chapter 8 the ninth attunement

When Ryan returned not much changed. his training with his father had gotten tougher to account for his greater strength. his father hadn't changed how he treated him, he practically pretended as nothing happened. the same could be said for grandma irene, as for his mother and the rest of the village... not so much. The village now kept there distance, yet gave him curious looks when he passed. they had asked him what had happened in the woods, but he had kept quiet. Not because he thought to do so, but because noir said so. That's also why he had not told his parents the whole truth. they knew most everything except about noir. His mother did not take this well, and that leads to an increase in Ryan's punishment.

as for what that punishment was? simple help mom cook and clean. This might not seem like much but it wasn't supposed to be. It's not like his mother was truly angry with him, just scared. She simply wanted more time with her son, so she made him do chores with her.

still not much had changed and time carried on. Ryan was now eleven and could match up to his father with the sword. To be fair his father was no master swordsman, but he was decent. to make up for the free time left without sword lessons Ryan learned to use the bow. He was now at the eighth attunement, but he had been at that same level for at least a year. yet even after so long he could still not breakthrough. he started to worry that he wouldn't be able to break through before he turned 12. yet noir told him to just keep cultivating until he could no more.

*breath in* *Breath out* as Ryan sat in his room meditating you could see the sweat covering his body. His long black hair hung halfway down his back. his lean body was covered in sweat from his workout, his skin gleaming a beautiful bronze. as he finished his meditation he opened his eyes and they seem to gleam like emeralds.

He seemed to be lost in thought until he nodded to himself. in a calm voice, he asked noir 'I can't cultivate anymore, what do I do to break through.'

'oh! When did you find out? The knowledge of needing an external factor to get the ninth attunement is an open secret among those of power In this world, but you shouldn't have access to that information.' noir responded sounding mildly surprised and largely amused.

'simple, my body tells me that it needs assistance.' Ryan said like it wasn't an insane statement.

'sigh... fine. There are many different things you can use. pretty much any natural treasure with a decent amount of pure qi. honestly, any medium level spiritual herb will do the trick.' noir explain in an exasperated voice.

'wait if it's so easy to get how is it a secret?' Ryan asked

'well two reasons, one most people don't reach the barrier between 8th and 9th attunement. Even if they do most people don't just know they need a treasure because there 'body said so'' noir said with heavy sarcasm.

Ryan decided to ignore the sarcasm and move on with the conversation. 'so I need to just go grab a strong plant and I can breakthrough.'

'what! no! well yes, but you can get more benefits if you use the right one. for you, that will be a herb with a strong affinity to the moon.' noir explain sounding flustered.

'ok, so I want one that alines with my bloodline, but how do I find one of those.' Ryan nodded then asked with a confused expression.

'It's fine we will just go around the forest and if any herb with a strong lunar affinity shows up then you'll know' Noir said.

Ryan just nodded and got up. he wiped his body down and got changed, then he went to his mother to give her a warning as He didn't want to worry her again. as he approached his mother she was chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Ryan usually helped her but she had allowed him extra free time to meditate.

"Hey mum," he said as he gave her a hug.

"Hey hon, what's up I thought you were meditating. are you slacking off?" she teased, knowing it wasn't true. Shed probably rejoice if he took a break, considering she could never get him to.

"no I can't progress anymore, I need some resources to advance" Ryan explained before quickly moving on to his request. "I want to go to the forest to get them"

his mother stopped and stood still for a moment. time passed as she seemed to have an internal debate. Soon she just let out a defeated sigh. she knew her son and thus she knew he was informing her not asking. He would go anyway, even if she said no. "At least take your father with you. please," she asked with a sad look in her eyes. No mother wanted to see their child in danger.

"Alright," he nodded.

...

Ryan cautiously walked through the forest, following his father's broad back. They had set out this morning because they took the time to prepare after Ryan had made his declaration. they both carried a large pack on there back as they marched through the wood. the plan was to go around the outer edges of the forest searching and only go to the inner area if absolutely necessary.

"so... how are you son?" his father tried.

"Haha can't take the silence?" Ryan said with a bright smile on his face.

