73 Runes

Everyone in the hall stared at the bloody body of Enitan with blank stares, shocked at the sudden ruthlessness exhibited by such a young boy. Enitan himself had already fainted from the sheer pain and agony while Johnny was staring at his body with unbridled rage in his eyes. It was taking all he had to not kill Enitan right then and there. "S-son, my son.....MY SON!" Daviti screamed as he ran up and held his sons fragile body. "It.... It's gone? His cultivation is gone? Why? You crippled him? RAHHHHHH!" Daviti screamed as he ran at Johnny like a desperate beast avenging its fallen child. The Orlando-Gravad duo intervened yet again as they blocked his rampant advance but at the same time the silent Lotus Garden Leader stood up as she waved her hand as a lotus sprout erupted from her qi and sealed Daviti inside. The turquoise lotus sprout began to glow as it slowly bloomed, revealing a strained Daviti who was chained to the tip of each petal and hung up by a central spire that connected each petal into a beautiful yet secure cage. The lotus cage was a multi-tiered seal that was difficult for even the Split Sword Sect leader to escape from, normally Daviti would never let himself be captured but in his rage and with the distraction of the heavy handed duo, he was easily imprisoned within the fragrant cage. The slow fog of fragrance emitting from within the central spire was the Lotus Garden Leaders most potent sleeping agent, a secret formula only passed down to the leaders of the Garden. The Garden leader then ran up and hugged Johnny into her ample chest and rubbed his head. "It's okay now, I won't let the bad man hurt you, okay?" the Garden leader said as she rubbed his head lovingly. The rest of the leaders weren't surprised by her actions but the disciples were astounded at how she could get so close to a disciple from another power while disregarding her own disciple. Opal, however, was already used to her masters tendencies and was apathetic to the disciples looks of encouragement and apology, mainly from the guys that were trying to court her, after all she was far prettier than her master and she had yet to fully develop. "Cough-cough. Usha you can let Johnny go, Orlando and I wouldn't have let him touch him in the first place." Gravad said as he tried to hide his red face from the embarrassing situation. "What do you mean, you can take care of it? If I didn't step in, this lovely boy would have been a casualty in your stupid battle! You giant idiots need to learn how to control your strength more! Right, Lyle?" Usha, the Lotus Garden's Leader said as she looked towards the sitting Lyle who was trying to show a face that wasn't jealous of Johnny. "Usha, it's fine, really. If there was a chance the boy would be harmed I would step in personally and stop Daviti! You're being too overprotective again." Lyle, the Split Sword Sect leader said as the face of his son behind him started twitching silently, only being noticed by his sister who glared at him and tightened the grip on her sword. "I-I'm fine, Lotus Garden leader! I'm not weak enough to get injured by residual energy." Johnny responded as he wrestled free of Usha's grip. "Tch, boy, you can't be arrogant just because you beat that little weakling. The residual energy of a tier 4 warrior is enough to kill a tier 3 if they aren't careful! You should really be teaching him better, Gravad!" Usha said as she glared at the ashamed Gravad. He couldn't tell her that he had actually not taught Johnny anything but architecture and building. He hadn't begun teaching him combat since he was already beyond all his peers and Johnny himself had requested to study architecture instead of battle, not to mention how it had only been 2 weeks since Johnny had turned up at his Giant Valley's doorstep. Johnny on the other hand was feeling helpless about being scolded when in reality he knew that he wouldn't be that affected by their battle. After all, he had recently fought and killed a tier 3 warrior in the underground caverns. "Also, it isn't appropriate for a boy as young and cute as you to be crippling people! You need to be more light handed in the future, little Johnny!" Usha continued as she scolded him as if he were her disciple instead of Gravad's. "I know, ma'am, it's just that..... Senior Enitan reminded me of the bastard that killed my elder sister, so I kind of lost control. I promise it won't happen again!" Johnny said as he bowed to her and then to the now asleep Daviti in apology. "Eh, really? You poor thing, come here. Let Usha hug you!" Usha shouted as she pulled Johnny in and gave him a tight hug again, completely breaking her pure and graceful image from before. "Johnny, you never told me that someone killed your sister? I never even knew you had one! Come, let's go and find him! I'll kill his entire family!" Gravad said in an enraged tone as he slung his hammer over his shoulder. "It's fine master, calm down. Big bro already killed him and his entire family." Johnny explained with a bitter smile on his face. "You have a big brother too?" Gravad asked again, unknowingly revealing that he didn't really know his disciple much. "Well, he's not blood related but he's a better brother to me than my sister was. You know, big