Timeless Prominence

Rein was about to call out to this black figure, but then he held his tongue, feeling that doing this would be rather dangerous.

Without warning, a taller black cloaked man popped out of nowhere, arriving with his hand clamping down onto the shorter black cloaked man’s shoulder. He whispered into the shorter man’s right ear.

The earlier black cloaked man struggled for a bit and seemed to absorb the dark wisps in the air around him back into his body, before allowing the taller one to drag him off. The taller black cloaked man noticed Rein, but gave a short glance at him with disdain. The two figures became wrapped up in a cloud of black smog before vanishing into thin air.

The black cloaked man was unconcerned about being noticed by Rein. Their appearances were nondescript. They had vanished and authorities weren't likely to chase after two random black cloaked men when no crimes had yet to be committed.

Rein quickly notified Steward Xeer to be careful and requested him to use the Jeihr guards to protect Meynan. He suspected that the earlier black cloaked man wanted to do some unsavory act to his to-be wife. The presence of Steward Xeer calmed his heart. Rein was certain that this man had strength beyond mortals. Plus, the Jeihr group was not one that could be easily messed with.

He resolved to also inform the imperial guards-- it was unlikely that the ruling Ahnk family of the Golden Desert Town would be able to successfully deal with the fallen. The fallen referred to advancers who had given into the whisperings of the devil in their hearts and adopted dark magical arts.

It was late night when Rein returned home. There would be no moon that could be seen up above thanks to the heavy clouds and occasional rumbling in the distance. However, the rain had yet to fall, as if it was resisting the heavens and waiting for the right moment.

Rein had already sent information about the two cloaked men through the relevant channels on his return to the Hehr Mansion. In Golden Desert Town, this would be the ruling House of Ahnk and the imperial forces stationed here.

Currently, Rein was in a seated posture on his bed, in his room within a side building. His bed was made from panels of antique wood with an overhanging canopy. Depictions of various animals were carved and dusted in gold, while each panel was bordered by gold intricate floral patterns.

His room was orderly, but rather packed. Thanks to his increasing responsibilities, he had piled learning tools into his room. This included ink and brushes, scalpel for practicing the craft of the so-called aurae inscriptions, as well as numerous books. All this was necessary for his understanding of the House Hehr business.

Right now, Rein was meditating with even and measured breaths. These even and measured breaths were the method to stabilize the flow of aurae within his body. This was the long established method of advancing the mortal body. At birth, the human body was not conductive to aurae, thus mortals were unable to use magic. The concept was that the balanced flow of aurae would evenly develop the body, eventually allowing the body to act as a perfect reservoir for aurae.

At the same time, Rein recited the few mental scriptures provided by Guard Wein. He felt a pity that he only had access to a few verses. It was common knowledge that scriptures were most effective if the experiences of the scripture’s creator matched that of the user. Mental scriptures mostly focus on human emotions. And these emotions and patterns are different among every single person.

If the emotions were to fluctuate, then the body constitution would fail to evenly develop, and any flow of aurae through the body would be like turbulent water flowing down a rocky river.

Guard Wein was the one who had taught him all of this. There was also the issue where youngsters at his age might not be fully aware of their own emotions. This was why many advancers and their inheritance schools or sects try finding disciples at a young age, such that they could condition the child’s mind as soon as possible.

All humans across all realms would at the very least make an initial attempt to become an advancer. Unfortunately, many would fail to actually substantially change the body constitution enough to step into the advancer world. To truly enter the advancer world, one needed to transform the body to the point where these even breathing techniques were no longer important.

At that point, the body would have been transformed to where one could survive just by absorbing the aurae in the environment through the skin of the body-- why breathing was no longer needed. This was one of the signs that one had successfully entered advancer world. 

Advancers referred to the earlier stage as the inner realm, when aurae is still stuck within the body, followed by the shell realm, when one has successfully transformed their body constitution and is able to coat their whole body in their own aurae, and survive without needing to breathe. At least, this was the orthodox method to progress as an advancer.

There were non-orthodox progression paths, but the survival and success rate of those other paths were either incredibly low or inhumane, and often led to future troubles.

Rein sighed. Although he has been doing this for many years, he barely made any progress. The circumstances of birth were truly undeniable. He was born in a relatively successful merchant family. No doubt, that gave him benefits. However, his body had close to no affinity with magic.

He did his best to recite the scriptures to calm this agitation in order to continue his meditation. This was a mental state that Rein had gradually developed after testing his disappointing elemental affinity. An acceptance of his fate as a mortal.

Most, if not all mortals, desired to enter the advancer world. Rein was no different. Being an advancer meant longer life, increased safety, traveling more of the world, and for some, power. Many would see their dreams dashed though, just as Rein’s were.

The reason for this was twofold. Firstly, one would need to have a high enough affinity with some of the elemental aurae of the world-- this would allow one to quickly and easily absorb at least one type of elemental aurae, and use it to change the body constitution.

Not being able to process enough aurae to fully transform the body constitution before one reached the end of their mortal lifespan would naturally mean death.

This was easily tested with a common magical orb designed by advancers, to send in different types of aurae through the body. The tool detected whether these elemental aurae flowed with ease or not. The easier the flow, the brighter the magical orb would shine in response from the feedback loop through a child’s body.

Once that occurred, said advancer would then step in and use their fantastical powers to more accurately gauge one’s potential, and decide whether to develop that individual’s potential.

The second problem was comprehension. Humans, unlike the other beings in the world, were created with weaker bodies but much more intelligence as a starting point. Thus, humans relied strongly on the mind to first understand and comprehend the way of the world, before applying that to the body and thereby breaking through and improving the whole being.

