started to giggle after their astonishment faded and left with laughter.

They never knew there was this kind of side to Illyan.

The same could be said for Illyan, however. After living in the town for over four months, it was inevitable that he met some random pricks that were just using their words. As a warrior, Illyan would just break their teeth or limb at least, but that was prohibited in the town. If he couldn’t touch them, he could just say his own words. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that good with words originally.

However, he realized that whenever he was in this kind of frustrating situation, he had the desire to throw everything back with even more force! As such, he started to be more active at lectures of logic and rhetoric.

It was something he focused on the most after he finished all the medicine books…

As for whether the guy would want revenge?

So what? The guy was already hostile from the beginning without a reason. There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t cause problems even if he was docile.

Since he was the son of a mere knight, then he would gladly use him in his experim… beat him up. As for his father, the same applied. Illyan was already aware that most knights in the town were in Flow stage and with his newfound understanding of the technique, he was pretty sure he could win against such warriors without much problems.

But he didn’t believe that such a scuffle would be the reason for such an outcome. If that was the case, then the entire kingdom would be in chaos already….

After he left, Arun was furious but didn’t say anything anymore.

It was mainly because he felt the ridiculing stares of others in the hall, but also because of his inner embarrassment.

Even a child would understand what Illyan meant by his words, let alone an apprentice academic like him.

We are complete strangers, so why do you meddle in our conversation?

Unfortunately, what was done was done. Arun was always hot-blooded and tended to act sooner than he could think things through. One of the traits that he inherited from his father.

Or it could be also said to be the only thing he inherited from him. His father was a burly and tall man with a handsome face. He was someone highly regarded by the mayor after his expedition in the Iron Troll Mountain Range, where he managed with his squad to take down three trolls with zero casualties.

As such, he was immediately knighted the day he returned.

While everyone on the Knight Path could be considered a knight, it was still different. The reason why it was called the Knight Path was that anyone who could reach Flow Master stage would automatically be knighted.

However, Arun’s father was knighted even before that. That was because he was skilled in the use of the Breathing Technique, giving him an edge over other warriors.

Now, decades after the incident, he grew old and a new generation was starting to take over.

The oldest son was already serving the mayor as one of his guards, while his second son was leading a group of soldiers hunting down the bandits that were showing up recently.

Only his youngest son, Arun, who showed effort but didn’t have any talent, was deemed as problematic.

While his scrawny body was disadvantageous in close combat, it was still something simple to disregard since the breathing technique could easily turn it into an advantage. However, since he didn’t seem to be able to fight with the breathing technique, he could only give up on this path.

In the end, his father could only decide to send him to the institute to become a learned man and pave his own path.

And Arun didn’t disappoint as he gave it his all in the institute.

After two years here, he turned 15 years old and felt smug and proud for learning at a quicker pace than his other peers did.

However, when he heard Illyan’s words today, he felt as if all the hard work he did was belittled by those words. It made him angry as he lashed out. He was a child with an inferior complex with the need to prove that he wasn’t useless.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t expect that the guy would scold him back even harder than him.

It made him embarrassed so much that when he saw others staring at him that he just fled with tears forming in his eyes.

‘That guy…’

……..

Illyan, on the other hand, already got in front of the room where his examination would take place and entered it.

Inside the room, nothing stood out. There was only one long table and four chairs.

One chair was in front of Illyan, which he sat down on, and the other three were on the other side of the table designated for the examiners. There were also other doors on the other side of the room solely for them.

As Illyan came early, there was still a long time, so he just trained in his breathing technique. While it didn’t have the calming effect of his meditation technique, it allowed his blood circulation to flow into his brain more easily, which made him think more clearly.

The feeling of being freed from the shackles of the limits of his body was euphoric.

It didn’t take long before the sound of entering resounded in the silent room as three old men entered the room and started to take a seat.

Illyan used that time to observe them. The first man was someone he knew, albeit only superficially. He was the only physician residing inside the institute and was named Vael.

There was nothing outstanding about him when it came to appearance. He looked like any other grandfather on the street. However, the smell of herbs lingering on him and his skills were undeniable. He was recently ailing, so he coughed a lot.

For many, it seemed ironic that the physician was ill, but considering his age was nearing one hundred, it wasn’t all that surprising.

Illyan was aware that there were people living even longer, but those achieved this through some way like nourishing their bodies with spiritual energy.

