Timeless Prominence

In his dreams, Rein found himself in a whitish and hazy picturesque landscape, as if he was in an ink painting. The colors of the environment flowed into each other and cascaded together.

Was this heaven? He was more or less close to death after all. But if a heaven really existed… Rein couldn’t help but wonder why these Gods of said heaven would even allow the injustices his family had just experienced.

Rein wandered in the forest, appreciating the view of nature but his heart was chaotic in rage.

The heavens and the Gods that built it, too, are responsible for his pain and suffering!

But, his heart gradually calmed as everything around him was in a muffled state, including the chirping of the birds and the sound of cicadas. The forest animals such as squirrels occasionally crossed Rein’s path, but none of them actually seemed to notice Rein’s presence.

As he wandered, Rein found himself moving deeper and deeper into the forest. It was as if his path was predetermined and he was unable to extradite himself from the path in the dream.

Rein soon found himself standing in front of a huge tree that reached limitlessly into the skies. Its base was thick beyond measure, stretching wide to the point where it would take more than a hundred men to wrap their arms around the trunk.

An odd looking humanoid stood at the tree base. She looked similar to a human, but her figure looked stout and thick, a few heads shorter than Rein. Her hair was like that of a lion’s, a beautiful dark brown mane that wrapped around her face.

Baffled, Rein could only wonder what this being was. He had certainly never seen any record of such a being in his readings.

There was also a small jet black bead on her forehead center that seemed to suck in Rein’s attention. The odd being smiled upon seeing Rein approach, but did not open her mouth to communicate. Rather, the humanoid spoke a simple sentence directly into Rein’s mind, “Your heart and aurae called out to us...”

This being’s words were in a language unknown to Rein, yet he fully understood the meaning within the phrase. The meaning of her words were directly inserted into his mind.

He wanted to question this mysterious lion-maned short humanoid, but before he could, a sharp whistling wind came from the skies above. He tilted his head backwards, only to see a humongous ape dropping down from wherever the top of the thick tree was.

The monkey landed in front of Rein, causing the dreamscape to shake and tremble, accompanied by the sound of a muffled earthquake. The large monkey also had a jet black bead in the middle of his forehead, similar to the short humanoid.

The ape further transformed, growing larger and larger until it was as tall as the gigantic tree, its presence awe-inspiring, casting a shadow across the whole forest. Rein recalled that there were once beasts as large as the world, referred to as primordial beasts, and he suddenly recalled that the reason he had an impression that the immortals were titans such as a huge mountain ape, was precisely because he had seen this ape in a dream when he was nothing but a small child.

Although the monkey had transformed into a huge mountainous ape that reached the sky, for some magical reason, when Rein looked up, he could still see into the mountain ape’s eyes. It was as if the dream was helping him look farther than he naturally could.

The primordial mountain ape spoke a few words in an ancient language, before staring back into Rein’s eyes. The ape formed a circle with its two hands, creating a black sphere. All of the sudden, Rein felt as if he could not resist being sucked into the ape’s eyes, as memories of the mountain ape entered his brain.

The dreamscape twisted in a whirl, and he then found himself submerged and slowly sinking in a thick and sticky blood pool, and no matter how he struggled, he could only sink deeper down, until his head sank below the surface and he could not even breathe.

As he struggled to take in air, he only repeatedly swallowed the blood which made his whole body burn, starting from a sizzling in his throat. He was gradually suffocating, and his last feeling was that of relief after the trials he had gone through that very night...

Rein was found himself shocked awake. He was back in Blacksmith Tiehr’s forge. The dream he just had felt incredibly surreal, but he was clearly still in Blacksmith Tiehr’s forge… 

Looking down at his body, Rein noticed his abdomen was wrapped in bandages with the smell of ointment, probably emergency treatment for his broken ribs by Blacksmith Tiehr.

What a perplexing dream. It felt so real, but surely, it was nothing but a deranged dream due to his overreacting to the loss of Jein, Rein believed.

He stood up onto his unsteady feet, his legs still weak and his mind muddled by the horrendous events of the night.

The only thing keeping him on his feet was the anger sitting in the pit of his stomach. It had been resting there ever since he saw his parents dead. He checked the pouch around his neck. It was a pouch with bronze and copper medallions.

He had carelessly hung the major pouch with the Hehr merchant deeds around Jein’s neck, assuming that the two would not part. That devilish woman might have targeted Jein because of that pouch. Advancers were said to be able to sense items inside mortal storage methods. That was essentially lost now. It was only luck that Rein had managed to retrieve this other pouch, thanks to Blacksmith Tiehr’s appearance.

