Prologue

I was born in a small village on the twelfth night of summer, on the far side of the continent in a village that had no more than two hundred people currently living in it. I was told that the sun had shone brighter that it had ever before on the day I arrived in the world.

The moon on the night of the first day was missing from the sky. The second night it returned.

The world was constantly in chaos.

Everyone was fighting with each other for power. There existed mages and fighters. Neither side could get along with the other so there was a constant battle for power. Both sides would continuously suffer from huge losses.

There were schools for each profession, whether mage or fighter, education was offered.

The schools were decided into three rankings:

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Simple enough for the average person.

I was five years old and my parents sent me to the beginner academy for mages. There was a simple test to figure out what elemental affinity you had. I walked up to the man who was doing the testing.

He placed his hand on my head and he just frowned. He talked to my parents and we just went home. Travelling took a week. For the longest time I never found out.

From age five until ten, all I did was help the village farm with crops like corn and potatoes, while also helping tend to the cows and other farm animals there.

At age twelve a man wearing a black robe comes to the village I was living in. He brutally slaughtered everyone in the village except for me using a very weird magic. He said these lines to me.

“I will give you two options. The first option, die with the rest of the trash here. You aren’t even related to anyone in this useless, trash of a village. Or, the second option. Come with me, I will show you your real parents and you will be invincible under the heavens.”

But, since I was only twelve at the time, I didn’t know what he was talking about. I was hesitant to accept, but did anyways.

Another year passed, the man in the black robe never ate a single piece of food the entire year. I found it weird as a young child, so I asked him why he never ate anything. He just replied simply.

“You’ll understand soon enough.”

As a young child I just accepted whatever he told me. The man never talked much during the year of travelling. All we did was walk, and walk. Then walked some more. We rarely stopped. He would carry me if I fell asleep or was too exhausted to keep walking.

At this point I’m fifteen. After walking for so long my legs have become incomparably strong compared to those the same age as myself. I was also able to start going days without food or sleep. Water was still necessary though.

The man and I reached the ocean on the west of the continent. He turned to look at me.

“We still need to walk from here on out but you most likely will not be able to do so for a while. Until you are able to walk beside me, I shall carry you on my back.”

At sixteen, after a whole year of watching the man walk on water I was able to sense that there was some sort of energy beneath his feet. It seemed like it was more profound than the heavens themselves. I was constantly trying to imitate the man but was not able to. The man and I had not spoken for a whole year now.

At seventeen I was able to start manipulating the energy under my feet. At first it felt like I was walking on wet sponges. After a couple days I was able to walk like it was hard ground. I would get tired a lot faster than when I was walking normally though.

Once I hit eighteen we came across a large island. By this point I could walk for three whole days on the water without having to rest. If you compared my strength at that point to the average eighteen year old, it would be like comparing the heavens to the earth. We rested at the island for two days to restock on food and fresh water.

On the day of my twentieth birthday the man just stops suddenly and sits down with his legs crossed. He looks at the sky.

“You should also sit down. You are most likely about to receive your rank now.”

I did as the man said. I completely trusted him. He had been the only person with me since I was twelve so why wouldn’t I?

The clouds above swirled. It looked as if the heavens were judging all that was beneath them. The clouds turned black as far as the eye could see. There was not a single light within my vision at that moment. The man was laughing, if one was able to see his face one would see that there was the largest smile that has ever appeared on a human being.

“This is incredible! I never would have thought that those stinky old men would be right!”

I barely heard him say that over the roaring of the clouds overhead. The clouds continued to rumble for ten hours. My body was slowly enveloped by a white light and I was no longer sitting on top of the water. I was in a space that was pure white. Nothing else.

I waited. I waited for a very, very long amount of time in that white space. I had no idea how long it was as I had no way to tell the time. A massive figure slowly appeared before me. It started talking in a voice that constantly echoed, sounding so far, but I knew it was in front of me.

‘Welcome to our world. Young one. We have chosen. You. To succeed us. You have the ability. Just learn. Learn to use. Your power. Become stronger. Live your life. And you may make it here. We stand. At the peak. Of all things living. For we. Are no longer mortal. You have the chance to become. Like us. Or. You may choose. Another option. Later. Time is. Short. Farewell young one. Do not. Disappoint. Us.’

Like that I was put back to where I was moments before. The clouds were gone. The man in robe at that point just stared at me. It was if he was staring directly into my soul. He then smiled at me.

“Heh. Now that’s interesting.”

I found out shortly after that I was at a high level almost immediately.

Two years after that I was told the ranking systems:

First through ninth realms

Each realm had the rankings of a-c within them

At this point I was a C-ranked second realm. I was now twenty-two years old. The robed man and I had finally arrived at our destination. It was a castle that was floating slightly above the water. The castle walls were made of a green metal… or it might have been corrosion.

