After the class ended, Mwana planned to go and consult the Academy’s vice-head regarding his bloodline awakening. Before he left the class, Fury came over and the two hugged for a long time. It had been over a year since they last saw each other and for children their age, a year or two was almost an eternity. It was enough time for them to forget how annoying they found each other and genuinely miss each other. “See you later?” Kia questioningly said to Mwana who stammeringly replied, “Yeah” as he left the class. He knew that they would see each other as Fury’s father would arrange to live near Mwana’s family household.
As Mwana walked to the Vice head’s office, he was joined by Cheza and Jua Damu. Both were also newly awakened in the past few months and had questions to ask thus choosing to discuss their bloodlines with the vice-head. Jua Damu was one of the 13 boys in Mwana’s class. The meaning of his name was ‘blood’ and he lived up to it by wearing dark red robes 90% of the time.
“The old man sure is living comfortably,” Mwana commented when they got to the old man’s office. The ‘office’ in this case was a straw hut at the edge of the school. There was a small forest garden near the hut and at the center of this garden was a small pond. After walking past the trees, Mwana and the other two boys found the old man fishing at the edge of the pond without a care in the world. Unlike the other teachers whose schedules were packed from morning to evening, the old man clearly had a lot of free time. He was dressed in white robes with black patterns. Besides that, he did not wear any shoes. As for his physical features, he was a typical old man with a thin frail-looking body, wrinkled face, sunken eyes, bald head, and a long white beard.
The 3 boys first greeted him with a bow before sitting beside him around the pond. The vice-head had an amiable smile on his face suggesting that this was a good time to seek his advice. However, as they asked their questions, the old man kept deflecting and asking them about their daily antics. He was clearly bored and looking to liven up his day by hearing the children’s stories.
Eventually they got the old man to stay on topic, “When it comes to Bloodline Affinity vs. Elemental Affinity, you ask which is more important, which takes precedence of the other? Well blood can be called the fundamental base of all things in the body! What could be better means of transporting natural energy than blood? Your blood circulates through every nook and cranny of your entire body. Every organ, every muscle, every bone, they are all connected by blood!”
The boys found these words simple to understand and direct to the point so Mwana said with a nod, “En, you really do have some knowledge old man. Over 60% of the human body is water with a lot of that being blood. Indeed to circulate energy in the body, blood has to be the most crucial thing!” The old man looked at Mwana strangely, he always felt as if Mwana treated him like an infant whenever they interacted.
“You just awakened yesterday? Stretch out your hand, let me see.” The vice-head asked Mwana. While Cheza and Duma came for advice, they had awakened their bloodline for a while now and were just looking for general advice to further advance their bloodline power and synchronize it with their martial practice as they edged closer to Bone Forging realm. It was Mwana who needed more specific advice. After the old man caught his wrist, Mwana could feel a powerful yet gentle energy pour into his body. It left him with a feeling of nakedness as if his entire body was being perused which immediately made him shiver.
“Sigh, The Myriad Dragon Bloodline?” With a somewhat disappointed sigh, the old man guessed Mwana’s bloodline. Although it was just a guess, with his level of expertise he was more than likely accurate.
“Sigh? Is it that bad?” Mwana asked with a concerned look on his face.
The old man answered Mwana truthfully, “It isn’t bad but it isn’t the best either especially with the combinations of Dragon bloodlines making up your Myriad Dragon Bloodline. Sometimes it is better to have one pure bloodline rather than a mixture. As you know, your father had the Bright or pure Sun Dragon Bloodline. It was very powerful and compatible with the Sun Divine Arts thus allowing him to improve in martial practice at breakneck speed. The Myriad Dragon Bloodline loses some of these advantages and there is something even worse! ”
“Worse! Old man, stop scaring me. What do you mean worse? ” Mwana slowly felt the joy at his bloodline awakening turning into pain.
The old man kept explaining, “Apart from the Sun Dragon Bloodline mixed in, I’ve also sensed 2 more bloodlines in your Myriad Dragon Bloodlines and if I’m not wrong, the other should be the Blood Dragon Bloodline!”
On hearing that, Damu gave Mwana a strange look. Mwana himself looked deflated. He knew well of the Blood Dragon Bloodline. In the legends of legendary dragons, Blood Dragons were known for two things: their love for war and bloodshed, and their extreme gluttony and hunger. The Blood Dragon Bloodline encapsulated both these aspects. The first could be controlled but the second could not.
