The Birth of the Demon Sword
Breath of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 4 - 04. Breath of Heaven and Earth
Time passed, and rumors of intellectual wonders spread throughout the Balvan family.
"I heard she could speak fluently just a year and a half after she was born"
"I heard the boy start running around every morning before breakfast, just three months after he learned to stand up"
"You won't believe me, but I personally saw the boy go alone in the library of the guest building trying to get the book off the shelf. Trust me, I was doing a cleanup there at the time and I found him looking at the symbols in the book as if he could read. He was only two years old at the time!"
"That's impossible, her mother's request to give her a teacher had been approved two and a half years ago, are you saying that she knew how to read even before she got a teacher?"
"I'm just stating what I saw. I'm not sure he's reading, but he looks like he's trying"
Rumors like this were everywhere in the guest building, spreading from the maid to the maid. Everyone was waiting for the next record that the jerk would break in his growth speed.
Five years have passed since his birth in this world with him working hard to improve himself and gain a stable foothold in the family.
He kept running every day, adding some light exercises to make his still weak body not too weak. This gave her a slim but bright figure and she felt her body grow stronger every day. However, even if he was stronger than an average child, he was still a child. He would only do half an hour per day of training because that was the limit of his young body. The rest of the day is spent eating a large meal made of rice and meat, sleeping or reading.
Two and a half years ago he finally got his teacher, so he could stop sneaking out at night trying to decipher the strange symbols they called writing.
His teacher's name was Li Neregnes. He was one of the scholars hired by the main family to teach their descendants and his position in the family was high enough for a guest. Noah's father, Rhys, accompanied him to the outer circle personally, underlying how the teaching process should be taken seriously and not as a game.
Apparently, his scholarly position was higher than his in Rhys' eyes, because that was the first time Noah saw his father after his birth.
Li Neregnes was a man in his sixties, with gray hair tied in ponytails and a short black beard looking cured. He had an apathetic face as if nothing was of interest to him and explained things in a slow but concise manner. However, this great disposition must change its disposition towards Noah when he learns that he learned to read in less than 6 months of teaching.
After that, he would finish every book the scholar had given him in an increasingly short amount of time and he even had time to rent the books he was interested in from the library on the ground floor. The servants were already so used to her picking books that they would not even remind her to bring her back.
At the age of five, Noah had a general understanding of the topography near the mansion, the social status of the Balvan family, and finally, he discovered something about cultivators.
Balvan's house is located in the countryside near the Evergreen Forest, called like this for a type of tree made of forest. A large stone road from the main gate runs down an even larger road leading to the nearby big city, Mossgrove, which is ruled by the Shosti family.
The Balvan family was subordinate to the Shosti family and had to pay an annual tribute of gold or goods to maintain its rule over this part of the countryside. They were the landlords of the 50 square kilometers that surrounded Balvan's house and had to collect annual taxes from the villages in this area and protect them from the attacks of bandits or magical beasts.
Magical beast! In that world, there were animal species with an innate talent to absorb the energy from the world and use it to empower their natural abilities. The fire spear used by the dragon many years ago was a type of world energy use that strengthened its already powerful flames, giving them more attack range and was destructive.
Finally, about a year before, Noah found a book on cultivation. It was an old and heavy book, written by a cultivator who wanted to spread the idea of cultivation to ordinary people and who later became classical literature. The name cultivator disappeared with the passage of time but the name of the book was still known by all people of the culture as the "Yin-Yang system".
Noah was currently studying with Li Neregnes on philosophy in a room on the first floor of the guest building, but his mind was constantly wandering on the topics described in the "Yin-Yang system".
'Magical beasts have an innate ability to manipulate and absorb "Breaths" and they will learn to use them naturally during their lives, it can be said that their bloodline is quite beneficial according to this aspect. However, Heaven and Earth were fair so most of them did not have the intelligence to use their bounty better.'
'Humans, on the other hand, can make spears from stones and bows and arrows from trees but they need techniques to absorb and use 'Breaths' and even a special device to understand their talent for an element'
'No wonder this book wasn't destroyed by cultivators and managed to survive until now, even if you knew the general theory behind that power, you can't do much without proper techniques. The best thing this book can do is give a better understanding of the supernatural to normal people.'
'The sky and the Earth are fair he said, but if you were born in a poor family, you can only dream about getting a technique. Even for me, born into a family with cultivators, it is hard to tell if I will ever be able to see this magical technique... Fair ***'
Although Li was engrossed in her exposure, she began to notice that Noah would only nod at her in response every time he saw her, while his eyes were fixedly staring at the same point of the book in front of him for a single time.
Slightly angry, Li took the wooden stick from behind his back and believed in Noah's left arm.
RIGHT AWAY!!!
A slap was heard and Noah raised his head to look at his teacher while holding the place where the stick had just been hit.
"Are you still thinking about that cultivation nonsense? How many times do I have to tell you: don't waste your time. You are just a bastard from a middle noble family, even if the Balvan family has some techniques at their disposal. Moreover, literature is a real representation of humans, cultivation is only about killing and being killed, there is nothing noble in it."
Li scolded him, apparently this was not the first time Noah's mind wandered. In fact, ever since he had completed the "Yin-Yang system" he had completely lost interest in literary teaching. After all, he had achieved his goal of knowing more about the cultivation world so this lesson had only become a tedious obligation.
"But teacher, even the wisest man must bow his head to the weakest magical beast. If you don't have the strength to protect yourself, all your knowledge will be in vain"
RIGHT AWAY!!!
Another blow from the stick landed on Noah's right arm. For teacher Li's helplessness, Noah would only hug her arm and snort a little while no trace of fear had ever appeared in her eyes.
'What is with this child, I instructed the patriarch's eldest son and even now that he is 25 he is still afraid of my cane. This child though ...'
This was the mind of Li Neregnes, unable to tame a five-year-old.
"Have it, just take a break and don't wander around the library all night like you normally would. See you in two days and you'd better forget all that cultivation shit."
Massaging his temple, he said that while pointing at the exit to Noah.
Hearing his words, Noah got up, picked up his books, bowed and then left the room.
