Chapter 17

    Cassandra 1.4

    She tapped his shoulder and chuckle as she stood up. She helped him up as well and said, "you're hesitating there. Is this something you aren't accustomed to?" The Biting humans she means, she saw him shake his head and said, "is not that. Is that I don't know what would happen if I did this sort of thing with you. What happen if I couldn't stop myself or if..." Cassandra wave at him and went back to pick up her clothes. Sunsun was already there by the time she reaches her clothes.

    She threw a disapproving look at the beast. After she climb up from the lake she found it hiding behind a tree with it's robust body shaking behind it as if the tree could hide it. Cassandra didn't raise it to be a big scary cat. He is supposed to be a brave Red Lion of House Kylong who will look at death directly in the eye. 

    Sunsun knew that she was angry at him and his head was low as he scratched the grass with his paw and purr from time to time. Cassandra walk up to his body and pull at his tail twice. Puff of little Fiery Sparks lit up his red fur and Cassandra calmly stood close to him, letting her body dry up. After, she clothed herself and walk up to Cyrus once again.

    He stood there looking at the black spot on the heart of his palm. Cassandra reach in front of him and also stare down at it. She was incredibly confused, that True Dragon's Heart was a piece that she managed to get after defeating one at the end of it's days. If that Dragon wasn't on his journey towards the Graveyard of Dragons she wouldn't possibly be able to kill that thousands of years old creature.

    She knows that she was lucky that day, that thanks to it's blood she managed to acquire the Dragon's Power. It was also this same piece of hard core that form in it's heart before it died that she discovered that in Dragon’s Eye there was a mystery. She didn't understand what it was, but it was this thing that made her discover the eggs on this lake. But these eggs were surrounded by a Formation of Spells. Something that she has never seen before. It was Pure Magic, something mythical and outside of this world.

    Cassandra has try to breakthrough the spells since she came to know about the place but she realized that she first needed to suppress this Heart Core. Not only that but she needed to breach the spells defenses at the same time, something the current her is impossible of doing. That's why she brought Cyrus with her, after contemplating her father's words, she came to realize that he was right.

    Why still have that pride of hers if she couldn't acquire everything she wanted by herself? With him by her side she could and would accomplish much more. She wouldn't need to pursue pure power when she could have it by her side all the time.

    Looking at the black spot with dim red patterns that look like wiggling little worms she ask him, "how did this happen?" Cyrus look at her and tilted his head to her side, "you didn't know this was going to happen?" Why would she! This was a first for her, even founding that Heart Core was something she has never heard or read in any of the ancient books that speak about the Dragons. This is as new to her as it is to him.

    Cassandra shook her head and pouted her plump lips. " The only thing I knew was that this stone would need to be suppress, it would release pure raw Dragon's Power and if this side is not stabilize then the spells defending the eggs would not be weakened. Believe me, this is as new to me as it is to you. If someone in the past would've told me that in the Dragon's eyes there was this mythical Magical Spells defending some eggs then I wouldn't believe it."  She traces her finger on his soft palm and realize that the core was actually beating if she left her finger long enough to feel it.

    The only thing is that looking at it from afar it would look like a black spot under the skin. Something that would give the people a thought that he was infected with the Black Disease, but touching it Cassandra came to know that this black spot that had red patterns spread across it and disappeared under his skin was actually alive. "How do you feel?" Her hand didn't left his palm, she scrubbed and felt it as long as she please.

    "It feels warm, but if I don't put my mind into it the feeling would easily disappeared." Cassandra let go of his hand and pick up a bundle beside her feet. She pulled it up in front of Cyrus and said, "look inside." Cyrus did what she told and open up the cloth that was bundle up.

    Three glossy lights appear in front of them. Three scale like eggs came out from the open bundle. They look metallic in nature but were actually frozen in stone. Cassandra couldn't feel any Lifeforce inside but that didn't diminish their worth and mystery. "What are they?" His eyes glow through the cloth that covers half of his face. That's it, that red diabolical color pierce through his cloth again. Cassandra now had this urge to rip that blindfold off and see what's under it.