Mwana knew for sure that his mother had aspects of the Blood Dragon Bloodline. This bloodline was one of the half-awakened bloodlines. The reason it would not usually fully awaken was because in its ‘greed’ the bloodline would siphon off energy and nutrients from the host. As a result, people with this bloodline were like bottomless pits. Most of the energy they accumulated would be absorbed and locked up by the bloodline making it harder to advance in martial arts. They would only be able to awaken it much later making their early path much harder. However, this was rewarded by greater strength in the later stages. Mwana only managed to awaken it as his bloodline was a mixture of the Sun Dragon, Blood Dragon and another unknown Dragon Bloodline instead of the pure Blood Dragon Bloodline.
Compared to warriors, people who did not practice martial arts would be affected much more by the Blood Dragon bloodline leaving them in a perpetually weakened state. Although it was not the sole culprit, Mwana knew this was one of the reasons for his mother’s health condition.
The old man further explained the issue with Mwana’s bloodline using Damu as an example, “This kid Damu has a pure bloodline solely related to blood. His bloodline simply enriches his blood. It is a small thing but enough to put him in the top 10% of bloodlines. The Blood Dragon on the other hand is the exact opposite as it is gluttonous. It sucks up nutrients from the blood and after awakening, it gets even more gluttonous. The power it grants is incredible after awakening but the energy and resource consumption will double or even triple!”
Hearing the vice-head’s words, Mwana was almost despairing. His family was not rich. Where would he get double or triple the training resources? He was barely making it with what the village provided him! “Old man, is there a way around this issue?”
Hearing Mwana’s tone, the old man felt like he had scared him too much. He could also see Cheza giving him the eye from the side as if saying, ‘soften the blow’. “Cough cough, of course there is a solution.” With a cough, he quickly put to rest some of Mwana’s worries. Seeing calm return to Mwana’s face, he smiled with a nod before continuing. “The most direct method is to get to Blood Boiling as soon as possible. At Blood Boiling one has much more control of their blood. They can directly control how much energy and nutrients are absorbed into their blood. However, you don’t have the resources to reach Blood Boiling so you should just skip the other levels and directly enter Blood Boiling.”
“Skip levels!” All the 3 boys exclaimed at the same time.
Seeing their shocked faces, the old man continued with a smug look, “Yes, skip levels. You know warriors do it all the time, right? What are the 10 levels of martial training in Mortal Body Forging?”
Cheza instantly replied with the 10 levels which were: 1. Entry Level, 2. Muscle Quenching , 3. Skin Hardening , 4. Bone Forging, 5. Tendon Strengthening , 6. Blood Boiling, 7. Organ Quenching, 8. Perception Domain, 9. Spirit Sense Awakening, and 10. Apex Level.
“Do you want to know an open secret?” The boys instantly pecked up their ears hearing the old man’s words. “Traditionally, Organ Quenching actually comes before Blood Boiling. In reality Blood Boiling is the 7th level not the 6th! After-all, the level gets its name from the Blood Boiling technique that allows warriors to excite their blood to a boiling state and multiply their power. This technique is harmful to internal organs that have not gone through the organ quenching process so why would Blood Boiling come after Organ Quenching? The answer is resources!”
The 3 boys were mind-blown by the answer but it made sense. Since the beginning of time, internal organs could not be trained through martial arts so warriors would always have them as a weak point. This continued for eons and for a long time internal destruction martial arts that targeted internal organs were extremely popular as they could down even the most powerful warriors. However, this came to an end once a great medical researcher found a way to nourish and quench organs so as to protect them. This great medicine woman who had walked the earth numerous millennia ago went by the name Maisha, the same name as one of Mwana’s classmates with the apt meaning of ‘life’. The medical method she theorized was later applied to martial arts. Therefore, Organ Quenching involved creating a permanent protective coating over internal organs that would act as a cushion protecting them from damage. A thin film of energy would be formed protecting these organs.
However, every organ is different and varying resources, herbs, minerals, and skills were necessary for each of them. The brain, heart, spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, nervous system, etcetera all had different requirements. As a result, Organ Quenching was one of the most expensive levels for a warrior to get through thus many warriors opted to go through Blood Boiling first.
