Cultivation?

Kurai followed Ren to an old yet clean building, where he waited for the man to tell him what to do, but the man merely motioned him inside.

He frowned as he noticed that it was a library of sorts, and he turned toward the other man in confusion.

Ren motioned to the books he could see from the doorway, "The first step is to discover the path you want to walk as well as the techniques you will need to accompany you on your journey. We can teach you many things and guide you as you grow, but the path is something you must walk alone."

Kurai nodded and entered the building as Ren excused himself, but instead of reaching for one of the many books, he opened his inventory. The first thing he needed to read was the 'Races of Seradeihn' and he didn't want to put it off any longer than he already had.

He selected the book and found a comfortable spot to read it, but most of the information was blurred out, and he wondered whether he needed to meet someone from a different race before he could access the information about them.

The information of three different races had been unlocked so far, and naturally, he first looked up the guards he'd seen at the Guilds Hall:

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Class: Undead

Name: Mortvira

Description: The Mortvira are undead beings that were created by an unknown being to keep order across the realm. The Mortvira are unable to die, and, as such, most kingdoms use them as guards throughout the towns and cities. The leader of the Mortvira is only known as Mort, and though he hasn't been seen for centuries, given the longevity of the Mortvira, it is speculated that he is merely resting somewhere until a worthy threat reveals itself. The Mortviran form allows for both speed and power to be retained during their attacks, and their wings and arm blades ensure that very few ever manage to escape their wrath.

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Kurai made a mental note never to try to go against the guards as he tried looking up Rai and Ren's race.

At first, he couldn't find anything related to the wolves, and he wondered whether the book was outdated, but then the mention of ears and a tail caught his eye, and he was surprised to learn that they weren't beast-men or werewolves at all:

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Class: Elf

Name: Anifae

Description: Fae-like humanoids with different ears and tails that were divided into different tribes that adapted to fit into their surroundings. The first Anifae appeared when an elf was born with the ability to shape-shift. They passed this gift on to their children, but as generation after generation moved away from their homeland and from the Home tree that initially gifted the Anifae the ability, the ability weakened until the Anifae lost the ability to shape-shift and instead gained a stagnant form that allowed them to survive where they decided to settle in. The Anifae have a half form that only shows their ears and tail, but they also have a full animal form that they can change into when in distress or when angered.

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The last unlocked section contained information about the Human race, and he almost closed the book, given that he was certain that he already knew all about being a human, but then a footnote caught his eye, and his eyes widened before he read the rest:

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Class: Human

Name: Trueborn

Description: Although 55% of Seradeihn's population is classified as being part of the 'Human' class, the reality is that those that qualify as actual Trueborn make up less than 2% of Seradeihn's population.

The reason for this is that a citizen of Seradeihn, regardless of which clan they were born into, will be considered human up until the day they prove themselves through their clan's inheritance test. Individuals that successfully pass the test will have the clan's mark appear somewhere on their body, which will then be followed by the clan features and instincts, making their appearance within a period of one to two weeks. If an individual fails the inheritance test, then their features will remain human.

Trueborn, on the other hand, do not develop any physical features even after passing their inheritance test for some unknown reason, but it is found that their health and mana pools reach astonishing depths, and therefore, it is unwise to try and prolong a battle with a Trueborn.

Please Note: Due to the strict requirements of the Trueborn inheritance test, many of the Trueborn can now be found acting as merchants or farmers instead of warriors.

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Kurai frowned. The bit about the human class wasn't helpful at all, given that it didn't name any discerning features that could be used to recognize a Trueborn, and it basically stated that it was a bad idea to pick a fight with a human because they could either be very weak or very strong.

Though now that he thought about it, it provided those that failed their inheritance test with some protection if no one knew which clan they were from.

It also made him wonder about his own Inheritance quest. What if he was in some weird turtle clan or, even worse, a bunny clan? Lin always had weird ideas when it came to her characters, so he really hoped that the clan had been allocated by the game itself and not chosen by Lin.

He fell deep into thought as he pondered everything that had happened so far and tried to get his thoughts and plans in order.

A light knock sounded on the door, and Kurai hurriedly placed the book away before randomly grabbing a book from a nearby pile and opening it just as the door opened and Ren stepped in.