bro is the best blacksmith ever! He made my shield and all my other weapons too. He also makes me pastries for breakfast whenever I ask. He's the best." Johnny said as his childish side began to show in stark contrast to the ruthless bloodlust he exhibited when he crippled Enitan. All the girls in the hall had their hearts melt while even some of the men felt their hearts melt as Gravad tried to hide his tears at his disciples misfortune. Most of the leaders and disciples were born into their positions or within their sects and so had never gone through harsh childhoods. "Who the fuck cares about your shitty family! You crippled my son just because he looked like someone you hate? You belligerent child, I'll kill you!" Daviti, who had awoken from the sleep inducing fog, roared as he tried to escape from his bindings. "Daviti, you shameless bastard! You're son said he would cripple him simply because he was weaker and that he could only accept that, at that time you had no objection and neither did we. But now that your son has in turn been crippled because he was weak, you want to cripple little Johnny for vengeance? That's bullshit and you know it!" Roared Sabrina, as she showed her stance of defending Johnny. His story had really affected most of the leaders and they were all leaning towards defending him now. "Daviti, henceforth, the Giant Valley will no longer provide its services to your Beast Breeding Pavilion!" roared Gravad as he slammed his hammer into the ground and stood in a domineering pose. "I also hereby declare that the Lotus Garden shall no longer provide pills and our disciples will be barred from having relations with your disciples!" roared a dissatisfied Usha. "The Hammer King Palace will also stop providing our services to Beast Breeding Pavilion disciples." Orlando echoed as he quickly used this as an excuse, after all he didn't really care for Johnny as much as Usha or Sabrina were. "Grrrr.... F-fine then, all of you will not have any beasts from my pavilion! You bastards can all go and find your own!" Daviti roared as he finally broke free of his bindings and returned to his seat with a face of pure anger and annoyance. "Haha, don't worry about us, if it's just taming beasts it shouldn't be that hard. After all, you do it, right?" Orlando responded with a quick diss, only pissing him off even more. "Well then, now that that is over. Can you all return to your seats so we can actually discuss the matters we convened here for?" Lyle said with exasperation, completely forgoing his 'above it all' aura. -------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in the Garden of Eden, Lucius and Delilah were studying runes with Acacia. "Runes, Luci, Deli, are known by many monikers. Some call them arcane or arcana, some call them totems or symbols, or even just qi words. 'Rune' is merely the name most commonly used in the higher levelled worlds and so that is what we will call them. First though, a question! How many runes do you think there are?" Acacia asked as she began drawing symbols on the board at the front of the class like room. "A lot? I know that each formation is based off of runes and since I alone know of hundreds of different formations, there are probably a lot of runes right?" proposed Delilah. "Yeah, blacksmithing also contains runes right and so the number would be even bigger. Since each formation or inscription are based on qi techniques, the number of runes should be unknown right?" Lucius added as he pondered aloud. "That's basically right, there are an infinite number of runes based on the infinite number of possibilities in ones actions. In essence, a rune is the root form of an action that involves a transfer of any type of energy," "So basically everything?" Lucius interrupted "Yeah, basically everything. It will be easier to explain the infinitude of runes through an example though, to begin with we shall study a basic fireball rune! Tell me Luci, what is fire?" Acacia asked as she drew a large symbol on the board which was like the shape of a lemon but vertical. "Fire is just glowing gasses, when one causes a spark and sets a mass of gas to reach enough temperature to begin to glow and emit certain wavelengths of light." Lucius answered with his acute science knowledge. "Right, so what would one need to create fire? One would need a spark, one would need a set amount of gas or substance, and one would need to keep those gasses in a certain area. Then comes the question of, well, how much substance do you want? How big is the spark you use? What are the contents of the substance? Within what area do you wish to keep those gasses? The questions you can ask may be limited but the variations possible are very, very large, right? So then if this is all just for the most basic tier 1 fireball rune, what about the others? For now, that is enough to explain the infinitude of runes but in the future, as you rank up as a rune master, you will be able to comprehend its infinitude more clearly!" Acacia explained as she slowly drew lines that grew out of the 'lemon' in various directions, in various lengths and designs. Gradually her drawing became so complex and varied that the duo could no longer remember where the initial 'lemon' shape even