Disclaimor: I don't own any source material.
Chapter 10: Grandmaster and Graduation.
It was a normal evening on the night of November 27th X9,998, when us three bro's stumbled across Linley's girlfriend on a date with another man.
We almost killed the bitch right then and there, but I managed to hold back Reynolds.
"Let me burn that bitch! She betrayed third bro!" (Reynolds)
"Second bro restrain him!" (Yale)
I wrapped water whips around fourth bro and pulled him back, but he was causing the whips to steam and evaporate in his anger, so I had to physically pull him back.
"Fourth bro, calm down!"
"How can I calm down! Don't you want to kill that bitch?!"
Ice practically fell out of my mouth with my next words.
"Of course I do! I want to freeze her solid and toss her in the depths of the mountain range for beasts to feast on, but we have to think this through and tell third bro!"
"Second bro is right fourth bro, we need to think this through, even if I want to strap that bitch to a metal chair and electrocute her."
Reynolds managed to calm down a bit with our efforts and huffed.
"So what should we do boss?"
Yale pondered for a moment before nodding.
"You two tail that bitch, I'll go look into what that guys background is. Is his family has any business with my merchant group, well, we have plenty of others begging to replace them."
I nodded grimly at that. It was a good method to ruin them financially.
No one fucked with us bro's without a good reason. We were closer than blood brothers at this point after almost 8 years.
I restrained fourth bro three more times that night before we met with Yale and he gave us the info of the prick and the bitch.
The prick's family was getting kicked from Yale's merchant group but the bitch's family was poor already so there was no point in touching them.
That night, we tried to tell third bro, but the stubborn idiot refused to believe us!
I was kind of angry about that, but I could understand that he didn't want to believe it rather than thinking we were lying to him.
It was his first love, and it had been growing for over a year.
In the end we couldn't convince him, and we went to the jade palace the next day to drink and let of some steam.
On the way back however we were shocked to come across third bro in the street vomiting blood.
"""Third bro!"""
We ran to his side and he was in shock while clutching his chest.
In order to avoid a scene considering third bro's fame, we picked him up and ran back to the dorm.
Bebe was on my shoulder and looking at third bro with sad eyes.
"Second bro, fourth bro, stay with third bro, I'll go look into what happened. Third bro likely found that bitch cheating, but I want to know how it happened."
We didn't argue with boss Yale and he stormed out.
Third bro in the meantime picked up his chiseling tools and his backpack and walked out back with a daze.
Fourth bro and I exchanged nervous glances but after leaving a note for the boss, we followed him.
Linley kept going until we reached the back mountains where we like to go and train away from prying eyes.
We tried to call out to him, but he just kept walking in a daze up to a large boulder and stared at it.
At first we were getting increasingly worried about third bro but suddenly we both took notice of the elemental essence converging upon third bro at a rapid pace.
We stood back with wide eyes and whispered.
"Oi, second bro, what the hell is going on?"
I put a hand on my chin in thought.
"I don't know how he did it, but I think third bro entered a deep meditative trance."
"You think he's training?"
"Not consciously, no, but he entered some kind of trance. He wouldn't even respond to us before now."
Reynolds nodded seriously at that, so we chose to respect a fellow cultivator and let Linley do his thing.
But we were not going to leave his side, so we moved to separate corners and began our own practice.
Cultivating the way of the mage and warrior requires incredible amounts of patience and dedication, so even a few days of meditation wasn't a huge deal for those at our level.
It was on the second day however when third bro began to move, and Reynolds and I almost simultaneously fell into our own trance under the sight of what we witnessed.
Linley had become a focal point of elemental essence and the area was dense in it.
And not only that, but he also seemed to have reached a special state and was carving without truly looking at the stone.
His sculpture showed the outline of a woman and we both made the connection with emotion being the key to his state.
Linley didn't know it, but he was projecting an aura of such intense emotions that it sparked understanding in Reynolds and me.
It was an understanding one had to be ready for, or it would have no meaning on you.
Reynolds and I had already surpassed Linley and we were ready for it.
