The Journey Begins

In a world three times the size of earth, called 'Edan' also known as the Halo World, the entire populace is filled with constant struggles for power and mystical resources. The goal of this strife; to become an Immortal through the art of Martial and or Magical Cultivation.

On this planet there exist countless Spiritual Cultivators and Mana Cultivators, to the world they are known as Spiritualists and Mages.

There are many different kinds of Cultivators; those that follow the just and upright path, and those who follow the way of the corrupt, and evil, and so on and so forth.

In this world of Cultivation, only those with true strength and talent have the right to speak their minds and spread their views, the weak are left to their own devices, unnoticed and uncared for.

On the surface of Edan, the length of a single supermassive continent stretches the world in the shape of a ring, separating the oceans into two large bodies of saltwater.

These two megalithic bodies of water are known as the Mother and Father Oceans, and they each contain over a hundred trillion islands of various sizes.

Magnitudes of land ranging from as small as 10 square mile islands, to millions of square mile continents, exist in the two oceans. Each of them filled with innumerable unknown wonders and mystical beings.

On one such a large continental sized island that is isolated from the rest of the world, only Mages ruled over this land. Spiritualism was eradicated from its history countless years ago during a devastating and tragic war that claimed live lives of billions.

At such a city ruled by the Mages, a young boy named Fei Lei was about to be put through a harrowing test.

Sitting and rotting in a random street ally, Fei Lei begged to anyone who passed by, all just for food.

The boy was a thin boney-looking 4-year-old child, he had lightly tanned skin, long hazel-brown braided hair that fell just below his knees, and because he was born with a rare mutation called heterochromia, the color of his eyes were a mix of crystal blue and sunset orange.

His body was around the same height and build as any other starving child, but around his wrist were two bracelet-like birthmarks that could easily be mistaken for as tattoos.

The shape of this birthmark formed the shape of a cog with a single black and white Magatama in the center of the cogs.

The boy was being stared down by important Mages from a prestigious magical academy, the young Fei Lei was wearing a rag-ish grey outfit showing off his poor standing.

"His name is Fei Lei, the orphaned son of a farmer and a woman who lost her memories at a young age. That is all I could gleam, my lord."

"Hmm." The robed mage looked over Fei Lei as he listened to them speak out Fei Lei's known history.

When he was 3, Fei Lei's parents were killed by a group of nefarious bandits, unable to pay for his home, he was kicked out of his worn-down house by their Farm Lord. The man who owned the land.

With no one to care for his wellbeing, he was forced to live on the slums.

After some time passed, the stranger informed Fei Lei that he had the talent to become a mage and that he had an oversized Mana Pool.

He was taken in by that man and eventually led to the nearest Tower of Ascension, also known as a spell tower.

The construct was a large spiring building that soared into the sky, the purpose of the Ascension Tower was to allow Mages to access what they call, the Mana Realm.

Fei Lei was inside the center of that tower, standing in a cylindrically shaped room with blue artistically designed pillars surrounding the walls, above him was the balcony where a group Mages were peering down at him.

He stood in front of a large magical circle that would activate a spell that can summon a potential Mage's first Spell Sigil.

Every person whether it be a poor peasant or the king of this land himself, if they had a talent for magic, they would all come here to a Spell Tower like this one, in order to gain a Spell Sigil and become an Adept, also known as a beginner Spell Caster.

"Step into the magic circle!" One of the Mages from the tower shouted out.

The boy marched forward with hope in his eyes, and as he stepped into the ring, a great and powerful cyan-colored energy surged into the sky,

"I see what you meant Damos. This boy does have exceptional Mana. He should form quite a powerful Core Sigil." One of the Mages commanded him.

As the boy underwent a massive life-changing event, he saw millions of Sigils appear before him, as if he was flowing through the massive expansiveness of space.

Fei Lei reached out his hand towards the sigil that seemed right for him, he couldn't explain what was happening, but he knew that this was meant to be.

As the room quieted down and the light from the magic circle faded, a single Grey and gaseous Glyph stood in front of the boy's forehead.

He felt a twinge in his heart as a spherical core burst into existence along with a system of mana networks that were all feeding into some kind of alternate plane of reality that was directly overlapping his heart.

