Born in Blood

It was a long night, but yet to be finished.

Liam headed back towards the ravine to test out his new abilities.

He memorized the cultivation technique and sat cross-legged, manipulating 'Ora' just like it instructed.

Before long, dark colored 'Ora' gathered around Liam's abdomen and entered through his core.

His entire body felt nourished and invigorated.

Liam realized he had been fighting with one hand behind his back for the whole time. The core was an extremely important organ, and the quality of 'Ora' would improve each time it advanced. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚘ｒｇ

After a whole two hours, he felt like he couldn't absorb more.

'Too much cultivation isn't good either, since it could strain the core. I've just awakened, so it'll probably increase in time.'

Heaving a satisfied sigh, Liam stretched out his hand.

A wisp of darkness grew around his palm, dancing with the wind like a dark flame.

There were basically no limits to how much he could control, but his raw element was weak without any form or utilization. Not to mention, it rapidly expended 'Ora'.

'What about my other element?'

Liam shifted his focus to the other essence inside his core. It wasn't unstable like with the snake scale, but it stubbornly refused.

'Just what is this damn thing?'

Shaking his head, Liam learned the Purgatory Night arts next.

Rogan had made him a pair of blades from a Rank 3 Plague Rat – which was much easier to subdue with his forging technique.

The weapons were black, sleek and lethal.

Liam gripped the blades tightly in his hand, swinging them a couple times before practicing his martial art.

Purgatory Night consisted of snappy movements and fatal swings, forcing Liam to maximize his speed and strength.

His katana and wakizashi cut through the air in a series of swift moves, and Liam started using 'Ora' alongside his art.

A layer of dark smoke covered the edges of Liam's blade's, dangerous to everything but him – a person's element was incapable of harming its user.

He could maintain that state for as long as he wished, since it used a minute amount of 'Ora'... so long as his core isn't empty, of course.

Pairing that ability with Lethality Mantle made it even deadlier.

Sheathing his blades, Liam shifted his focus to Corroding Touch.

There wasn't a target for him to use it on, but there didn't need to be.

Activating the spell, his mental waves turned dark and violent.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Liam grinned.

'My prowess probably tripled. I can't imagine what I can do if I get into the higher ranks.'

Before long, the Jade in his pocket rang…

It was David.

///

Liam arrived at the guild.

Lloyd, David and Ophis were there already. The two guild members were staring at him with looks of awe and shock.

"I would give you one of my hugs, but I doubt you'd accept," Ophis scoffed.

"I won't," Liam replied with a glare, and Lloyd suppressed a laugh.

David began speaking, shushing them both.

"The Royce family has called a meeting with you, young man," he said, a joyous smile on his lips. "It'll take place tomorrow night at their quarters. I won't ask you of where you've been. Your teacher has already explained most of the details."

Those 'details' were already discussed between Liam and Lloyd beforehand... a tight-knit cover story.

Liam nodded firmly. One couldn't deny an invitation from a governing family, but he didn't plan to.

"Anything else I should know?"

David shook his head.

"Just make sure you bring a standard Echorian robe."

Liam nodded, and the two guild members left him and Lloyd alone.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Lloyd asked worriedly.

"I've planned for this. If it goes well, you won't be seeing me for a while, old man," Liam said solemnly.

Lloyd laughed, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezing. "You were never meant to stay here, kid."

///

Liam instantly headed underground… for three things precisely.

There was one more thing Liam kept hidden from his teachers.

From Kirk's ring, Liam found a strange pill.

It was completely white, but was shaped to a blank face with an open mouth. It had no smell whatsoever, even though Liam used his mental waves to assess it.

Bringing the pill to Rudolph's shop, the man took nearly half an hour to identify it.

"It's a Face & Body imitation pill," Rudolph said with a shocked look. "It can allow the user to change into another's appearance, as long as they have at least ten drops of blood from said person."

"These kinds of pills are banned to sell, and only one family in Ucladd produces them. Where'd you get these?"

Liam's response came instantly.

"A friend gifted them to me," he said, before taking 700 'Ora' Stones out from his ring and giving it to the shopkeeper. "For your troubles."

Rudolph was experienced enough to catch the hidden threat.

'Why do I feel like he'll torture me before he kills me?' Rudolph gulped, nodding in return.

As Liam left the store, he grinned ear-to-ear.

'My escape is possible!'

Other than that, he searched for a luxurious clothing store to buy a robe – black was the color he was most comfortable with, and he decided to buy the most expensive one he could find.

Finally, there was one last stop for Liam to go through, before preparing for his meeting tomorrow.

He arrived at Rogan's forgery with an eager glimmer in his eyes, which caused the blacksmith to smile in response.

"You ready?" asked Rogan.

Liam nodded. He already knew how to form, forge and shape a blade. The only thing he hadn't done was begin the Primordial Forging method.

The blacksmith took out a fresh Rank 1 Albino Snake corpse.

"Crush the core and absorb the 'Ora' within it into your mental sphere."

Liam complied.

As soon as he did what was instructed, he entered his mental sphere.

The magical beast's 'Ora' he absorbed was much more wild and untamed, enveloping his mind with pressure.

From within his sea of consciousness, blobs of his mental energy converged in the middle, growing larger to take the shape of a giant Albino Snake.

An angry, angry snake.

'Why is it so much bigger?!'

With a thunderous hiss, it shot to his mental sphere walls, thrashing it and violently attempting to escape.

Liam used thicken before the collision, but still felt like a nail hammered the inside of his head.

Instantly, he manipulated his mental energy to envelop the roaring snake. Covering and seeping into its figure, gradually weakening the beast.