“Professor, may I ask you something?” Kilian raised his tired gaze from a thick, dusty book and stared at the scholars' ever-changing beard.

  Lord Irwin, after finishing a new enchantment with a quick flourish of his pen, raised his head, closed his eyes, and made a gesture with his hand.

  Immediately, the inscription detached itself from a piece of paper, only to dance before him like a butterfly in the wind.

  A finely crafted, jet black rapier appeared as if out of nowhere, and the enchantment slowly fluttered toward the weapon and disappeared within it, causing it to glow bright blue.

  “What word did I use to strengthen this blade, what is its purpose, and what ink is needed to produce it?” Asked the old Qi-Master, his eyes still closed.

  “Dobur is an enchantment that allows you to enclose your opponent in spheres of water and requires the blood of a jade fish to create it. It's a complex spell, and therefore, a ground merperson scale must also be mixed into the ink. Only then can you achieve the stability needed to compress the created water into a solid sphere!” The student immediately replied, already aware of his teacher's habit of always asking a question before answering one himself.

  After a brief nod from the bearded man, the boy, who had been feeling uneasy for several days, finally asked, “Master Arto and you are constantly working, and many guards from the Inner Academy have disappeared...has something happened outside the clan? I'm worried about my family! Edana should have returned from her mission long ago...”

  "Oh, Kilian..." The professor sighed gloomily and opened his eyes, "It is time to tell you what happened in the past weeks... The orcs have begun plundering our farms, and it seems war is imminent. They continue to provoke us, trying to conquer or devastate our clan's territories."

  "How is Eda—" Kilian was about to ask, but was immediately interrupted by the scholar, who wasn't listening to him: "Your sister has been through a lot and fought bravely. Here's a letter from her. I wanted to let you study undisturbed, since you can't change the situation anyway. But now your mind seems to be restless!"

  With a quick movement of his hand, the boy took the document, covered in dried tears, from the Qi-Master's old fingers, unfolded it, and began to read:

  "My beloved brother Kilian, so much has happened, but first things first. Mother, father, and I are alive, but our farm was attacked and burned down by a group of orc mercenaries. I don't know why, but the orcs seem to be looking for you... They repeatedly asked our parents about your whereabouts and only left after killing Fergus, Betsy, and all the other animals... I'm so sorry, but I couldn't save our homeland!

  Fortunately, on my travels, I met a member of the Arian royal house, the Qi-Master Amena, and thanks to her help, our parents are still alive. I will accompany them to a nearby city of their kingdom, so that father and mother can be treated. Connor protected me from an attack by a high-level Qi-Gatherer, and his life is still in danger. I didn't believe he could be so brave! Now he urgently needs help and wouldn't survive the long journey back to the clan. Therefore, I will travel with him, father, and mother to the kingdom of Arian. Fortunately, a squad from the kingdom and a patrol from the clan came to our aid in the decisive battle, and the bandits fled. Afterward, an alchemist cared for the injured as best he could, and everyone is, for now at least, still alive. I can't tell you when I'll be able to return to the Inner Academy, as I have to take care of our family and Connor first.

  Please be safe! You're in great danger if the orcs are really looking for you. Perhaps it has something to do with your biological parents? Unfortunately, I don't understand it and therefore can't explain it to you. Our father and mother have already told you everything they know about your origin.

  Don't leave the clan and continue your training! I've often seen you win against opponents who possess much more Qi than you. We'll certainly need your strength in the future! Don't worry too much.

  With love, Edana.”

  Fresh tears flew onto the already dried stains as Kilian read the letter again and again with trembling hands.

  "They're looking for me? So is it my fault? Mother… Father… Betsy… Fergus..." He murmured, as if caught in a frenzy, repeatedly seeing the images of his childhood before his inner eye, and the Qi around him stirred.

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  A storm arose, clouds swirled, and the books that had previously been meticulously arranged on high shelves flew across the small classroom while Professor Irwin watched the situation intently, stroking his beard.

  “His Qi sensitivity is off the charts…Who knows how high he will fly if his Qi-paths are ever healed…” The teacher thought briefly and, in the next moment, sent out his own aura to reach his student.

  “Don't lose yourself in your pain, but find new strength in it!” Thundered a loud voice in Kilian's head, briefly suppressing all other thoughts, “A person without emotions is nothing more than a machine, but if you lose yourself in them, you will become an animal! Use them to guide you, to motivate you, but command them and don't become their slave! Feel the energy of your anger around you! Rotate it, compress it, and subjugate it!”

