“Out of the way! Out of the way!” Said the leader of the caravan as he lashed out at the slow people in the way while the herd of carriages slowly made their way towards a towering pure white structure. The object of worship among the normal civilians and the object of respect for those who knew of magic. For those with magic would be able to see the multiple layers of restrictive and defensive runes etched all along the surface of the magic tower, all powered by one magus lord.
In this world, almost all things living were powered by the force known as mana, and for those who did not live off mana, were only ancient beings who lived off of qi. Mana and qi were two completely different branches of power. The difference between mana and qi was as far as the distance between the sky and the darkest depths of the ocean.
The acolytes of of mana can be separated into five ranks. The first rank, for those who have begun integrating mana into their heart, setting the foundation for new life in a world filled with mana. This is the level of a newborn baby. The second rank, for those who only have mana flowing through their veins. This is widely considered the level of children, for those who have yet to reach this level by childhood are considered cripples, and most die in at least ten years due to being infected by mana powered diseases. The third rank is that reached by adults. This allows them to generate small amounts of mana, and manipulate mana outside of their body in order to initiate small scale spells. Such as boiling some water or creating ice cream on a hot day. Those who can reach the second rank will definitely reach rank three. The only hard part from there is rank four and rank five. Rank four, is at the level of most experts in fighting, whereas rank five is only attainable by geniuses. Those at rank five are referred to as Magus Emperors. Where the exact path to reach rank five is yet unknown as each person must forge their own path. Those who reach rank four are commonly referred to as a Magus Lord.
The disciples of qi can be separated into five ranks. The first rank, qi gatherer, for those who have just began gathering qi. The second rank, for those who have formed a qi generator within the right side of their chest cavity, alongside their heart located in the left chest cavity. These people are the only sources of qi. For the third rank, it requires the disciple to destroy their own core, in order to form their own soul weapon. A materialisation of their soul. Each soul weapon is different in that it is based on the creators preference, and permanent upon creation. The downside to creating a soul weapon, aside from the power brought from it, is disciples at rank three lose their ability to create qi, and must rely on either a rank two or a rank four for survival. Rank four disciples of qi would have reformed a new qi generator within their right cavity again. Those at rank five have created three or even more cores and are known as Master Disciples. Although very few still exist in this world. Those who follow the path of qi will die if no qi is present while those who follow the path of mana will die if no mana is present.
One young man stepped out of his carriage and immediately ordered his servant, “Tell my Magus Lord Father that his son Si Luo Xing has come home!”
“Yes! Young Master Si!” replied the servant as he scuttled away.
“And don’t forget to tell him that I’ve found a new servant girl!”
“Yes!”
Luo Xing left his servant to report as he headed to his room on the forty fourth floor and sat down behind his desk and stared at the mountain work of paper that lay before him.
“Damnit, why can’t those siblings of mine do their own government papers? I have enough on my own” sighed Luo Xin as he leaned back on his chair. He contemplated laying them off but decided that doing so would only leave for a bigger headache. He sighed, and began his administrative work.
Three towns had been raided and required more guards. Four trade routes had been obstructed by the encroaching war. One city had been razed due to the war. Luo Xing sighed, five of the problems couldn’t be solved with only manpower, so he set those aside. The three towns, however, was solvable with manpower, he would inform the Centurion of the situation later. He looked past the eight documents and at the next pile of documents. Taxes. Due to the encroaching war, his Magus Lord Father had begun raising the taxes in order to fund war expenses.
That was only the smart thing to do. During times of peace and growth, the taxes could be lowered to an amount, taxing too much was detrimental to the growth of the territory after all. But it was wartime. Luo Xing sighed and began reading over the tax reports, making sure that the towns and cities within his Magus Lord Father’s territory had properly been taxed.
Day had ended and the candle Luo Xing had lit was almost out. He sighed, for perhaps the fourth time that day and ended his work there. The former pile of reports had changed into multiple smaller piles of paper, each one stamped and with a set of orders next to them. Luo Xing had been doing this for the past four years and tomorrow, he would turn 18 and be given a small piece of land for himself. He had chosen well too, the city he would govern would be on the opposite side of the territory from the encroaching war. He thought of his siblings momentarily, most of them were younger, just beginning their training to become new leaders, while his older brother and sister went off to gain merit in the war. There was nothing he could do to help his older siblings, but his younger ones… There was also nothing he could do for them, perhaps he could send them presents every now and then?
Luo Xing was sure that one of them would cry, one would latch on to his leg, and the last would stare at him intently from a distance, perhaps hiding around the corner while doing so. He sighed again, and slipped into bed.
Luo Xing was sure that one of them would cry, one would latch on to his leg, and the last would stare at him intently from a distance, perhaps hiding around the corner while doing so. He sighed again, and slipped into bed.
Si Luo Xing was dreaming. Dreaming normally wasn’t a bad thing, but tonight, he dreamed of a twinkling star.
♩Twinkle twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what You are.♩
♩Up above the world so high...♩
Si Luo Xing gasped and sat straight up in his bed. He groaned and rubbed his forehead, he was sure he was dreaming of something… But no matter, he had to be prepared for today. He double checked his mana generator within his right chest cavity and pulled on his robes. Black, with simple silver linings, the two colors which happened to conform with his family colors.
He descended from his room. Floor by floor, he approached the ground floor, where the servants lined up on two sides before him. His butler walked before him. He had a head of white hair, cut short, with a well groomed mustache.
“Young Master,” he said, “are you prepared?”
Luo Xing nodded, and walked down the aisle. As he passed each servant, they each raised their right hand to cover their heart and kneeled. He proceeded in this manner until he reached his mana powered carriage. The main hue of the carriage was black, and like his robe, was lined with simple silver engravings.
“Wait!” a voice shouted.
Luo Xing raised an eyebrow at his butler.
“I will take care of it, Young Master,” said the butler as he fixed his glasses. And Luo Xing entered the carriage.
As the butler left the carriage, a bang of thunder shot out and a splatter of blood sprayed against the carriage and the body of the butler slumped down. Luo Xing raised an eyebrow, before he raised his right hand and an oval shaped shimmer in the air appeared.
Luo Xing placed his left hand on the butler and slowly began healing him with a spell to speed cell growth, and looked up. Before him was a youth, curved eyes burning with anger. In his arm was the tool which most likely caused the loud noise, but Luo Xing had never seen it before. The youth raised the tool up and aimed it at Luo Xing, he could only raise an eyebrow. The youth pulled the trigger, and a bang shot out, and the shimmer before Luo Xing shattered. His eyes widened in surprise and another bang sounded out and Luo Xing felt himself slumping down.
“That’s what you get for taking my girl” the youth said, before he slipped through the crowd of hysteric servants.
Luo Xing could faintly see his younger siblings rushing towards him, one holding the tears in, and two crying.
“Don’t… cry you three” he said. He felt strangely calm, at peace.
The world faded to black.