Reynolds began dancing with his spear as fire elemental essence began to ignite around him while I began going through movements with my staff.
I entered a trance and started to think on emotion, pulling my own memories and stirring my own experiences to connect with the water elemental essence around me.
The essence gathered in globs of water and began to move around me as if it were alive.
As I spun my staff, the water followed.
It began as water, turned into ice, flowed back into water, then into steam, and back into water.
I felt my emotions connecting with 'water'.
The calm and serenity of stillness.
The wrath and rage of an angry storm.
The gentle and life giving nature of rain.
The stern and frigidness of a glacier.
The relaxing and free flowing fog and steam.
My emotions were cycling with the water, showing flexibility and adaptiveness that I only now came to truly understand.
I was one with it, it was one with me.
I didn't feel the passage of time and didn't see boss Yale come up with his Jaw dropping at the scene of three different elemental storms going on.
Linley, a cyclone of earth and wind.
Reynolds, a blazing flame of red fire.
And me, covered in a dense fog with everchanging water flowing around me.
We were all in sync as our spiritual essence grew like a raging flame.
We didn't stop, we didn't rest, we didn't even know how much time was passing, but on the tenth day since we came out here, Linley came to a rest and the state was simultaneously broken between all three of us.
"Wha…?" (George)
"The hell?" (Reynolds)
"Hm…" (Linley)
"Finally! You maniacs finally stopped!"
All three of us turned as one with confused looks to see a disheveled looking Yale with bloodshot eyes.
"Don't look at me like that you bastards! It's been ten days! I've been sitting here waiting while being worried for you for ten fucking days!"
I don't know who did it first, but a chuckle escaped someone's throat before all three of us started laughing at the sight in front of us.
Yale got even angrier and turned bright red, but we only laughed harder, and he started throwing lightning at us.
It took ten minutes before a fuming Yale was fussing over us and asking what happened.
"Third bro entered a special meditative state and it seemed to pull fourth bro and I into its effect. I've never felt such a strong connection to water before. I think I also reached rank 7 in spiritual essence. How about you two?"
They nodded their heads.
"I've never felt such a connection to fire before. It was like I had become the fire itself. My rank also increased."
"Mn, same here, it was… freeing."
We all gave Linley concerned looks considering how this all started, and he waved us off with a laugh.
"Haha relax guys, I feel incredibly light now. I was able to pour all my emotions into my sculpture and I feel like I truly put my feelings about Alice down. I'm back to my old self."
I felt relieved at that, but all our eyes couldn't help but trace back to the sculpture in awe.
"Third bro, did you..?"
He nodded with a smile, understanding my question.
"Yeah, I entered the grandmaster realm."
My jaw dropped at that before I reached over to pull the bastard into a headlock that he didn't even fight.
"You punk! Going ahead and not only surpassing me but jumping ranks all together!"
"Hahaha looks like I finally got one ahead of you second bro."
"Haha he got you there second bro, you have been bullying us for too long. Good going third bro!"
Reynolds fist bumped Linley and I felt betrayed.
So I pulled fourth bro into his own headlock.
"Traitor! Suffer divine punishment! Boss, bring the lightning."
"Hahaha as much as I would love to, I think you guys should eat something. It's been ten fucking days."
We blinked at that, only now realizing that we were hungry.
Thankfully, boss being our boss, he had loads of food prepared in containers for us and we held a feast as light snowfall fell around us.
To mages like us, the cold was a joke unless it was a real snowstorm.
Eventually Linley downed his drink and stood up.
"Guys, I'm heading into the mountain range of magical beasts for a training trip."
Before we could say anything he waved his hand.
"Relax, I'm fine. I just realized how much time I wasted with Alice. My training took a hit and I need to get back to it."
Reynolds and I nodded seriously at that, we understood how much he hindered himself.
Yale just rolled his eyes and muttered about us being training maniacs.
With a few words and well wishes, Linley took his bag and walked off just like that.
When we asked what to do with his sculpture, he just said to do what we want and walked away with a wave.
"We're keeping that sculpture."
"Absolutely."
"100%."
We looked at each other and laughed.
