"Damn it! This is the millionth time I’m seeing this same tree!" Light exclaimed as he struck a tall tree with his blunt edged blade.

"I dont even have the faintest idea how long I’ve been in this place."

The boy sighed and sat down at the bottom of the tree, holding his head in his hands.

"I need a way to get out of here, the sooner I can get out, the sooner I can go back and challenge him." He said again, closing his left fist tight and opening it up again, there was a serious expression on his face.

Even though, after all the years he had spent in the forest, he had managed to achieve some faint sense of enlightenment, Light was far from over with the family that treated him like an outcast everyday of his life; brothers that never supported him, a father who never even said more than four words to him.

With his newfound awakening, he would show them all, that he wasn’t some piece of dirt by the roadside to be overlooked.

He got up again, dusted himself off and moved on.

_ _ _

Jacob and Xenia stood before the great Sage, they had been training on Qi control and circulation for days now, and according to the large tortoise, it was time to move on to another phase of their training.

"Patience, Longevity, Defense, Profound understanding..." Shinzo said, in his most wise voice.

"These are four pillars that define you as a strong cultivator... strength in itself—is good, but it is not the only factor that will guide you in your journey.

When you rely on strength alone, you will find often times that many other areas are lacking."

The great sage instructed them, Jacob stood and picked his ear with his pinky finger, presenting a façade of nonchalance.

Xenia eyes gleamed, she was enjoying every bit of the training and didn’t wish it to end.

"That is why, for your next training I want you both to come closer and study these runes on my shell."

Shinzo commanded them.

"What runes?" Jacob inquired.

"Oh—" the great sage, immediately realizing the tunes weren’t visible, he immediately chuckled and spoke again, "Forgive me, I can’t turn my head to look at my shell so sometimes I do not know if they are visible or not."

As soon as he spoke, the large tortoise closed his eyes and gold runic patterns immediately began to appear on the shell.

The shell started to become more defined, looking more like a tortoise shell than an ordinary giant rock.

The sage instantly grew a long, white beard that flowed all the way to the floor, and something seemed off; he increased in size!

Not double but significantly enough.

"This is his true form?" Xenia muttered to herself, her eyes filled with awe of the scenes that unfolded before them.

"It’s amazing!" She said again, smiling like a little girl who had just tasted ice cream for the first time.

Her eyes beamed in amazement.

Jacob held his hands in front of his face, as the light was too much for his weary eyes to handle.

"I barely ever reveal my true form to anyone... so count yourself among the lucky ones." Shinzo said, his voice was deeper and had a more angelic tone than it did previously, "Now look at the runes."

Jacob and Xenia walked over to the great Sage, who now had golden glowing inscriptions all over its shell, they both studied each one slowly.

The more they looked, the more they felt drawn to it.

Before long, the world around them changed. Endless clouds stretched in every direction, rolling like a boundless golden sea beneath a sky that seemed neither day nor night.

Rising beyond the clouds were four golden pillars, each one so vast that if dozens of men linked their arms together, they still couldn’t encircle it.

Every pillar was etched with intricate runes that glowed faintly beneath their polished surfaces. Streams of golden light flowed through those markings like blood through veins, illuminating the sea of clouds with a soft, divine radiance.

Despite the grandeur of the realm, there was only a single structure within it. A small room with golden carvings.

"Welcome to my pocket world, I call it Narvia. The modest room before you is called the defense room, here you will learn to evade or block attacks even while you are cultivating." A voice sounded from beyond the clouds as though a god was speaking.

"Enter the room and take your places." The voice sounded again.

Jacob and Xenia exchanged glances and walked into the small room, placed neatly on the floor were two mats with colorful embroidery, they both made their way to each of the mats and sat down, cross legged, in the lotus position once again.

"While you sit in that position, random attacks will be thrown at you, and you have to dodge them, while maintaining your cultivation."

’Seems easy enough...’ Jacob mused, a playful smirk tugging at his lips as he took off his shirt and stretched his arms.

_ _ _

Light had been walking for what seemed like days when he suddenly felt a rumble, it was faint but it shook the ground beneath his feet lightly.

He sniffed the air repeatedly but could not smell anything ominous or even remotely evil.

’Must be one of those ones that can mask their scent, evil little rascals.’ He mused as he pulled out his sword.

He suddenly caught a glimpse of something he had never seen since he arrived in the forest.

In the distance, he could see a bright golden glow that stretched almost all the way to the heavens.

His eyes and mouth were as wide as they had ever been.

He had never come across a beast that could emanate such an enthralling radiance, he had to find out what it was.

He immediately made a mental note of the location of the light and hurried, after noticing that it had started to dim out.

’That might be the gate out of this place!’ He wondered, increasing his pace. ’If it’s not, and it turns out to be a beast, I’ll cut it down.’