A Flicker Of Hope

With the sun dipping below the horizon, a resplendent moon ascended, bathing the field in its radiant glow. The blade of grasses swayed delicately to the gentle wind, each tip aglow with an ethereal light.

Walking through the field was Fen, his eyes taking in the serene environment. With his high perception, he sensed the two figures in the little hut. "They have gotten on so quick," he thought. With a smile tugging at the sides of his lips, he shouted, "I'm back!"

Back at the hut, the voice seemed to stir up the unconscious Alex. His lashes fluttered for a moment before going still once more.

"Sh*t!" Alfred muttered, "This crazy guy is back. How do I explain this to him?"

The door was pushed open with Fen passing through. He inhaled the comfy air surrounding the hut and breathed out in a relaxed manner.

"Why are you here? Dont tell me you guys have gotten on so quick," he said to Alfred with a smile. He's smile slowly faded as he noticed the pale look on his face. "Where's Alex? what happened to him?"

Walking deep into the hut, he entered the little room where Alex was placed.

"What the f*ck happened!" He couldn't help but curse out loud seeing the scene before him. "Just how many days and this already?" He quickly walked towards his side, ignoring Alfred. Sending a little of his mana, he inspected him.

"Vitals are OK, dantian perfectly formed, life essence, hmmm, life essence is quite weak," he muttered with a frown. "Hold on, he formed his dantian?!" He couldn't help but shout out loud.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at Alfred.

Alfred wasted no time in explaining the events that led to this, also stating the fact he had been unconscious since then.

"This has nothing to do with his recently formed dantian," he thought as he inspected his body once again. "I can't seem to fully delve deep into his being. It seems some strange force blocking my way."

"Right, the petal of that flower. Maybe it would be able to help." Bringing out a little note, he read the jotting he had made while experimenting on the flowers during his free time. Although the instruments he had with him were quite limited, he was still able to discover the essence of the flower.

"The blooming lotus flower is a healing plant, but the degree of healing that I don't know yet. I would have to carry out further experiments on that."

"So what's the problem if it isn't from forming his dantian?" Alfred's voice brought him back from his thoughts.

"I don't know if he realises it, but his life essence has been decreasing each day for it to get to this level."

"Well, it's a good thing he formed his dantian. It could have been more complicated than this. Right now, his body is living from the energy in his dantian."

"Hold on, you mean he had been living on his Qi energy all this while? One who just formed his dantian already has such a large amount of Qi," he thought.

"It is quite surprising, though. One, he still has a lot of Qi left even after these days, and it seems his body is trying to heal itself from whatever is happening."

"I would just help in increasing the healing process. For now, get me some life beast from the training facility." He said to Alfred before walking out of the room.

"Does this have to do with the mana I injected into his bloodstream?" He thought, passing through a little door at the far end. There another door stood and with his hands placed on the door, he let out some of his mana and the door responded recognising his mana.

The door opened, revealing a large room filled with equipment of various sizes and shapes. He walked forward, stopping at the large table, which was filled with some devices at the top.

Tapping a ring on his index finger quickly, various pieces of equipment appeared on the table along with some petals of flowers. "Time to get to work." Grinding the flower part, he added some other herbs along and then set it on a little cauldron. He activated his mana, heating the mixture up.

With a tap of the ring, his clothes transformed into a brand new set of black robes, ready for the gruelling task of making the right potion.

~~~~

Alex could see himself in a high valley, looking over the vast expanse covered with blood. The blood had turned to a large river heading towards his direction. He felt pain as he held onto his head. Scenes of clash, a huge blood red humongous monster battling hundreds of humans.

It was clearly outnumbered, yet the people kept falling one by one. He also noticed something, the blood of the fallen would float and enter its body, healing all wounds acquired and further boosting the strength of the monster.

In the end, the being was finally defeated due to the help of an old man surrounded by an ancient aura.

"So this led to all the blood," he thought, moving around the valley. "How did I get here?" He thought, settling down on the grass.

"Where is this place?" Looking up, he could see the blood red moon shining across the expanse.

"Come... to... me!"

"Who's there?" Turning round he saw no one.

"Come... to... me!"

He hasn't settled down when he heard the voice again. This time, the voice appeared fierce, and he could feel something drawing close to him.

"Shit! This is just a nightmare," he thought, closing his eyes with his fist clenched tightly.

He didn't see the large dangling hand rising from the river of blood. The hand had touched his forehead, drawing a line of blood across.

The being was rising from the river slowly, showing its bony chest and hollow red eyes.

Alex felt something touching his skin and opened his eyes immediately and was shocked. A tall, lean humongous being with its dangling fingers resting at his cheek.

"Go now... The time would come when we shall meet again." Just as it was said, the surroundings started wrapping. He felt a slight headache and slowly closed his eyes, imagining everything to be all gone.

"Arghhh!" He groaned, stretching from the bed. He collapsed on the cold wooden fall in the room. Looking round, he finally breathed a relief sigh.

"Where's senior?" He thought, getting up from the floor. How did I get here? "he thought as he held his head, trying to massage his aching head.

"What's this?" He headed towards the source of light, and he opened his hands, "Blood? Did I injure myself?" Just as he was thinking, he started remembering a certain dream he had.

"No, this can't be right. It was just a dream. How did the blood get here." Walking through another door in the room, he entered a little bathroom. Looking at his face in the mirror, he finally could see the mark drawn across his head.

With the water rushing, he began washing the blood off his head. He wasn't aware of the blood sinking into his forehead as he tried washing it off. "That's good now," he said, looking at the mirror once more. The door was pushed open with Fen walking in.

"It's good to see you up, boy." Fen said, settling himself on the only chair in the room. "Do you feel any pain?" he asked.

"No, I think I'm OK now. What happened, I can barely remember the previous days."

"You've been out for over a week now." He said with a pause. "Not going to the combat class, forming a dantian through some unknown means, does that ring any bell?" He asked, moving closer to him.

Alex stood looking at him with a dumb expression. "I formed a dantian? When did that happened?"

"Arghh!" It wasn't long before his memories started coming back. The process of forming his dantian, which in turn had led to an unbearable pain prompting him to pass out.

"Remember what we planned, our deal! Now with your dantian formed you've blowed everything up!" Fen said lifting his hands up and dropping it down.

"How did I ruin everything? I only formed a dantian, I can still form a magic core, I still get to become a mage, right?"

Fen sat on the bed and after a long sigh, "Like I told you before, a mage can perform magic by forming his magic core while for one to become a warrior one must form his dantian.'

"The thing is that, one can't form a dantian and magic core at once. That would lead to a clash of both energies and might lead to damage to both cores or even death!"

"So with me forming a dantian I won't be able to learn magic?" He asked with a sad tone.

Sigh*

"There are some rare cases where one is able to form both. Out of the population within the wall, let's say one in tens of thousands. So I think you should forget about forming a magic core."

"Having both will help greatly in my path, the path I chose," he thought clenching his fist. "I would do it! I want to carry on with the process!"

"Don't be a fool! The odds have drop down. Its like 5-95 now. You might die in the process!"

"Might, even you aren't sure of what will happen. Please, Senior Fen, let me continue with it, it's my burden to bear!" Alex said kneeling before him with pleading eyes yet filled with determination.

Seeing the look on his face, he couldn't help but shake his head. "Alright, but we aren't going to start outright. Since that's the path you have chosen,first of all, we need to work on your body constitution."