“A third realm expert?!” Zax exclaimed. “Girl… Susuya, you are just an Earth’s Core Holder, how can you so casually call someone a third realm expert? Are you even aware what a being in the third realm signifies? Please tell me that you simply heard the term ‘Realm’ from someone and trying to play a prank on me!” Zax refuted her statement the instant her words sunk to his mind.
That she is his granddaughter and that superintendent Ten is a third level Core Master Zax could accept. Even saying that he was the first princ.i.p.al of the number one Martial school in El-Eden, Zax was willing to believe, after all, he did perceive a tremendous level of strength from the old man. But for Susuya that was not enough. She actually, calmly and without batting an eyelash, claimed that her own grandfather is one of the very few, most likely less than ten beasts and people put together, in all of New Earth that surpa.s.sed the Core Master realm!
The maintenance building was concealed behind a layer of trees. Susuya led Zax on a path from the remote office of her grandfather that encircled the cement court Zax and Don fought on. The court was large, eight times the size of a regular sport court and a few cla.s.ses of students were peacefully and diligently practicing cultivation techniques and low cla.s.s formations.
One cla.s.s, close to the edges of the court, was of Beginner grade students who, naturally, wore the same shade uniforms as Susuya and seemed to be around the same age. This one Beginner grade cla.s.s practiced a very low cla.s.s formation that was also a very important formation due to it being a Foundation formation that meant to strengthen the comprehensive abilities of those who practiced it.
Of course, Zax was not proficient in formations and could not tell much of what the Beginner grade cla.s.s was doing, only that their teacher instructed the young students to repeat the formation until they can manipulate their mist energy and create ten Foundation formations under one minute, which by the look of things, no one would be able to accomplish it even under one hour.
Susuya turned her bored gaze to the close by Beginner grade cla.s.s and raised her hand. Brown mist energy emanated from the palm of her hand like a smoke.
“You…” Zax looked at Susuya and guessed what she was about to do, yet was not convinced that she will succeed.
SWIs.h.!.+
Susuya moved her right hand as if it was a brush’s handle and her five fingers as if they were the bristles.
One… Two… Three…
One after another she perfectly completed Foundation formations.
Four… Five… Six…
Unlike the other students she did not show signs of fatigue.
Seven… Eight… Nine… Ten!
Susuya lowered her right hand and turned her gaze from the Beginner grade cla.s.s to Zax.
Between him and her floated round and similar to the tiniest of details, ten Foundation formations, and not twenty seconds have pa.s.sed.
“If I say that grandpa Ten is in the third realm, then grandpa Ten is in the third realm! If I say that I will also reach the third realm, then you should not look down on me just because now I’m in the Earth’s Core Holder level!” She said and sulked. This young and feisty girl actually had quite of a compet.i.tive spirit and was not afraid to loudly claim her aspirations.
Turning her back to Zax, Susuya kept going, leading the way to Don’s office in the two storey faculty building.
‘She was serious!’ Zax realized. Partly, because of her outstanding display, which if connecting the dots could be explained as hereditary talent, partly, because of the earnest and n.o.ble fluctuations in the air this little girl gave.
Rubbing his short and spiky hair, Zax sighed with a smile. Did he interact with a third realm expert couple of minutes ago and now a third realm expert in the making? He wanted to laugh, but refrains from doing so. Susuya’s completion of the ten Foundation formations already caused ruckus in the small Beginner grade cla.s.s and the teacher was scolding the students while staring at Susuya’s back with both complementing and complicated expression.
With his blood boiling, Zax followed Susuya.
…
‘So I ended up going to her office anyway…’ Zax thought to himself, remembering how Don tried to convince him to come to her in her office the first time he had been to Eden Formation.
Back then he was not willing to listen and insisted on doing things his way. Eventually, he ended up running away with missing arm. Thinking carefully to that day, Zax could not help but release a relief sigh and thank the Supreme Rulers that with his bad temperament at the time he did not encounter superintendent Ten, otherwise, with the old man’s equally bad temperament…
“Aunty Don”, Susuya did not bother to knock and open the door to Don’s office with her voice first announcing her arrival.
“Susuya, Zax…” Don was sitting behind her desk with a pile of doc.u.ment to one side and a large touch Screen on the other.