    It was the same as when they first meet, he had that piercing diabolical glow in his eyes that actually made her scared at the time but now what it brought was an almost undisguised attraction. But she knows that there will be more time to uncover his secrets, now let's just get to know him and what he’s like.

    "Well, I think they are True Dragons eggs, well I think. True Dragon are things from Ancient past and not part of this Age. They are so ancient and mysterious that they go back to the Age of the Gods and the Giants, they aren't like the Dragons mentioned in today's day. Those Dragons are actually a descendant of the past but still as mysterious as their ancestors." Cyrus glowing eyes quickly disappeared and he nodded his head. He touch the scales and no reaction came.

    "Let's head back before people start to bad mouth us." Sunsun was already behind her and she jumped up to his wide back. Cyrus also jumped up and sat behind her, his arm hugging her waist. Sunsun roar and flames burst out of his paws, his red fur turn shining and small particles of magic swirl around the beast. With a leap the beast already enter the forest in front of them and dash forth with unrelenting speed…

    Cassandra and Cyrus made it back to the cloudy north and what they saw left the both of them with open mouth. Cassandra look up to the sun that sometimes peek through the dusky clouds and calculate that they were out for more than three hours. Sunsun was already tired and laid on his stomach on top the cliff.

    The Magical Abilities that it needed to unleashes in order to travel those hundreds of miles wasn't something he could do indefinitely. Magical Beast are just the same as other beasts only showing more emotions and intelligence. They will not be govern by their instincts and will show humans attributes. The Magical Abilities they use will consume something different from Aura, she likes to call it Magic Source.

    Cassandra still doesn't know from where they take this type of energy from but it seems they couldn't just replenish their stocks as easily as Martial Practitioner do it with the Force, practicing with their Breathing Exercises. 

    Cassandra patted his fluffy mane and told him to just rest, that soon she will give it's dinner. She walked to the edge of the cliff and stare down at the field in front of her with Cyrus. Even Cyrus was left with an open mouth, Cassandra look on and found the Martial field full of chaotic winds. The sounds of two strong metals spread throughout the valley and up outside towards them.

    Two figures coated in rampaging Aura were clashing like two beasts in the wild. Their Aura already rose to tens of meters outside of their bodies. This was a clear display of their polished cultivation as the more polish and higher the quality of the Aura, the more it can expand outside their bodies.

    Only people like Cyrus and her could already expand their Aura hundreds of meters outside their bodies because of their specialty. Their specialty can go from Bloodline to Physique to even the elusive Spirit Power. It's never clear in what aspect these powers could be manifested but Cyrus and Cassandra could clearly dominate in any categories as they were just that special.

    The two fighting in the Martial Arena were General Beévarn and a man with half of his face melted off. Cassandra didn't know who he was but he was going head to head with General Beévarn, one of the Five General Knights under her Royal father. General Beévarn is an incredible genius who was raised by her family in terms of Martial Cultivation. He also was one of this times first generation Knights, one of the groups who spearheaded the long lost Knight’s Cultivation Method.

    Cassandra has seen him since she was a child and know how strong he was, she has never seen him lost but she has heard that Brethan Ashcold beat him during the campaign of the War of Change, and not once, as she was told.

    Right now these two Auras were rampaging through the air and clashing as if they had arms and legs of their own while the bodies of General Beévarn and that half faced man were exchanging moves in the middle of the arena. The tiles made of fusion stone tremble constantly but didn't break nor did they crack under the constant blow their shockwave produced but the air space around them was covered in vapor like ripples every time they clash.

    Also, with a move of their bodies the rippling sound of air was traveling far away. After all, they were moving close to the speed of sound. Cassandra gasp at their accurate control of their bodies as they dance around the arena. Even though General Beévarn was using a long saber and the man with half a face was using a long thin sword the both of them didn't forget to use their legs as they skip around the arena.