At first, it would seem that the second problem was the greater trouble. Understanding and comprehending the way of the world was not so easy. It often required an unique encounter, as well as one’s ability internally to resolve the experience. Mental scriptures were of partial assistance in this area.

Regardless, this second requirement could be negated, because of an existing third point. There exists a type of medicine commonly referred to as psychedelics. Perhaps it could be considered cheating, but essentially, as long as one had a decent degree of elemental affinity, one could use the psychedelics to enter something akin to a heightened consciousness state, temporarily gain an epiphany and break through a mental barrier.

Even if it was temporary, once the brief mental breakthrough changed the body constitution, the body would not regress even if, after the psychedelics wore off, the advancer found themselves not being able to recall the epiphany they supposedly experienced.

Rein had partook in some trade with the desert nomadic tribes that provided spices useful in creating these psychedelics for the lower level advancers.

Psychedelics solved the problem of comprehension required for humans to progress, so most regarded the first problem of inborn elemental affinity to be the core issue and deciding factor.

On another note, psychedelics were regarded as the key reason for the rise of humanity in this era. There were some side effects to its use, but Rein, remaining of the mortal world, was largely unaware of such knowledge.

Rein had already been tested-- these tests occurred yearly in every town for children reaching the age of five. Seeing as he was going to be taking over the Hehr businesses, it was clear as day-- well it was night time now, and the sky was full of heavy clouds-- that he did not meet the requirements.

Rein was not overly surprised by the result. Not then, not now. Advancers were rare, and although not fully confirmed, it was accepted that elemental affinity with aurae often had some link to inheritance. To his knowledge, he had no ancestors that were advancers. Thus, he gradually managed to put his heart to peace and was content with his role in continuing the Hehr businesses.

Still, he continued these simple exercises as it would provide some improvements to the body. He might not have the elemental affinity that would allow him to absorb the aurae in the world,  but slight body constitution improvements would still lead to a healthier life and more robust body.

Rein soon stood up and started performing some stances and movements.

All these skills and knowledge were imparted to him by the Guard Wein, who had once attempted to become an advancer, dreaming of the advancer world. His younger brother Jein had been taught these too, but Jein was only eight years old, a tad bit too young to be able to practice without any supervision. Like him, Jein also had no elemental affinity.

Soon, Rein noticed the occasional white flash followed by a thundering boom vibrating his eardrums from the dark skies. However, raindrops had yet to fall.

Rein laid down onto the soft cotton mattress, resting his head against the goose feather pillow. He felt rather safe inside his room-- the building so far has never experienced any leaks and the Hehr Mansion had withstood all storms since its construction. The encroaching storm outside further emphasized the safety inside the room, and Rein peacefully drifted off to sleep.

He would, however, wake up to a fiery hell.

Rein found himself shocked awake by a desperate roar. He took a moment to orientate himself before opening the doors to the center courtyard.

Pew!

An arrow whizzed past his face, burying itself into the wooden panels of his bed.

He felt a cold shiver run up his spine and cold sweat immediately drenched his back. The Hehr Mansion was quite close to the center of the town. This meant that whoever these enemies were, they had thoroughly penetrated the town’s defenses!

In fear, Rein hid behind the door frame while peeking out into the courtyard. In the Hehr Mansion center courtyard stood a group of men. This group of men is in ragtag clothing, so they are likely bandits. Surprisingly they were in some sort of orderly system. Bandits were not generally orderly, so Rein suspected that these might be mercenaries instead.

Rein’s heart was pounding with fear, but his father had always emphasized that regardless of issues, one needed to be calm. Especially in business, sometimes there could be vast changes due to surprising situations. This was why Rein tried to assess the situation first.

Rein could not help but cough due to the billowing smoke blown into his room in the night breeze. Its source was none other than the other structures of the Hehr Mansion as well as the trees in the center courtyard being on fire. Luckily for him, the smoke seemed to have impeded the accuracy of arrows as well, which likely saved his life just a moment ago.

Accompanying the fiery blaze and suffocating smoke were sounds of thunder and flashes of white lightning in the skies.

Amidst this inferno, Rein would soon have to reconsider his assessment of the group of men in the courtyard.

“Kill them all, men, women and children! Remember, the fallen are in this town! These dark practitioners have long allowed devils to occupy their hearts and minds, and can change appearances to fool us! It would be impossible for us to tell unless we actually have interacted with the person these devils are pretending to be! If you’re not careful, said devil might even attempt to possess you!”

“But sir, this one is a teen…”

Rein tried to see more details, but his eyes were blurry and watery from the smoke. Still, the words he heard made him jump in shock, fright, but also anger. It sounded absolutely ridiculous to him that these men would attempt to wipe clean the town. Surely those imperial soldiers would defend the people! Plus, he had informed the imperial forces of the fallen earlier, so they should have been prepared!

All that he heard only made him feel increasingly apprehensive yet confused. The imperial forces should have acted by now…

At this very moment, Rein saw a small shadow crawling toward the group of men from behind through the haze. He quickly recognized the figure to be his younger brother, Jein. Shocked, he stayed frozen in his hiding spot, at a complete loss as to what Jein was trying to do. He could not help but wonder why Jein was even crawling? His younger brother hasn’t crawled since six years ago!

Rein wanted to yell at his younger brother to cease his dangerous actions, but no sound came out. His throat had turned hoarse from nervousness. Then, to his disbelief, this ‘Jein’ leapt at one of the men with an ear piercing scream, and immediately bit off a chunk of a man’s left calf!