Chapter 6: Savage Caves

Kartius sat inside a fifty meters deep gorge, shrouded in lava like smoky mist. In his hands he was clasping a black sphere, a Black Core, and on his chest, up where his clavicle was, a lone azure gate was glowing.

"Hmm..." Kartius circulated his breath. It helped to bare the pain a little longer, and when it did not, it was good to have the indissoluble Black Core in his hands, to alleviate some of the stress...

'Absolved from Pain and Destruction ... Zax, my Martial son... ' For a year and a half now, whenever Kartius was by himself, in another session of training, he pondered about Zax and the inconceivable heaven given gift in his dantian and directed each thought to the Black Core in his possession.

'At the beginning, big brother was interested in the Black Core no less than I am. But because of his condition he had to let it go, it was useless for him. So I entered a closed doors training to take you for my own'.

His hands clenched the Black Core without conserving strength. His soul could not support him, to lessen the Pain – it was part of the burden of the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement formation in his body. But matters that weighed on his mind made it possible to avert his attention.

'Coming out with no results, I convinced big brother to let Martial niece Zetsa bring her little brother to his cave. Who would have thought that afterwards I'll boldly take him as my first apprentice... ? There was no other way for me to investigate the effects of a Black Core on a body that received it ... But it turned out that apart from Zax, no one can detect the Black Core or what he proclaims it had done to the Earth's Core in his dantian. If I was not present there myself and saw the same shape and size cavities on the flat mountain wall and sensed the radiance reforming his Qi and Qi channels, how could I believe it myself?'

Kartius got up and fought back the instinct to call forth a layer of defensive mantel. The mist energy of a Core Master will do little to nothing against this level of smoky mist anyway. Instead, Kartius started to exercise sequences of bodily maneuvers.

If Zax were to see his Master right now, his mouth would have hung opened.

Kartius's bodily might was on a rampage. Attacking was not his intention, but where he passed rocks and earth split apart and then shattered to smithereens and the gorge, in no time, gained the appearance of a battlefield.

'And today", Kartius kept reflecting, 'after a year and a half, before I was able to conceive substantial finds that will help me attain the energy of the Black Core, I actually see and care for him as a son... '

As a Martial cultivator, Kartius reached a fork on his path.

It took him hundreds of years to reach his current place, and during this period of time, in terms of cultivation, he only had himself to worry about. That was one side of the path, the selfish and egoistic, lonesome path that will benefit more the cultivation of a practitioner of the Martial path.

The other side was nearly identical. The difference was that if a practitioner were to choose it, sacrifices will have to be made on his or her expanse, to support the growth of someone else, a new generation.

Kartius was swaying, for a certain amount of time favoring one side over the other and then swaying back to the inception of the fork.

"You broke through the fourth gate!" The voice declared jubilantly in Zax's head. "Magnificent! You are magnificent, little Zax!"

"The Core Breaker gate!" Zax entered his sea of consciousness. The fourth gate was in the midst of fading. Black spikes sprout from Zax's body. The fifth gate's azure radiance transformed to black. "Hahaha! I made it! In just a year and a half ... I'm a Core Breaker, I'm a Core Breaker!" Zax shouted and expressed his joy by showing off his new bodily capabilities.

"What ridiculous things are you spouting? There is no Core Breaker that can match you. Have you forgotten what your Master said? Even Mist Users in Beginner phase of the Mist Lord level cannot bully you now!" The voice proclaimed as if it was it that achieved the breakthrough.

"Ah, who is it?" Zax took notice of the odd voice and spread his Soul Sense around, but could not discover anyone in its radius.

"Don't bother, little Zax, you won't be able to find me". The voice said in amusement. "You are cute, but I don't think that we are ready to meet".

Someone that could converse with him without being found ... Zax thought of the possibilities of whom it could be, knowing that whoever it was, the feminine voice signified that it was a woman and definitely a senior on the Martial path.

"Senior, are you by any chance big sis Zetsa's elder Martial sister?" Zax asked. Out of his big sister Martial brothers and sister, Zax had yet to meet two of Zetsa's elder Martial apprentices. One of which, Zax remembered, was a sister and he suspected that the voice belonged to her.

"Little Zetsa is also cute", the voice replied. "But to me she is more than a little sister".

"Senior-"

"Stop calling me 'Senior'. Would you call the man that hurt you a senior just because he is older and stronger?"

"The man who hurt me?" Zax was confused. "Who are you referring to?" It sounded like the feminine voice had someone specific in mind, but who was behind the voice that knew stuff about him? " ... and how should I call you?"

"Of course, the man of the Martinez family that assaulted you in the Young Mist Users Conference. Who else?"

"You know of what happened in the Young Mist Users Conference?!" Zax called out in surprised and his face frowned. "Are you a figment of my imagination?"

"That's rude!" The feminine voice was offended. "I know what I know because Zetsa told me. Your sanity is in place and I'm most definitely real!" The feminine voice affirmed and went silent. "If I tell you my name, can you promise not to tell anyone that we talked?"

"Can we meet?" If it was the voice of lunacy it could say anything. While conversing, Zax also delved into his sea of consciousness, to check for quirky fluctuations. His sea of consciousness was serene.

"Little Zax, as much as I would like to meet you, he would not allow it. In his eyes you are still not qualified and even if you were, you'll have to rely on your own prowess to come meet me. As you are now, your level of cultivation is low".

'Mmm ... why do I get the sense that big sis's Master is that one that doesn't see me qualified?' Zax was not stupid. He maybe not knew who the voice was, but he did know in whose territory he was in and whose approval his Master train him to receive.

"I won't tell anyone that we talked". There was nothing else, so Zax agreed.

"I'm glad, little Zax, that you trust me. I also trust your judgment. My name, little Zax, is Laivien ... I reside in this Essence Cave for a very long time". The feminine voice, Laivien, sounded melancholy, however her tone became lively as she went on saying. "For the past year and a half I've watched you train diligently, advance faster than anyone before you, and celebrates each breakthrough with great exhilaration. It made me joyous..."

Laivien's sincere confession somehow made Zax's heart quiver. The sound of her voice transmitted gratitude and dependence. It was weird to have someone he did not know be so affectionate toward him.

In Zax's mind appeared his mother, as if she was saying those things to him. Her eyes were tearing, but on her lips was a smile.

"Laivien, if you watched for the year and a half, why only now you speak to me?"

"Little Zax, there are many things you don't know, were not told, about Valgarel. It's not my place to tell you of them, but your Master's. I chose to speak to you today because, otherwise than your Master, I think that you are ready for the Savage Caves".

"'The Savage Caves', what are those?"

"In New Earth the Essence Caves are considered secret wonders for being hard to find, for being the ideal place to practice bodily refining technique and for having an immense source of energy, though only humans manage to harvest it. When Essence Caves are good for bodily refinement, the Savage Caves are good for soul refinement".

"So there is another type of caves!" Zax understood. "But, Laivien, if you not just watched but heard me and Master talk, Master said that I can keep training my soul by exercising in Adraak Meditation until I'll breakthrough to the next level with my soul".

"I'm aware of your Master's decision. However, I say that he is wrong. If you wait for your soul to breakthrough, because of your Master's uncertainties you will shamelessly waste an unprecedented opportunity!"