    "Wow! Uncle Ash is actually this strong. Why have I never felt the need to battle him?" Cyrus ask beside her but it wasn't a question towards her and he was more talking to himself. Cassandra answer him, "that's because you only feel raw power, raw potential but what you don't know is their Battle Experience. Only after fighting them could you know their experience." Cyrus look at her through that blindfold of his and was visibly surprised at what she said.

    Cassandra was getting to understand him more and more. He truly is a boy with incredible powers but no knowledge about humans. He was never trained, the Ashcolds threw him into that catacombs that were infected with beasts all year around and didn't give him any knowledge at how normal humans cultivate. 

    Cassandra realize this now, is just the same as what happen with Ser Johan. He gauges his raw power and deem him weaker than Lanier because of what he sees but in the fight he ended up concluding himself that Lanier lost because he didn't use that Hypersight or whatever he meant by that.

    "Cyrus who help you start your Martial Cultivation?" She ask because no matter how strong or special he was there must be a beginning. "Belia show it to me. She taught me how to summon it first and how to revolved around every part of my body, and after I started it just didn't stop. It was as if something from the other side was guiding it without any obstacles. I understood the Aura of Reality before I was ten and almost a year ago I brokethrough to the Realm of Nen." Cassandra was shock now.

    Not because of how young he achieve these things, all of it were virtually impossible for normal humans to achieve but because of how he describe what he felt through his cultivation path. It was an exact copy of what happen to her. She started later than him it seems as she summons the Force at the age of ten and reach the Aura of Reality at the age of fifteen, later at the age of twenty she reached the Realm of Nen. 

    In this Realm one needs to Create a power of their own, something that will be tied down by rules and laws. It was something filled with superstition by the common folks and normally call Magic but far from the actual source. Now five years later she managed to breakthrough once again. She may haven't surpassed the Realm but her power was still growing stronger.

    *BOOOM!*

    This time both of them separated and each held up their weapons. They manipulated the Force and forms of creatures morph around their weapons. That man with half a face created a Beast covered in Blue Flames, General Beévarn on the other hand morph a Bird of Prey as it spread its wings around the blade's body. 

    Their Aura grew thicker and wasn't as transparent as it was before. Only their bodies were perfectly shown inside the thick Aura that coated around them, from a distance they look like glowing lambs that illuminates the surroundings in their own light. The air stifled and the grass around the arena was pressed down by an unseen pressure. The roar of their beasts echo out of their weapons as they even put the steed in the stables beside the Martial Field in disarray.

    The Battle Skills of the humans are all derived from Beasts of Nature as they were the natural predators of mankind since the Ages of the past world. Even with all the threats and danger the world holds the Beasts were the ones who have been eating humans since the first men were born into these lands. As such the greatest weapons the humans have created are Skills related to Beasts, they mimic their ferociousness, their wildness and sometimes their abilities. With their mastery of the Force they could recreate Beasts Abilities and Manifest them in incomprehensible attacks. Something that could only be done with experience and knowledge mix into the Skills.

    Right now two Masters were charging up their energy as their Aura expanded even further out showing the act of raising their bodily attributes. Now, both of them took a step forward and slash at their opponents.

    *BOOOOOOM!* 

    The earth shook and a dome of light spread out from the point of impact on the Martial arena. The ring of vapor blast into every spectator faces as they were momentarily shocked, bewildered at the battle and later roar in excitement.

    Cassandra and Cyrus on top of the cliff were already sitting on the edge together and watch the ending of the battle. "That's Battle Experience. The way they danced around the arena and the way they accurately unleash every attack, also their control and most important of all their Manipulation of Aura is the skills, that's what deem them Masters in Martial Cultivation." Cassandra said and after looking at the dust and vapor spreading out, about to reveal the Arena scene she ask. "But their Energy Levels were almost equal, so who do you think won?" She wanted to know how he sees the Martial Practitioner, she wanted to teach him how to assess a Master not by their raw power only but by different attributes through looking at their battles.