by William Bill
Women are very perspective by nature. She saw how Damien had a doleful expression on his face for a moment. She wondered if something unfortunate happened to the person Damien thought about.
But she didn't comment about it as she smiled, "It's true. Master is truly talented in teaching people too. I am sure Master would be successful as an Alchemy teacher, and the Alchemist Society would be fortunate to have you in their midst."
Damien chuckled, "Thank you for your compliment, Lily."
Lily was startled for a moment as Damien once again called her by her name.
Damien saw Lily's startled reaction as he said, "Well, I hope you don't mind me calling you by your name whenever we are training. Since you are calling me Master, it would only be right to address my disciple by her name. Also, you said before that you allowed me to call you by your name whenever we are alone, isn't it?" Damien grinned.
No one would dare to address the imperial princess by her name except the direct royal family.
If the two court masters saw Damien being this audacious in front of Lily, especially when he teased her before, their eyes would have bulged, and Damien would be lucky if they didn't pounce on him on the spot.
But Lily didn't actually mind Damien calling by her name but was instead happy. It was just that she never expected Damien to call her by her name suddenly.
Lily wryly smiled, seeing Damien's shamelessness, "Yes, I did allow it. You can call me by my name. It's no problem. As you said, it would be less weird if you call me by my name instead of princess, hehe."
He looked at the sky for a moment and then looked at Lily, "So, how about we continue this tomorrow?"
"Ah…" Lily heaved a pronounced sigh as she was a bit dissatisfied with the training session being over so fast. Due to her passion for sword mastery, she didn't really notice the time passing by, and also, at the same time, she was enjoying her training session with Damien.
She had never had fun like this for a long time, and at the same time, she was happy as she even forgot about her worries during the training session. She never really had friends, and Damien was the first person she could freely talk to without being wary of him.
In her life, there were many people who wanted to obtain her favor by being nice to her, and also many more who desperately strove to please her.
But from her childhood, she had seen enough callousness, seen enough insincerity and heartlessness, seen enough malice within sugared words and sinister ambition…. Among them even included her closest family members. She was discouraged time after time, a few times, almost to the point of despair.
Otherwise, she would not have left home to go all the way to a black market, all to find the slightest trace of hope.
After her father died, she had closed off her heart entirely to everyone. Even when she spoke or smiled to others, her heart was still caged without showing her true feelings.
But when she saw Damien, she was able to smile genuinely in front of him for the first time in many years.
Damien saw her sulky expression and chuckled, "Come on, no need to be down, Lily. I will give you some training exercises as your homework which you can practice whenever you are free. After all, teaching too many things in a single day is not good. It would be best if you took some time to reflect on the concepts I had talked about.
"And I would be seeing you again tomorrow. Since you are so enthusiastic about swordsmanship, it only makes my job easier. I am glad I have such a dedicated disciple, haha." Damien laughed aloud.
Lily giggled, "Hehe. That's true. Master should be glad that you have such a good disciple. Okay, let's stop for today. I will see you tomorrow then, Master." Lily no longer felt reluctant about ending her training for today.
She also thought that she should ruminate on what Damien taught her today. She would anyway be continuing tomorrow morning.
Lily turned to leave, but she suddenly turned her head and said, "I forgot one thing to tell you. Maybe you have noticed already, but the herbs you wanted are already here. Feel free to take any of them as much as you want."
Right after Damien had finalized the deal between him and Lily yesterday, he had sent a list of ingredients required for concocting a Rank 1 Sustenance Pill.
He decided to start learning to concoct from today onwards with Luna's guidance. And he chose to begin with simple pills like the Sustenance Pill since its composition was pretty simple and the ingredients were simple and readily available.
"Sure, Lily. I won't be polite." Damien grinned.
Lily smiled as she shook her head and left the inner courtyard.
'So, I have this whole place to myself till evening. Time to start learning.'
"Luna." Damien mentally called out.
"Hmph, seems like you didn't forget about your priorities while you were busy playing footsie with the princess." Luna appeared and said as she crinkled her eyes.
Damien rolled his eyes as he pretty much got used to hearing her chattering.
"But, I have to admit your way of teaching is passable. You are not totally illiterate about the ways of the sword. When you fought those beasts, I was surprised that a mortal like you was able to manifest Sword Will, even though it was faint. It is not easy to attain the enlightenment you mentioned to that girl. She is surely pitiful if she is hoping to manifest one unless her mastery touches the illumination realm. Well, Sword Will is just a higher realm of sword intent, so maybe she can pull it off if her sword heart resonates with her soul. But even ones with talent would take thousands of years to even comprehend the path to that realm." Luna said as she stroked her chin, giving off the vibe of a senior master.
Damien scoffed, "And what do you know about the ways of the sword?"
He admitted that Luna's true power was something way beyond his league that he couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams. He didn't even know what this illumination realm was.
But since he can manifest Sword WIll, doesn't it mean that his sword mastery had already touched the mysterious illumination realm?