"ha if you know it, I don't need an excuse to talk." father said with a big smile on his face. so that's what they did. they walked through the forest with his father regaling him with tales from his past. "so there I was, and this woman was practically throwing her self in my arms. then her boyfrie-" *RAWR* sadly Ryan would never know what happened when her boyfriend showed up because Mr bear did not like the story.

who was a Mr bear? well, Mr bear was a 7 foot tall very angry grizzly bear with green fur. the sight of this bear looming over the duo was like a mounting looking over hills. as the bear charged at the duo father shoved Ryan behind his back and braced to clash with the bear.

The force of there clash sent a loud boom through the forest. as the bear crashed his paw down towards father he shifted to the right but stayed close. then he pushed forward and trusted his blade towards the bear's neck. but this bear was a magic beast, he's not a stupid beast. the bear shifted to the left and turned his head, taking the wound to the shoulder. the bear didn't stop in pain and lunged to take a bite out of father.

father, seeing the disadvantage position, let go of the sword instead of try and take it with him. as he rolled away now disarmed, the bear carried on its momentum to launch at father. as it lunged at the downed man an arrow flew in to strike the bear on the forehead. not a deadly shot but enough to temporarily stop the bear. father quickly recovered and motioned for Ryan's sword. Ryan, quick on the uptake, throws the sword, sheathed, to his father. father now armed quickly charged leading with a downward strike.

The bear had already Recovered and was ready to meet father. they clashed again with another boom, but there was a clear winner in this clash. the bear with its injured shoulder could not match up with father strength, It was clear it could no longer win like this. the bear, being quite the intelligent animal quickly decide to escape.

When the two clashed again the bear focused on father's sword, smacking it wide at the price of injuring its paw. then it quickly head-butted father before changing off. The bear, trying to capitalize on its momentum, charged past father instead of turning away. putting its path directly to Ryan.

Ryan was intimidated by this and froze. He may be a very intelligent child but he was still a child. As he made eye contact with the bear he could feel its Killing intent, and it really scared him. As it approached he couldn't move, couldn't do anything. he could feel death as it approached him, and he nearly just gave up. But in his despair, he could feel his soul scream. a scream that resonated throughout his whole being, from the depth of his soul to his fingers and toes. and with that scream, something in his body shattered and the qi in the area rushed towards his body. his eyes gained a brutal gleam as he ran to meet the bear.

the bear could tell something was wrong but it was confident that it could beat a mere child with no core. as the two meant Ryan jumped and grabbed the bear's head. he swung himself around and planted himself on its back, with his arms on his neck. the bear was deeply offended at this affront, but it knew it could not remain. thus he contends to run with Ryan on its back.

Or that was its plan, but it never got far. Ryan had a brutal snarl as he leaned down to the bears ear and whispered in its ear, "Thanks for the meal". the bear felt alarm bells ringing in its head and tried to buck him off but it was too late. Ryan grabbed the bear's head with one hand and used strength he had never shown before to stab the other into the bear's chest.

On its own, this was in no way a fatal injury, but the bear could still hear the alarms in his head. suddenly the bear could feel its qi and lifeforce being sucked up. the bear started to shrivel up and within 30 seconds it collapsed dead. but it did not stop there, soon even the corpse was sucked of everything it had to give until all that was left was dust in the wind.

The suction force that had drawn all the qi into Ryan grew stronger and he began to undergo a transformation. His hair turned into such a deep black that it seemed to absorb the light around it. then silver specks grew out, looking like silver stars in the night sky. his eyes went through a similar transformation. they became a beautiful silver like the moon in the sky while his pupils became even darker than his hair. Black was too light of a description of them. they seemed like a void where your brain could only put black because it couldn't understand what was there, and they seemed to suck you in.

when the transformation ended all the plants in a two-meter radius around him were dead and shriveled while those half a meter around him were just gone. he looked like a miniature god of death from a painting. the image, while unnerving, was so beautiful a king would happily hang it above his throne.

the world seemed to hold its breath in honor of the majestic aura of the moment. that was until Ryan collapsed... face first.