Chapter Thirty-Eight

Torne and Kurse knocked on the front door. "Leave the stuff outside." They heard Arnin's cold voice order from the inside. Kurse quickly placed the empty stones onto the ground before taking a step back. He didn't leave just yet, since he didn't know if Arnin would allow him to.

"M-Master, is there anything else that we should do for you?" Kurse asked after some hesitation. He really just wanted to quickly head over to the two girls and beg them to save Torne and him.

"Not right now. You guys can leave. I will have Vilis fetch you when I need you." Arnin's voice came from inside once more. This time, it was as if the heavens were playing their trumpets alongside his voice. The two were extremely excited that Arnin allowed them to leave for now. They quickly nodded even though no one could see them and left.

"Kurse, where are the two girls? We should hurry to them." Torne was feeling somewhat anxious. Although he hadn't even spent a mere day with Arnin yet, he still couldn't forget the beating he received.

"They are not that far away. We should get there very soon." Kurse replied quickly, with a tinge of excitement in his tone.

Inside Arnin's house, the stones that Kurse brought were placed on the ground. They were all still empty but were arranged in an octagon like pattern.

Arnin knew what the two were up to, however he couldn't care less at the moment. He wanted to figure out how to create cultivation stones. He was very close to breaking through and needed a small push. If he could further master mark making and create lots of cultivation stones, then he could finally have a breakthrough into Orb Birth - Hell.

"Let me first try the orthodox way of creating marks. After practicing that, I can then further my own method." Although Arnin looked down on the mark making manual, it was still better way to start than not having any method. His personal mark making method was difficult to use and required great control over the saber, something he was lacking. If he could increase his mastery over his saber by using the orthodox method, then that would be a great situation.

The reason Arnin arranged the stones in such a way was because the marks in his body were in that formation. Those octagon marks helped increase his body's physical strength, so he wanted to see what sort of effect the stones would have. Would they further the development of his physical body? Would they fail to do anything? He wasn't sure, so he decided to experiment.

Arnin had the saber come onto one of his fingers. Instead of absorbing the essence from the world or solar essence, he had the saber pull some of his own essence out. The saber was covered in a black and red hue, which was the color of Arnin's essence. Before he could begin, a thought hit him

'It says that I have to circulate my cultivation, but I don't have a set cultivation.' Arnin was at a loss. He never used a set cultivation method to increase his powers or to absorb essence. He directly absorbed the worldly essence in the most rudimentary way, which would not work for the orthodox mark making method.

'Hmm, seems like I have to go and find myself a proper cultivation method, and then I can just alter it later.' Arnin shook his head and stopped with the whole mark making. His plans of practicing came to an end. He couldn't do it without meeting the requirements. Although he could add in one of the symbols he used in the past to absorb the essence, that would change the method completely. It wasn't the same as the normal way of going about things.

Arnin decided that he needed to go and find a library or vault that held all the cultivation methods.

While Arnin was getting ready to head out, Torne and Kurse were almost at Lilise and Elidia's home. Their hearts were beating like crazy. If they could convince the two girls to help them, then they would be free from Arnin. It was a matter of life and death.

Knock Knock

After approaching the house, Kurse went ahead and knocked quickly. He wasn't able to barge into the house since it wasn't his anymore, plus he needed to give a better impression of himself so that they would help him out.

"Kurse, you are sure these two can convince Arnin? What if they can't and we get in an even worse situation?" Torne, although harbouring some hope, was still very anxious. He didn't want to go through another beating. It was just too painful.

Kurse was silent. He was also somewhat doubtful, but then he remembered how Arnin treated the two girls. Arnin fought him so that they could live in a better place. He shook his head and smiled at the hunchbacked Torne.