But he wanted to find out if she was equally good in swordsmanship by provoking her. If he simply asked her, she would just waste his time with sarcastic remarks.
Who knows, maybe he might learn something useful from her.
"You dare underestimate this goddess? Other than my ethereal powers, I take pride in my ethereal swordsmanship. Unlike a single wielder like you, I am a dual wielder. And your swordsmanship is only a child's play in my eyes." Luna said as she pursed her lips.
"Aren't you too shameless to always keep comparing your prowess with that of a mortal? I didn't know you felt too insecure about your own abilities." Damien said with a mocking smile.
But inwardly, he was still surprised that Luna was an expert in swordsmanship too. And if she proclaimed that she was an expert, then it was not just her boasting but the real deal.
Damien couldn't even imagine what kind of realm she had reached and wondered how her swordplay was like. That too, she was a duel wielder; even though Damien knew how to dual wield weapons, it wasn't his forte. He was accustomed to being a single wielder.
"Pah, why would this goddess lower herself to compare with you. There's nobody else here to compare to give you an idea of my ethereal power, hmph." Luna turned her head away with a scoff.
"Then, why not prove it by teaching me? I want to find out if you are not just merely bragging your so-called ethereal skills and that it's the real deal." Damien asked provocatively.
"Pfff, as if I would waste my energy teaching a mere mortal. You are already proficient enough for a mortal. You should be satisfied with that. It's not like you are going to fight against gods tomorrow. I don't think anyone in this world can even manifest a sword will. But you are an anomaly. Lots of inexplicable things are related to you, and the Origin seed is just one of them." Luna said, shaking her head.
'Tsk, what a pity. Nevermind, I will just try to develop my skills by myself.' Damien inwardly sighed.
But he
was surprised when he heard Luna say that Sword Will is not something mortals can easily comprehend and that probably in this world other than him, no one can even manifest Sword Will.
Other than just having some powers, since he was still a mortal in his previous life, he wondered how he was able to achieve his attainments in swordsmanship in his previous life without taking thousands of years.
However, he was sure it was nothing related to the Origin seed because Luna told him that the Origin seed merged with him in this life only.
Damien knew that there was no point in thinking about it now, "Okay, fine, forget about it. But after interacting with Lily today, I am sure of one thing." Damien said as his eyes focused.
Chapter 29: Etheric Flame
Luna raised her eyebrows, "Oh, what exactly did you understand?"
"She knew me even before she met me at that slave market. I am ninety-nine percent sure of it. I mean, she's too comfortable around me for an imperial princess. And even if she were truly kind, she would have still got pissed off at me for almost taking advantage of her. I kind of risked it a little when I tried to tease her. But I still trusted my gut feelings and took the risk to make sure of my guess. Even if she got pissed off, I could just shrug it off with some lame excuse."
Luna's eyes sparkled, "Who knows? Maybe she does know you. But if that was the case, then why can't you recognize her? If she knows you, then you must know her too, right?"
Damien shook his head, "That's the one fact which puzzles me, which is why, even though I had the same guess in the back of my mind for a while, I wasn't just sure of it. I don't ever remember meeting Lily. My previous self's memories have nothing about the imperial princess. It's like she's treating me as her friend or an equal. There have been other signs too that validate my guess."
Luna narrowed her eyes, "Then the only way to completely make sure of it is by confronting her. But right now, if you do that, you will find out absolutely nothing, and she might even distance herself from you."
Damien nodded, "Yes. That's why I didn't ask her the obvious question. I will just keep probing her through my tricks and completely make sure of my guess."
Luna scoffed, "By tricks, you mean taking advantage of her? Don't you have the least bit of shame?"
Damien put on a serious expression as he said, "I am not taking advantage. It's purely business."
"Business, my foot." Luna sneered.
"Argh, how did I get stuck with such a pervert?" Luna shook her head.
"Hey, don't go labeling a man of culture as a pervert. There were many girls who wanted to obtain my favor in my previous life, but I still stuck to only one girl. There can't be a more loyal, charming, handsome, loving man like me in this world." Damien said with his chin thrust out.
Luna shook her head with a pitying expression, "It's sad that those girls were born blind."
Damien's eyes twitched as he scoffed, "Heh, a little girl like you won't understand my charms. You will have to wait till you grow up, especially in certain places, hehe."
Even though Luna had the figure of a twelve-year-old, her chest was more prominent than normal girls at that age. But Damien knew that she was just an old monster in a child's clothing.
Luna was puzzled at first when he said 'certain places', but then she understood that it must be something perverted when she felt Damien's gaze on her body.
"You dare to desecrate this goddess with your filthy eyes?" Luna's nostrils flared as she covered her chest with one hand.
Damien yawned, "There's nothing much to look at. And I am not interested in kids."
Before Luna could retort, Damien continued, "And you should go to sleep for now. You haven't forgotten your promise to teach me, right?"
Luna cutely puffed her face before harrumphing, "Of course not. This goddess doesn't go back on her promises. I will come out when you are ready then."