“If it can be done with Organ Quenching, why can’t it be done with Tendon Strengthening? After your Awakening Ceremony, you will likely reach Bone Strengthening in the next few weeks. You should then directly aim at Blood Boiling!” The old man went straight to the point and Mwana felt like he made a lot of sense. Immediately a heavy load was lifted off of his shoulders.
However, before Mwana could sigh with relief the old man’s next words almost made him vomit in anger, “But those are just the big problems, you still have another weakness!”
Mwana could only glare at the old man while thinking, ‘why didn’t you drop all the bad news at once!’
The vice-head did not leave Mwana hanging and went on to explain, “Your biggest weakness right now is that your Elemental Affinity which is thunder does not match your Bloodline Affinity of fire thus it will be more difficult for you to excite your blood and utilize your bloodline power.”
Mwana understood this point very well because as soon as his bloodline awakened, he felt a boiling heat. Most dragons usually had a fire element affinity with a few having other elements as their affinity. In Mwana’s case, the Sun dragon definitely had a high affinity for fire with light coming second. As for innate elemental affinity, this was the affinity one was born with. Once a warrior started training and absorbing natural energy, different people would be more inclined towards different elements. The reason the Sun and Moon Arts had 10 different forms was to accommodate the various elemental affinities. Usually these affinities fell within the 7 major elements or their variations: Earth, Water, Wind, Lightning, Fire, Light, and Darkness.
Mwana’s elemental affinity was thunder thus his mastery over the Lunar Thunder Turn of the ‘Sun and Moon Arts’ was exceptionally high. This could be seen with how he utilized its techniques such as [Delayed Thunder Charge] and [Rushing Thunder Charge] in his fight against Uchoyo to great effect.
The vice-head continued advising Mwana, “If I were you, I would focus on your soul talent. You have something there kid.” To start fixing his issues, Mwana indeed understood that his strengthened soul was one of the solutions. His two strong points were his soul strength and his understanding of the way of the sword. The old man explained further, “Spiritual sword techniques and the sword path could be your way out. While your sword talent is nowhere near your late father’s, even a sliver of your father’s sword talent is already a notch above most in the village.”
Mwana did not take these words negatively as his late father had indeed been a true genius. He was the only Crystal Warrior to come out of Jua village in a long time. However, Mwana still pointed out to the old man that the spear was the main weapon on the battlefield while the sword was mostly a sidearm. Even Damu added that the spear was superior to the sword in combat. Cheza did not add anything but nodded to show his agreement. In the Zika world, spearmen usually trounced over swordsmen of the same level more times than not. Warriors mainly carried swords as side-arms for close combat and backup.
However, the old man clarified that with enough talent and by reaching a level higher than your opponents, you could always beat those at a lower level but with a superior weapon. “Rookie, Master, Grandmaster, Great-grandmaster and so forth; the path of a warrior is long. If you are a master swordsman, you can beat a rookie spearman. If the spearman is a master, you just need to be at a higher mastery of the sword. I know you might think it might be impossible to achieve martial arts mastery at a young age, but your father was already a grandmaster by the age of 15!”
Mwana, Duma, and Cheza were shocked to hear this. Most martial arts grandmasters were old men past the age of 50. After all mastering martial arts was not the same as increasing their natural energy levels. It was more about skill and expertise. However, after thinking about it for a bit longer they realized that power level alone was not enough to be a Crystal Warrior. The tournament to fight for core discipleship of the tribe would weed out anyone who only possessed high energy levels but low skill level. Fighting strength and technique was just as important in becoming a Crystal Warrior.
After seeing the look of realization on their faces, the old man gave himself a pat on the back for leading them on the right path. He then suggested a solution to Mwana. Mwana could go seek apprenticeship with the Sword Elder, the same man that had trained his father to reach the Grandmaster rank at 15! However, this elder was a recluse who did not bother to see or interact with anyone. While other people planted crops, he had a sword farm that visitors would have to go through in order to see him. When Mwana pointed this out, the vice-head elaborated saying that, “Do you want to know a secret? That old man has been waiting for you.”
Mwana was shocked at the revelation before asking, “How do you know? I heard the old man never leaves his hut and no one can reach him.”
The vice-head replied with a simple answer that made a bit of sense, “What is so hard to understand? The same way you boys know all the gossip and secrets of other ‘critters’ your age even if you don’t interact with them, we old people also know a lot about other oldies.”
