The War

After Naomi left, Kai and the rest were given study materials for them to memorise from. They had to learn 1000 common words before the end of the month.

The training, however, didn't stop at all. They trained as usual and soon we're sent back to their beds at night. Most of the kids went to sleep as they were tired but Kai didn't. He knew he was given only a month to memories all the words.

It was not as if Kai was illiterate like some of the other kids, however, he wasn't a son of an aristocrat like some others so he had to put his all into this.

After memorising 50 words, he soon went to bed as well. Kai always had a good memory and even when he was home-schooled by his mother, he was quick to pick up things.

The next day followed just like any other day and soon a whole month had passed. Naomi's class was approaching again and before the lecture started, she gave out papers for the exam.

After two hours long exam, Kai managed to finish it with flying colours, coming 3rd out of all the kids. The first two kids were aristocrats and so were the 4th and 5th but they had to grumble in silence as they were beaten by Kai who wasn't an aristocrat.

The rankings affected where they would be sat, just like this Kai was sat in the front row along with the other four people.

It didn't come as a surprise as some students even failed. Twelve kids who had failed were whipped so harshly that two of them died straight away.

Kai and the companions were horrified. This female teacher was even more savage than the other instructors. Again, any thoughts the older kids had about her, completely vanished at this point.

A few men came in and dragged the lifeless kids out as the woman went back towards the blackboard and wrote 'War of the Void Realm'

"It has already been many over ten thousand years since the war of the Void realm so many do not know this. However, humanity took its first step in the void realm as slaves of the Dark races. Most of them were used as food or slaves." She carried on.

The Void realm battle was a brutal one. Humans who were considered the lowest of the intelligent creatures back then were treated as slaves. The void realm back then had another name, Twilight realm.

This was named by the Dark races as this period was Golden age to them while humanity struggled to survive.

This all changed however when a man named Arthur discovered Yang energy and found a way to cultivate it. After that, he taught it to humans that slowly began to amass power.

This wasn't enough to fight back dark races who had been the rulers of this world for a long time. The humans looked towards Elves who although not slaves for dark races were pretty much the lowest forms of life after humans.

Together with Arthur the first human and Elf king Legolas, they cultivated the Yang energy and advanced their technologies to fight back the Dark races.

The Yang and Yin Energy clashed and the forces tried to obliterate each other. It was as if it was destiny. Whenever the Yang energy met the Yin energy, they battled for domination. The battle lasted for 100 years.

All of this fighting eventually resulted in the dark races being pushed back, however, this came at a massive price. The humans and Elves were left with only one-tenth of their original population.

The sacrifice of many allowed them to break free of the shackles and build anew in a new realm that they named Hope. This was how the Hope realm and Hope empire were founded. After 100 years of war, the void realm was destroyed to the brim. It was not a place for humanity and Elves to start anew. Hence the realm came to be known as the void realm.

The void realm became scarce in resources hence it was abandoned. Dark races and Runaways came to this realm to live out their lives.

Kai shivered as he thought about his encounter with the dark races. He could still remember the mocking look in Ivy's eyes. As if they were only livestock to them. Even though humans and elves prevailed war. It didn't mean it had ended. Even though ten thousand years had passed, the war still raged on in all of the continents. Void realm especially was where most of these races met to ear.

Soon the lesson ended and Kai left there with a heavy heart. His hate for the dark race began to grow even more however his love for humanity didn't increase. He had seen what humans had done to his mother. Unknown to him, he simply couldn't come to love humanity unconditionally.

Life returned to its normal pattern once more.

Before anyone could realise, half a year had passed away in the blink of an eye.

Kai's physique had grown again. He was now 4ft 11inch. A whole inch taller than 12-year-olds.

The food that the kids ate was very nutritious. Furthermore, a small amount of special medicine was put into their soup every day. It could quickly activate the potential of their bodies. Hence they were able to increase their strength.

Kai had now broken into body refining level 7 and was told to pick up 9000kg weights. Instead of doing 100 squats, they were all told to move it up to 200 now.

Life at the training valley carried on. To Kai, the days seemed to be repeating over and over. The only thing that changed was the number of kids they would have here. As soon as their numbers dropped below 50, it was filled with a new batch of 50 kids that would go through the training.

The concept behind this was to find the kids that were all similar in strength and eliminate the weak. Hence slowly but surely kids with similar level piled up.

A whole year had passed by now and Kai reached the peak of level 7 body refining. He had also just turned 12. He didn't know when his birthday was or where he was born. All his mother said, that he was picked up as the new year started hence that was what they decided to make his birthday.

The other kids in the training camp were already a year or two older than him. Most of them were level 7 like Kai, while a few were level 8 or 9.

