Meeting Kallus

With that thought in mind, Darius activated the eyes of the outworlder. He could see people and beasts in the distance. He stealthily avoided all obstacles leaving in the opposite direction.

Soon, it would be morning and Darius was beginning to feel hungry. He had walked for hours now and was running out of rations.

He decided to hunt some desert foxes in order to make more rations. To do that though, he had to find a fox first, and currently there was no other creature in sight. All Darius could see was the endless sand dunes.

After walking for hours on end and not encountering a single living creature, Darius began to second-guess his decision to roam the desert.

He was quickly running out of food and water. Darius had overestimated his ability to survive. At this point in time, it was too late to return back to the hunting grounds.

After more hours of walking, Darius’ consciousness was beginning to wane. Suddenly, he realized he had water all along. He was able to use all four of the elemental powers. He then summoned water with his elemental essence and filled up the container he used to store water.

After having his fill of water, he decided to rest for a while. He covered his whole body in sand in order to blend in with the environment. After a few minutes, he began to drift into sleep.

“Clang”, “clang”, “clang” , Darius was startled awake by the sound of large metal plates crashing into the ground. He immediately became vigilant. He was in what appeared to be a cave, and since there were no caves in the desert, Darius guessed it was underground.

The room Darius was in had its door wide open.

Hopefully, that was a sign that whoever brought him here had no evil intentions. Otherwise it would mean someone who Darius could not escape had captured him. Darius materialized both his chain and composite sword. He then coiled The chain around his body. He began to stealthily walk towards the door. Once he got to the door, he could hear a man's voice.

“Fucking hell”, “god fucking damn it” , Darius sneakily looked through the door. His attention was attracted by the food and metal plates scattered all over the ground. He then noticed a foul mouthed old man standing and cursing in frustration and anger.

“Outworlder brat, it's good you're awake, come clean this up!” The old man said without turning to face Darius.

Those words sounded like thunder claps to Darius. His body began to tremble due to fear and shock. His next thought was to silence the old man.

As soon as he launched his attack, the old man swung his hand, summoning a wall of hardened earth. With a loud “bang”, Darius ran face first into the wall, sending him into a comical fall.

The old man suddenly burst out laughing out loud, “ha ha ha ha ha ha” ,“ I bet you didn't expect that, did you?”

“Listen up, outworlder brat, if I wanted to rat you out, you would be well on your way to the imperial court by now.”

“Also, if I wanted you dead, you would not have woken up in the first place.”

“I thought you outworlders were supposed to be “open minded” individuals”. “Sheesh what an idiot”.

What a peculiar old man, Darius thought to himself.

Darius took in some deep breaths in order to calm himself down.

Once he was calm enough, he asked the old man “who are you? And where am I”.

“Well my name is Kallus, and you are in an underground cave close to the capital of the eastern desert.” The old man answered.

“The capital?” Darius murmured to himself.

“The old man heard what Darius murmured and said “yes, the capital. Now clean up this mess. After that, we can have dinner”.

“How did you find out that I was an outworlder?” Darius suddenly asked.

“That's because I can tell from the look in your eyes. I've lived for a long time and met one of your kind. It's easy actually, once you meet one yourself, you'd be able to tell in an instant.” The old man answered with a look of reminiscence in his eyes.

Darius looked at the Kallus with a look of suspicion in his eyes.

“What? You don't believe me? Suit yourself brat.” Kallus shrugged.

Kallus then threw a rag towards Darius, which Darius caught out of reflex.

“Clean this mess up. I'm not going to repeat myself again.” Kallus said as he exited the room.

Darius began to clean up the mess. A few minutes later, Kallus returned with two new plates.

“I see you're done. Let's eat.”

At the table where the food was served, Darius sat in front of Kallus and watched as he guzzled the food on his plate. Darius then looked at the food in front of him with a bit of suspicion in his eyes. “It's not poisoned brat!” Kallus reprimanded.

Kallus then asked Darius “oh I almost forgot, what's your name? And don't you dare lie to me brat! Tell me your real name.”

“Darius Amel” he replied as he began to eat the food.

That's a cool name Kallus said with a smug smile on his face. He then asked, “Do you want to become my disciple?I can teach you what it takes to live unhindered in this world.”

“Don't worry, you don't have to answer right now. I'll be leaving this place tomorrow wanna come with? If not, you can stay and use this place as a hideout. It's very well hidden.”

Darius had been analyzing Kallus this whole time. Kallus was an old man who appeared to be in his 70’s, but from what he said, he was apparently older. He had white hair and a white beard. He looked like a typical “ancestor in the ring”. He was also very talkative. He had the appearance of a great man but none of the aura and mystique.

Darius decided to tag along to see what this old man was all about. If he was indeed capable, Darius would not mind becoming his disciple.

“I'll tag along”. Darius answered. “Good!” Kallus exclaimed in approval. Get some rest, we'll depart at dawn.

At dawn the next day, Kallus and Darius left the underground cave. Once they were out, Darius could see a huge gathering of buildings in the distance.

“So where are we going?” Darius asked. “I'm going to meet a friend.” Kallus replied.

Darius’ stance immediately became defensive. “Don't worry, this journey will bring no harm to you.” Kallus immediately assured him.

“You have those outworlder eyes don't you? Here take this mask.” Kallus handed Darius a porcelain mask to cover his face.

