Is it hot in here or just me?

In a small neglected courtyard, in the corner of the Moore family manor a young boy is quietly celebrating his tenth birthday.

Aiden looked around furtively, his maroon hair swaying gently with his movements and amber eyes flashing nervously, before ducking into the small building he called home.

His palms sweated as he brought out a small sweet cake. He had nabbed it from the kitchens earlier as he went to get his daily rations. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to be so courageous, he would be severely punished if found.

Perhaps it had been the knowledge that the young son of the Moore family patriarch had a luxurious banquet thrown every year for his birthday, but he- a small branch family orphan, was lucky if the kitchen had enough food for his meals on a day to day basis.

Although he tried to tell himself that he was lucky he had a home at all and at least a meal a day, which was far more than the beggars he had seen on the street corners the few times he had ventured out into the city, it still hurt when there was no one around to remember you.

He had no parents as long as he could remember, the elderly maid who had taken care of him until just a year ago, had told him that his mother had died in childbirth and his father lost his life during a beast hunting expedition.

Thus he had grown up with little to no parental care in the large Moore family manor.

The Moore family, is a small noble family in the Golden Lion Kingdom, they mainly specialize in magical beast products from a few well managed beast farms as well as special expeditions to various dangerous locations around the Kingdom.

Small is a relative term though, there are ten branches each with dozens if not hundreds of members as well as the large number of domestic servants, guards, and other employees. The resources needed to run such a family are enormous, which leads to an extreme amount of competition for resources and can even lead to bloodshed. Perhaps someone is a future talent one day, and the next they encountered a mysterious accident when out traveling. Things like this were not uncommon among the powerful families of the kingdom. A genius was only useful to the family if he lived to be strong enough to bring in more resources and prestige. Until then, they were only an investment with potential.

Aiden had managed to escape the dangers so far because he was an ordinary person.

This meant that he had not yet started cultivating. Cultivation is the practice of martial arts and aura that gives rise to extraordinary abilities and even greater longevity than an ordinary mortal. Aura is a magical energy that fills the world, it is what cultivators use in order to refine their bodies and transcend mortality.

Normally, children would begin trying to introduce aura into their bodies from the age of five, but Aiden had no immediate family members to assist or teach him, and the rest of the family seemed to have forgotten that he existed.

His only hope now, is to catch the eye of some warrior in the family and have them take him in as their student, though the likelihood of that happening is abysmal.

Aiden lit a small candle before wishing himself a happy birthday, his wish was that he too would have the opportunity to become a cultivator.

He then dug in happily, savoring this rare delicacy that he had obtained.

His body began warming up, at first Aiden thought it was happiness filling him up, but soon it became unbearable. It felt as though fire was scorching his insides and he was about to burn to ashes where he stands. Sweat poured down his body as he ran into his small bathroom and leaped into the cold pool that lay within.

When Aiden was sure that he would simply burst into flames right here in the bathroom, an enormous amount of information flooded his mind.

The first was an image, a grand city built in and around a massive volcano. Crowds of proud immortals fill the streets, their auras fiery and explosive. The air itself seemed to be overflowing with rich fire energy that stemmed from the volcano. Lava poured down like waterfalls into rushing magma rivers. Columns of flame roared upward every now and again. The whole city burned with life. There were large tracts of dark black volcanic soil, planted with a huge variety of magical herbs. Each one gave off a thick cloud of aura in which strange images seemed to form. Sitting next to one of the fields seemed to be an alchemist, concocting some strange potion or pill using some of the herbs found next to him. From further within the city came the clangs and crashes of metal work. As he focused on the sound, Aiden suddenly saw massive forges and weaponry of all kinds. A master blacksmith worked away on some new masterpiece, his whole being seemed to submerge into the flames around him almost as if he was fire itself.

The image was so entrancing that Aiden felt as if he were there, standing among those immortals feeling the pure fire energy fill his entire being. It was a beautiful feeling. Almost as if he belonged there in that magical city, enveloped in flame.

After the image faded, a soothing and gentle female voice sounded in his mind. She told him that she was his mother, and that this was the inheritance left to him so that he may learn the secret methods of their family, the Soulfyre clan. Her name was Delia Soulfyre, a member of one of the powerful branches of the Soulfyre clan, from the City of Eternal Flame.

She spoke of how after being chased down by enemies, she found herself in this small Kingdom heavily injured and pregnant.

After being saved by a young man from the Moore family who was passing by, she took refuge with them to recuperate. Then she gave birth to him, but her injuries were too severe.