He smiled at him, "Hey, it's dinner time already, so I was wondering if you wanted to eat with us? Oh! This is a surprise. Usually, when people come to train, they grab one of the other books to try and get strong as fast as possible. It's good that you listened to Rai's advice. Training your mind and spirit before your body is a good path to take."

Kurai nodded sheepishly and glanced at the title as he turned to place the book down on the table. 'Cultivation and other spirit techniques' it said, and he sweatdropped.

What little he knew from cultivation came from sneakily trying to read Novels on his phone once his parents went to bed, but from what he could remember, it was something that needed constant training, and the results usually only showed after a few years instead of a few weeks.

He consoled himself with the fact that he could look through the books again later, but Ren stopped him just as he placed the book down, "You can keep that book, you know. We have many copies of it, and I think it would really suit you."

Kurai shook his head with a sheepish smile, "I couldn't do that! I will come by later to read it a bit more after dinner."

Ren looked at him in confusion, "Sorry, but trainees are only allowed to stay here for one day until they break through their first rank and receive permission to obtain another technique. It is to avoid someone trying to learn multiple techniques at once due to the energy confusion and potential death it could cause."

Kurai frowned, "Potential death?"

Ren nodded, "Each style is different, and they also use different sources of power and energy. Some styles, like cultivation, can be supplemented by learning sword styles and other hand-to-hand combat techniques, but other styles that rely on the elements themselves cannot simply choose to learn a technique from an opposite style."

Kurai was still a bit confused, and Ren put a hand on his own chin while looking thoughtful, "Think of it like what would happen if you pour water over a fire. It would die, right?"

Kurai nodded, and Ren continued, "But what would happen if you pour oil over it?"

Kurai's eyes widened in realization, and Ren nodded, "It would go out of control. Sure, sometimes it works out, but there is almost always a chance of either one or the other happening, and it is very hard to recover from that."

The serious expression suddenly left Ren's face, "But enough of that, you must be hungry! Could I trouble you to fetch Rai for me? He's usually by that big tree on the southern edge of the training grounds around this time."

Kurai nodded and absentmindedly glanced around the room before he left, taking the book with him. He completely missed the knowing smile that crossed over Ren's face before he locked the room and headed towards the main house while Kurai walked towards the large tree he could see growing in the distance.

Closer to the tree, he noted a small garden of roses, and he stopped to glance over it in confusion.

On the one side of the garden, the roses looked frail and sickly, but on the other side of the garden, the roses looked healthier, and he wondered why the person that took care of the roses would leave the one side like that, as it was clear that someone was taking care of the garden given that a few of the healthier roses had been neatly cut off.

He didn't get to wonder about it further as he spotted Rai crouching near a small structure that had been built beside the large tree.

Something about the other man's posture stopped him from calling out to him, and it was only once he got closer that he realized that the structure was a small shrine.

He stopped, not really knowing whether Rai would welcome the intrusion or not, but the golden-haired man started speaking after a few moments had passed, and Kurai realized that he must have heard his approach, "I was only nine years old when she passed. No one knew the cause of it, so there was nothing they could do."

Kurai frowned as he noted the bleeding thorn marks on Rai's hands when he placed the roses he held into a pot next to the photo of a woman with similar golden features before he put his hands together for a short prayer.

He realized that the woman in the picture must have been Ren and Rai's mother.

'Does Rai have the same illness that his mother had?'

If that was true, then there must be a cure; otherwise, the hidden quest wouldn't have popped up, but Kurai wasn't a doctor, so he didn't really know what to do with the information and how to go about trying to find a cure.

He doubted that a normal healing potion would work.

Rai's shoulders suddenly straightened as he stood, and Kurai was relieved to find that he seemed to be back to his earlier self as he turned to face Kurai with a small smile, "Ren must've sent you to call me for dinner. We better hurry before my cousins get there; otherwise, there won't be anything left."

Rai quickly started walking toward the building that Ren had disappeared into earlier, and Kurai jogged to catch up.

Despite this being a game, he was feeling quite hungry, and he set his other thoughts aside for a bit in favor of digging into the meal that Rai and Ren's aunt had prepared.