"She is... completely fine!"
"..."
"Come on... smile, Orion..."
"..."
"W-well, um, sorry okay... I thought it would be a good joke, you know? Anyway, she will be asleep for a while, but don't worry, she is out of danger. She'll be back and kicking in a couple of months. Ah, don't misunderstand, she'll be awake earlier, I just thought it'd be best if she stayed away for a while."
Orion stared at Graves blankly for a whole minute before, finally, his lips parted, and words came out.
"That's why you are single. No tact..."
"What?! I have a girlfriend, you know! She's the one who helped me save your step-mommy. A real ice queen."
"Ice Que— you know what? Never mind.—"
Orion sighed as he walked past Graves and proceeded to sit at his desk.
"—Come on now, tell me what happened."
Graves turned and sat at the office desk, now facing Orion.
"Well, long story short, she was corrupted. But before that, do you know about the Dark Brotherhood or, more precisely, Dark mages?"
Orion pinched his chin lightly and thought to himself for a couple of seconds before reply.
"I heard they live in the third layer, below the inner world, closest to the core. And, I know that the Earth's core caused animals to either lose control and die, mutate, or even make them lose all sense of sanity..."
"Well, you know the basics. Let me, your Uncle Gravy, elaborate." Graves puffed up his chest as he continued, "This corruption can also affect humans. Simply put, you either die or get stronger when you get corrupted. Dark mages use this as a weapon, just like that space mage did. Normally, when from rank 1 to 3, Will cannot fully manifest. It only exists as Intent, and is present in every attack— both physical and magical."
Graves leaned back on his leather swivel chair and continued. "I am not a lecturer, so I don't know how to explain it—"
"—The core of Earth provides us with the basic ability of mana. Producing a 'core', sensing it, and basic manipulation of mana. Whilst Will is something ever-present. It is only when you ascend and become stronger that you can use Will. Will is the... uhh... I was going to make a metaphor, but never mind."
"Furthermore, it is the combination of Will and the comprehension of concepts which creates someone's Domain. Since Rank 4s are not strong enough, they can only manage a Simple Domain. And Rank 5 is when you can make a full-fledged Domain and call forth—"
Graves spread his arms out dramatically and spoke in a dark voice, "Domain Expansion!"
"..."
"Well, don't fret, someone as weak as you shouldn't worry much. What you should worry about is your training! You want to be strong, right? To sucker punch annoying bitches to the Sun, right? Then let me train you, Ori-ri."
"..."
"What? Is it the expression 'Sucker punch to the sun' that makes you like this? I know I said it a lot when I taught you some moves, but that was years ago. Don't tell me...—"
GASP—!
"Are you annoyed at Gravy?!"
Orion grunted, "Hey... just... can I ask some things?"
Graves chuckled and grinned like a total clown, "Come on, ask away, my disciple!"
"Um... I wanted to go to the academy, you know? So, can you write a letter of recommendation? I awakened only a week ago. Even though I am at the peak of the first rank, I still haven't used my powers yet."
Graves's lips curled even more as he quickly answered, "Heh, academy? You have a Warlord as a Master. Do you think the academy will teach you better?"
"But what if there are areas you don't know about?"
"Well, unlike you, I have loads of strong friends, you know? And in different domains of expertise at that!"
"Uh.. Okay, no academy. Next question, why me? I mean, you have my step-siblings, Adam and Emily. I know they are 6 years younger, but either way, I know that even if they were my age, you would never have trained them like you are promising to train me."
Graves sighed softly and leaned back on his chair. He thought of an answer for a couple of seconds and finally opened his mouth. Not to answer with a statement but with a question, "Let me ask you this: what is the furthest memory you remember? More precisely, what is the first thing you remember?"
Orion was taken aback by the weird question for a moment. However, he quickly regained composure himself, "Uh... The moment I came out of my mother's womb? Why?"
Graves grinned as he continued, "And your memories are intact, correct? You remember everything perfectly, right? Ever since you were born, you remember every detail by the second, right?"
Orion was puzzled. Why ask such obvious questions? Wasn't this normal?
"Yeah..."
"Now, the final part of your answer: Why did Toren keep you hidden in a separate section of the White Palace? And why did he allow Emily and Adam to live differently from you? Was it because of Elisa? Or was it because you are different? Tell me, why could you manipulate mana before awakening? You are the only person in the world who has ever done this.
Orion blinked in surprise. He had expected to be talented and knew that manipulating mana prematurely was a rare occurrence, but he knew what his uncle was suggesting.
'Too talented to be seen? Too talented to know of my existence?'
"Then why didn't I awaken earlier?"
Instead of giving a straightforward answer, Graves clapped his hands together and stated casually, "Enough now. I have been directing your train of thought too much and have told you things I shouldn't have. At least not yet."
Graves made Orion float up with a wave of his hand, and in an instant, they found themselves teleporting into a grand training room.