All she could leave him with was this inheritance, and hope that he could one day return to their ancestral lands and rejoin with the family.

The Soulfyre family, as the name suggests, cultivates fire techniques. They possess a special physique known as the Miracle Flame Body, which allows them to cultivate their entire being into a spiritual flame.

Due to their affinity for fire, they also specialize in alchemy and weapon refinement. However, Aiden's mother was an alchemist and thus only has the methods and inheritance for alchemy.

Aiden felt his heart pound rapidly, this was it, his chance! He would no longer fade away in mediocrity, a member of the powerless that the strong could kill with a wave of their fingers.

He had been forced by sheer necessity to remain within the manor walls, or else merely walking on the street was tempting death. Many powerful warriors had strange tempers and would explode at the drop of a hat.

All too often some hapless fool would get himself killed by a cultivator without even knowing the reason. Their families could only accept the result without daring to speak out.

The law favored cultivators too, as the Kingdom worried that if treated poorly the warriors would join rival kingdoms and become enemies. It was extremely difficult to cultivate and strong warriors were a precious resource. Without the strong foundation of countless warriors, a country would be swallowed up by its neighbors, its resources and people plundered and exploited.

Ordinary people could only keep their heads low, and noses out of trouble. Aiden couldn't wait to explore the inheritance left by his mother.

Alchemy was an extremely profound branch of cultivation that included medicine as well as some rather miraculous elixirs and potions.

Among the paths available to a cultivator it was one of the most lucrative but also extremely difficult. Many who tried, never got past the introductory stage.

It took a special affinity, as well a good teacher and method to accomplish anything.

Just the technique alone was a rift many found impossible to pass, alchemy techniques were rare and kept tightly guarded by those who held them.

Within Aiden's mind, many books seemed to materialize. Some were guides to precious herbs and alchemical materials, some were records of diseases and ailments as well as their treatments, some were records of precious physiques such as the Miracle Flame Body, and still many more auxiliary books to assist him in the future.

Finally were the cultivation techniques, three books that held endless attraction for him.

The first was the main aura cultivation method known as, The Heavenly Flame Ascension, this technique starts by utilizing flames to cleanse and strengthen the body until it is a pure and untainted vessel. Then the cultivator breeds their own spiritual flame until eventually they merge and become one with the flame. Aiden could only read the first chapter of The Heavenly Flame Ascension, the rest seemed blurry and mired in fog, he had a hunch that it would only reveal itself should he master the first chapter.

The second was the Alchemy method known as, The Rising Phoenix Palms. This method uses pure fire energy to melt and fuse alchemical ingredients together through the medium of complex symbols and runes formed with the alchemist's hands. The mysteries within these movements, seemed like a whirlpool trying to submerge his mind inside.

Aiden snapped back to clarity, sweat beading on his forehead. He took a few breaths to stabilize his mind before looking at the last method. If one was too hasty when peering into the secrets of great techniques without the strength to support them, they ran the risk of driving themselves insane or seriously damaging their souls.

The last method was simply named, The Soulfyre Spirit Sutra. It was a method to cultivate the mental power of a warrior.

Mental power was what supported a martial artist's keen senses, exquisite memory, and could even become corporeal and used in the various paths such as alchemy, weapons refining, inscription, etc.

Aiden looked at this method in shock. Although he had been unable to begin cultivating, that didn't mean he was unaware of the common sense related to cultivation. In fact due to his inability to practice, his longing and thirst for knowledge had only grown, yet he had never heard of mental power or the related methods!

Aiden sat in the cold water trying to calm himself down. His mother must have an extraordinary background in order to be able to leave him so much, even techniques that are unheard of in the Golden Lion Kingdom.

Then, a thought struck him. Why did his mother's message tell him that she was pregnant when she arrived here? Weren't his parents members of one of the side branches?

According to his mother, she had left the Moore family a sizable fortune in return for the grace of raising him, yet he lived in a small neglected corner of the manor lucky if he could eat every day.

Something was very off with the situation. If the Moore family was simply ungrateful, why keep him at all? Why lie to him that he was a member of the Moore family? His intuition screamed that maybe it had something to do with the inheritance.

This left Aiden in somewhat of a dilemma. He needed to start cultivating as soon as possible, age was extremely important in cultivation and he was already five years late. But, if he started, it could put him in mortal danger.

Of course, it could all be baseless speculation and an overactive imagination, after all he was alone here in this courtyard with no one to call friend.

Yet he simply couldn't brush off the nagging worry he had. Aiden stood up to dry himself off and head to bed, he needed to think about this fresh tomorrow. He would get nowhere in his current muddled state.