The Sigil then quickly shot into his body and imprinted itself on the massive magical core that was forming.

The Mages above began to laugh in a mocking tone, "To think he would gain the Human Transfiguration Spell! Those that receive that sigil, aren't just doomed to remain Adapts forever, they're the weakest of them all."

"There's no way to empower the Sigil so he can never solidify it and gain his second Sigil. This boy will only be capable of learning non-elemental level 0 and level 1 spells for the rest of his life. What a waste of his enormous mana pool." A mage from a Noble family shouted.

"HAHAHAHA! Damos you struck out, wasting 300 middle-grade Magic Beast Cores to perform a Sigil Calling Spell! Well, I suppose he can shapeshift his facial features into a frail pretty boy image, and maybe make your money back by selling his ass to those fanatical Nobles that are obsessed with that kind of thing!" Another of the mages said kicking his feet against the chair he was sitting on.

Hearing those words, Fei Lei's voice paled. He would have rather starved to death. Fei Lei opened his mouth wide and was about to chomp down on his own tongue, when all of a sudden, the boy felt his jaw lock up while something was grabbing at the back of his neck.

"You little shit! Do you know how much you cost me? I here I was hoping for a reward for finding a praiseworthy talent."

The man who picked Fei Lei off the streets burned with anger as the child struggled against an invisible hand made of Air Mana.

"Easy Damos, I know you struck out, but he's just a kid, so chill with the wind magic, will ya? You're not the only mage this is happened to, everyone has to take the same chance to find new talents. It's like playing the lottery." One of the Mages said placing his hand on Damos's shoulder.

"Yeah, he's no good to you dead, fix him up and get some of your money back by selling him." Another Mage said with laughter in his voice.

Damos took a breath before he created a cloud and stood on it. Fei Lei's body was then suddenly pulled over to Damons and then everything went black as Fei Lei passed out.

When he woke up, he found that he was fully healed and nourished, almost as if he had eaten enough to recover his body fat. Yet, to his dismay, young Fei Lei soon discovered that he was put to work at a slave encampment.

A metal chain was strapped to his foot and he was stuck in a small 4x4 cell with large metal bars on a single open-air window. The ground was made of some kind of stone, and a single straw hay bed with a single cheap cloth blanket was in the corner.

Fei Lei looked around as he saw that a single bucket placed near the window, and the skeleton of a recently decayed rat was rotting in near the wall.

His first night was the worst experience he's faced in his short four years of life. Fei Lei was used to simple labor but nothing compared to the strenuous work of a slave. He was often unable to keep up with the demands of his horrid owners, so as a result, he was constantly and savagely beaten.

The worst beating of his life occurred when he spilled wine on a visitor because the old man grabbed his butt.

Infuriated by Fei Lei's actions of spitting in the rich slob's face afterward, the guards dragged him outside and started his punishment.

Lashes of whip and club strikes railed against his body causing him to wail out countless times, but no matter how hard they tried, he wouldn't apologize for his actions.

After a savage strike to his skull, Fei Lei fell down and slavers left him for dead in their dungeon.

During that semi-comma, the boy had fragmented dreams of another world, where he was also orphaned as a child and grew up to become one of the smartest geniuses of the century.

When he was just eight years old, he made his way into college and graduated by the time he was 12.

He didn't just dream, but experience this life in fragmented sections, these broken moments in time continued to seep into Fei Lei's memories all through the following week.

The guards would occasionally come in to beat on the child for kicks or degrade him in some unseemly manner, but then one day, the beatings suddenly stopped.

Fei Lei woke up to the feeling of something cooling the aches from his wounded body. The boy tried to move when a rugged older male's voice called out to him, "Don't move! I have to cut open the wound around your eye to stop the swelling. If you move, you risk losing your sight permanently."

Fei Lei didn't care what the man did, as long as the pain stopped, he even would have let the person gut him if that meant putting an end to the suffering he was experiencing.

Fei Lei felt a small swipe across the massive welt on his face, then the hot flow of blood dripping down his cheeks.

After the blood was cleared from his face, Fei Lei got a good look at the old man.

