The Invincible Hero

"Utilize your cultivation system and begin moving your energy through your body. On the tenth cycle, change the endpoint to this rock. Infuse your energy into the rock until you feel like you cannot infuse any more into it. Once you"ve done that, place the rock in one of the bowls before you." instructed Bwiri.

"The purpose of this is to identify your primary and secondary elemental affinities. The stone will split into at least two pieces, the larger piece is your primary element, while the smaller piece is your secondary element. Each piece will change color to reflect its element.

Wood element is green, Fire is red, Earth is yellow, Metal is white, and Water is black. Place your stones in the bowls." Bwiri said.

The three men did as they were instructed. The stones sank to the bottom of the bowl. The water bubbled briefly. When it finished, the men took out the pieces of rocks. Tower held two pieces about the same size. The first stone was white and the second color was red.

Malkus" rocks were black and yellow. The black piece was much bigger than the yellow rock. Paneneko"s rocks were three. The biggest stone was green, while the white and yellow stones were about the same size.

"Good, these are some interesting results. I"m not surprised by Tower. You"ve always been gifted in forging. Malkus, earth, and water are an interesting combination. You could do some interesting things with those elements. You could forge, refine pills, but those would be weaker supporting careers. The Earth makes you suitable for creating talismans. Water makes you very strong in creating Arrays. It takes a lot of precision and logical thinking. Panenekos, You should definitely consider being a pill refiner. You"re also likely to find success with forging and inscriptions, but pill refining is the best path for you." Bwiri said to the men.

"Why do we need supporting careers," asked Paneneko.

"Cultivating is expensive, how will you afford to cultivate? You can either choose a supporting career or murder people for there things. You"ll also find that you"ll be able to reduce some costs when you need the items of your supporting careers. Alright, that"s it for now. I"ll prepare some manuals for you three and you can start working on your elemental training." said Bwiri.

Next, Bwiri waved her hand and three belts and two wristbands appeared. She gave each person a belt and a pair of wristbands.

"Put on the belt and wristbands. I will set everyone"s resistance level. I"ll set Tower at a higher level since he"s been doing this training already." Bwiri point at each of the wristbands and emitted her energy. Suddenly all three men felt it was really difficult to move.

"These are training devices that increase gravity. I have set the brothers at level ten, while I set Tower at level twenty. I"ll give you a few minutes to get used to the increased gravity. When we leave, Tower will carry the two horses, and the Gun brothers will carry the wagon. Master Shannon and I will be sitting in the wagon. If you drop us, you will be punished, if the wagon moves too much you will be punished. If you go too slow, you will be punished. If you complain or talk, you will be punished.

You will run all day until I say stop. You are not allowed to rest. This is a cycle training technique called Destruction Construction training. You two are from the Dikokan Clan which is the origin of this training technique. It will allow your bodies to grow strong extremely fast. The level will increase occasionally so be prepared.

That"s enough of a break." said Bwiri as she climbed into the wagon. Tower and the Gun brothers broke down camp and packed everything. Tower unhitched the horses and picked them up. The Gun brothers picked the wagon and they all started to run.

The first break didn"t happen until dinner time, eight hours later! Tower and the Gun brothers were too tired to move. Bwiri made dinner and after everyone ate they all went to sleep. Five hours later the group woke up, had breakfast, and packed everything up. They spent the next twelve hours running and were forced to cultivate while running. It was hard to both cultivate and run, but after lots of problems and many punishments, they finally got the hang of things.

For the next month, their life consisted of running while cultivating. In the evenings they were given techniques for developing their elemental affinity.

With about two weeks left until they reached the Capitol city of Karmen; The group of four continued forward. Bwiri liked to hide in the shadows. If she didn"t she would only draw attention to their group and would end up fighting their battles for them. This wouldn"t help them improve any.

The group was told by Bwiri that they could ride in the wagon for the next three hours. The Gun brothers were excited about the break. Tower, however, knew better and kept his senses sharp. Almost an hour later, Master Shannon sensed some people up ahead. Earlier, he received a message from Bwriri to let the men detect and take care of any situations they might have. He should online intervene if there was a chance someone would get killed. Master Shannon pretended he didn"t know anything.

Tower also pretended not to know anything. to see how well the Gun brothers did. He wondered if they would notice anything. A few minutes later, the Gun brothers gave each other a look. Malkus grabbed Tower"s attention and signaled to him that there was an ambush waiting for them ahead. Tower smiled and nodded, signaling that they should just keep quiet for now.

After another twenty minutes, six men blocked the road in front of them. They were bandits. The leader of the group was a middle-aged man with a big smile. Tower hated bandits. These were always been who either gave up on trying to make an honest living or never tried to begin with. They were internally weak and morally bankrupt. That hurt innocent people to get what they wanted. War was one thing, but bullying people because you want some money? Disgusting!

Tower and the Gun brothers didn"t say anything. They got off the wagon and started heading towards the six men.

"Wow, you boys sure are aggressive. I haven"t even made an offer and you"re just stepping straight up to us to fight. I don"t mind if that"s what you want, but you should make sure this is a fight you can win before you begin." The Bandit leader said as he clapped his hands and another twenty men stepped out of the surrounding area. They had Tower and the Gub Brothers surrounded.

Contrary to the bandits" expectations, Tower and his two friends just sneered with a cold laugh. Splitting up in three directions the bandits were shocked at how fast they moved. Only the bandits had their weapons out. Tower and his two friends chose to fight bare handed. They moved like lightning. Each person chose someone to fight and then they just worked through the area.

It only took one punch for each person. None of the bandits had a chance to even swing a sword or shoot an arrow. They were killed almost instantly. After less than ten minutes of fighting, over twenty bandits lay dead. The only bandit left was the Leader. It seemed like he was saved for last.

The bandit leader froze in place stricken with terror. He knew these men were warriors but they were so young he didn"t think they would be very capable. He was proven wrong. The Gun brothers started collecting any money or valuables they found on the dead bandits while gathering their bodies in a single pile. Tower was left to take care of the leader.

Tower grabbed the bandit leader and started interrogating him while the gun boys finished up their work. Just as they finished, Tower finished his "talk" with the Bandit leader. He was left in a mess in the forest.

The three men got back into the wagon without speaking as Master Shannon drove the wagon off further down the road. As the wagon continued on its way, Tower revealed what he had learned from the Bandit Leader.

"Those men we just fought were the last of the Laughing Bandit Group. The Imperial army swept through the surroundings and destroyed rest of the army a few days ago. These guys escaped the ma.s.sacre because they just happened to miss the battle.

They received a message from one of their agents not to come back and stay further in the woods. They were looking to make enough money to move and start over somewhere else. Here"s the funny part, the reason the bandits were wiped out wasn"t that they were harming the citizens of Karmen. They were all killed because they never paid taxes on the loot they ripped off! HA!" Tower was really amused by this. What a crooked city.

Something else of interest that I learned is there will be a city tournament around the time we reach the city. They"re offering prizes for the top three places. It"s just a battle tournament. What do you guys think about entering the tournament and winning some money?" Tower asked his two friends.

"It will be nice to do some fighting," Malkus said.

"I can try out a few moves I"ve been thinking about," said Paneneko.

"Good, if we get there in time we"ll have some fun in the tournament! I"m looking forward to doing something other than cultivating," said Tower.

"When will your wife let us start learning some fighting arts?" Paneneko asked.

"She"s my fiance, we"re not married yet. She"s probably saving that stuff for after our ride on the sky boat. She"ll probably have us working on developing our elemental abilities on the sky boat," informed Tower.

"I can"t wait for that tournament," said Malkus.