Now, I could now go for weeks without food or sleep. Water was still a daily need though.

The robed man and I stood outside the castle for three days. The castle doors finally open as more people with different colored robes exit through the large metal doors of the castle. A man wearing a white cape with gold markings on it, a white suit with similar markings, with hair and eyes identical to my own. He brings us in.

“Welcome to my castle. It may be a little out of style, but please make yourself at home.”

The man claimed to be my real father, how much truth there is in that claim… I do not know even to this day. Anyways, another two years and I hit B-ranked third realm. The man who claimed to be my father rarely spoke to me and when he did, it was to say how useless I was. He found out I wasn’t able to use any magic spells or fighting arts. The greatest mystery of all, I could use both ways of cultivation to raise my rank.

A mage’s method of cultivation was to sense the energy of heaven and absorb it inside your body. A fighter’s method was to sense the energy of earth and absorb it into your body. I was able to absorb the power of heaven and earth.

Five years pass, I was now at the A-ranked sixth realm. I was kicked out of the castle and told

“Don’t bother coming back until you are able to use a spell or art.”

Like that I was alone. I travelled north to see what was there.

A year of travelling and I was thirty. On the day of my thirtieth birthday a strong white light surrounded me. I was back in that white space.

‘Welcome back. Young one. We. Have decided. That you. Have reached a. Sufficient level. In order. To start. Using. Our method.’

The shadowy figure then pulled out a gem type object and it floated over to my hand.

‘As your level. Raises. You will learn. More.’

The white light disperses and I’m left alone in the middle of the ocean once again. The gem was in my hand and knowledge started to flow into my head. A method of cultivation to absorb the energy of heaven and earth at the same time. A method of cultivation to absorb energy when there is none that you can sense. A method of manipulating energy to attack. A method to create spatial storage device. The information stopped with just that. However, there were clearly walls that separated the information. I just had to be a higher level in order to receive the better information.

Like that I started to train even harder. After only another five years, I got to A-ranked ninth realm. I got to the highest rank on the entire planet. Not a single person was a higher rank than myself. I could dispel magic as it got close to me. I could condense weapons out of pure energy, my personal favorite would be a design I found in an ancient ruin once I got to the northern ice cap. It had a very thin blade, its width was only a centimeter. Its length was about two meters and it was incredibly sharp once condensed properly.

Once I reached the ninth realm the gem held names for higher realms. I could not reach them no matter how hard I tried though.

Well, the first nine realms were classified within the Earthly realms. There were also the Sky realms and the Heaven realms. No information other than the names were given to me.

I travelled across the world for another twenty years. People attacked me and they were all killed almost instantly. Stronger and stronger people challenged me until finally I was summoned by the emperor of the fighters for a challenge. Of course I accepted.

He was defeated within the first five seconds and surrendered. I was crowned emperor of the fighters.

The mage emperor heard this and decided to challenge me also. It didn’t go anywhere near as planned for him because no matter what magic he used, I could dispel it as soon as the spell came near me. He was basically powerless in front of me so I walked up to him and flicked his forehead.

“So that’s how I became the supreme emperor.”

There was a man sitting at a table across from me and he just had his head in his hands, “So what you’re saying is, you don’t use a single element yet you are more powerful than the two ex-emperors?”

I nod and laugh, “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

He slams his head on the table, “How are we going to write this in history? Can’t we just make something up!?” This man was the person who wrote down all that occurred within the kingdom to ensure records of history were kept. The job was always passed down through his family line, no other family was able to get this job. I was told it paid fairly well.

A tall yet slim woman in a royal dress walks in the room, “I agree, we should just make up an element that you use.” This woman was my wife. She was practically forced into a marriage with me. She was extremely attractive, her figure was perfect. Not a single flaw could be seen even if you looked for hours. We have been married for five years.

My current age was fifty-five. There have been more people than you could count on ten hands that have tried to overthrow me since I became the supreme emperor. I just laughed, “Come on now. Is it really that bad that there isn’t an element affiliated with me?”

The both reply at the exact same time, “”Yes!””

I hang my head. I loved my wife, and she could be said to love me. Well, after the rough period of the forced marriage she ended up enjoying it after a while. “Now, now. Do you expect me to figure this one out by myself?”

They both nodded. The man stands up from the table and walks over to a shelf with books on it. He opens a book with a green cover, “You are the first supreme emperor in history. The wars between fighters and mages has been stopped by you. In person.”

I scratch my head, “Well yeah. War has too many deaths and would be bad if something were to happen to the world.”

My wife laughs, “You’re such a pacifist.” She walks over and sits beside me and rests her head on my shoulder, “Why don’t you think of something so we can go to bed already.”

I nod at her suggestion and stand up. I walk towards the door to the room, my wife following me, “Just call me something like, ‘Divine Elementalist’.”