"I can't guarantee success, but from what I have seen so far, Arnin does care about these two. We can only give it a try and hope for the best." Kurse was set on asking for help. He didn't want to experience what Torne did, nor did he want to be someone else's servant. He wanted to become someone great. He wanted to become the strongest. Kurse knew he had great talent, however if he were to continue being a servant, he wouldn't be able to put that talent to use.

Torne became silent and nodded his head solemnly. It was true that they didn't have many options left. It was better to try than to give up.

Creak

As the two were deeply thinking about their situations, the door began to open. Kurse and Torne looked up and their eyes became determined. No matter what, they would find a way to convince the two girls to help them.

The person who opened the door was Elidia. She had a look of confusion on her face when she saw the two people in front of her. One of them was so injured that he barely resembled a human. The person next to him was someone she knew. He was the person that they took the house from.

"Yes? Do you guys need something?" Elidia knew that she was a Butterfly student and shouldn't be in the Moth living quarters. She kept herself restrained to the house and hadn't gone out since Arnin gave it them.

"Would you mind if we come in and talk to you about something? It is very important and only you and your sister can help us." Kurse asked in an almost begging tone. Elidia thought the two looked genuine and they didn't seem to be here to make trouble, so she let them in. She already knew that Kurse was now Arnin's servant, so she had a small amount of trust that he wouldn't do anything to her.

"Come in then." Elidia moved to the side and allowed the two inside. Kurse and Torne smiled brightly as their hopes began to grow.

'This girl is already kind enough to let us in. She might even listen to our request.' Kurse was excited. He entered the house and sighed bitterly. This used to be his home until Arnin took over it. Before, he could enter the house without worry, but now he had to ask permission first.

"So, what did you guys want?" Elidia sat down with Lilise. They kept a distance from the two and asked with some hesitation. Lilise didn't speak at all and let Elidia do all the talking.

Torne looked at Kurse and nodded his head. The latter sighed before telling them their problem.

Arnin had already left his house and made his way towards the Moth building. He had to quickly cultivate himself to a higher level, so he didn't have the time to rest.

After entering the Moth building once again, he scouted for a teacher. He didn't know where he could find the cultivation manuals, so he could only ask the teachers. Arnin looked around for a while before stopping in his footsteps.

"If you are here, then come out already. I know that you have been following me for a while now." Arnin angrily said.

"Hehe! I wasn't following you, I just happened to be in the same area as you." a man walked from behind Arnin. It was none other than Xillar, the greatest stalker in history.

"Hmph, you really don't know when to stop until someone does something." Arnin snorted. He couldn't do anything to Xillar at the moment because he was stronger than him and also had the backings of the academy.

"Truly, I wasn't following you. We just happened to meet here. Haha!" Xillar laughed embarrassingly. He had to keep an eye on Arnin, and now he was even more serious about it. He wasn't going to leave Arnin alone, lest he found himself another slave or servant.

Arnin felt that Xillar had been following him since he left the Moth group housing area. 'This guy is really seeking death.'

"Since you are here, then lead me to where I want to go." Arnin said in a commanding voice.

"Uh-hum! Arnin, I am a teacher you know. Shouldn't you show me some respect?" Xillar looked at Arnin bitterly.

"I don't need to show someone who follows me around all day respect." Arnin said mockingly. Xillar laughed embarrassingly. Although he showed no anger on his face, he was somewhat displeased with the way Arnin kept treating him.

'Kid, you are lucky that person is protecting you. If not, I would have beaten you a long time ago.' he kept these thoughts in his head. That person who was protecting Arnin was not someone he could match up to.

"Where did you want to go?" Xillar coughed a little before speaking.

"I need to find some cultivation manuals. I don't have a cultivation method yet, so help me find some." Arnin spoke to Xillar as though he was speaking to a subordinate. Xillar ignored his way of talking and answered back.

"Well, you can find different manuals in the Moth library. Although there are a bunch of cultivation manuals there, they are all low-level ones." Xillar briefly explained.