was. The design was so complex that once she was done, the duo had a headache just from trying to comprehend just a single part of it. "This, my lovelies, is just a tier 4 rune! An overly complex one and basically so redundant that any experienced master would call it dog shit but it is a tier 4 rune nonetheless. Within a year, I want for you two to be able to tell me at least 50 of the stupid 'moves' in this rune. If you can't then you weren't working hard enough!" Acacia said with a stern expression. "Okay, but aunty, what is this rune for?" Delilah asked as she still searched for the initial lemon shape. "This, my dear girl, is a tier 4 fireball rune that was designed by my father for practising by potential rune masters. The number of mistakes one can find in this rune will show their potential in rune mastery. Finding 50 within a year is enough potential to become a tier 7 runemaster. Haha, back in the day I was able to find 365 runes and was noted as the greatest genius to ever live in regards to runes! Your mother though, only found 154, but even that is enough to be considered to have tier 9 potential." Acacia said with pride on her face "Then what about dad and the rest?" Lucius asked. "Well, you're father was abysmally low with only 47 while my mother had reached 230 and my sister had reached 212. Your father's father had reached 260 and my father had reached 310 himself. Haha, I was able to find mistakes in his own design which truly shocked him to the core!" Acacia said with a soft smile, reminiscing the past with longing eyes. "You don't really talk about your dad, mom. Who was he?" Lucius asked "Well, my father was the person I was closest to before Orion and Melissa, I always preferred him over my stiff mother and my sister. He was smart, funny, really handsome and more graceful than a swan in winter. You actually have his nose you know? Haha, he would've loved that. Mainly though, he was a tier 9 rune master and was considered a genius not seen in billions of years. He and your father's father were the main contributors to the Gardens creation. Alas, as great as he was, he wasn't around for long. Do you remember Verdansk?" "The man who had learnt of the space laws and spread his findings to benefit society as a whole?" asked Delilah. "Yes, him. He was my fathers best friend and they had grown up side by side back then. My father was also partially the creator of the space armaments and portals. They were the most fearsome duo and recognised blood brothers that travelled throughout our universe unhindered, spreading their teachings and helping those in need. However, as good things do, it came to an end when Verdansk went through the Heavenly Tribulation far earlier than his peers and was accepted into the greater world. My father though, was also there and he was struck down by the Heavenly Tribulation's lightning and he died that day. Verdansk wanted to help and even went against the heavens pull to try and help my dying father but in the end, the pull was too strong and my father went without help. When father-in-law arrived at the scene, he brought back my fathers dead body and he buried it too. My mother, being the heiress of the Lazarus clan and typically Amazonian, didn't care much for my father at all and simply went on like nothing happened. My sister followed her footsteps, they acted as if nothing had happened and that he hadn't just died. It was at that time that I realised how I couldn't live in the Lazarus clan anymore, originally I ran away to the only friend of my fathers that I could find, your father's father, and he arranged my marriage to Orion. It was only until much later that I would actually fall in love with your father Luci, but Orion was always infatuated with me from the beginning. Although he's too embarrassed and stubborn to admit it. Anyway, It's kind of funny how my and Orion's fathers were the kindest souls but our mothers were apathetic and neglected us most of our lives. Maybe that's why I wasn't opposed to our marriage at the start." Acacia sighed after telling her long story. "Aunty, what about my parents and grandparents?" Delilah asked as she felt kind of left out. "Melissa is a lovely woman with a heart as big as the stars, you don't have to worry about that. The matriarchs of the Divine Earth Elephants have always been some of the purest souls in our universe, so your mother's mother was also just as pure and kind. She was my go to person to talk about my 'girl' problems with since my mother was never there for me. Melissa and I grew up together as blood sisters, just like you two are. As for your father, that is not my secret to tell! Melissa forbid me from saying who he is or what he does, you will need to ask her in person. I can however, tell you that your father is very handsome. He always made Orion and the other men jealous, and some of them would even get enraged enough to go down and attack him, but your father is strong enough to protect himself. His personality was not to most peoples' tastes as he was pretty much acknowledged as an infuriating man that made most people go mad with rage or shame. He had a sharp tongue and a fast mind. Truthfully I never understood what your mother saw in him and every time I would ask