Chapter 529: The five prodigies

John looked at the talisman that Alisa gave him. It had a bit of mana in it, but it wasn't too much. John knew what this was as it was a rather famous talisman that friends and family give to their loved ones to protect them from danger. It actually has a rather nice spell in place, as whenever the holder of the talisman gets hit by an attack that could kill the owner instantly then the talisman would take the damage and be used up. 

Though the talisman had little mana in it, the procedure to make it was rather complicated and required a lot of materials. Just this single talisman must've taken months to create. 

'So that's why she kept on pestering me to lend her money.' 

John started chuckling as he hid the talisman in one of his pockets. He then proceeded to find his seat on the train. He looked around and saw the other prodigies sitting near each other. He noticed that there was a free seat and took it. 

Noticing his arrival the other prodigies looked at him for a moment and quickly resumed whatever it was they were doing. John hasn't seen the other prodigies as he was too focused on his own training but he has heard of them before. He was rather impressed by the aura they were emitting. The mana they had accumulated were beyond what a normal person their age could achieve. 

The one sitting in front of him that was meditating was the famous fist-fighter, Midas. The oldest of the six prodigies in the region, he was famously known as the second coming of Valdel who is considered the second strongest fist-fighter in the world, second only to Ren himself. Midas was also famous for creating his own style of fighting, which he supposedly perfected by beating up bandits and monsters. 

The one sitting next to him was the girl who represented the mage tower of the region. She was the person who had quite easily defeated Alisa from the position of representative. She was Melody, not only was she a great mage that could defeat her superiors, but she was also a beauty like no other. She was supposedly comparable to the Emperor's wives who were all said to be otherworldly beauties. Now that John has gotten a look at her, he couldn't help but agree with that assessment. 

Then there was the one sitting next to John, holding a giant sword that was nearly as tall as the wielder. Among the six prodigies in John's region, this person was said to be the strongest of them all. His name was Tyr he was someone who was rumored to be truly obsessed with the legendary emperor. It was true that most boys in this era admire the emperor, but Tyr went beyond that and copied Ren's style. The way he looks, the weapon he uses, even his personality was said to be similar to the legendary emperor. 

The two on the seats across John's were Shir and Kiara. Shir was a prodigy who specializes in all manner of weapons, in his mind the more options you have the better your chances to survive. He was very adept in using all of his weapons, but unlike the other prodigies, he hasn't truly mastered any of his weapons.

Kiara the final prodigy was always wearing a mask, everything about her was a mystery, from her looks to her style of fighting. Not much is known about her except that she was the student of one of the people the Emperor had personally trained. There were numerous rumors as to who that master was, but even then it doesn't help deduce what style Kiara practices as the Emperor's students all have different talents. It also didn't help that no one has ever seen Kiara's weapon.

...

The trip to New Grenton was going to take a day even by train, and John found it rather boring sitting with these so called prodigies. He was about to stand when a group of young students wearing the crest of a dragon appeared. This was the crest of the famous school in New Grenton, Tirnagog Academy. When the students noticed the six prodigies they smiled as they approached the group. 

"Oh, look at what we have here some country bumpkins that think they're actual geniuses." 

"Yeah, I don't understand why these bunch of nobodies keep on coming to the capital even though they stand no chance." 

When the six prodigies heard what the students said most of them looked at the students for a few seconds and lost interest immediately. The moment they saw the way they moved the six concluded that these students were nothing much. Melody even scoffed as she closed her eyes.

The students noticed the contempt in the eyes of the prodigies which irritated them. As they were about to do something, John stood up from his seat and was about to head to the dining car, but as he was going to pass by the students, they blocked his path. 

"Can you please move out of my way?" 

"Well, I guess I could if you bow down and apologize for looking at me the way you did."

When John heard what the student said he sighed, in the next moment he grabbed his scabbard and used it to hit the student's knee. The student was then forced to kneel, seeing what happened to their buddy the other students were about to make a move, but before they could do anything the other five prodigies had moved before them. 

Kiara had appeared from behind and had grabbed the necks of two students. Tyr pointed his large sword at the head of another student. Shir had tossed a few daggers pinning three of the students to the side. Midas knocked out two students, while Melody had frozen the legs of the remaining students. 

"You should have listened to me when I nicely told you to move," John spoke to the kneeling student.