“Big sis!” At first, Zax was about to humbly greet the woman he gave so much trouble to, but when he entered Don’s office and his eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar figure that sat in a meditative position on a small carpet in the left corner of the room, his mouth opened and he gasped in surprise.
As for why Zax did not noticed his big sister before entering Don’s office, it was because that even inside the faculty building, possibly in every building on school’s grounds, was a formation that confined his Soul Sense to the current room that he was in. Much like how it has been in the Rehabilitation Room. The reason Zax was surprised to see his big sister, was because he simply did not expect for her to be waiting… training in the office of Eden Formation’s school princ.i.p.al.
Hearing her little brother voice, Zetsa eyes opened gradually. She got up from the carpet with solemn expression on her face and walked forward to meet Zax.
“Big sis?” Zax asked quizzically.
Zetsa did not respond with words.
FUFUFUFU!
Dark golden aura burst from her body and a strong whirlwind swirled around her.
‘She… is mad!’ It was the first time he felt such a baleful aura emerging for his big sister and it was actually directed at him.
Being in her presence for the last couple of days, Don was aware of Zetsa’s present mood. When her guest got up and was about to release her aura, she did not hesitated and formed a protective formation around Susuya and her desk.
Zetsa stood face to face with Zax. Her palm slightly turned bluish and exuded cold air, while her fingernails slightly turned red and exuded hot air.
“Big sis… I’m-”
SLAP!
Zetsa did not let him finish the sentence. Concentrating all of her mist energy to her right palm, she raised it and slammed it against Zax’s face with ears piercing sound.
Zax’s head turned ninety degrees to his right. He saw the mist energy swirling and swallowing to Zetsa’s body. He saw her hand going up and her skin s.h.i.+ning in olive, gold, blue and red. His saw the trajectory of the swing and he saw that his big sister and the room turning to a blur as the vibration of the strike pa.s.sed through his brain.
Throughout this course of events, Zax did not even dream to resist. At the beginning he simply was not sure what will happen, he never saw Zetsa so angry before. His soul was stronger than hers; his body was tougher than hers. He had no reasons to fear her. Nevertheless, when his eyes followed her actions, which he could so easily avoid, a sudden pinch in his heart made him perceive his big sister from the eyes of his former self as the eight years old child she promised to start training and made so happy.
This threw Zax into a complete submissive state of mind, it was about to be the first time in his life his big sister will hit him and after a few milliseconds it was the first time she hit him and he did nothing but accept it, if only not to offend her.
As far as how he preserved when the slap landed on his face… far worse than he expected. The pain was just a little bit lesser than when Don slapped him. Zax counted his big sister’s body fitness level and her mist level, but he did not take into account the quality of the refinement techniques she practiced. The Radical Fiery Icy Provocation Qi/Mist Refining Technique and the Seven Stages Of Bodily Refinement were top refinement techniques that made Zetsa unrivaled against someone in the same level of cultivation.
To say that a slap with her utmost strength would hurt to someone like Zax, would be a big understatement.
“Do you not have any consideration for yourself and for you loved ones?!” Zetsa yelled at her little brother’s astonished face. “You’ve been back for less than two days and you seek to challenge the number one Martial school in El-Eden? You decides that you are capable of being overbearing because what? You trained in Valgarel for three years?! How that worked out for you? Even with Don Ram not going into details, with you suddenly going away, leaving only a d.a.m.ned letter, I easily tell that your impulsive behavior brought you no good!”
“Is that right?!” Zax turned his head and said angrily. “Did you even talk with Anet? Do you know what I accomplished for her sake?!” His anger stemmed not from the pain of the slap, but from how Zetsa ignored the reason he barged to Eden Formation.
“Was that done for Anet?” Zetsa’s tone filled with disdain. ”When your friend suffered graveness you sought consolation by taking revenge for her, but against who or what did you have any idea before you thoughtlessly went to challenge a member of a great family on the property of the number one grate family?”
Zax clenched his teeth, he was stumped.
“Let me tell you, while you were away for a breakthrough, the Derneldar family did not sit idly. Even though Don Ram sacrificed a lot to cover the trail you left, they were still reluctant to give up. They sent a.s.sa.s.sins to target the victims of that boy who viciously hurt Anet. They sent Mist Users experts to kill Anet when you were not here, LEFT FOR OTHERS, to protect her!”