Rein felt even worse about his own uselessness. Perhaps if he had hid these pouches with another method, he might have protected the Hehr merchant deeds.

Angered at himself, he smashed his fist into a mirror hanging on the wall. The mirror cracked, but Rein was only had only done some physical conditioning-- he was not some powerful advancer. His stupid action only delivered cuts to Rein’s knuckles…

As Rein looked up, he saw his own face split into multiple reflections by the cracked mirror. For a moment, he felt guilty beyond comparison. He still remembered that when that devilish woman wanted to take Jein, he was unable and did not take any action.

A failure of a brother, he told his cracked reflection. Even if he was weak, he could have surely at least tried! Perhaps he could have launched himself at the woman right when Blacksmith Tiehr attacked! That might have influenced the outcome!

As he looked into that cracked mirror, he hated his own scattered reflection more and more. He was meant to be someone to carry on his family legacy. He was educated by his father and ready. But in the end, it became nothing.

He was just as weak as a child in front of that devilish woman, and in the face of this disaster. And now all Rein felt was bitterness and anger, and yet he was unable to exercise this fury. How could he change anything when even Blacksmith Tiehr couldn’t bring back his younger brother?

Within his self-contemplation and his raging chaotic aurae, unaware to Rein, his body was burning, gradually absorbing the aurae in his surroundings through his breaths, and his body was rapidly transforming. If one passed aurae through his body, they would be able to sense that his body was now semi-permeable to the flow of aurae.

Rein’s body was burning, but he regarded that as nothing but his rage coursing through his veins. Then a ringing in his head sounded. In order to expel this rising heat and clear his mind, Rein found himself smashing a right fist into the wall again. Unlike the last time, his knuckles no longer bled and only felt a dull lingering ache. Furthermore, the wall vibrated as if barely keeping its stable structure.

In disbelief at his body’s durability, Rein finally noticed his body constitution had gotten significantly stronger. It was recorded that one could consider themselves of the mid-inner level once one’s body had changed to the point where punching relatively stable mortal structures no longer injured the body.

He remembered that Guard Wein had instructed that the inner advancer realm was about experiencing and regulating all emotional states. Was it possible that this night’s events had opened a door for him? Allowing him to stabilize his body and develop to a higher level? Was this the price of becoming an advancer? All these questions entered Rein’s mind simultaneously.

Then, pieces of a mountain ape’s memories flashed through his mind, and he felt as if that if he wanted to, he could instantly move his body to any location he could see clearly with his eyes. It was no dream after all-- that mountain ape had truly given him knowledge that he should not have.

He saw an anvil a few lengths in front of him, and as if compelled by a mysterious force, his hands came together to form a circle in front of his abdomen. The circle inside his hands turned into an aurae ball of jet black sphere, sucking in his hands first, followed by his arms and then the rest of his body.

In a single breath, a jet black sphere reappeared above the anvil,and Rein’s body swirled out from the sphere followed by his arms and lastly, his hands.

Rein was at the same time befuddled, delighted, but also frightened. He shouldn’t be able to perform such a magical skill. Yet, it had felt like it was something he could naturally do, not dissimilar to how he could easily control his fingers and arm as he wished!

He concluded that this was something that the primordial mountainous ape had given him in that surreal dream. That dream must have been some sort of supernatural event. Or perhaps, it was something that he was always born with, but awakened due to tonight’s stressful events. After all, dreams were supposedly nothing but one’s internal reflection, so it was said.

Rein could not fully make sense of it. The reason he believed it being possible he had always had it was that he recalled having a dream of a titanic ape back when he was a small child. If anything, this made it even more confusing.

Also, to his relief, he did not feel any exhaustion after executing the skill-- the skill only used up a smidge of his aurae. Extremely powerful advancer skills were said to sometimes completely deplete an advancer’s aurae. Rein felt instinctively that if he tried to travel farther with this skill, the aurae consumption would be higher-- no, he knew it was so!

His instincts also told him that he probably could perform the same skill without forming the sphere with his hands, but he would die from aurae exhaustion before he could successfully attempt that as of now.

Now, his heart brightened up with a bit of hope as he clenched his fist and gave it a pump. He was elated that he could suddenly perform this magical skill. Maybe with this, he would actually be able to kill those mercenaries, bandits and those fallen devils!

A heavy sigh echoed from a dark corner of the forging room, drawing Rein’s attention.

