Chapter 44
A young boy, only seven years old, had been blind since birth.
He was an orphan, abandoned by his parents shortly after he entered the world.
His mother and father were cultivators, people with strong magical powers.
When they saw their newborn son was blind, they believed he was cursed.
Thinking he would bring them shame and bad luck, they left him behind in a dark alley of the Hidden City of Sky.
Luckily, a kind woman who ran an orphanage in the city found him.
She took him in, giving him a home with other children who had no families.
From his earliest days, his blindness was a mystery.
Children born to cultivators are always healthy and strong, never with such a problem.
Yet, for this boy, it wasn't truly a disability.
That's why his parents thought he was cursed—sometimes powerful, evil spells can cause such things, but those spells are very rare and expensive to cast, even the weakest ones.
This boy, with his messy brown hair, did not live in darkness.
In his own way, he could see.
From the time he was small, his world was made of light.
He could not see faces like other people, but he could see the bright shapes of their bodies.
His senses were incredibly sharp, so sharp he could feel people's emotions and understand their intentions just by being near them.
He could even feel the shape of letters on a page and read books by touching them.
The woman who cared for him and the other orphans saw he was special.
But more than anything, the boy had one big dream: he wanted to become the greatest swordsman in the world.
Why did he want this?
When he was five years old, he held a wooden sword for the first time.
That same day, he sensed a great elite cultivator from the Hidden City practicing. He felt the power and grace of the cultivator's movements.
From that moment, the boy wanted to reach a level of skill so high it would shatter everyone's expectations.
He dreamed of a swordsmanship so powerful it could challenge the heavens.
He wanted to prove to everyone that his blindness was not a curse, but a hidden strength that let him overcome any obstacle.
He wanted to show the world—the world that had thrown him away—just how valuable he could be.
This was his goal, even though his own magical power was very low.
His Mana Core talent was weak, only at the Copper Stage, the lowest level for a cultivator.
But still, he wanted more.
So the years passed.
Now he was fourteen years old.
Another year was coming to an end.
In the Hidden City's ranking system, he was barely a 3 Star in both overall rank and combat skill.
Physically, he was limited, with only his First Pathway opened.
He walked away from the Mission Centre, holding the few small Auron coins he had earned.
A slight smile was on his face.
His unique senses had grown much stronger over the years.
Now, he could not only see bodies of light, but he could also sense the glow of a person's soul and even get a faint idea of their physical appearance.
The wind blew through his brown hair as he moved through the busy city streets.
People rushed around him, selling and buying things for the year-end celebrations.
His eyes, which were a pale white and saw nothing in the ordinary way, looked around gently.
His smile did not fade.
'Should I eat first, or should I train?' the boy, named Aris, asked himself.
He knew if he ate first, he would feel too lazy and full to train properly.
So he decided to go to the public training grounds.
But when he arrived, he found every spot was taken.
This left him with two choices.
He could train outside the city walls, but that was risky because enemies could attack.
Or, he could go to the Dark Forest, which was a bit farther away but somewhat safer, as it was controlled by the Hidden City.
He wasn't sure where to go.
For a moment, he almost gave up and decided to eat first, waiting for others to finish training.
But he knew why the grounds were so busy.
People were preparing for an important competition.
The fights would be a fun activity for everyone to watch at the year's end.
The winners would receive a special gift from the Sky King himself.
In secret, this was also a way for the king to choose new members for his Black Ops, his most secret agents.
Lucas wasn't fighting because the powerful Lotus Clan had already chosen him to represent them.
So everyone else was training hard.
Only those ranked 5 Star to 6 Star were allowed to join this competition.
The reason was to find those with talent who could still grow, not those who had already reached their limit.
Aris kept walking, lost in thought.
Soon, he reached the edge of a vast forest that covered a large part of the city.
This area belonged to the Xineos clan.
Most people who entered without permission were severely punished.
Even though the clan was said to be gone, leaving only one member, no elite or citizen was allowed to just walk in and do as they pleased.
To do so would be a great insult to the fallen clan and to all the current clans in the Hidden City.
The city guards would punish anyone who trespassed.
Aris knew this, but he felt he had no other quiet place to go.
He decided to try and find the owner to ask for permission.
He walked deeper and deeper into the forest, sensing nothing but trees.
Suddenly, something new entered his senses.
He moved quickly towards it.
He found himself stepping into a large, open field.
In the center of the field stood a big, beautiful mansion.
In front of the large wooden door, a little girl was running in circles, laughing.
Her mother was chasing her, laughing too.
Nora ran and tagged Lucas.
"You're it!" Nora shouted, then dashed away to Tracy.
A young man, Lucas, sighed with a playful groan. "This game isn't fair. You are all using your beauty and cuteness against me."
Tracy chuckled and said, "You shouldn't be falling for it every single time, then."
Lucas pretended to chase them, but then he stopped.
He had sensed something.
He looked straight towards the forest's edge where Aris had just appeared.
Before Aris could even react, Lucas was suddenly standing right in front of him.
The playful, childish expression Lucas had worn just a minute ago was gone.
His face was now calm and serious. "Who are you? You do know this is private clan property, right?"
Aris stood frozen, shocked into complete silence.
The reason was what he was sensing.
A soul.
From the moment he first began to sense souls, he had never seen one like this.
Yes, he had sensed souls that were stronger or brighter than others, but the differences were never huge.
But Lucas's soul seemed to exist on a whole different level, in a realm of its own.
This shocked Aris deeply.
Besides that, Aris's senses saw through a powerful spell surrounding Lucas—a spell so strong that even the Sky King couldn't see through it.
Aris could tell Lucas's Mana Core cultivation was at the very peak of the Silver Stage.
Above all else was the color of the aura surrounding Lucas.
Everyone had an aura that showed their destiny and fate.
Aris had seen many.
Lucas's aura, and his destiny, were Black.
A deep, shadowy black.
Just like Aris's own.
This meant Lucas was also someone whom fate and destiny had seemingly left behind.
Just like himself.