Chapter 0.4: Leaving the city. His parents came home not long after he curled up in his bed, knocking on his door and asking him to come out. He could hear their voices, hear their worry, but he did not respond, only curling up further. He could not face his parents now, he was too ashamed at his own uselessness. After a while of knocking, his parents also gave up on it. They could easily break the door and enter the room, but they did not do so. The main reason was that they had no idea what they would even say to their son. They had never considered this possibility, so they simply did not know what to say to comfort him. “Little Jun! Where is my Little Jun!?” A few hours later, Yao Wuying stormed into the house, his loud voice booming through every corner of the building. His face looked worried and frantic as he entered the house, almost tearing the door off it's hinges. “Brother Wuying, you already know?” Yao He couldn't help but be shocked as he looked at Yao Wuying. It had only been a few hours since the awakening, how did he already know about it? “Already know? Basically the entire Yao clan knows already, someone has been spreading the news.” Yao Wuying quickly spoke out, scanning the room as he spoke. When he was taking a walk, he had heard a few people talking about the awakening ceremony. Some talked about what different powers were awakened, but most people were talking about the one who awakened a completely useless power, Yao Jun. “Who would do such a thing?” Yao Xun couldn't help but respond in shock. Spreading the news about the awakening ceremony was normal, but no one had ever started spreading the news a mere few hours after the awakening ceremony. “I have no idea. Where is Little Jun? How is he doing?” Yao Wuying shook his head as he spoke, his voice thick with worry. He treated Yao Jun like his own son, he also knew about Yao Jun's dreams of following in his parents footsteps, how could he not be worried. “He is holed up in his room, we have yet to get him to leave it.” Yao He spoke with a sigh, leading Yao Wuying over to Yao Jun's room, showing him the locked room. “Little Jun!” Yao Wuying tried knocking a few times, but when he got no answer, he simply kicked down the door. With a single kick, the door was completely crushed, folding in on itself. Yao Wuying stepped in and rushed over to Yao Jun's bed, Yao He and Yao Xun following right behind him. “Little Jun, you do not need to listen to others! A man's worth is something that he himself decides. So what if you don't have a power, you can still become a great man!” Yao Wuying pulled away the covers and sat down next to Yao Jun as he talked. He wanted to pick up Yao Jun and cradle him in his embrace, but upon seeing Yao Jun's bloodshot eyes, his arms completely froze. Yao Jun's eyes were completely bloodshot and filled with a deep sense of shame, just looking at him made the three of them feel a pain in their hearts. “He is right Jun'er, you don't need a power to become a great man. The commander of the Yao clan army does not have a good power, he has reached his position through his wits and his bodily strength alone.” Yao He and Yao Xun quickly sat down next to Yao Jun, Yao Xun grabbing him and pulling him into her bosom, giving him a forceful hug. After hearing Yao Wuying's words, something clicked in Yao He's brain and he realized what he could tell his son. “Bodily strength?” Yao Jun's voice was weak as he spoke, slightly twisting his head to look at his father. He had heard about the commander of the Yao clan army, Yao Xuefeng. If he was in control of an army, even if the enemy were three times as many as them, he could still manage to achieve victory. “Indeed! You can simply train your body instead of training your power. It might be slower, but that is all!” Yao He spoke with great enthusiasm, but there were a few things he didn't mention. He didn't mention that someone who only trained their body would never be able to beat someone who trained their power. He also didn't say that it wasn't just a little bit slower, it was so slow that what took a body trainer two years to achieve, someone who trained their power could achieve in a single month. “Can I still protect father and mother if I train only my body?” Yao Jun turned to Yao Wuying as he spoke, his thoughts racing within his head. The more he thought, the more life returned to his body. “Of course! You can protect everything you want if you train your body!” Yao Wuying dared not deny it, quickly nodding his head. But he was shaking his head on the inside. Unless he reached a truly unheard of level in body training, protecting people as strong as his parents would be impossible. “I see, so I can still protect them.... that is good.” Yao Jun repeated the words a few times before he suddenly broke free from his mother embrace and raced towards the door. “Where are you going Jun'er!?” Yao Xun and the others hurriedly called out when they saw him racing towards the door, worried that he was going to go do something stupid. “To the training grounds, since training the body is slower than training an inborn power, I need to start even earlier.” Yao Jun did not stop, simply shouting out as he was running. Since it was slower to train his body, he would have to start earlier than others. Not only would he have to start earlier, he would have to work at least twice as hard. Yao Jun rushed out of the house and started running towards the Yao clan training grounds. The training grounds was specialized for just that, training. It held a lot of different equipment that one could use to train themselves. The most standard equipment were wooden or metal dolls that one could use to train their weapon skills. Along the way, Yao Jun ran past several people from the Yao clan. Everyone he ran past looked at him with either pity or scorn. The adults managed to hide it pretty well, but the children were not as good as them, some even showed it on their faces. Once he got to the training grounds, Yao Jun was surprised to see Yao Zhong and a few other children that he usually played with. They were currently hanging around one of the metal dolls, taking turns hitting it with their weapons. Yao Jun wanted to go over and greet them, but when he was about to walk over, he saw that Yao Zhong and the others had noticed him. Their eyes met, and the children froze slightly. The children quickly averted their eyes, not daring to look at Yao Jun as they slowly moved backwards. Yao Zhong was the only one who was still looking at Yao Jun. His eyes held a mixture of pity and unwillingness, but he eventually shook his head with a sigh and followed the other children, leaving the training area. Seeing their actions, Yao Jun suddenly felt like laughing out loud, but all that came out was a low and self deprecating laugh. Just yesterday they were still playing hide and seek together. They had shared cakes and candy just yesterday. And now it had all turned to naught. Yao Jun shook his head and walked over to one of the wooden dolls. He took up a stance in front of the wooden doll and punched out, his fist connecting with it's chest, letting out a dull sound. He grit his teeth and endured the pain, pulling back his fist and punching out with the other one. He kept doing this for several hours, ignoring the gazes of the others that came to the training grounds. Whenever people looked at him with pity or scorn, he would just grit his teeth and punch the wooden doll a little harder. Once he was done, his knuckles were bloody and his hands ached. Once the sun set, he stopped for the day and returned home. After a quick bath, he wrapped his hands in bandages and ate his dinner in silence. Yao Jun kept doing this for over a month, spending at least half the day at the training grounds, punching or kicking the wooden dolls. He had stopped wearing the Yao clan robes after only a few short days. He was going to wear it one day when he suddenly felt nauseous as he looked at it. He had seen how the people of the clan treated him after the awakening ceremony. They didn't taunt him or bully him, they simply avoided him, looking at him with pity or hidden scorn. He once felt pride when he wore these robes, but now he felt nothing but nausea when he looked at them. He threw the Yao clan robes to the side and put on an emerald green robe that his mother had sown for him. After another month of training, his father suddenly told him that they were leaving the city. He said that they had found a nice little city where they could spend their time in peace, but Yao Jun knew why they really did it. They moved away so that there wouldn't be people looking at Yao Jun with pity or scorn, they did it for him, because he was useless. Yao Jun didn't say anything, but he made a silent vow. A vow that he would allow his parents to return to this Yao clan branch with their heads held high. That they could come here and tell everyone that their son was not a useless person.