The second one was someone he didn’t recognize, but he seemed to be on good terms with Vael, and there wasn’t

much Illyan could observe from him.

However, the third one caught Illyan’s attention.

While the other two were in their 90s and were nearing their end, this old man seemed to still be in his 60s. He had his long gray hair in a ponytail while the top of his head was already balding. His face looked twisted and wrinkled, as if frowning was his default expression, and his long nose was bent down, looking like the beak of a hawk.

The thing that brought Illyan’s attention, though, was his behavior. While the other two seemed to be friendly, this guy was grumpy as if he didn’t want to be here.

‘So this is the mayor’s personal physician named Perus, huh…’ Illyan had already heard about this physician.

He was the only capable physician in the town. Vael, while also capable, was too old and was, in fact, already retired.

But Perus cared only about money, and so he stayed with the mayor most of the time and treated others only if they paid the hefty sum for his services.

Illyan didn’t really care about that. It was the man’s skill, and he could do whatever he wanted with it. He didn’t owe the townsfolk anything.

However, he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be too happy that another, young and capable, physician showed up in his territory.

“Good morning, elders. It is my honor to be examined by great physicians such as you.” Illyan didn’t let his thoughts show up on his face as he calmly greeted the trio.

After living in this place for so long, he realized that he had to be careful with his words. While it was taxing to be two-faced all the time, it was better than creating enemies everywhere.

Of course, that didn’t mean that if anyone would harass him, he wouldn’t retaliate.

“Hoho, good morning, lad. We are glad that there is finally someone trying to pass the physician examination. We are already too old to fulfill our obligations.”

Two of the elders started to have an amiable conversation with Illyan. It didn’t take long for the third one to fake a cough to bring their attention.

“We shouldn’t waste our time like this. I still have some matters to attend to today.” He frowned at the shriveled men.

“Don’t be like that, Perus. It is not so often that we gather together…” Vael smiled wryly.

Perus only shook his head as he turned to Illyan with a stern expression.

“Apprentice Kaoran, before we start with the examination; have you already paid the fee?”

“Yes, elder. Yesterday, I paid the money to Academic Falia.” Illyan acted humbly as he bowed a little. However, in his mind, he clicked his tongue.

The blatant greed for money was so obvious that Illyan felt speechless.

“Good, let’s begin.” Not willing to waste any more time, Perus glared at the other two physicians and explained how the exam would take place.

“The examination will be simple. We will be asking questions, and you will be answering. Based on your answers, there could be some additional questions about it. The duration of the examination depends on you. The more questions you answer wrong, the bigger the chance we will throw you out soon after. If your answers are good, then it will take a long time for us to completely gauge your level of skills… If you don’t answer after one minute…”

Then he continued to mention some other rules before finally officially starting the examination with his first question.

“How many seeds of the Gaoruuza herb are needed to expel Hur Parasites from the human body and how do you apply it?” He asked the first question that came to his mind as he remembered the mayor having this problem recently.

“Seven, and half of them is the right amount. Any less, and the expulsion would take too long, and any more, and it could cause stomach ulcers. You need to grind these seeds and then mix them in hot water with a little bit of honey which is then ingested by the patient… Once he does so, the parasites would automatically be excreted…”

Illyan immediately answered. This information was something he read in the books as he never met someone in the north having this problem. This was probably the difference of constitution between northerners and normal people here.

Hearing Illyan’s answer, Perus grunted in acknowledgment as he let the other two men continue.

“Alright, now is my turn.” The man called Vael laughed out as he turned to Illyan.

“How would you treat a villager with Jalov Illness?”

Illyan stopped for a moment and pondered about the meaning of the question. Then he started to name all the ingredients for the ointment needed to treat this illness.

“The last and also main ingredient is the Jalov Root, which the illness was named after.” Illyan said calmly. Vael nodded and wanted to speak out, but before he could, Illyan continued in his answer.

“However, considering the fact that the patient is a villager, it would be better to exchange the Jalov Root for the Vatan leaves, since the Jalov Root is too rare and expensive for normal villagers… While the treatment would take longer, it wouldn’t leave any negative results.”

When Vael heard this, he smiled in mirth. He didn’t expect such a perfect answer and was completely satisfied.

The other two also didn’t object as the examination continued…

At first, I didn't plan to add the 'face-slapping' scenarios, but after watching some videos, I realized that third-rate villains exist even in real life and are much more common than smart antagonists. Hahaha.