AMAG— 2 (Patreon)

"I am sorry, my son... your father is useless."

Mittal sighed heavily over the dinner table, his worried expression was taken up the notch when faced with his expressionless boy.

What used to be the round-faced ball of happiness looked nothing compared to his former self. An impassive gaze that seemed to pierce his heart and a dull expression that made Mittal curse the slut he picked as his son's fiancee.

No matter how wise her decision was to become the consort of a prince, Mittal couldn't help but scowl at the thought that Burtha won't even accept his messages anymore.

"Dis you cook this, father?"

Mural suddenly spoke out. His eyes focused on the spoonful of soup with small bits of meat and vegetable, smelling the lingering aroma, Mural couldn't shake off the nostalgic feeling welling within him.

"Yeah. I thought that my special soup could nourish you... you've been feeling unwell after all..."

Mittal smiled and picked up his bowl before drinking that warm soup, some of it spilling over his beard as he heaved a deep sigh of relief.

Mural nodded and started drinking from the bowl, too.

***

"Alright, don't stay up all night, it's bad for your health."

"Yes, father."

Hearing the dispassionate voice, Mittal felt a pang of guilt within his heart, but nonetheless, he still smiled and tucked Mural in before he went to his own bedroom.

While they couldn't be considered wealthy, they weren't poor either. So, the Khan family could live quite a nice life even if they couldn't indulge themselves in lavishness.

"It's amusing..."

He spoke up, speaking to himself as he gazed at the ceiling with a smile that failed to express his amusement.

"Back then... I actually rushed to the castle and demanded an explanation... ha!"

Mural wasn't handsome, rich or particularly striking in any area. He was as average as a person can be, at least, on the surface... but he did become striking enough to gain the title— Sin— as his middle name.

"So..." He sat up from the bed and started to recall his distant memories. Honestly, after living for centuries, he had admittedly forgotten how his father looked like— Mittal— but unfortunately, along the passage of years, he had already forgotten all about his first family, back on earth.

He did have a mother, he remembered this, but couldn't remember her face, her voice or even the most distant memories... all were washed away, along with his morals, beliefs and ideals with which he started his journey.

All that remained was a single goal, that every man, disregarding of their beliefs and ideals, wished to achieve.

Crossing his legs, Mural looked around him. Unlike others, he had achieved dao in his previous life... the future one... and once the dao is imprinted on the soul, it cannot be removed.

Around him, he could observe motes of fiery particles moving without any particular direction.

***

"Dao is the way of nature;
Weapons are the way of man.

To achieve unity, one must fuse their weapon with nature to connect with dao using the blade as the medium.

Do you understand?"

A wizened old man looked at the third prince of the kingdom with a calm gaze and asked with a small smile.

The handsome youth frowned for a moment before nodding.

"Master... then, can I use my imperial sword to connect with dao?"

"No." The old man played with his soft beard and with a mere thought, a small, finger-sized sword appeared in front of him. The sword itself was Earthen-Brown in color as it revolved around the man.

"Prince, this is the first weapon I created. To connect with the dao, the blade utilised should be constructed out of the man's hand itself."

A troubled expression soon emerged on the prince's face as he looked at the old man.

"But master, I don't know how to forge a sword..."

Chuckling, the man smiled in response.

"The blade— weapon— is merely a gesture... to connect with dao, one can use anything, even a twig that fell off of a branch and then slowly shape the weapon in mind using the dao.

Remember Prince." The old man pointed at his forehead before grinning.

"The blade is always within ourselves. If dao is found in nature, then the blade is found within oneself."

***

"Apprentice, Novice, Specialised, Master, Grandmaster... each realm of comprehension brings a new variation to the dao, a chance to understand our dao better and refine our weapon to newer heights.

I am already a Master Fire Dao user... the moment I connect with the dao of Fire, I will be forced to refine my weapon almost immediately, or else, it will be destroyed and in fact, affect me negatively."

Mural pondered. The answer was clear to him. Unless he had the appropriate materials to successfully refine his weapon to the realm of master, he would not be able to access his previous mastery of fire.

But even then, he had valuable experience of cultivating for almost three centuries. Even if he didn't access his dao of fire, he could connect with a similar dao and still comprehend it at a quick pace and gain insight to his next realms easily.

Taking a deep breath, Mural closed his eyes and felt the natural connection deep within himself that led him towards nature.

Every living being, be it a human, a monster or even a demi-human, all had a source of nature present within themselves. This allowed them to connect with the dao that is most suitable for them.

Like Mural, who had an affinity with fire, but now, with most of his memories regarding the future present, he could only change his path and find another path for himself.

Soon, Mural found his consciousness connect to something hot, almost burning. Without much thought, he already understood that with conventional methods, he could only connect with the natural dao of fire.

Something, he had no interest in whatsoever. After all, the benefits received would be overwhelmed by the restrictions that this dao posed.

So, Mural forced his consciousness to take on the brunt of the burning feeling before concentrating once again. He would be satisfied with any natural dao other than the Dao of Earth.

With his consciousness already being busy with the natural dao of fire that wished to imprint and connect with his soul, Mural had a hard time recollecting his bearings before he delved further.

Ordinarily, a living being connects with the natural dao before guiding it towards the soul before fusing the dao with the soul and finally walking the path of cultivation. These simple processes usually exhausted any Cultivator and many weak ones had to prepare themselves for quite a long time.

After all, the pressure of the dao before connecting with nature is too hard to bear. If it wasn't for his own realm of master in the Dao of Fire, Mural would have been forced to connect with the Dao of Fire, just like he did in his previous life.

Searching with his connection, Nik finally felt a stream of cool energy entering his consciousness and almost instantly, Mural guided the stream of energy towards his soul and started connecting with his second Dao of Nature— Water.