23 The First Mark

The white saber dimmed as the weakening progressed. The threads were strong in their ability to weaken and the tattoos were also not falling behind in their control. The light they shot out was slowly taking control over bits and pieces of the blade. If the saber was any stronger, than the whole situation would have been hopeless. However, with the weakening and controlling abilities being used at the same time, the process was moving quite smoothly.

Arnin was delighted to see that his plan was working. If he could control the blade then he would be able to continue with his marking test. Although, if he used the tattoo and the threads together, the effect would be similar, but there was a problem with this. He was unable to guarantee that another problem like the one that occured in the cave, would recur. Not just that, but the blade would have an equilibrium between the abilities, allowing for more precise control. The blade was just a much better way to continue with the procedure.

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Outside his body, Arnin was unable to notice that a group of teachers had appeared. Not only that, but Kelnorin was standing on the side, observing seriously. When he had arrived to the location, he questioned Xillar as to what was going on. When he heard about the situation, he couldn't help but take the matter extremely seriously. Beside Kelnorin was a middle aged man. His hair was tied up and placed behind him, his slender figure releasing a domineering aura. His resting abyssal hair swayed under the wind pressure that Arnin was creating. This man was the principal of Lepidoptera Academy. He wore a similar robe, but his was golden. The moth and butterfly were the same as the other robes however.

"Xillar, Kelnorin, this is the boy? The one that has to go through the third test?" The principal looked at Arnin calmly. His eyes contained a hint of pleasure when he saw what Arnin was doing. He couldn't help but be gratified that such a gifted student was coming to his academy. Kelnorin and Xillar saw the hint of happiness and pleasure, and couldn't help but say something.

"Principal Alastar, this boy may be a danger to us. Shouldn't we lock him up or even…" Kelnorin was very happy when he first met Arnin. However, after he saw Arnin's current state, he was feeling threatened. He didn't know if Arnin would become a disaster to the academy in the future, which was why he wanted to get rid of him early. He would rather sacrifice a child for his academy than the other way around. Talents appeared everywhere. Although rare, they would still appear randomly. Arnin was just too talented and could even be slightly dangerous.

"Kelnorin, as a teacher, why are you saying such things? Didn't you want to recommend this child for the third test? Isn't he what you called the Demon talent? So why are you becoming too hasty now?" Alaster joked with Kelnorin. He also felt a threat from Arnin, but he didn't want to get rid of him. He wanted to allow Arnin to grow and see what would become of him in the future.

"Principal, I know that I have suddenly changed my mind, but this child could become a major threat. We need to ensure the safety…" Alaster lifted his hand to quiet Kelnorin down.

"We will do no such thing. He will also not do the third test...yet. Right now, we will allow him to join the academy and treat him like any other student. He will receive adequate guidance and will not be given special privileges. I will think of something later on, but for now we will only observe him." The principal walked away from Arnin, leading many teachers with him.

"Also, do not mention our gathering to him for now. Xillar, you stay here and continue with the test. The rest of you, get back to position. Make sure he doesn't find out that I came!" With that said, Alastar disappeared from sight. Kelnorin and the rest took one last glance at Arnin before also disappearing.

Xillar stood alone. It was still bright outside and the crowd of people that were here left when the teachers gathered. Luckily, that crowd did not hear anything about the principal or anything related to Arnin, or they would have gotten in deep trouble. He continued to watch Arnin with a relaxed look.

"I truly hope that you don't become something that must be destroyed in the future."

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Inside of Arnin's body, the blade that was previously dimmed and going through the process of being controlled, floated in his mind. The white flames returned to normal and the blade was no longer unmovable. Arnin was extremely delighted that he could control the saber now. Although he was limited to using very little power from the blade, it was still more than enough for him.

The blade floated in front of the cube that sealed his powers, not going higher or lower. It was like a trapped mouse. Arnin thought of controlling the saber with his mind and extracted some power from it. Unlike the bright light rays from the tattoos, the threads from the orb and the gas from his sealed power, the saber didn't release anything. The whole blade itself transported to the location where it was needed. Arnin was bewildered by the discovery. He followed the blade to his fingers, but he found that the blade only got as far as his palm. It didn't go to his fingers. Arnin was confused but also somewhat worried. He needed the blade to get to his fingers in order to make this work. If that didn't happen, then how would he create marks? Just as Arnin was crazily thinking of ways to make the blade go to his fingers, the blade began to split. The single blade turned into five similar ones. All the new blades had the same characteristics and looks; white with grey.

It was then that it hit Arnin. The blade didn't release a type of branch, rather it was able to create more versions of itself and use those as branches. The multiple blades traveled to his fingers and pierced through, however Arnin felt no pain. Rather, he felt a weird energy begin to enter his body. He hurriedly came out of his body and was astonished by the sight.

His fingers had white blades coming out, which looked somewhat like nails. Not only that, but the blades were surrounded by multiple colors. Arnin tried to feel them out and understood that all of these were the colors of essence. Although there was the worldly essence in there, Arnin also felt some other essences. After thinking for a few minutes, Arnin figured that there were essences from sun as well as other places, however what he needed was the essence from the sun. Arnin quickly soaked his hand in the sunlight, which increased the amount of red and white. He was able to see that the red and white were brighter than the other colors. Arninassumed that these were the life and flame essence from the sun.

He was now able to gather solar essence, which let him complete step one. The next part was about him figuring out a way to isolate these two essences onto his fingers. He only needed the flame and life solar essences, nothing else. Since he had the saber under his control, he was able to easily think of a good method to complete this. What he thought of was having another saber coming out of his palm, but this piece will absorb all the essences except the solar ones. He would take the solar essence with his fingers while the rest would go to his palm. Arnin had his palm begin absorbing the essence, whenever he felt a solar essence make its way to his palm, he would use his finger saber blades to wrap them up and drag it back towards themselves.