'Phew. She's really a handful. Even though most of the time she's like a kid, at other times she seems a little mature.' Damien inwardly thought.
He then looked around the courtyard and rubbed his hands as his eyes caught sight of the herbs he wanted to concoct the Sustenance Pill.
'Time to pluck some herbs and plants.'
—-
It was evening when Damien returned to his room after carefully sorting out the ingredients he needed.
He took out a brown bowl-sized cauldron and then took two sets of 'Rainbow Grass' and one fermented berry and then sat cross-legged on the floor.
"Luna, it's time to start," Damien called out.
Luna appeared and looked at the things laid out in front of Damien, showing his preparation.
"You sure you want to invoke etheric fire? The reason most of them don't try to manifest etheric fire is that if you are not careful, you could harm or injure your own soul, and also, the first time would be quite painful. Actually, it would be best if you did not even try to invoke them until the Peak Nascent Soul Stage. I don't know why you want to hurry things up when you can concoct pills to your heart's content after at least breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage."
"Yes, I am sure. Being an alchemist is one of the easy ways to make money. Right now, I am dependent on these people. I can't be at peace without being independent. And if by chance, I am kicked out of here, I need to make sure I at least have the money to survive."
Luna sighed, "I can only teach you how to try to invoke the etheric fire using your soul. But it's up to you whether you can manage to bring it out. So don't try to force it if you are not able to manifest the etheric fire. Just because you failed now doesn't mean you won't be able to do it later when you are stronger. You should follow every instruction that I am going to pass to you unless you want your soul to get injured from within." Luna said firmly.
Damien nodded, "Sure. I won't stray away from your words."
Luna soon enough passed on the instructions to Damien through their soul link.
Damien processed the information in his mind as he closed his eyes and started to focus on his soul plane.
He could feel his soul essence and soul energy flowing through his soul plane. His senses focused deeper into his soul plane to look for the etheric spark in his soul.
The etheric spark was a primordial concept that symbolized the birth of a soul.
A few minutes had passed, and soon enough, he found mysterious greyish black sparks flickering around his soul essence.
But as he went closer and closer, Damien felt his surroundings get hotter and darker to the point that he felt as if his soul plane was being slowly turning into an eerie purgatory.
On the outside, Damien's clothes were already drenched with sweat as his facial expressions started contorting with pain.
He wondered why the etheric sparks were in greyish black color when he expected to see yellow sparks just like a normal etheric fire.
But despite the scorching heat he felt, he didn't forget Luna's instructions as he started circulating his soul energy around the mysterious greyish black sparks to draw them out.
But as soon as he did that, the greyish black sparks turned into a jet black flame as it mixed with his soul energy that fanned out further as if they were threatening to destroy everything in their path.
In addition to the scorching heat, Damien started feeling a chilling coldness, and he felt as if his very existence was slowly being disintegrated and consumed by these very flames.
"AHHHHHHH!"
On the outside, Luna saw Damien screaming as his fingers dug into his own flesh when he clenched his fists due to the excruciating pain originating from his soul.
When the pain originates from the soul, it is not similar to the pain one feels when physically injured. Such that, pain from a simple injury to the soul is comparable to the pain one would feel when one's heart is being stabbed by a thousand needles.
Luna was constantly inspecting Damien to make sure everything was going accordingly.
But when she sensed the changes happening in Da
mien's soul plane, she also felt a faint chilliness and scorching heat Damien felt, though it was not to the same extent he felt.
She only felt it due to her soul link, but her eyes widened in shock as she felt that eerie feeling.
That feeling momentarily shook even her as she had never seen anything like it before.
She even discerned that it was not just a simple etheric flame...but was made up of some unfathomable law which pretty much came close to Origin level laws!
She wanted to stop Damien, but at the same time, she couldn't exactly interfere because even she had never seen a flame like this before. She didn't dare to intrude into his soul plane without knowing what kind of backlash Damien could suffer from those flames.
She only hoped Damien would be able to pull through his predicament.
Damien stopped screaming as he gritted his teeth, trying to control the black flames within his soul plane.
His teeth were grinding against each other as blood started to drip from his mouth.
The black flames in his soul plane were slowly physically manifesting, which caused some internal injuries as a small fleck of the black flame escaped from his soul plane since Damien did not properly channel it after drawing them out.
The black flames were incredibly chaotic, and it seemed as if it wanted to wrest out of Damien's control.
But Damien used his soul energy to restrain the black flames and channel it accordingly to his control.
The black flames slowly turned less chaotic as if it was slowly being tamed till Damien felt that he could control this chaotic black flame.
He then opened his fists as he channelized the black flame towards his palms.
His facial expressions had slowly returned to normal, and even with the slight internal injuries, he didn't flinch. But Damien was looking wan as his face had become a little pale.
He opened his eyes, which sparkled with astonishment as he saw a small jet black flame dancing on his palm.
"I succeeded." Damien was elated, seeing that he was able to achieve something that no one at his cultivation or age could. And also, he could finally walk through the road of alchemy.