"Low leveled? How do I get better ones?" Arnin didn't care about the cultivation manual he got since he was only using them temporarily until he created his own, however better cultivation manuals would allow him to understand the various ways one could cultivate with the essence.

"You will learn about these things tomorrow when you head to the first lecture. For now, I will just help you get to the library." Xillar quickly cut the conversation short. Although it wasn't any secret, he felt that the more he answered Arnin's questions, the more he felt like a servant.

'I am a respectable teacher! I will not answer your questions just because you want me to.' Xillar quickly walked past Arnin. The latter snorted before following him.

As both of them walked, the silence irritated Xillar. It was suffocating. Although he didn't want to talk to Arnin, he didn't like the silence even more.

"Where is Teacher Kelnorin? I haven't seen him for a while." Arnin suddenly spoke up. He had been wondering what happened to the first teacher he met. When he first saw Kelnorin, he found that his strength was extremely deep, much higher than that of Xillar's. However, after that small meeting and examination, he never met him again.

"Teacher Kelnorin is busy getting all the other students information sorted. We won't be able to see him until tomorrow" Xillar sighed when he heard how respectfully Arnin mentioned his colleague.

'Where is my respect? He tried to kill you at one point!' Of course, he wouldn't say these things out loud. He might just get killed if he did.

Arnin nodded his head. He could tell that Kelnorin had a much higher rank than Xillar. Maybe Kelnorin wasn't an ordinary teacher?

"Let me ask you something else. After one reaches the Essence Manifest, how does a person then make his way towards the Elemental Formation realm? Also, what are the different elements?" Arnin remembered that Dane was telling him about how the students in the Moth group would usually graduate while achieving Elemental Formation realm. He didn't think much about it until he met that infuriating senior who kicked him out of the greater lodging area. He knew that the senior had to be in the Elemental Formation realm, or else he wouldn't have been able to make him feel so weak.

"Hmm, the Elemental Formation realm is actually not hard to achieve. It just takes a long time. After you enter Essence Manifest, you will begin to condense and gather different types of essences. Unlike the Orb Birth Realm realm where you just take these essences and increase cultivation, the Essence Manifest realm begins to seperate the essence into individual components." Arnin nodded his head as he listened. The separation of the essence was something that he already achieved. Although he had to do it manually, he was able to find the time essence because of this process.

"After separation, depending on the cultivation technique you are using, the different essences will either increase your quantity of essence or convert into your elemental seed." Arnin continued to listen. The more Xillar explained, the more he understood the difference in strengths.

Seeing that Arnin was seriously paying attention to him, Xillar raised his nose towards the ceiling and laughed on the inside. 'Kid, even though you act as though you know everything, you truly need a magnificent teacher like me to guide you.'

"Elemental seeds? Are these condensed essence components, or are they something else?" From what he learned, Essence Manifest was when the essence was separated and condensed, so the elemental seeds were most likely the condensation of the various components.

"Correct. They are the condensed essence components. I won't explain much more, as you will learn more about these things in the lectures. You will also find out more if you read in the library. You can ask me for help when you need it." Xillar felt very successful. He had been taken advantage of by Arnin for a while, and now that he was able to make Arnin listen to him, he felt as if he was flying towards heaven.

'I am a true Teacher. This is what I am, young student.' Again, he didn't speak this out loud and just thought about it.

As both of them continued to walk, they finally got to a place with two large doors. These doors seemed to be made of some blue rock. They were polished nicely and even had many marks placed over them.

"This is the library. Just scan your Identification card, and you can enter the first level." Xillar explained arrogantly.

Arnin ignored Xillar's haughty way of talking and did what he was told. He scanned his card on a circular device that sat in the corner.

Ruuuumble

The doors slowly opened. Arnin watched carefully as he saw thousands upon thousands of books appear through the opening. There were people scuttling through the large place with books in their hands.

"So, this is the so-called library? Not a bad place." Arnin walked in happily as the doors behind him closed abruptly.