“Ha! At my death’s door, I’ve finally seen an origin skill!” Blacksmith Tiehr croaked joyously.

Rein looked over at a dark corner of the forge. When he awoke, his emotional state had led him to temporarily lose awareness of the current situation. He simply thought Blacksmith Tiehr had gone off somewhere to treat his own injuries. Instead, Blacksmith Tiehr was crouched in a dark corner.

The sound of Blacksmith Tiehr shuffling forward in a seated position echoed in the forge, and soon, Rein discovered that something was horribly wrong with Blacksmith Tiehr.

Blacksmith Tiehr’s normally robust body was now comparatively thin and frail looking, and his skin dry and flakey. His square face appeared sunken in and gaunt. His previous facial veins that appeared crimson during the fight against the devilish woman were now a rotting moss green that occasionally pulsed dull yellow.

This was why Rein did a double take when Blacksmith Tiehr’s face became illuminated in the red glow of the forge.

Blacksmith Tiehr’s gradually stopped laughing, and frankly, the laughing expression did not seem to fit his current grim appearance.

Blacksmith Tiehr sighed and spoke with a gruff voice, “yes, look at this old man on death’s door. And no, do not feel guilty. These injuries were not caused by that devilish woman, but by an advanced poison that could only be made by an extremely influential advancer organization.”

His expression returned to a normal welcome and magnanimous smile that he often had when facing Rein and other young teens and children.

Rein hesitantly wanted to make a request even though he knew Blacksmith Tiehr was poisoned, “the House Jeihr…” But he was quickly reassured.

“Worry not, young Rein. Steward Xeer is a telekinetic realm advancer, a level above my outer realm. For an inexplicable reason, he has chosen to serve as a hidden protector for the House Jeihr. Specifically the current Sir Jeihr.”

Rein had suspected Steward Xeer to be an advancer, but not this strong! House Jeihr was certainly more powerful than he imagined. Perhaps Sir Jeihr had taken into consideration his daughter’s heart to some degree after all. He further realized that even larger organizations that attempted to target House Jeihr might discover that it was not a rabbit, but rather, a hidden tiger.

“Meynan will be safe,” Blacksmith Tiehr reassured. “However, due to my poisoned veins, I will not be able to take you to safety… you will need to wait here until the night gets deeper and the bandits leave. They have been instructed to kill everyone in the Golden Desert Town. This will allow me to preserve some strength for emergency situations as well.”

Rein sat back down with his back against the wall. It was great that Meynan has the protection of a telekinetic realm advancer. He knew little about what the telekinetic realm meant. But supposedly, it was the fourth major level of advancer power realms. The name itself signified that said advancer would be able to use incredibly long-ranged control magics. Something along those lines, Rein figured.

He calmed his restlessness. Knowing that Rein had little knowledge of the advancer world, Blacksmith Tiehr provided additional information.

“Those of the telekinetic realm have a unique soul that allows them to directly manipulate the physical realm around them, and can even use this soul to manipulate the physical realm to reform their physical body.”

Having this knowledge, Rein was fully convinced of Meynan’s safety. He still felt jittery due to his previous helplessness in the face of the bandits, mercenaries and devil advancers. He reminded himself that the worst was over, and returned his focus to himself.

“Origin Skill?” Rein questioned. Blacksmith Tiehr had demonstrated that he had knowledge of Rein’s odd supernatural experience.

“Yes,” croaked Blacksmith Tiehr. “WIll you forget about Meynan? You do know the unspoken rule that the advancer world and the mortal world cannot have any strong ties, yes?”

Rein remained quiet. He had wanted to know what an origin skill was, but instead, Blacksmith Tiehr was using this knowledge to separate him from his childhood love.

“It’s for your own good. You will be hunted and ostracized by other advancers if you do not follow this rule. You will also outlive her hundreds or even thousands of years. Do you understand?” Blacksmith Tiehr did not hold back. He felt that his time was limited.

When Rein remained silent, Blacksmith Tiehr decided it was pointless to pursue this point. In his eyes, Rein would know the reality of the situation sooner or later.

“Origin skills are considered the echoes of the fallen true gods,” he explained. “Yes. The true gods are long dead. Occasionally, stars align and an advancer will see a vision that gives them knowledge of an origin skill.”

“Most scholars believe that these visions are the results of the death throes of these true Gods. Before their deaths, they must have used their limitless powers to etch themselves into the world. Occasionally, someone would come in contact with it when circumstances align.”

“The magical skills are echoes of their memories. A desire to control the world even after their deaths.”