He had a brawny bulky type of body, tan bronze skin, and his face was rugged with a few wrinkles around his eyes. A small beard grew around his jaw with the edges of his hair slightly grayed, Fei Lei took note of his eyes, in particular. He didn't know how to explain it, but they seemed even older than his face.

Fei Lei couldn't figure out what it was but there was something about the elder's deep brown eyes that kept the boy thinking "How old is this man?"

"A few of your ribs are broken and they're lying against your lungs. You're also running a high fever, and are still recovering from a damaged skull. However, now that you've woken up, it should be safe for you to sleep. Rest now, I'll do what I can to help." The Elder said taking care of his wounds by wrapping them up with a bandage that had a strange medicinal smell coming from it.

Even he had told Fei Lei to stay awake it wouldn't have made a difference, the child had already reached his limit for the day and passed out.

The week passed as the unknown man tended to the child's battered body.

It wasn't until several days later when Fei Lei felt well enough to talk, he turned his head to face the white-haired elder and asked, "Who are you? What's your name?"

"Tetra, a slave just like you. What's yours?" The man had long grey hair, and a stern body that was covered in bruises, he had been taking the beatings for the boy and shielded him with his body allowing him to recover.

"Fei Lei," The boy answered looking into the eyes of the man who saved his life.

"I'm so glad you pulled through!" Tetra said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why are you helping me?" Fei Lei asked while choking back his tears.

"Because I can, and it's the right thing to do! If an innocent child is in front of you and they're hurting, of course, helping them is just common sense." The Elder preached out.

Fei Lei began to cry, "Then this world doesn't have any common sense."

Tetra looked at the boy with pity "What will you do about it, scorn the world because you haven't had a good life?"

"No!" Fei Lei cried out in defiance.

"Then what will you do? With your strength, there's not much you can do?" The stranger replied.

"They couldn't even allow me the dignity to die! I need power! I want my revenge, I want my justice!" Fei Lei shouted.

"What will you do when you manage to gain that power, take your revenge, and be done with it?" The elder questioned him again.

Fei Lei looked deep into Tetra's eyes before he said, "I want the power to right the injustice I see before my eyes. Not only to avenge the injustice done to me but help those less fortunate so that they never experience the pain I've lived through. It can't stop there though, there has to be more I can do. Like stopping them before they ever get started down the path of evil, creating a set of laws that curve those from the path they're already on. Make them part of the solution, not the problem."

Tetra was surprised to be such wise and brave words from someone so young, he stood up before saying, "Then I will teach you."

"Teach me what?" Fei Lei questioned and he sniffled.

"Why, the arts of self-defense of course!" The elderly man replied with a huge grin on his face.

Tetra then began to perform a serious of routines, Katas that he had trained in all his life.

Fei Lei's face changed as couldn't believe the sight of the martial prowess the old man was demonstrating.

For many days he observed the countless styles of combat collected throughout the old man's life.

When Fei Lei had seen enough and accepted Tetra as his Teacher, Tetra smiled and said, "What I'm about to teach you is something from a broken and forgotten style, all records of these skills have been lost from the world but only a single technique remained. The technique that I practice is a breathing method that gathers Ather; spiritual energies in the air, to improve the strength and growth of the body. For instance, if you were to use the breathing technique, you could build muscles faster, increase your total strength, and enhance the durability of your skin. It can even increase the rate in which the body heals."

Fei Lei had recovered to the point where he could sit in the lotus position, he was then drilled in the technique and taught the breathing technique called the Four Season Breaths.

First was the Breath of Summer. It could increase the body's stamina limits and increase the person's bone and skin density over time, but during this stage of the breathing method, the body would slowly begin to boil and cause extreme pain to the user. The longer one could withstand the pain, the greater their future limits would be.

The Breath of Spring healed his body and increased his regeneration abilities several folds, it also nurtured his vital energy overtime which would extend his own lifespan.

The Breath of Fall would help shed the impurities in one's body, improving their physique's foundation greatly, continued use of this breath would result in a greater muscle type that could far surpass what humans had, like increasing the purity of steel to make it stronger.

Lastly was the Breath of Winter allowed one to increase their focus and reach a state of absolute clarity, prolonged use of this ability would increase the brains processing ability and allow for more coherent thoughts.