Upon letting go of Orion in the center of the room, Graves was met with another question.
"Telekinesis... how?"
Graves sighed before answering, "Okay, listen, do you really think that I couldn't remove the corruption from Elisa merely because that Michael guy was talented and advanced in the fourth rank? At the end of the day, I am still two whole realms/rank above him and a being of the sixth realm for crying out loud."
Orion's eyes widened as he asked in a dark voice, "Michael?"
"Ah, right, the mage talked. Apparently, the space mage's name is Michael, no known surname though."
Graves exhaled in frustration, "Okay, enough now. Normally, the subject of Wills and Concepts shouldn't concern you until you reach the fourth rank. Why? Because from rank 1 to rank 3, the progression is meant to be straightforward. Straying from the direct path will cause distractions and may affect your foundation. Anyway, don't think too much and focus on what I teach you."
Orion scratched the back of his head and parted his mouth, "Ugh, okay..."
"Now, lend me that space ring of yours."
Orion was slightly puzzled and complied promptly.
Graves' eyes widened as he took the black ring into his palm.
'Toren... A sword, money, and the ring can transform into an Exo-suit when the wearer is in danger. Though it's ungraded, it should be a Tier 6 Rare Artifact. Not only that, but it also makes his location known to me when the emergency protocol is triggered. Toren, did you perhaps foresee your own death?'
"Quite the arsenal you have there. A Tier 6 Rare Exo-suit, it's used only by the main branch of our house, but..."
Orion saw Graves pinch the ring and in an instant, its color changed from deep black with silver designs to a dark red, nearing black, with black designs. Behind the scenes, the stylish designs embelling the Exo-suit changed as well. The silver dragon and cyber siglistic and sharp designs changed to a more straight forward one, made up of complementary lines and curves, enhancing the forms of the wearer.
"Hm, it should look cool whilst looking neutral now. House Blade uses black with distinct Silver designs of a dragon and, well, blade-looking lines on the Exo-suit. So it should look pretty neutral now. As for your sword, I made it the same, dark red with some black lines here and there. Not bad, honestly. Tier 6 Rare Exo-suit and a Tier 5 Epic Sword."
"Uh... Uncle, can you explain the grading of artifacts please?"
"You don't know? Tiers represent the tier inside the rank. Tier 1 is the bottom of the rank/grade. While we use grades like Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythical to represent the grades. Tier 6 Common is better than Tier 5 Common, whilst Tier 6 Common is pretty similar to a Tier 1 Uncommon, but it depends. However, the gap, both between tiers and grades, widens from Rare to Epic and so on until Mythical. So, your sword can easily cut through your own Exo-suit. Well, thinking of that—"
The Starlight sword appeared in Graves' right hand in an instant. As soon as he did that, Orion felt a slight pressure coming from Graves and took an involuntary step back. After Graves was done doing what he was doing, he put the sword back in the now dark red space ring and threw the ring to Orion.
After Orion caught the ring, Graves said with a tinge of mischief, "—I sealed the main attributes of the sword, and it is now a Tier 5 Uncommon Sword."
"What? Why? And what are attributes?"
"Well, attributes are things that make an artifact special. Unlike a normal sword, an artifact contains runes, inherent Wills—in the form of intent or higher— or special attributes. Although every being in the Fifth Rank can use Will to make runes, it is different to Runemaster in the first 4 ranks. The way a Sorcerer or Marshall use Runes is completely different to Runemasters in terms of application, purpose and of course, strength and all that. Also, from the fourth rank and above, you can see the attribute easily using Will, but appraisers can also do so. Some use artifacts others are talented to see the runes but not enough to become Runemasters, so they opt to work as appraisers—
—For example, the Starlight sword has the special attribute, Mending, which makes it auto-repair and is essentially a perfect sword for you since you will take a while before needing a stronger sword. It's a special attribute because it is not a Runemaster of House Blade who made it, but Toren himself—a sorcerer, hence why it is 'special'. It also has Shapeshifting, Auto Weight Adjustment and... Sharpy?"
Graves chuckled as he continued, "Seems like Toren has a peculiar naming sense—not that I hate it. Ah, something else I should say is that Toren applied all the runes on this sword. However, only one of them is special. That's because, if the sword contains too much of Toren's will and is too strong, you won't be able to wield it. Not only because it'll possess too much Will for your own good, but also because artifacts with too much Will sometimes become sentient, and are picky about their user. If you want to use the attributes... figure it out yourself in the jungle."
"Jungle?—"
As soon as Orion finished asking, he saw the world around him shift and warp, 'Teleportation', right on the heels of that, Orion's vision focused back. And what he saw was what he feared: trees, vines, and a hot sun above. Then, he heard a final whisper from behind him, "Survive for 3 years. No Julia, no Alex and no Nicolas. Good luck! If you 'die', get ready for divine punishment!!"
Orion's expression turned into one of pure horror as he mumbled in defeat. "Fu—"