After being escorted home, Ajax decided to continue to take rest and sleep. He didn't know if it was due to his physical injuries or the mental strain due to the conversation with the spirit, he felt tired and decided to not cultivate till this feeling subsided. He continued to do some basic body strengthening exercises which the royal tutors had taught him and then decided to sleep.
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Krev was someone at the peak of the king realm of cultivation similar to Varas. Though he was strong, Krev didn't fancy himself as a ruler. He even refused to take his own father's place as the head of his family despite all his elders considering him to the best person to do so. Though he had enough political talent and acumen to maintain the military, he hated the trivial greedy politics of the nobles and the empire.
Yet, he was still considered a good talent even by the emperor. If the emperor wasn't pressured by his ancestors, he would have already named Krev as his successor and begun training him. The emperor kept this a secret from all including his own sons in order to observe them. To test their character and capability. After being informed of the emperor's decision about the succession, Krev was think all through the night about it. He had a lot of respect for his master. There were quite a few instances when he thought that the emperor was being unnecessarily cruel or playing unnecessary games when he observed the political situation. But his master was always proved himself through results. So, he considered the emperor to be much wiser than him and a person he should always learn from.
So, he began to think about the emperor's decision to make him the successor since the night. Even in the morning, he still felt he wasn't suited for that position. With the support of his master, he could become an emperor but that would involve suppressing his master's own descendants which didn't sit well with him at all. It would bring another big bunch of problems not only to him but his family clan. He can't help Varas. His best option currently would be to raise the kid to be a strong and protect him until he could take his rightful position when the time comes. Even if he had to take the post, he wanted Ajax on his side after that happens. So, he had decided to put some effort into raising Ajax.
He first went to his family to deliver the vial given to him by his master. The vial was a potent and forbidden medicine. It would push one forcibly to emperor realm of cultivation but it would harm one's foundation and there would be little progress after that. Krev's father, Karl had no chance to improve further and was at the end of his lifespan. A king level cultivator would live for about 500 years and the Krev was his only son but born quite late. Not wanting to take the reins of his family from his father, he had asked his master for the medicine.
After delivering it, he was relieved as now his father could still continue to be the family with an increase in live span. After that he decided to meet Ajax to stimulate him. So, Ajax found himself being shaken awake the next day again.
"Late again," said Krev glaring at Ajax who had thrown down on the floor due to the intense shaking of the cot. "Sleeping late would have worked for a prince, but a soldier isn't allowed."
Ajax got up grumbling. "I am very tired and in pain. I tried to exercise yesterday night and it just worsened that. So, couldn't wake up," he said looking at his feet and then raised to look up at Krev. Krev's stern look, his tone and his presence would have frightened even the unruliest of the teenagers, but it hardly had any effect on Ajax. He had looked death in face a lot of times and he also had mentored a few people in his past life.
So, he could understand the situation and that made him even more collected. He knew the most efficient option to not aggravate Krev. He put his hands in front of him, his palms facing Krev. "I am sorry, I am sorry. It will not happen again. I will take care to not tire myself like that again."
Hearing Ajax, Krev used his technique to observe Ajax and found it to be true. "Fine. From now on, don't train before you sleep. It is stupid and if anyone tries to do attack or capture you, you would be an easy target. Also, from now on, act like you are the son of a travelling merchant. You are being way too disrespectful."
"Sir, yes sir," said Ajax saluting in the same manner that he remembered his father's guard used to do.
"Better," said Ajax. He took out a small token which he flicked over onto the table. It had a picture of a cooking wok on it along a fancy writing 'Wok of a warrior' on it. "Got you a job at the Warrior's wok. You will report to the restaurant in an hour. They also have an agreement to serve the trainees and the guards. So, you will continue the job even during the training."
"Yes sir," said Ajax. "Thank you."
"Also, I am expected to go into seclusion after a year. Vikram is also putting more effort to get a hold of you. So, improve faster. The doubling of the bounty should tell you about his stance."
"I will," said Ajax.
"If necessary, you need to do the same as Bhairav and Jwala and get out of the human region," continued Krev to put more pressure on Ajax. "But to even do that you need to get stronger."
"You know where they are?" asked Ajax surprised.
"Of course, even Vikram knows. They are currently taking refuge in the ancient forest. That is what makes it more dangerous," said Krev.
"In the forest? They are acquainted with traitors or beasts?"
"It seems that your mother has kept a lot of secrets from you. If all the ancient forest is filled with only beast and traitors, it would have been a lot easier to conquer, kid. They are neither traitors nor beasts, but you will learn in time," said Krev.
"But why didn't they take me in that case?" asked Ajax.
"No one with dark attributed mana is allowed there. Not even your father or the emperor can enter whenever they want. And as weak as you were, you would have been a burden along the way. It is a dangerous path and taking you would have taken them down along with you. So, they had to leave you here," explained Krev.
This raised more questions than answers. Ajax knew that there was something odd going on with his father and mother for things to be in this situation, but nothing made sense. He was definitely missing some information.
