Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

"Jade Union? I don't know what group you're talking about. I'm an orphan; I've always been alone. The 'chi' thing was something an old blacksmith I worked for used to mention before I started working on the ship. Every day, the old man would say he was going to restore his 'chi' and would start doing some exercises. Oh, and once he mentioned that 'chi' is energy that gathers below the navel, so since I also feel a warm sensation below my navel, I assumed it was 'chi'."

"Were the exercises the old man did the same ones you were doing before the wolves arrived?"

The boy looked a bit surprised at the woman but responded anyway.

"No, they're not. Originally, I did practice imitating the old man, since I was stranded here and didn't have enough strength, so I started practicing them to see if I could improve my strength like the imperial knights. The old man said his strength came from spiritual energy or something like that. But over time, the moves changed; now they're very different."

"Umu, I see..." The beautiful woman analyzed the boy, but noticing that he wasn't lying, she continued speaking. "And what do you plan to do from now on? Will you continue living here, or what will you do?"

"I really don't know. Since I was stranded here, I tried not to think about it, but I suppose I'll try to leave when these guys are old enough to live on their own." The boy looked tenderly at the wolves, who began rubbing their heads against his body, whimpering sadly.

"Do you know those wolves take at least 150 years to mature?" The woman looked at the boy with a mischievous smile, speaking in a sing-song and amused voice.

"What?!!" The boy jumped in shock and looked at the wolves as if they were monsters.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The woman started laughing loudly at the boy's reaction, who seemed to question his life while the wolves kept rubbing their heads against him, whimpering sadly.

"Haha, don't worry about that, boy. Why don't you become my disciple instead, so you can take the wolves with you?"

"Your disciple? Are you a teacher or something? How much do I have to pay? Although I don't have anything, just a few pelts and some tools. I'm good at hunting and can pay with work."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA," the beautiful woman laughed again, full of amusement. But she soon calmed down and continued, "Don't worry, boy. You don't have to pay anything, and you could say I'm a kind of teacher and a very powerful sorceress. If you accept being my disciple, I'll pass on my knowledge to you."

"Are you serious?!!! So, can you cast fire and lightning like the animals here? I've always wanted to do that, but I've never been able to. So far, I've only been able to copy the flying slash from these guys' mother and not much else."

"I can do much more than that. But what do you mean by flying slash?" The woman asked, looking at the boy with curiosity.

"If you want, I can show you. These two can't do it yet, although I've tried to teach them." The boy commented with a smile, looking at the wolves. Then he moved away a bit while the woman watched with evident interest.

After moving away a bit, the boy drew his machetes and made a slashing motion in the air, forming a sort of X with his arms. Shortly after, the distant fence was cleanly cut into a giant X shape.

"Damn! I got too excited. It's going to be a pain to repair the fence," the boy commented, looking at the fence with a gaze full of pain and regret.

"Is that the slash you were referring to?"

"Yes, that's it. The pups' mother did something similar, so I tried to copy it, and I think I managed to reproduce it quite well."

"I see..."

The beautiful woman commented casually while looking at the destroyed fence, although her thoughts were entirely different.

(Son of a bitch! That’s emission, shape control, essence transformation, and mystical confluence all at the same time. How did he manage to learn such complex and advanced techniques on his own?! Moreover, he's really not lying. He has no idea how crazy his 'flying slash' is. It has nothing to do with the air affinity mystical wolves' void claw. The idiot is comparing a paper boat to a sailboat. His damn 'flying slash' is on a completely different level of difficulty!!!...)

"That attack is quite impressive. How long did it take you to master that 'flying slash’?" The woman asked, struggling to keep her turbulent emotions from showing on her face.

"Hehehe," the boy looked away a bit, feeling slightly embarrassed before continuing, "about a year, though in my defense, it was really hard to do. I had no idea what I was doing at first and could only progress through trial and error."

The woman nearly had a heart attack when she heard that it took him less than a year to discover and master such advanced techniques. It had taken her, even with proper tutelage and being the greatest genius seen, over a decade to master them.

(So this is what others feel when they see me improve so quickly. I have truly sinned...)

The woman tried with all her might to restrain herself from erasing the boy's 'embarrassed' expression with punches as she spoke in a calm voice.

"Well, it's understandable since you had to do it without guidance. But you still haven't answered me. Will you be my disciple?"

"Of course, I would love to learn how to cast lightning," the boy commented with a small smile, to which the woman responded with a similar smile.

"Well, that's perfect then. Could you tell me your name?"

"My name?"

