3 years later….

  The sun was scorching high, the wind blows arid and without any moisture. This summer was particularly hot.

  Despite the heat however, Elden and his fellow initiates were out running.

  The sun literally drained their energy, with each step further causing them to huff and heave.

  Elden found himself gasping for air as the last lap of the day was drawing near.

  He had grown taller and broader since his awakening. His baby cheeks were noticeably smaller.

  Elden sped up a bit when he saw that the finishing line was drawing near, closing the distance left in mere moments.

  What would have taken him more than a minute before his awakening only took him mere moments now.

  His cultivation improved and with it so did his body. He was much faster, stronger and sturdier than he ever was.

  As soon as he finished the lap, he wobbled over to the bench to take a seat.

  He was not the first to finish the marathon, there were a few others who had finished it prior to him.

  Cain and his friends were some of them. They were higher in cultivation level than he was.

  Elden took a moment to calm his wildly beating heart before taking a sip of water and then opened his status.

  Status:

  Name: Elden Talon

  Titles: N/A

  Martial Rank: Initiate

  Cultivation Level: 8

  Martial Soul: Heaven’s Fury, Stormcaller

  Bloodline: N/A

  Runes: N/A

  Martial Soul Skills: N/A

  Bloodline Skills: N/A

  Dao: N/A

  His status awakened the night of the Awakening Ceremony, a bit faster than most since on average it should have awakened the next morning as it had with Cain.

  He looked at his cultivation level before sighing. It was a bitter feeling to be left behind. Cain had broken into level 9 one month ago, and here he was still stuck in level 8.

  ‘Its nearly there though.’ Elden thinks.

  He could feel it. He was at the threshold of a breakthrough. It shouldn’t take him long for him to reach level 9.

  Each level at the initiate rank led to a massive increase in power.

  The initiate rank was all about the reconstruction and the strengthening of the body. It consisted of using the mana refined by the martial soul to slowly but surely strengthen the body.

  Each breakthrough breaks down the body and rebuilds it to be more powerful than the last, thus leading to a massive increase per level.

  Elden looks at Cain who saw him staring but ignored him.

  He sighs at that. Ever since the Awakening Ceremony Cain actively avoided him, while he was curt and respectful when he talked to him, he never went out of his way to greet him like he did before that.

  He knew that Cain didn’t really look down upon him, he could see the anger he felt when someone called him a cripple or trash, but he didn’t really stop them either, for what reason he didn’t know.

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  Elden missed being the goofy kid that he was. Oh, god he did, but he knew that he couldn’t afford to be that kid anymore.

  The day he went back to his childish ways was the day that he would trampled by those trying to discredit him. He would be betraying the the trust of everyone that believed in him and he couldn’t bear that.

  He sat back cross-legged and started meditating to recover the lost stamina, his breath steadying with each deep breath he took and released.

  He found this to be very calming to his mind, it increased his focus and lessened the strain of constant training on his mental faculties.

  “Alright, that’s enough!” The instructor shouts.

  “Rest is over!” He bellows.

  “Take positions!”

  The kids start filing into their positions, each picking a weapon.

  Elden himself picks up dual axes. It was his regular practice weapon, afterall his martial soul was an axe.

  He usually practices with either the dual axes, or one axe and a shield. He switches between them to get more accustomed to fight as per the necessity.

  He also practices the spear and sword at times too, though he observed that he was much more talented with the axe.

  His father advised him to practice with multiple weapons because according to him, you might never know which weapon would come to be used at any given situation and even minor proficiency in weapons not of you speciality can mean the difference between life and death.

  He continues to practice his swing at the target dummy. Each swing brings joy within him, the lactic burn in his muscles felt great knowing that this training was building the foundation of his strength.

  His wooden axe hitting the straw dummy left dust in the air.

  His proficiency with the axe had increased by leaps and bounds since he first started to learn it.

  The axe was great weapon to use that possessed both the weight of a hammer and the edge of a blade. It was devastatingly useful in armoured combat, and while it was slower than a sword and less nimble to use, the increase in strength with each cultivation level helped bridge many of these weaknesses.

  While it was still difficult to defend with an axe than with a sword, Elden found a few advantages in that regard as well.

  “Allright then, now that the warm up is done, we shall start the one-on-one combat.” The instructor directed. He then started to assign each of the trainee with an individual partner.

  Elden was paired up with a girl he was very familiar with - Artemis.

  ‘Great’ he thought grumpy. He started swearing under his breath.

  “Look who we have over here!” Artemis says her face smug.

  “The crippled prince of House Talon!” She says to her audience while pointing her wooden staff at Elden.

  Some of the surrounding trainees, noticeably those belonging to Artemis’s faction started snickering, while some in the neutral faction smirked at the joke.

  “Hey, atleast I am not the bitch queen of House Talon.” Elden retorts with a shit eating grin on his face.

  Artemis narrows her eyes before stepping into the ring with a relaxed smile on her face.

  “You know for that very comment I am going to punch your teeth loose.” Artemis says with a cocky smile.

  “You know, you and Mondays are very similar like that, no one really likes you.” Elden says.

  Artemis growls at that and takes an aggressive stance.

  Elden takes a defensive stance with a smile plastered on his face, which only seemed to infuriate her further.

  He holds his right axe in a forward position while holding his left close to his chest under his right armpit.

  As the bell rings, Artemis starts moving, she attacks with her staff. Despite her anger, she doesn’t lose her edge and swings with all the skill she could muster.

  Elden steps back and weaves out of her attack.

  Instead of swinging his axe, he thrusts it. The toe of the axe blade strikes with her on the shoulder, pushing her back slightly.

  This only serves to enrage her, she follows up with a thrust of her own staff.

  Elden parries it with the left handed axe, before swinging his right axe towards her neck.

  Artemis ducks down before spinning and thrusting the other end of the staff into his stomach and then sweeping at his legs causing him to fall flat on his raw stomach.

  Artemis snorts.

  “This is the difference between us.” She declares “You will always be a cripple who loses the minute he fights a real warrior, while I am destined to achieve great things in life.” She says smugly.

  “You know, before you start blasting your mouth, you should really check if your enemy is truly defeated.” Elden says his voice half muffled due to him lying down.

  “Wha..” She begins to ask before she feels a pull on her heel causing her to fall down backwards.

  Elden capitalizes on her fall to quickly mount her.

  He then slips him hand over the haft of his right handed axe and grips the shoulder of it.

  He then holds the edge of the blade over Artemis’s neck, where the jugular vein is located.

  “Yield” Elden orders.

  Artemis only growls.

  The instructor sees that and declares Elden the winner.

  “How?” Artemis asks as soon as she gets up.

  “How what?” Elden asks eager to mess with her.

  “You know what!” She growls “How did you make me fall? I made sure I was too far from you for you to pull me with your hands. So how did you pull me?”

  “Its quite simple really. I fell because I wanted to. After I fell down, I used the beard of my axe to hook and pull your ankle.” Elden says.

  “I won’t fall for it the next time!” Artemis vows before walking away.

  With the training for the day done, it was now time for the kids to spend as they wished, while for some it may involve games and fun, for the majority within House Talon it involved more training from their parents and cultivation.