“What! Anet-” Zax lost all the color from his face. Yes, he was irresponsible, he did many mistakes by rashly threatening Binjo and alerting the Derneldar family, but if Anet was hurt because of him, if she…
His eyes turned red just from the thought and his muscles bulged. He said two words only to be cut short by Zetsa.
“She is fine. She never got hurt or knows that her life was at risk”. She replied with a frown, but her voice was calmer. Seeing Zax’s spark of nervousness and fury, Zetsa let it wane instead of pointlessly allow it to flare up. The single moment of fretfulness was tormenting enough.
Zax fists that were raised to waist height loosened up and the redness in his eyes dissipated.
“You protected her?” He asked softly.
“Yes, I and Don Ram. I kept an eye on her at home, on her way to school and back. Don Ram was generous and accepted Anet as her Tal to keep an eye and nurture her in school”.
“That was just because she has talent, Zetsa”. Don interfered. “I treated her well in school because she deserves it, but I accepted her as my Tal because she has talent”.
Zetsa responded with a node to Don, and Zax just looked at her with grat.i.tude.
Poor Susuya felt awkward being a stranger in what seemed to be a personal dispute. Her small hands were stuck to her ears since the awful slap’s sound. Zetsa’s show of force did not intimidate her, but it did make it uncomfortable to stay around.
“Aunty Don”, Susuya used the pause to finish what her grandfather told to do and dismiss herself. “Grandpa Ten asked me bring some tea when I get back”.
“You know where I keep it, little Su, take a few leaves and grind them at Ten Ram’s place”. Don released the formation around Susuya and the ten, eleven years old girl opened the drawer of a wooden cabinet that rested at the center of the left wall.
Inside the drawer was a jar with multicolored leaves. Picking a few leaves, Susuya returned the Jar, closed the drawer.
“Bye, aunty Don”. She said and left in a run.
Seeing the door close behind Susuya, Zetsa turned her head back to Zax.
“Without Don Ram’s help even I would have been in a problem. Don Ram forced the Derneldar family into a corner. If she did not, than in a matter of a day or two, they would have identified who I am and the people close to me, to us!” Her rebuking tone resurfaced. She did not finish. “That’s you acting on your own without thinking about others. Let me ask you, Zax, could what I say till now be the end of your wrongdoings?”
The question was not rhetorical, worse, it was a test!
Having the feeling that even if he will answer what she wants to hear, he will still get rebuked; Zax did not dare open his mouth.
“No! Because after you returned you decided to go and confront on your own not just a second level Core Master, but his whole family, as well!”
“That…” Zax had a few words to say in this matter but stopped himself. The outburst of confidence long faded, and if he would say that it was an Eden Formation’s students who gave him the information about Binjo and where he live, would not he have to deal with Don in addition to his big sister?
Despite that he won against the second level Core Master, killed Binjo and his brother and is still alive, better was for him to shut up.
“You said before that you have some accomplishments, well… I won’t say what we both know, whether it was due to luck or ability. However, Zax, can you recall the state that you were in when you found Don Ram?” Remembering the burnt and b.l.o.o.d.y scrawny body of her little brother, Zetsa self discipline faltered, the rims of her eyes reddened and tears soon after began to slide down her cheeks. “It wasn’t coincidental that you found Don Ram before you fainted. Don Ram followed you so you will have the opportunity to get justice on your own and interject only in the worst case scenario. On that we agreed together, except that when you returned I was in cave twenty five and when that Core Master detonated the mist energy in his dantian, the worst case scenario far surpa.s.sed our expectations!”
Zetsa kept eye contact with Zax. A Core Master’s mist detonation… if it was not for the modification the Black Core did to the bodily refinement technique he practiced, if it was not for the school’s special Rehabilitation Room, how would she have taken care of her little brother so promptly?
Of everything that happened, everything she scolded him for, it was not Zax decision to kill Binjo, to challenge a great family or even to fight with a second level Core Master that Zetsa was angry at him about. What made her angry and wanting to instill his mistakes in his head was the approach he had for every decision. Essentially, wanting to do the impossible and most dangerous was not profane, doing so negligently was.
Zax could not stand the look in his big sister eyes when tears trickled down from them. He could not refute the words that led her to cry.
He bit his tongue and was ashamed.
“Forgive me”.
