SKY-HIGH ARROGANCE AND SHAMELESSNESS

Loud explosion suddenly reverberated inside Lynne’s room, shaking the entire three-story building. Dozen or so disciples suddenly rushed out, scowling and cursing atop their lungs. Smoke broke out from the very walls of the buildings, and a voice broke out, filled with joy and ecstasy.

“I DID IT!!” it was, naturally, Lynne’s voice. His sudden scream startled a few who were still cursing, while their eyes gleamed with curiosity. “I FINALLY FREAKING DID IT! MONKEY, LOOK, I DID IT!”

While everyone was wondering whether something had happened to the boor boy’s brain, Lynne flickered his finger, upon which suffocating smoke dispersed as if it was never there. He stood at the center of the room, his hair upright as if electrocuted, skin completely charred, clothes disheveled, but he appeared not to care. Instead, his eyes fixedly stared at the small, thumb-sized, oval-shaped pill in his hand. The pill had fading luster and appeared ghastly gray in color, with very weak medical aroma coming from it. A few meters away from Lynne, the monkey stared at the pill in complete amazement, seemingly not caring about his appearance, as half his fur was actually burned, revealing somewhat pinkish skin behind.

The reason the monkey was so stunned wasn’t simply because Lynne had finally concocted a pill – after solid three hundred tries – but because of something much greater.

Three days had passed since the two of them arrived here, and shortly after Lynne broke through to the ‘Dao Magus’ stage, he turned into a hermit of sort, devoting all his time to wasting the last remnant of resources he had in hopes of concocting a pill. When the monkey saw Lynne wasn’t even thinking about leaving the room, he took it upon himself to scout the sect’s ground and learn some bits and pieces of information. He had even crossed to the other side of the ravine, where medical aroma was deeply embedded into the air itself. It was actually a separate ground, devoted solely to the students of Alchemy. As he was curious to see just why Lynne failed so many times, he sneaked into one of the many, plain cabins to observe other Alchemist. He was stunned to learn that none of them – without exception – concocted pills or potions by hand. Each had at least ten different tools – ranging from some simple steel claws to towering furnaces – and each took at least three to four hours to concoct a single pill.

After a short inquiry, he learned that trying to concoct pills or potions without these tools was equivalent to being insane. Even Legendary Alchemist who stood at the peak of the field would need at least five hundred attempts before concocting some random, weak pill. In all sense, it was viewed as a complete impossibility to concoct pills on regular basis without all these tools.

So, when Lynne actually managed to concoct a pill – however crappy it was – by using bare hands, one could only imagine monkey’s expression. He was almost about to inform Lynne about what he had learned and end poor lad’s suffering, but Lynne beat him to it.

“This… this…” the monkey muttered lowly.

“Ah,” Lynne suddenly fell on his knees, crying profusely. “Three hundred attempts… thousands of ingredients… tell me, monkey, am I the worst Alchemist in the history of the world or what? No, that doesn’t matter. I managed to concoct a pill! Now, I can finally put this idiotic idea at rest. I’ll find some other ways to get you pills and potions, don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten!”

“No!” the monkey suddenly exclaimed with slight terror in his eyes. “I-I mean, you finally made it! Why-why would you give it up now? Just… just stick to it for a little while longer and see where the road leads, huh? Don’t give up so easily!”

“… do you enjoy this?” Lynne suddenly began bawling like a small child. “I wasted probably tens of thousands of gold coins on this single, shitty pill that can’t even fix common cold properly! Do you think I bleed money?! Or maybe shit it out in regular basis? I’d rather stick my finger up your butt than do this again!” Ah… I forgot this idiot loves money more than he loves his life…

“H-how about I cover all the expenses for the ingredients, huh?” the monkey suddenly proposed; after all, with his innate skill, he could easily find plants left and right that can be used in Alchemy. “O-of course I won’t be giving them for free! For each three pills or potions you make, you have to give me two! How’s that sound?”

