Akata clasped hands together and spoke out, “I will do my best to bring the senior generation to full health and expel the foreign life force from you. However it will take a considerable greater amount of energy to do so because the life energy of the plant cultivator is embedded deep within you all.” Akata said in full truth.

“I will go first Lord Tafei and be the test subject of young Akata’s skills. That way he will have a better understanding of how to proceed on healing us.” Great Priest Bambe suggested.

Lord Tafei nodded his head. This idea was actually beneficial to them right now. He was actually planning on having someone be tested on, but he didn’t know who it should be. All of the senior generation that had been present during the attack were important figures in the tribe.

Great Priest Bambe actually had power that was equal to his own. In the tribe his status was second only to Lord Tafei himself. However, during the past years, he had taken on a much closer role to the tribe to care for the weakening members of the tribe.

He was much healthier than the other members of the tribe. That was because during the attack however, he had been by the coast gathering plants to make medicine out of, therefore he had been the furthest away and was the least affected from the senior generation. This made him a good test subject in the tribe.

“Good. Akata take all the time that you need to prepare yourself in order to treat Great Priest Bambe. Hmm. I say you should treat him after my son Tabet treats you to his promises. That will be all. You are dismissed for now.” He spoke with a transcendent voice that carried power within it.

“Akata, we should head out immediately. I have much to teach you about runes. I guess I don’t have to hold back on information either now. Oh! I have to get you to the 5th Grade as well. Ah! I guess it wouldn’t hurt to increase your plant cultivation either. We have so much to do and so little time as well. Let’s hurry let’s go. What should we start with first? Runes? Mortal cultivation? Plant cultivation? How about we…” Tabet went on and on as he led Akata out of the chamber.

Everyone in the chamber watched as Akata and Tabet were led out of the chamber. When they were out of sight Great Priest Bambe spoke. “Lord Tafei, do you actually trust this Akata? He has came out of nowhere and we know nothing about his background. And he even turns out to be a true plant cultivator. We don’t even know if he has truly healed our younger generation, for all we know it could be temporary.” He spoke his worries out.

“I know where you are getting at Great Priest Bambe. And I can tell that you are worried about the greater good of the tribe. However, this is the only chance that we have to save our tribe. For now, our children are safe and that in itself is good enough fortune for us.” Lord Tafei said.

“And with his cultivation level he couldn’t do anything to harm the senior generation anyway. All he would be able to do is heal us. All we can do is hope that he means well and trust in him. There is no way for ourselves to take away this poisonous life force that dwells within us. All we can do is have a true plant cultivator treat us. And with all of them disappearing, our chances of encountering one is slim, let alone one that we can handle. So right now all we can do is trust in young Akata.”

Great Priest Bambe nodded his head and then turned to leave. 'Hum[h, trifling Tafei. You will be the demise of our tribe.'

“Haque. We have to be wary of Great Priest Bambe. He is surely going to have something up his sleeve later on. And it is going to be soon.” Lord Tafei said in a low voice.

Lady Haque nodded her head in agreement.

“Tafei and Haque come here.” A deep voice came from behind the five figures in the chamber. Three of the figures bowed their heads down at the sound of the voice. Lord Tafei and Lady Haque stood up and walked toward the voice.

As they approached the voice, they came across another room. This room was a small one and was filled with light. The light came from a hole in the ceiling that brought sunshine in. The light shined on a man that was seated cross legged in the room.

The man was completely naked and had a red beard and red hair. He gave off an ancient air but looked fairly young. Countless runes surrounded his body as they swirled in the air around him. Some parts of his skin had dark green splotches almost like a kind of moss. Vines could be seen growing from the green splotches and spreading out across the room.

“Father…” Tafei’s and Haque’s eyes filled with tears. This was the father of Tafei and he had protected the tribe back then from the full force of the plant cultivator’s attack. He had taken the most damage all those years ago so that he could protect his tribe. He had been in critical condition ever since then but had been able to hang on due to his cultivation base.