"Your only option is to grow stronger and get a better rank in the border guard. Then, you will have your chance to meet them again. By now, they must have reached their destination. Even saints can't hurt them there," said Krev before disappearing. With the bounty raising, he knew that there would Vikram wouldn't stop and similar stuff are going to happen again. So, he needed Ajax to have motivation to grow stronger and he knew that giving him hope in the form of a mysterious faction willing to support his family would be much better.
As expected, Ajax, did think about the war and also planned to find out these acquaintances of his mother whom he could use to find a safe living place. He also heard that those acquaintances would be outsiders or have questionable identities and this gave him another problem. The technique which he received from the spirit didn't mention any specific attribute of mana. Such ones usually meant that anyone could cultivate whatever attribute they wished. Previously, he had planned to use dark attributed mana technique which he was familiar with, but now he preferred to wait. The border guard is common for all empires of human realm and supported by all of them. So, he had a better chance of getting techniques from them and then use it to transform his mana.
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In an hour, Ajax found himself cleaned up and dressed in front of the restaurant for his first job in this life. The restaurant was huge, about 20 stories tall, decorated with rich wooden furnishings and had two armored guards at the entrance who fancy rosewood nameplate had bold letters 'Wok of a warrior' clearly written on it. He could see a continuous stream of people mostly soldiers walk in and out of it.
"New worker here. Where do I report?" asked Ajax taking out the token.
"New worker? There is a side entrance for the crew," said one of them pulling him to the side. The walked to the right edge of the building and stopped before the wall.
"Hold your token to this. You will automatically be taken to your work area," he said pointing to a groove and as Ajax put the token there, it glowed as he experienced a slight attractive force towards the wall. Before he could think, the guard gave him a slight push and he found himself moving through the wall into a large room.
He was quickly assaulted with the scent of dead meat. The room was like a large butcher shop. There were three long tables with ten people working on them. They were covered in brown leather covers from top to bottom without a single opening except a rectangular slit for their eyes. It looked like a hazmat suit without the mask. The eyes were covered by a pair of transparent protective goggles strapped to the back of their head. There were covered with blood, small pieces of meat and other things.
Occasionally, someone would come to take the processed meat away and provide new bodies to be processed if required. This was like a small-scale meat processing plant but different. The workers were separating the various parts, the bones, muscles, tendons, brains, etc. and packing them all in various ways. They all seemed to be highly trained professionals - very fast, smooth and efficient like clockwork.
As he was observing them, one of them waved towards. "New guy. Wear the suit and come here."
Looking towards the direction pointed by the man, he found a protective gear and goggles similar to those worn by them, hanging on the wall. He immediately went and put on the suit. By the time he was done, he found the guy had cleared up a space for him and put in a few knives, pliers, etc. for him.
"Any experience?"
"Cutting common poultry flesh why asked by mom?"
"Ever skinned, cleaned, plucked feather, scales, processed any other animals?"
"No."
"We have a newbie here," yelled the man as he heard Ajax. Hearing him everyone else also yelled and suddenly found crates of stuff being pushed towards him from the others.
"What is happening?" asked Ajax confused.
"Cultivation level?" the man asked again.
"Just about to start mana refinement," said Ajax. The starting of mana refinement required the one to concentrate one's mana at the centre of chest above the diaphragm in close proximity to the heart and lungs in the form of a small shell. This would be filled with refined mana which could be easily used. It was this shell of Ajax that was broken during the coup and he was recovering from the after effects. So, he still had physical strength similar to that.
"Damn! We are going to lose him soon," said one of them.
"What is going on?" asked Ajax not understanding them.
"There are orders for processing a lot of tamed livestock and smaller animals which are weak and don't require much training to process, but time consuming. The same is also regarding some parts of other beasts. Also need to kill the livestock which is a job many don't like. Usually, newbies like you end up with the grunt work as you aren't strong enough to cut the stronger meat and easier to control. So, they end up doing more work and we don't. But you seem to be stronger than most of the ones here," said the one who arranged things for him. Ajax also quickly understood them. It was kind of hazing to the new workers and also allowed them to learn the work quickly which is why it would be allowed by the managers too.
"Don't worry," said Ajax. "I am completely new to this and I need the practice."
"You sure?" asked one of them. "It is one thing to handle flesh of the dead, but it is another entirely to kill them. Most young ones hate killing livestock but it is necessary as they want them fresh."
"It isn't my first time killing livestock and I need to learn processing dead beasts if I am going to be a good scout in the guard," answered Ajax. It wasn't his first time that he had to kill something to consume. He had done frequently so in his past life and considered it a necessary skill. He even considered it good that he gets to do it as it would allow him to clearly observe their anatomy and any precautions that he would need to take to not spoil the meat.
"Ah, to be brave and young. He wants to scout far into the forest."
"Don't worry boy. We will teach you everything we know. You will also get a chance to learn to actually cook. Especially if you are joining the new batch of trainees. We will make you have enough practice to hold your weight at our branch at the camp."
"So, should I start?" asked Ajax. "What should I start with?"
"Just observe me and follow, kid," said the man beside him as he started to work.
"Yes. Yes. We will make sure, you have your hands filled and get lots of practice," sniggered one of them.