(Now that I think about it, I don't have a name in this life. Maybe I should use the name the old folks gave me? That might be a good idea. The problem is that it's very different from the names I remember from where I come from in this life, and it's better not to raise suspicions with someone who has such an absurdly strong presence.)

"Yes, your name."

"Actually, I don't have a name, just a nickname. Everyone called me Green Eyes where I used to live."

"That's a bit sad, boy... Let me give you a name… Mmm… yeah, that sounds good. From now on, you'll be called Erik. How does that sound?" The woman suggested with a slightly sad smile, which worsened when she saw the huge smile on the boy's face upon receiving a name.

(What a damn coincidence, she actually named me Erik, hahahaha.)

"It's great. I love the name. From now on, I'm Erik," the boy said loudly, with a big smile on his face.

The woman shook her head slightly, as if to shake off the melancholy brought by the boy's happiness, and spoke in a soft voice.

"Well, Erik, now I'll perform the disciple acceptance ritual. Don't be scared and stay still."

"Alright," Erik responded, nodding with excitement.

With a small smile on her delicate face, the woman stood in front of Erik, and shortly after, several runes appeared in the air around them, starting to glow. This immensely surprised the boy, but following the instructions, he didn't move from his spot while the woman spoke aloud.

"I, Sigrún Eldurdóttir, officially accept Erik as my disciple and confer upon him all the rights as my first disciple."

After her words, a column of light enveloped Erik and Sigrún, an event that lasted for a few moments before disappearing completely. In front of Erik appeared a large rune that then shrank in size and entered his body, which the boy watched with interest.

"Well, Erik, you are now officially my first disciple, and that rune identifies you as such. Don't worry; it won't harm you," Sigrún said to Erik with a soft smile.

"This is truly magical..." Erik commented with a dreamy look as he checked his body for anomalies.

"That's nothing. From now on, you'll live in a world completely different from what you've experienced so far, so be prepared," Sigrún said, looking at the boy with a smile. She then approached him and touched his shoulder before continuing, "Gather your things. It's time to go."

"Okay, I'll be right back," Erik replied with a smile before turning to the wolves and ordering, "Kaiser, Tiberius, go get your toys, we're leaving."

At his command, the wolves ran towards their 'doghouses', closely followed by the boy, who entered his cabin while the woman watched them leave with a smile.

"Who would have thought I’d find my first disciple on your home planet, Master? Life is truly a curious thing. I hope to be as good a teacher to him as you were to me..." Sigrún looked towards the forest, speaking softly with a nostalgic and somewhat melancholic smile on her face.

A couple of hours later, a 15-year-old boy could be seen at the camp gate, with a gigantic leather bag at least 5 meters long on his back, accompanied by two wolves over 3 meters tall, each with bags tied to their backs and their respective toys in their mouths.

The silver wolf had a 70 cm log shaped like a bone in its mouth, while the black wolf carried a leather ball of the same size in its mouth.

"What is all that you're carrying?" Sigrún asked with a smile that mixed amusement with a touch of tenderness at the antics of her first disciple.

"Some tools and clothes, but mostly food," Erik replied, pointing to the wolves wagging their tails happily and continued, "these two eat a lot."

"By the way, how are we getting out of here? And worse, how are we taking these two?" Erik asked curiously while looking at his new teacher.

"In my ship, of course," Sigrún responded with a confident smile.

"You really have a ship? Where is it?" Erik asked, looking towards the sea.

"Here," Sigrún said, as a small, incredibly detailed toy ship appeared in her hand. "This is my ship."

"..."

Erik refrained from saying anything, staring silently and expressionlessly at her, which made Sigrún smile widely. She immediately murmured some words, causing the ship to rise into the air while simultaneously increasing in size, quickly reaching the height of the clouds and an enormous size.

Erik's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he watched the incredible spectacle that surpassed anything he had seen in both his lives, while the wolves just played with their toys without a care in the world, as if nothing was happening.

"Magic is a wonderful thing... Will you also teach me how to do that, master?" Erik asked, looking at the wolves who seemed completely unconcerned about the ship. "It would be nice to make these two smaller. You don't know how many times I've had to repair my cabin because these idiots tried to enter as if they were still small."

"Hahaha, the ability to shrink is a property of the ship. But don't worry, there are ways to make them smaller. I'll teach you later."

"That's awesome!!" Erik exclaimed with joy, looking at Sigrún with eyes that seemed to shine like lanterns.

"Hahaha, it's good that you're happy, but it's time to go."

After saying that, Sigrún rose into the sky towards the ship and waved her hand towards Erik and the wolves. A sphere of warm light crowned by a rune appeared over them, and they began to rise into the air behind her.