“That young boy that you brought in… he is a true plant cultivator?” He spoke very slowly, conserving his energy with each word.

“Yes father.” Lord Tafei stepped forward and said. “He is going to save our tribe presumably. Hopefully… he will be able to succeed and that we will be able to trust him.”

“I see…” The man paused for a moment and spoke again. “If he is able to heal Great Priest Bambe then immediately bring him to me. I… won’t be able to hold for much longer.” He said hoarsely.

“Yes father. I will oblige to your wishes.” Lord Tafei said.

Outside of the cave Akata and Tabet were walking along in the trees. Tabet was going on and on about what he planned to do with Akata.

Before long, Akata eventually cut him off and spoke. “Hey Tabet, how old are you and what’s your cultivation base?” He suddenly asked.

Tabet paused for a moment with surprise. He wasn’t expecting Akata to speak back. “Hehe. I’m 17 years old and I’m at the Great Circle of the Docile Rank. Soon I’ll be in the Beast Rank, especially now that I’m no longer poisoned. Hehe. All thanks to you.”

Akata was surprised at this. Tabet was just a bit older than himself, yet he was already at the Great Circle of his Rank. He would soon be in a whole new Rank and be able to dominate everything below him.

“How come the foreign life force didn’t affect you as much as the other beasts of the younger generation?” Akata was puzzled by this as soon as he saw the other members of his tribe. Tabet was way better off than the other members of his tribe.

“Oh. Well nobody knew at first why that was, not even I did. I just made guesses as to why. But after you found out that it was life force invading us it became clear. That’s because my talent was better than them. Since I was able to advance in cultivation faster than the others, I could gain a much more stronger life force of my own to combat the plant cultivator’s.” He said simply.

Akata nodded his head. This made a lot of sense actually. “Well if it doesn’t bother you… then can we start with learning about runes then?” This was what Akata truly wanted to know about badly. If he could learn to control the runes within him then he felt as if his battle prowess would increase by leaps and bounds.

“Ah! Sure. I was wondering what I should start with for you. I didn’t know if it should be cultivation in order to better strengthen you. Or runes, because that’s what you are driven for. But you know better than me what you want to do. I should have asked you to begin with haha.” Tabet turned into his human form.

He stopped and then looked at Akata with a wide grin. He immediately went straight into explaining runes. “Runes. They are characters used to create and use magic. Just like different incantation gestures or different spells invoke different possibilities, so can the different runes.

Runes are the essence of magic. They show the original makeup of magic and the beginning of it. Before there was magic there were runes. Magic was made from people watching runes as a matter of fact.

Basically you can see it as magic being more modern and runes being of ancient descent. In that case many people think that magic is much more better than runes but that is not the case. Magic can be cast faster than runes but runes can have much more versatility.” Tabet said clearly.

“What about their power? Which one has more power than the other?” Akata asked.

“It just depends on who is using it and what spell that are trying to evoke. A person can have more skill in runes than magic and therefore be more powerful in that regard. And it can be the other way around as well.” Tabet said kindly, internally praising how Akata was paying attention to him.

“Now to the most important part. Creating and using runes.” Tabet waved his hand in the air and a green rune appeared in the air. The rune dazzled in the air as it hung there. It gave off a small amount of pressure that seemed in tune with nature.

“This… is a rune right? What can it do?” Akata was amazed at the sight of the rune. Internally, however, he was displeased at how basic it was. The runes inside of him were much more complex and brought much more pressure with them.

“This is a rune! And what a rune looks like depends on what you want it to do and how skilled you are in making runes. The rune I just made is used to make wood, hence it is a green rune. Wood.” Tabet spoke and the rune expanded and formed into a branch.

He waved his hand around sending the branch swirling through the air. The branch twisted and turned giving it a weird feel. His control over wood seemed to be on a level that only came with understanding and countless years of studying.

“My understanding of wood has led me to be able to control wood runes better. First thing we need to do for you is to find out what element you align with best.” Tabet smiled and waved his hand once more, having the branch revert back into a rune and then disappear. “Let’s get started then shall we?”