“Don't worry it's not going to break, I've had it for decades.”

The mask was white with several black runes painted all over it. There were a lot of micro holes where the eye sockets were, enabling the wearer to be able to see, while his eyes were hidden.

“Thanks” Darius said as he took the mask and wore it. It fit him perfectly.

“How about some training along the journey?” Kallus then asked. Darius readily agreed to this proposal.

After hours of walking, Kallus suddenly stopped and said “your training partner is approaching”. Darius looked around and saw a giant desert scorpion approaching them from a distance.

“Here take these while I bring your partner under control”. He tossed two low grade elemental cores to Darius before rushing towards the scorpion.

Darius summoned his soul weapons and fused them with the elemental cores.

In the distance, Kallus summoned two giant hands made of earth. He wrestled the giant desert scorpion to the ground, trying to keep it under control.

This was a similar type of creature to the one Darius and his colleagues saw at the hunting grounds. It was a huge beast capable of great damage, but in this battle, it appeared similar to a pet owner trying to keep their agitated pet under control.

Kallus was doing that with relative ease. Darius immediately knew he was qualified to be a teacher. Darius was also sure his parents could not handle this beast even if they worked together, but Kallus was doing it without even breaking a sweat.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, the scorpion finally calmed down.

Kallus called Darius over and gave him some tips and tricks on what to do when battling the scorpion. Basically telling him to avoid the stinger and claws.

Kallus then said, “this beast is way above your skill level, don't worry though, I'll step in when things start to go south.”

“Let me see your soul weapons.” Darius showed him his weapons. He then asked, “did you awaken just recently?”

“Yes”, Darius replied with a hint of surprise on his face.

“Don't worry, it only gets better from here on out, since you've met this old man, your cultivation shall progress rapidly”.

“Now go, your opponent awaits.”

Darius walked towards the scorpion with a hint of fear in his eyes. Once he got close enough, one of Kallus’ large hands appeared and flicked the scorpion from behind, sending it into a frenzy once more.

It charged towards Darius with the intention of trampling him to death. Darius immediately activated the eyes of the outworlder, spotting several weaknesses underneath the body and on the legs of the scorpion.

Darius immediately swung his sword towards one of the weak spots on the legs of the scorpion. Unfortunately, the sword could not penetrate the thick exoskeleton of the scorpion and bounced right off. The scorpion then swung its stinger towards Darius, which he dodged with relative ease.

Due to the size of the scorpion, its movements were slow and exaggerated, enabling Darius to dodge its attacks. Although if he got hit once, he would die on the spot.

Kallus yelled from a distance, “focus your attack on one point, it's going to break eventually.

“Tch thanks captain obvious” Darius muttered under his breath.

“I heard that brat”, Kallus yelled back.

Darius wrapped the chain around his arm and fist, punching then slashing with the sword. He had been attacking the scorpion's legs for some time now, and a tiny crack began to appear.

He then stabbed the sword into the crack.

He channeled elemental essence through the sword and with a loud boom, a fiery explosion shattered the leg of the scorpion. The scorpion let out a shrill cry before trying to get away from Darius.

“Interesting”, Kallus thought to himself in the distance.

After losing one of its legs, the scorpion's already slow speed became even slower. Darius then dematerialized his sword. He then unwrapped the chain on his arm.

He shouted “grow”, the chain instantly became several times longer, exhausting two thirds of Darius' elemental essence.

He began to run in-between the legs of the scorpion tangling its legs in the chain. After he tangled all of the spider's legs, he channeled what was left of his elemental essence through the chain, setting it ablaze.

The spider's legs began to accumulate damage until they could no longer hold its weight, causing it to drop to the ground. At this point, Darius had run out of elemental essence. He could no longer deal any major damage to the scorpion.

Darius went forward to retrieve his chain as Kallus walked over.

“You managed to incapacitate it but ran out of elemental essence to finish the job. Not bad, not bad at all.” “I also didn't have to intervene”. Kallus began to heap praises on Darius. “That was excellent.”

“You definitely have a high level of battle I.Q, what you lack is experience.”

Kallus then summoned the giant hand made of sand once more and crushed what was left of the giant scorpion into bits and pieces.

And with that, Kallus asked, “have you decided yet?”

“Yes, I have. I will be your disciple.” Darius answered.

“Ha ha ha that's great.” Kallus chuckled in approval.

“Alright, let's get going.”

They continued the journey, passing by many towns and villages, they would hunt foxes whenever they were hungry. Kallus also captured beasts for Darius to train with along the way.

Soon, they reach their destination. It was a bustling town with people everywhere. Kallus led Darius through the village until they stopped in front of an unassuming antique shop.

He knocked twice then waited for a while then knocked twice again. The door suddenly opened revealing a scantily dressed woman, who invited them in.

Kallus and the woman appeared to be familiar with each other. He told Darius to look around while he talked to her.

Darius walked around the room, admiring the murals and artifacts in the room.

From the corner of his eyes, Darius saw Kallus toss a pouch filled with what he assumed to be gold to the woman.

Kallus then walked towards Darius, signaling him to come along as they entered a room with stairs leading to an underground passage.

They walked through several narrow passages before arriving at an entrance.

After entering, Darius saw what appeared to be a base of operation for an organization.

Everyone was wearing masks similar to the one Darius had on.