Gardenia's Heart - Chapter 100: A Sage, a Quest, and a Hero

Emperor Zi Yu used 5 strikes of his axe to split mountains and unify everyone underneath the heavens. He partitioned the land into 9 areas, thus establishing the Nine Cauldrons which eventually became known as the 9 prefectures.

It was a time where demons roamed the earth and chaos reigned. The story took place in Luoyang, the legendary capital of the times. During the night, one could find people holding on to their food with dear lives as they faced off against stray dogs, people with weapons in hand vowing to fight against Fate to their very last breath. There was bloodshed everywhere as some died meaningless deaths, while the strong tyrannized the weak and the truth was frequently hidden. Some of the citizens had completely lost their mind, while some died on their travels. Most importantly, the words of a certain youth caused much panic in the human world. It was a time of little warmth as nights in the capital were frequently accompanied by gusts of wind and rain, and it would be covered with snow during winter. Such were the days…

- Description from Novelupdates

Long ago a great calamity struck the earth, destroying much of it and merging what remained with pieces of other worlds.

With these worlds came Aether, a new form of energy that can allow one to transcend the bounds of normal mortality and human limitations.

In a world where humans absorb the essence of aether beasts to gain power, Aiden Hawke joins the class of humans known as arcanists, people who defeat aether beasts and absorb their essence into cores they forge within themselves, and who infuse themselves with the aether that permeates the world around them to increase the power of their body and mind.

However, unlike most, Aiden will find that he holds a unique gift and that his journey as an arcanist will not be so simple.

Kellen Woods grew up never knowing a normal world. By the time he could walk, his mother and father had already sealed several serious gates that threatened the safety of his hometown. By the time his sister was born, they were famous worldwide.So the world held their breath for when Kellen and his sister came of age, waiting to see what kind of power they would awaken.His sister was just like his mom, same power, same class, while Kellen, woke up one day to find out what it meant to be special in a family the world watched. But in the worst way.Awakening weaker then your powerful parents wasn’t unheard of, but when your younger sister awakened at the same class as your parent, anyone would feel inferior. And Kellen, never one to ask for hand outs, left the comfort and safety of his hometown to become better than the weak brat everyone thought he was.Kellen went to the front lines, to where the gates normally broke out. From there, Kellen worked hard, and then worked some more until no one could doubt that he was good at his job. He got so good that even with his lower class, people would still hire him to help. But Kellen never took it to heart. He had learned a valuable lesson on the front lines. Classification only meant shit if you walked back out of the gate. Otherwise, shut your mouth and listen to those with more experience. They determined who made it out alive or not.But Kellen was tired now. He had gotten everything out of his system, and the fast paced life on the front lines didn’t suit him anymore. Now, he wanted to go home, buy a house, maybe find a nice man to settle down with, and live a normal life.All the while, the yellow eyes he’d met on the front lines haunted him, no matter how much he tried to forget about them.Especially since the Esper they were attached to refused to let him go.