One day all the children were called to the training grounds where they used to work out. They all stood straight in lines, waiting on the instructor's orders.

Jack appeared in front of the children and swept a cold glance over them. His lone eye seemed to have become even fiercer, but every kid courageously met his gaze without fear. These kids had already developed courageous—or, rather, numb—hearts after a full year of hellish training.

Jack was very satisfied as he said, "Very good! After the trash was swept away, the ones that remain finally look adequate. However…"

After a very long pause, Jack let out a meaningful smile. "The good news is that you have all passed the first test, and will be cultivated seriously. You will no longer be punished for trivial matters. Nothing has changed about you disobeying orders, of course. The bad news is that you will realize that true training has only just begun!"

Jack walked back and forth in front of the group, his rumbling voice echoing through the children's ears non-stop. "In the next few years, you will begin your true cultivation! You will all be taught the Breathing Technique! You will learn the most direct and effective way to kill a person. You will have the chance to kill vampires with your own hands. Of course, there is a very high chance that you might be killed by them as well, so pray hard, my little comrades! Lastly, I can tell you now that out of all the people standing here, no more than a quarter of lucky birds will be able to leave this place alive."

The last sentence shook the kid's hearts but Kai kept steady and calm. No matter what the road ahead of him was, he would pave his way even it meant shedding blood. Humans and dark races had been fighting for centuries. He wouldn't pussy out of it.

As long as there were chances of him living and getting stronger, he would move ahead. Strength was all that was respected in this world.

Jack waved his hand, and several men came forward to pass them new learning materials in their hands.

The large words, "Void Breath," were written on the cover of this textbook. The writing was strong, every stroke sharp like a blade! Kai felt a hint of pain in his eyes when he stared at them.

This was a Breathing Technique! This was the key that divided the common and the powerful. As he held this Technique, Kai's young heart suddenly felt that his fate would be changed by this small, thin book!

The kids were led into the classroom. The person who walked onto the stage and was responsible for teaching the 'Void Breath' was none other than Naomi. Extraordinary strength was hidden under her beautiful outward appearance.

Naomi slowly inhaled and then exhaled which sent shockwaves throughout the room. "This is a breathing technique that I just produced. To you all, for now, it has no effect other than to help you push through the next realm however only after you step into the next realm will you know the true wonders of the breathing technique."

"This is the Void Breath. This is the Breathing Technique exclusively prepared for cannon fodder!" she explained further causing confused looks on the kid's faces.

The elimination rate of Death Valley was extremely high. It was rumoured that only one out of a hundred people could walk out of this place alive. This meant that the resources spent on the ninety-nine people that were eliminated were wasted. Would they seriously give them a cultivation formula meant for cannon fodder after spending so much to raise them?

This puzzled all the kids and could not get their head around it.

Naomi had expected such a response as she laughed coldly "Do not think that cannon fodder is a derogatory term! In reality, countless people would not qualify to become cannon fodder even if they wanted to! It is only after you survive this place and walk out of here in one piece that you can be considered adequate cannon fodder! You will need to master the Void Breath and reach level 10 body refiner! If you fail…"

Naomi suddenly licked her lips and said gently, "You will have to be punished…"

Her face suddenly turned serious after this " Do not look down upon Void breath. The only reason it's considered to be cannon fodder is cause this technique is extremely ancient. It was discovered by King Arthur in some distant ruins."

"It gives you explosive power but not many can handle cultivating it much later on. It needs a very durable body and only Hollows have such bodies. Hence, most people prefer other breathing techniques."

The woman smirked again "However, even geniuses back in the empire can't cultivate it to such high levels so you can all give up on trying to become legends. Only the current King Alfred was able to make use of this technique until he was a Gold knight but even he had to give it up later"

King Alfred Blaze who was human, was the current King of the Hope realm alongside Queen Elora Miara who was an elf. Both of whom ruled over hope realm and humans and Elves together.

It was a tradition ever since the empire was founded that either a Queen or King from both sides would be chosen and be bound by marriage. The crown wasn't hereditary rather the eight great families chose an heir who would have to prove the strongest amongst their peers to become king or queen.

This time it was a Woman from the elves and a man from the Humans who were bound by marriage. What was surprising was that even if human and elf married they would either produce a human or an elf.

The offspring would never be a hybrid hence if it was human, he would be part of the humans family and if it was an elf he/she would be part of elves.

This had been going on for generations however, Kai had heard a rumour from the instructors once that a miracle had happened and a hybrid was born this time. It was all but a rumour for now.

Naomi looked over at the kids then went back to the blackboard and wrote 'Cultivation' in big letters.

"Its time I explain to you about body refining and what comes after."