  First, the books froze mid-flight as if they had crashed into an invisible wall, and a second later they thudded loudly to the floor as if all the energy around them had vanished.

  The smoky Qi around Kilian became increasingly dense, forming a cloudy sphere around him, and just before it looked as if the first liquid drops were forming at the tips of his hair, it disappeared into the body of the young Qi-Gatherer with a deep breath.

  Total Silence!

  The seconds passed so slowly that they seemed like hours, and the old Qi-Master watched with powerful, shining eyes as his student's body slowly began to pulse faster and faster.

  "Now it's up to him... A test of his willpower!" Murmured professor Irwin, and began preparing pen, paper, and ink for his next enchantment, while with an unintelligible word, he placed a transparent barrier around the trance-stricken boy.

  "I need to be careful, or I'll hurt my Qi-paths!" Kilian thought, concentrating hard, while an inner voice in his head whispered: "Like your family was hurt because of you? They're alive, but for how long? You've already lost your beloved sheep, and the orcs will continue to hunt the survivors!"

  "It's not my fault! I didn't do anything! I just want to protect them!" He replied, screaming internally, close to despair, trying not to listen to the increasingly loud negative thoughts, "Yet they suffer because of you, and you can't help them! You're weak! Useless! A waste of space and resources! Your sister had to protect your family and almost lost her life in the process, while you can't even take care of yourself! Because of your weakness, you'll lose everything again...like back then..."

  Images he had never consciously seen before appeared before his inner eye.

  A majestic man held a beautiful woman tightly in his arms and gently caressed her belly as they flew high above the mountains on a silver bird.

  The next moment, the man lay bleeding in front of him, and a bright red boot pressed him to the ground.

  A woman screamed, and he heard a filthy laugh: “Caellach, your home, your wife, and your brat will be mine! Hahaha!”

  "Father...Mother... Silberblick...Silberblick Castle?" Kilian murmured, a sharp pain tearing him from the world buried deep in his subconscious: "Were those pictures from before I was born? The woman looked pregnant..."

  Lost in thought, he soon began to lose control of the Qi in his channels, and the poisonous voice whispered in his ear again, "I told you already, you're good for nothing! Now you'll be crippled or maybe even die! It's the fate your entire family deserves! You come from a cursed house!”

  "Never!" He cried out loudly, trying with all his might to regain control of the rampaging energy, "I will soon be a member of the Inner Academy and follow my path! I will protect everyone! I WILL BE STRONG!"

  With a reluctant, shrill scream, a dark shadow detached itself from Kilian's body, pierced Professor Irwin's barrier with a loud screech, and flew away.

  A few moments later, Kilian collapsed from exhaustion, and as his body began to secrete a sticky, foul-smelling liquid, he faintly heard the dark, scratchy words: “As expected…The curse has failed…Now the land shall burn!”

  A loud splash and an icy feeling on his skin awoke Kilian out of his unconsciousness.

  Reflexively, he tried to take a deep breath, but quickly stopped because his mouth was only filling with cold water.

  "Wash yourself! You stink! Disgusting!" He heard lord Cayden's muffled, sharp voice, followed by a lovely chuckle from Lady Lorna, "Welcome to the Inner Academy! You're really growing up."

  "I did it? I'm a third-level Qi-Gatherer now?" The boy wondered, puzzled, as he fought his way through the icy surface of the lake

  And spat out the water to take a deep breath, only to immediately dive back down when he realized he was wearing no clothes.

  “Hahaha, and your body is growing too!” He heard the fairy-like Qi-Master’s beautiful laughter underwater, “But you still need some time to grow up in some places! You'll be fifteen soon, right? That makes you one of the youngest workers ever to make it into the Inner Academy, even if all that training has made you look a bit older than you really are!"

  Kilian dived to the other end of the lake with a bright red face and began scrubbing his skin.

  Subconsciously, he circulated the now significantly denser Qi in his dantian and felt a small accumulation of energy release from the Qi-paths as it traveled through his head.

  With a bright flash of light before his eyes, the Qi crashed against the invisible barrier behind which the next level of the Path of the Ape was hidden, and small cracks began to form.

  Eager to learn, the now meditating boy continued to bombard his mind until a flood of information poured out and a familiar voice sounded.

  This time, however, it seemed a little older and rougher, accompanied by the image of a gaunt, almost sickly looking man with a swinging quill pen, over whose shoulder an even more muscular apeman than before leaned and read along line by line: