The young boy, Asura, harbored a secret he had never shared with anyone!
When he was ten years old, he awakened his magical talent—an extraordinary and rare one: lightning magic!
After awakening, Asura could clearly feel the silver magic elements in the air!
He vividly remembered his mother, Qin Lan, telling him stories of when she awakened her magical talent as a child.
He knew that he too might have the potential to become a mage!
But why had he never told anyone about this?
Because he feared that once his family knew he had magical talent, they would demand even more from him—requiring him to study magic diligently.
And if that happened, how would he be able to enjoy his carefree play?
So Asura kept his lightning magic talent a secret and never learned any magical skills.
It wasn't until his younger sister, Azhiya, awakened her wood magic that Asura secretly learned how to meditate on magic, watching as his mother taught his sister the basics of magic.
When Asura did his first magic meditation under the covers, he felt the silver lightning magic elements joyfully enter his body.
He could sense that the lightning elements were highly compatible with him.
But what he didn't know was that, along with the silver lightning elements, a gray magic element entered his body as well. The gray element disappeared as soon as it entered his body.
Being a novice in magic, Asura had no idea of this anomaly...
And so, Asura kept this secret from his family, guarding it closely to this day!
It wasn't surprising that his family hadn't noticed his awakening. On the King's Continent, martial talent was rare enough, with only a few able to break through the apprentice warrior stage and reach the warrior stage.
First, martial arts require both talent and family heritage teachings.
Second, martial arts consume resources, and poor families can't afford it.
Martial artists are classified into several stages: Martial Apprentice, Warrior, Martial Master, Great Martial Master, Magic Warrior, Magic Martial Master, Great Magic Martial Master, Martial Sage, and Martial God—nine major stages, each subdivided into three tiers, and the higher you go, the harder it gets.
Once one reaches the Magic Warrior stage, their inner fighting energy takes on elemental properties.
Although it doesn't have the power of magic skills, it still enhances damage to a certain degree.
Warriors and mages are in a 20:1 ratio, with mages being far rarer and more valuable.
Common magical elements include Earth, Water, Wood, Fire, and Wind, while other elements like Ice, Lightning, Light, Darkness, and Space are considered rare magical attributes.
Mages are also classified into stages: Magic Apprentice, Magic Knight, Mage, Archmage, Magus, Archmagus, Magic Sage, and Magic God—nine major stages with three sub-levels each. Advancing through mage ranks is even harder than in martial arts and requires even greater resources.
The cause of today's beating stemmed from Asura's curiosity. Yesterday, he had come across a passage in his grandfather's medical book—"When a mage refines medicine, they can infuse their magical elements into the medicine, enhancing its quality."
With his curiosity piqued, Asura sneaked into his grandfather's alchemy room today.
At that time, no one was in the alchemy room. Qin Zongren's alchemy furnace was busy refining a calming pill to ease the emotional distress caused by his grandson's antics.
But Asura had never learned how to use magic, so he didn't know how to release his lightning elements.
As he stood there cluelessly, his quick-witted brain came up with a solution.
Although he didn't know how to direct the magic elements, he understood the human meridian system.
He quietly sensed the lightning elements within him and guided them through his meridians.
At first, the lightning elements obediently flowed through his meridians, exploring the pathways. But before long, they began to swell, growing larger like a snowball, and became harder to control.
Asura realized things were spiraling out of control, and sweat started to bead on his forehead.
The lightning elements surged faster and more violently through his meridians!
He knew he had to act quickly. With a decisive thought, he focused his energy and released the lightning elements from his palm.
A silver orb, the size of a grape, appeared, flickering and shifting in intensity as it slowly floated toward his grandfather's alchemy furnace.
Asura was puzzled by the magic orb he had created, but he could feel an unmistakable sense of danger, an uncontrollable kind of danger.
Quickly, he moved to the door of the alchemy room and peeked inside, his head half out the door.
As soon as the magic orb touched the alchemy furnace, there was a deafening explosion that echoed through the room.
Then, Asura saw his grandfather's prized third-tier alchemy furnace covered in cracks.
The room was in disarray, and the pills in the furnace were nowhere to be found, let alone any magical elements attached to them.
Asura wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and, without thinking, bolted for the door.
He knew he was in trouble now and had to make sure he wasn't at the scene when anyone found out.
Just as he was about to run out of the building, he collided with his grandfather, who had returned upon hearing the explosion.
When Qin Zongren saw Asura's shifty eyes, he immediately knew the boy was involved.
He grabbed Asura by the back of his collar and dragged him to the alchemy room. Upon seeing the destruction, Qin Zongren's anger surged.
But when he saw the cracks in his cherished furnace, he froze.
His third-tier furnace, made from Geocentric Radiant Iron, was an invaluable treasure. Even General Afengtian couldn't break it with all his might, yet here it was, damaged by his mischievous grandson.
Suppressing his anger, Qin Zongren asked, "You little rascal, how did you destroy my furnace? Tell me the truth!"
Asura knew that admitting the truth would lead to disaster.
With his neck stiff, he said, "It wasn't me, Grandfather! I just came over and heard the explosion. I got scared and ran out, and then I bumped into you and you brought me here."
Qin Zongren knew he was lying. With his mischievous nature, Ashura would have rushed to see what happened, not run away as though guilty.
Qin Zongren pressed him several times, but Asura stubbornly insisted he had nothing to do with it, even blaming his grandfather's alchemy process for the explosion.
Furious, Qin Zongren felt his vision darken. He finally tossed Asura to his father, Afengtian, and left to go on a journey to clear his mind.
He was also planning to look for another alchemy furnace...
Just as the young boy was writing furiously, the door of the room slowly creaked open, and a small head with a bun hairstyle poked out. In a sweet voice, she called, "Third Brother!"
Asura looked up at the newcomer, threw his pen aside, and collapsed onto the desk.
He stretched his left hand out toward the girl and said, "You're finally here! I'm starving. Hand it over!"
The girl smiled playfully and skillfully pulled a large piece of braised beef from her chest and handed it to him.
She then picked up the pen Asura had thrown on the desk and began copying the medical book for him.
The scene between the siblings was so familiar.
Whenever Asura was punished and couldn't eat, the girl would always find a way to bring him food and help him continue copying the book.
After devouring a few bites of the braised beef, Asura asked, "So, what happened? Has Father's anger cooled down?"
The girl pouted and said, "You really made Father angry. Mother is angry too. Usually, I bring you food and medicine, but this time, Mother only let me bring you food."
"Hurry up and eat. Big Brother and Second Brother are distracting Father in front, and I'll have to leave soon!"
Mentioning the medicine made Asura's sore, wounded backside ache even more.
He gritted his teeth and complained, "Father is so unfair! Why does he beat me every day out of the four kids? Am I not his real son anymore?"
"Hmph, thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west. One day, when I become the number one in martial arts, I'll—"
"What will you do?" Before Asura could finish boasting, a stern voice sounded at the door of the study!