her, she would simply respond with a vague answer like 'you wouldn't get it' or 'I don't know, I just like him'. The best I got out of her was that she found him to be the only man that could make her laugh yet at the same time infuriated enough to slaughter him. Haha, you're brashness and anger issues come from your mother you know. I can still remember her chasing your father around our universe for years on end with a sword in hand, yelling 'I only want a leg darling, or maybe an arm!'" Acacia reminisced as she chuckled to herself. "Did she ever catch him?" Delilah asked as she tried to ignore the comment about her anger issues. "Haha, if I told you the answer to that, you could probably figure out who he is. What I can say though is that she captured something much more precious than his legs or arms, if you know what I mean!" Acacia said as she winked at Delilah and started laughing. "Urgh, mom, that's disgusting!" Lucius shouted as Delilah's entire head turned tomato red as she looked down and started twirling her fingers. "Ahahaha, what? It's a natural process that everyone goes through. You're already 13, I knew so many people that were married by the time they were 13!" Acacia said as she nodded deeply. "At 13? But don't they wanna explore their choices?" Delilah asked with a puzzled look on her face. "Well, ideally yes but that is only granted to some people. Most families or powers will engage their children together as soon as they are in their mothers' wombs! The political shambles of a power based society are truly sad, haiz. The only ones who get to choose are mostly those in positions similar to mine or those who have no positions at all, or in other words, commoners. Although even those in positions like mine are subject to their clans' rules too. Like for the phoenix clan that hold bloodline superiority above everything, they usually have their descendants marry their cousins, and in some rare cases their siblings! The current Phoenix Clan masters are a pair of twins with a bloodline so pure that they were thought to only be worthy of each other, and so they are married and co-lead the phoenix clan. Usually with phoenixes almost immortal lifespans, they choose their leaders through a competition every millennium, but that couple has yet to be dethroned for more than a billion years now." "Wow, the pure blooded thing is actually that rampant huh, I thought that only happened in evil sects and cults that focused on bloodline purity for the sake of continuing their 'gods' blood." Lucius commented as he had read before of such cults and evil sects. "Yeah, the underlying problems that come with masses having intelligence are deep rooted enough to be widespread among the so called 'pure' emperor tier clans. The pure blooded mania of the phoenixes and Lazarus, the cannibalism of the dragons, the slave culture of the tiger bastards." Acacia noted with a harrumph at the end. "The Divine Metal White Tigers are slavers?" Lucius asked in astonishment. All he had read had suggested that the White Tigers where prideful killing machines that preferred to stick to their own devices. "Yes, they have enslaved the Dwarven race! Initially, the Dwarves were a sub-race of the Divine Earth Elephants, but a few million years ago, the White Tigers conducted a campaign right when Delilah's great-grandmother left for the Greater Plane and her grandmother had yet to fully reach tier 9. They massacred those who stood in the way and stole the Dwarves from the Elephants. That is why the current Divine Earth Elephant population is far less than what it was previously and is currently still dwindling with the ongoing war." Acacia said with a sad tone in her voice and face. "Those bastards, don't worry Delilah. In the future, we will enfranchise the Dwarves and return them to your Clan." Lucius said with righteous indignation. "It's okay Luci, that isn't your fight but mine." Delilah responded. "Nonsense, you're my sister! Your fight is my fight!" Lucius responded with a rare look of pride as he held Delilah's hand and reassured her. "Okay, thank you Luci." Delilah said with a heart warming smile that would shock anyone who knew her, after all she was usually always angry or annoyed at Lucius for some reason or another. "Well, you two can make promises all you want but in the end you can only accomplish that if you get on with your studies properly!" Acacia began as she returned the strayed topic back on course. "Now then, let's continue with Runes shall we? As we have established earlier, there are an infinite number of runes, and thus there are an infinite number of runic inheritances! Normally the runes one learns is passed down from their sect, power or family. In your cases, you both shall be able to learn the Basil, Lazarus and Aurora runic languages. In your travels you can learn more runes and develop your own rune styles and comprehensions. This will probably be easier for Lucius and his complete memory but the application and comprehension of these runes will not depend on memory power, so pay attention, my wilful boy." Acacia began, setting the duo on their respective journeys to become the greatest rune masters of their time and beyond.

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