…..
Two months ago, the day the trial land opened..
Deep in the trial lands, in a hidden chamber.
An old man could be seen sitting in a meditative state, his heart rate was moving at an extremely slower rate compared to normal with one beat every ten minutes.
If one didn’t observe properly, they would think he was just a life-like statue. His skin was white like he was frozen in this state, which also gave the feeling of the body being a corpse.
Suddenly, his heart rate slowly started beating faster. The pale white skin of the old man slowly started regaining some color, his outer appearance also experienced a change. At first, he looked like someone around the age of one hundred who was also at death’s door, but now, he looked thirty years younger with a sage appearance.
His closed eyes slowly started opening. If one stared at his eyes for too long, one would get the feeling as if they were staring at the boundless universe.
“Hmm, why do I sense him?”, the old man said while looking at the walls.
The old man suddenly disappeared from where he was sitting and appeared on top of a mountain peak. Standing with both hands behind his back, he looked ethereal. He gave off the feeling like he was there, yet, he also wasn’t.
The man gazed in the direction of the formation Grey and the others passed through in getting here. Looking closer, he focused his attention on Grey, particularly.
“Why do I sense his aura on him? Could they be related in some way?”
The old man placed his hands on his chin trying to think of something.
“I don’t remember him having any offsprings before he died”, he shook his head.
He sent out his spiritual sense to study Grey closely, while still in doubt.
One has to know, the distance between both parties was immense. If Grey was told to head to where the old man was, even at his greatest speed, and without stopping. It would take him at least, one month to get there.
Grey who was with his friends at that time didn’t have any idea he was currently being studied.
“They are two different people, but why does he give off the same aura as him?”
“*Sigh* I really miss that rascal”, the old man said with a sad look.
Shifting his attention from Grey, he looked outside the formation and stared straight into the Magical Beasts Forest. It was like he left his previous position and went there personally given how well he was seeing the forest.
Deep in the forest, a huge seal could be seen under a temple. None of the inhabitants of the Azure Continent would ever think something like this existed in the depths of the Magical Beasts Forest. Inside the temple was the statue of a refined-looking young man, with a bright smile on his face.
The old man stared at the young man for some time before looking at the seal.
“The seal is slowly being damaged from the other side. *Sigh* Guess the war will start sooner than expected, these old bones of mine haven’t had any action for a long time, hehehe”, the old man laughed lightly.
While the man was laughing, another figure appeared by his side silently.
“I see you sensed it too”, said the old man.
“Yes”, the figure nodded.
“Could it really be brother?”, the figure asked in a low hopeful voice.
“No, I’ve inspected the young man, and other than having the same aura, there’s nothing else”, said the old man.
After saying this, he looked at the young lady by his side.
“I know it’s selfish of me saying this, but did he really have to go to that extent? We would have still been able to hang on even till this day”, said the young lady.
“How many lives would have been lost?”, the old man asked while staring deeply at the young lady.
Hearing his question, the young lady averted his gaze while staring at the ground.
“Had your brother not did what he did, even if we didn’t lose, the world would have almost been destroyed”, said the old man calmly.
“You’re not the only one who hated his decision, but he did what he thought was right. He didn’t want to continue seeing people dying, families crying because of the loss of a loved one”, the old man continued.
“Then what about his family then? What about me?”, the young lady asked with tears-filled eyes.
“It’s already been so long, there’s nothing we can do about it. Now, what we need to focus on is the seal”, the old man sighed before telling her the matter at hand.
“What happened to the seal?”, the young lady asked confusedly.
“According to my current estimations, it shouldn’t last up to fifteen years, it might even be shorter”, the old man said.
“Then we should start preparing. I’ll go wake the others”, the young lady said urgently.
“No, it’s still too early. Had I not sensed my student’s aura from that kid, I wouldn’t have woken up this early”, the old man said.
“Okay teacher”, the young lady nodded.
“So what do we do now?”, she asked.
“You should go back to sleeping, I’ll watch the seal more closely. I’ll wake everyone a year before the seal is completely destroyed”, the old man stared in the direction of the seal once again.
“Understood, teacher”, the young lady bowed, before disappearing.
The old man was left alone standing in the mountain peak.
“How come there’s no one who seems to have a good elemental grade among these youths”, the old man suddenly said while observing all the youths who entered the trial land.
“At their age, most of the kids in the faction were already at the Overlord Plane at the very least”, the old man shook his head in disappointment when he realized the Plane all the kids were.
Only the Darkness Elementalist impressed him, but it was only by a little.
“Ah! I remember now, student cut off this part from the rest of the world so he could isolate the seal hence the smaller essence the people here have and also, this gave birth to lower grades”, the old man said with a hint of realization.
“It’s been so long that I even forgot it was the reason I opened this place to them in the first place”
“Let me check how far this part of the world has grown”
The old man sat down in a meditative position and sent out his spiritual sense to inspect the Azure continent.
If the people of the Azure continent knew a single person cut off the entire continent from the rest of the world, they would be dumbstruck.
Although there were some records about ‘the war of gods’ as they claimed, there wasn’t any about there being another part in the world.
During the first time they were cut off, they thought the battle destroyed the other parts of the world, and only they were left. Soon, information about the other parts of the world started slowly disappearing, until, it got to the state they were now, where they do not know of the existence of a larger continent.
While the spiritual sense of the man was studying the continent, he paused and studied someone in particular closely.
“That rascal! When it was his time to close the formation, he had an offspring! I’ll break his legs when he wakes up”, the old man fumed on seeing Chris.
Chris was the exact copy of one of his students who woke up two hundred years ago. He strictly told them no one was allowed to leave this place for the time being, yet he not only left but had a kid also.
“Hmm, this kid is quite special. He even has the light element. I’ll take him in as a student once this place is opened officially. For now, I’ll just take him away and train him here”
The old man stood up from the mountain peak and disappeared.
…..
At the valley close to the Lunar Academy.
Chris who was sitting leisurely outside his house suddenly saw a man appear in front of him.
“Who are you?”, he asked lazily.
He didn’t even bother to stand. The man who appeared in front of him was stronger than him, so even if he wanted to run away, he couldn’t escape. So why bother?
“I’m your teacher”, the old man replied with a smile.
“I think you have the wrong person”, replied Chris.
“No, you’re the one”, said the old man.
“I’m not. You can leave now”, Chris closed his eyes once again.
‘They’re so alike, guess I’ll also have to use the same method on him’, thought the old man with a smile.
“Get your hands off me you old man!”, Chris yelled
“Shut up and come with me”, the old man disappeared along with Chris.
And so, Chris was dragged to an unknown place.
“At least take Brown along!”, Chris yelled from the void.
…
Present day…
“Where is this?”
Grey looked at the unfamiliar scene in front of him.