Yale threw a tarp over it and Reynolds and I picked up each side and carefully carried it back to the dorm.
We got plenty of looks for carrying something so large but most of them were admiration and lovestruck gazes.
Reynolds and I did our best to hang back while Yale quieted down rumors about us so we could push third bro into the spotlight, but it didn't stop us from having our own token of fame for our looks.
I used my ultra-secret forbidden move, the Smile and Wave maneuver.
It either caused them to faint or be happy enough to not impede us.
Once situated back at the dorm, I debated on what to do moving forward.
'I need to spend time meditating and gathering elemental essence to officially become a rank 7 water mage. My destruction and darkness essence is also ready to step into rank 3.
Hell, my Battle-Qi even got a boost and I'm at the cusp of a rank 6 warrior.
I need to take some time to seriously train and absorb all my gains from this development.'
Just then I overheard Reynolds talking to Yale.
"Boss, do you think you could find a way to get me rank 7 spell tomes and up? As well as a Battle-Qi manual for warriors for rank 6? I'll cover the cost."
I jumped in at that.
The only way to get those things was to join a power on the continent, one of the nation's militaries, the Holy Union or Dark Alliance, or something like the assassin groups.
"Hey same here boss! I'll pay for both fourth bro and I."
Fourth bro gave me a thankful nod.
I knew the guy had money from his excursions into the mountains, but he wasn't like the rest of us.
Linley had his sculptures, I had my paintings, and Yale was filthy rich, only he had to fully rely on hunting.
Yale laughed and threw his arms around our shoulders.
"Ha! You two just love driving the knife in deeper for this poor boss of yours. You can count on me guys, hell, I'm sure my father would be willing to make you guys honorary elders for our merchant guild."
Reynolds and I rose an eyebrow at that, and Yale sighed.
"I didn't want to mention it, but you guys know that my family runs a huge merchant group right?"
We both nodded.
"Well, the name is the Dawson Conglomerate."
Our eyes widened at that in surprise.
"THE Dawson Conglomerate?"
"You mean you're from the main fucking family?!"
He nodded and we both pointed at him.
""Your filthy fucking rich!""
His eye twitched and sparks appeared around him in agitation.
"Yeah I am! I'm the head's son, but the title of head isn't passed down by hereditary means but by accomplishments. My dad has me running a few projects to get massive gains but there are others who want to challenge me for the title."
We calmed down at that and nodded.
It made sense considering his merchant group was one of the three continent wide merchant organizations.
They had a hand in every nation on the continent.
"So I'm assuming this elder thing would help you?"
Yale nodded.
"Yeah, one of the ways to gather achievements is to get powerful mages or warriors as our backers. You would get discounts and other benefits through us and the only thing you would have to do is come to our rescue if someone tries to kill us.
There are always enemies out there with their own power."
Reynolds and I looked at each other and nodded.
"We got your back boss, if you need us we will be there."
He smiled and us and gave us a bro hug.
"Thanks guys, that means a lot to me. I'm glad I met my three bro's, and I'm lucky as hell you three are insane genius's."
We laughed at that and he continued.
"Now being elders is something I'll have to talk to my dad about, we usually wouldn't offer it to anyone under 8th rank but considering your ages and current ranks, there is no way he wouldn't offer it.
You guys are practically guaranteed to become saints one day."
We beamed at that and the confidence in his voice.
It's true that the younger you are, the more potential you have to reach the saint level, the so called peak of this world.
There are only a dozen or so known saints but once you reach that level, you become ageless so there could be countless more.
We stuck around and chatted a bit more with Yale promising to get us water and fire spells for rank 7 and up plus water and fire Battle-Qi manuals for rank 6 warriors.
The manuals we are currently using, like all manuals on the continent, only reach up to the 6th rank.
All the powers of the continent suppressed the knowledge of any technical information about rank 7 mages or rank 6 warriors as that's where things become valuable to military forces.
The Ernst institute for example does not have a single rank 7 spell model for students to study, but it's not THAT rare for someone to get their hands on one or two rank 7 spells without joining a force.