This was the first time Arnin was executing such a skill, so he had to do everything manually. After his control over his blades increased and his knowledge on the essences furthered, then he would be able to make the process much quicker.

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Xillar watched on the side with astonishment. Although he felt a threat from Arnin, now that Arnin was able to control his blade, and the orb and tattoos were silent, he went back to his previous harmless look. However, Xillar did not expect that Arnin would grow claws or white blades from his fingers. When he saw the essence gathering around the white blades, he was even more astounded. How could a five-year-old have such an ability? He just couldn't believe it.

"Now that I can gather solar essence, what I need to do next is the most important part. I needed to find the best way to create the mark using the solar essence. Luckily I was able to isolate the solar essence to my fingers, so I won't need to worry about the interference of the other essence types." Arnin suddenly began to explain what he was doing. Xillar was grateful that Arnin was doing such a thing. Although he wouldn't explain how he accomplished the things he was doing, it still helped to know what his goal was for each step. "Since the solar essences are isolated from the rest, now I can do the most important step. The goal for me right now is to find the sequence needed to create each mark. As I am working with solar essence which has only two components, I can find the sequence easily. There is really only two, either life is first or second. But that isn't the hard part, the most difficult part is to understand how much of each component is needed." Arnin kept explaining calmly as he flipped to the first page in the book. The first page consisted of about a hundred marks. The name of the mark was written down, as well as how it looked. Arnin nodded when he saw the first mark. It was called Hal. It looked like 'Z' that was rotated slightly and the ends each had a circle. It was a simple mark that didn't require much. Arnin began his first test, he started drawing with his first theory about the essence components. The sequence that he chose was life-flame-life.

Life is born into the world through birth and creation, using lots of power, then the life loses its flame and dies. With the burning of the life, rebirth occurs through the flames of death, creating new life. This was his thinking and so he chose the sequence that he did. The first life he would use would create half of the mark, then the flames would create a small twenty percent. The second life would use thirty percent. He needed a mark that would be one hundred percent essence, so this was his way of going about it.

He began to finally create the mark. Xillar, who was watching, knew that this was a vital step, so he held his breath and watched carefully. He didn't want to make a single sound.

Arnin used his index finger to draw. The blade that was coming out touched the ground and began to release the essence the way that Arnin wanted. Arnin decided to draw the main base of the mark with the life component. The base was about seventy percent of the mark so he could not completely cover it in life essence. He stopped drawing after he got a good part of the base done, next came the red flame component. This would be much harder to control then the calm life component. The flames would become chaotic and move around rapidly. He needed to contain in the spot that he needed to fill.

Red essence released from his fingers when he began. Sparks flew out, causing the mark to twist somewhat, looking life-like. Arnin knew that this meant the flame component was taking over more than just the twenty percent. It was trying to control the base as well. The blade increased in length, releasing the white flames that it was made of. This helped to increase the control over the flame component, but it still wasn't enough. Arnin began to think of a way to make the flames more calm.

Xillar watched silently from the side, sweat pouring down his forehead. He saw that the red component was moving against what Arnin wanted, which meant something was going wrong. He wanted to step in, but he knew that this test was meant to be done by the individual.

"I am sorry Arnin, but you must complete this yourself." (Author note: Boi, Arnin can do it, why don't you just watch from the side? ;). Peasant!) Xillar clenched his fists.

Suddenly, Arnin's finger blade stabbed through the ground where the mark was being drawn. However, it stabbed into the ground where the flame mark was supposed to be drawn. His finger then moved the blade through the path where the flame component was supposed to go. The chaos ended and the flame component was more calm. Arnin used his pinky blade to fix the life component, which the flames ruined.

Half an hour passed by, and Arnin finally completed the base. All that was left was the circles on each end. Arnin changed his plans when this came around. At first, he wanted to complete the mark with the life component, but he found that his white flames actually had a similar, yet stronger form of the life component. Plus, the white flame also had the properties of the flame component, which would make a better finish.

Arnin began to create the circles, but he did not do them one by one. The only way to complete the mark was if he made the circles at the exact same time. He knew this because of his past experience with his own symbols.

Arnin began to create the circles, which took him over an hour. The circles, which were the last, and should have been easiest step, were in actuality the hardest and most dangerous. The circles were meant to finally link the whole mark together, which was why the life component would not be able to complete the step. One needed all components involved to complete the step.

The mark was finally completed. Arnin took a deep breath and fell onto his back and layed on the ground. Sweat was pouring down his forehead and down his cheek. His chest was rising and falling, while the blades went back into his body.

All of a sudden, the completed mark began to shine in a golden light. It was so intense that both Arnin and Xillar had to block the light with their hands. They were unable to directly look at it.

"Arnin, what is going on?" Xillar called out from the side. When he saw the mark being completed he was extremely excited, but with the turn of events, he became worried.

"I don't know! Let's just wait and see." Arnin didn't turn back. There was also worry written on his face. Although this was his first time creating a mark, and the process was actually very different from the symbols, he didn't want to fail after he completed the final step.

Ten minutes flew by, the golden light dispersed. Arnin moved his arm away and rubbed his eyes. After the blurriness disappeared, he saw a strange sight. The mark that was previously created from three colors, was now one. The color of the mark was an extreme pink. The mark looked the same, but the power that it exuded was ten times the one from before. Arnin looked in astonishment. Xillar who saw Arnin's reaction chose to walk over as well. When he saw the pink mark, he couldn't help but release a shout of surprise.

"That mark was completed! Not only that it blended into the pink level!"