“Y-you would do that for me?” Lynne’s voice suddenly softened; a moment later he bolted across the room and picked up the monkey into his arms, hugging the little creature as if it was his most beloved one. “I love you damned monkey! If you weren’t so butt-ugly, I’d even marry you!”

“Who’s ugly you rotten brat?!” the monkey replied angrily. “Let go of me you stinkin’ kid!” however, Lynne let him go only after a few minutes.

“Monkey, forget two, I’ll give you four of each three pills or potions I create!”

“… go rot in hell you rotten brat.”

“He he.”

“Shameless punk.”

While the explosion caused somewhat of a commotion, it didn’t last long as it was clear nothing was actually damaged. Soon after the smoke dispersed, all of those who bolted out of the building in anger went back in silence. As Lynne had nothing to do in his room, he took a quick shower and changed his clothes to those of sect’s disciples – exclusively white with golden threads and the sect’s emblem on chest. The coat fluttered slightly behind him as he left, with the monkey on his shoulder. Surprisingly, in just half an hour, all of the burned hairs on the monkey’s body regrew, and he was back to his normal self.

As they were quite close to the ravine, Lynne decided to go the opposite direction, towards the city’s center. Although it was called city, very few – if any – people who didn’t practice Magic lived here. While its size and population weren’t outstanding, the quality certainly wasn’t something to scoff at. When Lynne left the sect’s grounds, he was left completely stunned at the sight; all streets were clogged, with hundreds of people pushing left and right and even a few battles breaking out here and there. Damn… each and every one of these is at least ‘Archmage’ level…

Such group certainly was intimidating, but as Lynne took a step out of the sect’s grounds, and as the eyes of the others came upon him, reverence and respect beckoned out. Even when practically hugging each other, people still made way for him. It turned into a rather comical sight; while dozens of people cramped atop of each other, one, singular person walked without any obstruction in his path. The greatest irony was that he was one of the weakest amongst the crowd, yet no one expressed any annoyance by the situation. Even monkey was slightly astonished by the sight; disciples of the ‘Imperial Magus Sect’ certainly did enjoy royal-like treatment.

However, what the two didn’t know, was that there was a rather specific hierarchy, even with the disciples of such large sect. That hierarchy was reflected with the number of dots above the school’s emblem on Lynne’s chest; one indicated disciples-in-waiting, and their status was almost the same as the people who never set a foot on sect’s grounds. Two stars indicated outer disciples, but even their status wasn’t that high, as they could only attend occasional lecture. Three stars indicated inner disciples, or rather, first true disciples of the sect. They were allowed to live inside the sect’s grounds and were given decent amount of resources, and could attend almost all lectures. Four stars indicated core disciples – the heart of the young generation. They enjoyed great fame wherever they went, and majority of sect’s resources were poured into them.

However, even with four stars, one wouldn’t be able to necessarily enjoy the treatment Lynne was enjoying at the moment. The reason Lynne was able to easily stroll through the streets without any obstruction was because there were five stars above his emblem! This indicated status that is completely venerated in the outside world, as one would have opportunity to see someone with such status perhaps only once in their lifetime. This indicated that Lynne was a direct disciple of none other than the Principle Seed himself – one of the strongest Mages on the entire Alloy continent. Currently, there were only three people – Lynne included – who had such status; one was a Third Princess of the Roylhard Kingdom, while the other was First Prince of the Elvarnheimn Empire.

“Principle took another disciple? Who is this young lad?” chatter quickly broke out amongst the crowd.

“He must be some extremely important figure!”

“Definitely! Quick, back away, don’t stand in his way! One word from him, and he can kill us all without facing any trouble afterwards!”

“Yes, yes, we definitely can’t provoke him!”

Lynne quickly picked up on the chatter, and his heartbeat quickened. Who thought that being Principle’s disciple carried so much weight? Although his innards were in chaos, his expression was as calm as water, never-changing.