They just won't progress further and become stuck being mediocre.
It only took two weeks for Yale to get us the books as well as permission to make us honorary elders in his merchant group.
We were part of the group without having any responsibilities or needing to take orders.
We just had to be on call for emergencies.
In return we could use the services of the merchant group for materials, information, and anything else needed at any major city in the continent.
It was a 90-10 win for us, and Yale got to benefit from it as well.
Reynolds and I took advantage of it to buy ourselves separate villa's in Fenlai city to get out of the view of the public once we graduate.
We both decided to graduate at the same time as third bro considering he was sure to flaunt his rank 7 status and cause a massive wave.
If two guys graduate at the same time as newly made rank 6's, it won't gather any attention at that time.
If we did it another time, we would be under the spotlight and neither wants that to happen.
So with that plan in place, time flowed on as we waited for third bro to come back.
With advanced tomes now available to us, we fell into our studies and the months flew by.
Being the one with the biggest head start, it only took me a month to collect enough elemental essence to reach rank 7 as a water mage and rank 3 as a destruction and darkness mage.
Rank 7 was a massive qualitative leap as a mage.
It's the rank where the mageforce inside your core changes from a dense gas into a liquid.
I danced with my staff in a meditative trance, not like the one with Linley, that was an incredible special state, and looked inward as my mageforce was converted.
It started with a single drop being condensed out of the gaseous mageforce, that drop circulated through my body, nourishing my body, and strengthening it before returning to my core, and more and more drops started following in its wake like a horse gaining speed.
My body grew stronger, and I finally heard the satisfying *Cr-crack* of my body breaking through as a rank 6 warrior.
I sped up my movements as my body heated up and I unconsciously entered body and soul refinement with destruction magic.
My body was being evolved and enhanced to superhuman levels, far beyond what I had been before.
6th rank as a warrior is the peak of human ability with the ability to lift thousands of pounds with a single hand and my liquified mageforce was pushing me beyond that peak.
Like a caterpillar breaking out of my cocoon, my body cracked and expelled impurities and my old self as a new person was born.
Even my soul finally healed up fully and my arrow shaped soul became a solid silver color without any blemish's.
The healing process that would have taken years had been rapidly finished during that ten day meditation.
And not only that, but my other paths also benefited.
My mind suddenly seemed to pierce through some fog and understand more about formations that I didn't realize till now.
My inspiration to paint was overflowing.
I immediately took out my supplies and painted what I felt.
The image of a shining butterfly breaking out of its cocoon blossomed into life on the canvas.
I stirred the water elemental essence and painted exactly as I intended.
The image came to live and shined…. But… it wasn't enough.
Looking at the half masterpiece in front of me, I sighed.
'*sigh* it wasn't enough, I didn't manage to pierce through the wall into a grandmaster painter.'
I at most had a half a step into the grandmaster realm.
'Well, I can't have them all. I guess third bro can just accept taking the lead on this one.'
Still, I was ecstatic.
I was 17 this year and an official rank 7 water mage and a rank 6 warrior.
Either one of those are accomplishments that would take someone decades to achieve under normal circumstances.
'I'm one step closer to the peak.'
Rather than celebrate with my bro's, I decided to celebrate this one by just meditating peacefully on the surface of a pond in the mountains.
I felt so free and at peace, the feeling of being more in tune with nature was mesmerizing.
A month later, Reynolds mentioned that he ranked up as well as a mage and warrior, that ten day meditation sped up his progress to being right behind my own.
I was sure Linley was also pushing his limits.
With patience and hard work, there was nothing stopping us from reaching the 9th rank.
The two greatest bottlenecks for a mage or warrior is the 7th rank and saint rank.
That first particular bottleneck was blown over by us three bro's.
Other cultivators would spit blood if they knew that.
During the following weeks, we consolidated our gains and began the process of converting our neutral battle qi into elemental qi, something that would take quite a bit of time.
But at some point during our training, Reynolds accidentally allowed the manager from the Proulx gallery inside the dorm, and he saw Linley's sculpture.
He wouldn't shut up about it and we kicked him out, but the damage was done.
