Chapter 13 - Battle

Once the dust cleared, all that was left was the rabbit which Julius had killed with one of its feet missing from the bear eating it and Julius himself who had done something even he himself didn't know.

Seeing that white light caused Jun to be alarmed and quickly rushed towards the forest in a hurry. He didn't know what it was but all he knew that it was bad news. Although he originally had no intention of intervening with his student's quest, things had gotten out of hand and it was time for him to take action.

However, once he arrived at the scene, all that was left was a bloodied and unconscious Julius with a dead rabbit in his arms which he tightly hugged even though he had been knocked out.

"Did you do this.." Jun asked as he carried his student and his prized possession in his arms and brought them out of the humid forest and back to the mountain top.

...

Julius awoke from his slumber a few hours later with a gasp. He neither knew what happened or where he was.

"Do you want to explain to me what that light was?" Jun asked as he sat beside Julius who had woken up inside the shrine like house as he had been resting on a futon.

"White light...?" Julius asked as he didn't remember what he had done after he gave up on his life.

"I know you were the one who caused it. There's no other explanation for it," Jun replied back before sighing.

"If you really don't know, then tell me what happened before you passed out," Jun demanded.

"Well, I remember that I killed the bunny with a sharp stone I made then I suddenly got surrounded by a group of black bears for absolutely no reason. Even so, I tried to make a run for it but they caught up to me and nearly killed me. I still don't know if I'm actually alive or if I'm already dead. The last thing I remember is getting really angry from seeing one of the bears try to eat the rabbit which I worked so hard for. Speaking of rabbit, where is it?" Julius asked with an eager face.

"Don't worry, I brought it here since you were holding on to it so tightly. I already did the job of cooking it. We're going to be having rabbit soup tonight," said Jun. In fact, Julius had slept for so long that the day had come to a close.

"Wait you said that I was holding on to the rabbit tightly? From what I remember, the rabbit was a lot farther away from me and I couldn't even move," said Julius.

"Shut up and worry about the rabbit soup," Jun commanded his student. Julius listened as he always had, especially now that he was tired and hungry.

"A secret art? But, I haven't even taught him what they are let alone how to use them. Unless he's capable of performing them unconsciously... things just keep getting more interesting with this kid," Jun thought to himself before going outside to put out the fire in which he had set his pot on and made rabbit soup in. Jun then placed the soup into a wooden bowl and brought 2 hot bowls back inside. One for him and one for Julius.

...

"So how does it taste?" Jun asked with a kind and sincere face.

"It tastes bland and boring. Are you sure you even cooked it properly? the chiefs back at the kingdom can prepare something in 2 minutes which is nearly a thousand times better than this," Julius told Jun.

"Why you ungrateful child!" Jun said as he raised his hand to smack Julius.

"But... I like it," Julius finished his statement. Of course the prince knew what he was doing in the beginning by trying to irritate Jun but in the end, he showed his appreciation for his master's kindness.

"I've been meaning to ask, master Jun, why do you live alone in these mountains? You've got a strong connection to my father so I'm sure he could grant you a magnificent home to live in instead of this run down house," Julius asked as he finished his soup.

Jun sighed before answering the prince's question.

"You see Julius, your father had offered me multiple times to come to his kingdom so that he could repay me for teaching him. However, there's a reason I choose to isolate myself from other people..." Jun began to speak.

"Do you remember what I told you about when I explained why people stop cultivating after a while? Well, that's the very reason I choose to remove myself from other people. We of this world become ungrateful for the opportunities we are given through cultivation just for the ability to live out our lives drooling over the earthly temptations. Many people decide to settle for what they have, however, I do not wish to be like them. Instead, I wish to cultivate myself until the day I die or..." Jun said before cutting himself off.

"Or what?" Julius asked out of curiosity.

"It's nothing. If you're still interested in learning about it by the time you complete your training, I'll tell you about it. But for now, just focus on cultivating all day, every day. Speaking of cultivation..." Jun said before flicking Julius' forehead.

"I'm starting to get tired of this!" Julius yelled out.

"I'm only doing it so that you can benefit from it... anyways, there should be a 3rd gear like icon at the top left of your vision area. Click on it and tell me what it says," Jun requested from his student.

Julius did as he was told and when he clicked on the gear like icon, a red screen popped up which had writing in on it which was white just like the middle and top right icons. The only difference being that the top right icon stored the information from cultivation through meditation while the top middle had Julius' status points. Lastly, the top left icon stored the information from cultivation through battle.

[Julius Henry]

[Level: 1]

[EXP: 39/100]