Lynne headed towards the exit of the city when another, similar scene appeared before him: there was a clear line in front of him, stretching dozens of meters forward. At the end of the line, he saw a young man – perhaps in his mid twenties – followed by an enormous entourage. The young man had extremely handsome face, shoulder-long golden hair, azure-blue eyes and was quite tall, with slender and lean body. He wore exquisite, fiery robes made of finest material. However, similarly to Lynne, he also had sect’s emblem on his chest – and, just like Lynne’s – it had five dots above.

“Look, it’s First Prince Elynal!” someone from the crowd exclaimed.

“Hush!” another one scowled. “You don’t have qualifications to utter the Revered One’s name!”

“I heard that he just recently broke through to the ‘Master Archmage’ stage… at such young age, he’s definitely a talent beyond one’s comprehension!”

First Prince calmly walked forward when his eyes finally fixed on Lynne. A slight trace of shock appeared on his handsome face when he saw five dots above Lynne’s emblem; he clearly didn’t expect that his Master would have taken another disciple, as it was the first time he ever had more than two at the same time. However, when he saw that Lynne was merely a ‘Dao Magus’, slight shock turned into clear disdain. As he finally reached Lynne, he stopped a few meters away, upon which everyone behind him did the same.

“Are you going to move or stand there and stare like a country sheep?” Prince’s voice carried overbearing sense of arrogance; after all, he was first-in-line to inherit the throne of the most powerful Empire on Alloy continent! If all things proceeded correctly, within fifty years he’ll command the largest force in the world!

“Pardon this sheep’s behavior,” Lynne clicked his tongue before speaking, clearly annoyed; not only by the Prince’s behavior. If it was only that, Lynne would easily step aside as it was his nature, but when he learned that he was the First Prince of the Elvarnheimn Empire, his blood began boiling. “It’s just that I spotted some exquisite grass in front of me and couldn’t help but drool slightly over it.” OH!! gasps reverberated throughout the crowd. This was the first time anyone has ever acted so arrogant in front of the Prince; even Principal Seed had to show him some face from time to time, let alone this unknown youth!

“On the basis that you’re my fellow Junior Brother, and to give Master some face,” First Prince was clearly outraged by Lynne’s attitude, but still managed to produce a slight smile as he spoke. “If you bow down ten times, apologize and leave the sect, I’ll let this matter go without pursuing it any further.”

“Oh, you will?” Lynne arched his brow slightly; Damn, and I thought I was shameless from time to time…

“Of course, my word is the law.”

“I would absolutely love to do that,” Lynne said, smiling innocently; if people were deaf or unaware, they’d think he was honestly apologizing to the Prince. “But, you see, yesterday I ate this strange type of a fruit and I just shat my pants, and all that shit went into my shoes and now my shoes are glued to the ground. I can’t move an inch!” even though many tried, at least half the people around suddenly burst out in uncontrollable laughter; even some people from the Prince’s entourage showed signs of breaking apart, but somehow managed to hold it back.

“What did you just say?!” the Prince raised his voice, his expression turning ugly.

“You’re more than welcome to clean me up and help me out of this embarrassing predicament!” Lynne continued with his “I did absolutely nothing wrong” expression, and people actually began doubting their hearing abilities; did they simply mishear the young lad’s words?

“For that alone, you need to be beheaded!” the Prince exclaimed, fuming with anger.

“Ah, I’m afraid I’m already circumcised, and you know what they say – two’s a crowd, right?” Lynne winked innocently as one of his hands cupped his crotch. Seeing this, most girls in the crowd looked away, their cheeks scarlet, while more and more people joined the wave of laughter. Heh, you want to play with haughty attitudes against me? Scram kid! You’re hundred years too young! While Lynne’s expression was that of child’s innocence, his mind certainly was not.

“Die you lowly scum!” the Prince flickered his finger, whereupon a large, earth totem appeared, exuding enormous pressure. The totem suddenly flashed in blinding light and disappeared; Prince was quickly covered in shards of earth all over, while two of his arms both had massive gauntlets atop of them. The gauntlets emitted shrill sounds and fiery sparks despite their earthen, brown color, and carried strange sheen upfront. Without hesitation, he attacked Lynne without holding back.