To keep it safe, we decided to move the statue during the night to one of the Dawson Conglomerate hotels for safe keeping.
In April X9999, Linley came back from his trip a new man, he had long forgotten the issues of the past and blossomed into his strength.
He was an official rank 7 duel wind and earth mage as well as a rank 6 warrior and grandmaster sculpture.
An incredibly combination that would send waves once it became known.
We went to celebrate at the Jade palace and had a blast with drinks and our favorite girls.
Even Linley indulged himself for once, the damn prude really needed it.
The next morning we got together for breakfast and discussed our next move.
Third bro would be graduating and flashing his rank 7 status to bring honor to his family while fourth bro and I would quietly graduate as rank 6 mages under the shadow of third bro's spotlight.
The next two weeks flew by with the three of us getting used to some rank 7 spells.
Yale provided Fourth bro and I with spells from Rank 7 to 9 and Linley seemed to already have knowledge of Rank 7 to 9 earth spells.
I didn't question how he had it, we all had our fortunate encounters.
At the end of the two weeks however was our graduation exam.
Most of the instructors of the institute showed up to see third bro graduate since he was a duel element mage who claimed to be rank 7.
Fourth bro and I went first and presented a rank 6 spell before getting congratulated by the dean and handed identification badges that showed our name, rank, identity number, and element as mages.
They were used for official documentation for the upper class.
We got quite a bit of attention for reaching rank 6 at 17 years old but thankfully third bro stole the show and we we're all but forgotten.
I shared a smug smile with fourth bro, and we internally cheered at pulling it off.
The nation was set ablaze by the news of Linley's accomplishments and old men from every power were flocking to send him invitations.
Me and the others were dying of laughter seeing third bro's annoyed face but eventually it got annoying for us to.
Who wants an old man from whoever the fuck cares knocking on your door at 5am!
We moved out of the dorm and into one of the hotels that Yale's family owned for some peace and quiet.
A few days after that, fourth bro and I decided to leave and move into the villa's we bought through the Dawson Conglomerate a while before.
They were both in the upper district but below the noble district, so we didn't attract to much attention.
Reynolds home was real nice, it had a large garden, three meter high walls, servant quarters, a hall to receive guests, and three bedrooms and a studio.
It was a nice place and we congratulated him before Yale showed us to my villa.
"Second bro, I just want you to know how much of a pain in the ass it was to find a villa like you requested."
"Haha you know I appreciate the effort boss."
"Yeah, yeah, next time's drinks are on you."
"You got it."
We joked as we walked through the gate of a new villa.
It was half the size of the one Reynolds had but that was for a reason.
It also had three meter walls but half of land at the back of the villa was converted into a water mages paradise.
Large pools of water that went a hundred feet deep, a bar in the center of the pool with a stone path to reach it, and a hot spring to the side.
The boys whistled at the sight.
"Damn second bro, you know how to pick em, we should break this place in with a party."
I scowled at fourth bro for that.
"Not anytime soon! I want to enjoy the peace and get used to the place."
Boss Yale jumped in.
"Ah come on second bro, a place like this needs a good break in."
I sighed and knew they wouldn't stop anytime soon.
"Fine, fine, we can throw a part in two weeks, just let me enjoy the home for a bit."
They cheered and I rolled my eyes.
The villa itself had the master bedroom, a guest bedroom, kitchen, wine cellar, and servants quarters.
Like Reynolds place, I was given a staff to run the villa with a chef, two maids, and two guards that take shifts at the gate.
All around, it was the perfect place.
Once the guys left, I dove into the water and swam to the bottom before casting a rank 5 Stone Cutter spell to carve out a secret passage into the side of the bottom of the pool.
I kept it going and built a small safety area I could meditate in peace while being half submerged in water.
It was also where I planned to keep my valuable items that I didn't keep in my space ring, after all, the space wasn't unlimited in there.
Once I finished, I came back up to the surface to see a maid waiting for me at the pool bar.
"Can I get you anything to drink master?"
I smirked at the sight.
'Yeah, I could get used to this.'
Chapter end.