12 A Sword Cultivator I

The sun was rising in the sky as the spirit vessel made its way into Hell's Keeper Mountain. Like a shadow, it silently pierced through the clouds and flew to the top of the mountain.

When they were getting close to the peak, the vessel suddenly tilted to the left, guiding them to what looked like a village. It was a few times bigger than the Northern Station, and every single building seemed to be more expensive than anything Amon had ever seen in the Outer Sect. It was certainly a place reserved for the elite of the Abyss Sect.

It was Sky Reach Village, a place where only the High Elders that were part of the Elder Council and the Protectors of the sect, together with their families, could live in.

If Amon was suspecting before, now he was sure. Jake was indeed Sect Master Borgin's disciple. Karen and Joshua most likely didn't fall far behind in terms of status.

The spirit vessel circled around the village for a moment as Jake tried to find a good angle to land. They had a good view of the shiny mansions and pavilions bellow.

This village would never leave Amon's memories. He had lived in Sky Reach Village when he was younger and his father was still part of the sect.

He unconsciously looked at an inconspicuous building at a corner of the village. A serene and cold voiced echoed in his mind, from the depths of his memories:

"I need you to be brave, son." As he remembered his father's words, chills went down his spine. He could almost feel the pain of that day again.

The black spirit vessel slowed down as it approached a golden platform in the boundaries of the village. A few other spirit vessels were atop the platform, having varied sizes and shapes.

Jake carefully controlled the landing, making it as smooth as possible. Amon was a bit surprised seeing this, considering how Jake didn't hesitate to smash the vessel into the ground in an attempt to kill the Direwolf.

When the vessel finally stopped, Jake got up from the golden circle and smiled to Amon. "We are here. Karen, take care of Amon for a bit, I'll go report with Joshua."

Karen nodded. Jake left with the taciturn Joshua and left Amon with Karen.

"Come with me, Amon, I'll take you to a nice place to eat." Karen gave a sweet smile and took Amon away.

They went to a red and shiny building. It was only two stories tall, but considering the size of the village, it was enough. A small board hanged above the doors, saying "Sky Reach Restaurant".

"This place has some really good food, Amon. You can order anything, it is my treat." Karen said as they walked in. The inside of the restaurant was tidy and neat. A few tables made of expensive wood were distributed in the ground floor, glossy and spotless. A few servants were waiting behind a balcony, wearing azure robes and standing in place with a perfect posture.

"Young miss Karen, welcome back." And old servant made his way to them from behind the balcony wearing an amiable smile. "Would you like the same table as always?"

"Yes, please." Karen said. The servant bowed and showed them to their table, but the strange way he looked at Amon didn't escape Karen's eyes.

Karen thought it was expected, considering that this was Amon's first time in the place and the servant certainly didn't know him. Plus, his clothes were a mess, and his hair and eyes were a bit bizarre.

Amon's thoughts were different from Karen's, mostly because he had visited this restaurant all the time when he was younger. He actually recognized this servant.

He was Old Lu, and he had been working at Sky Reach Restaurant for decades, always serving the most powerful people in the sect. He probably found Amon familiar but couldn't recognize him, giving the five years they hadn't seen each other and Amon's change of hair and eye color.

Amon was feeling nostalgic as they sat in a table in a corner. He took Brightmoon off his back and let it stand against the wall, close to his feet. Karen politely ordered a few pork ribs and looked at Amon, telling him to order something.

Amon pondered for a moment, but he had already decided what he wanted to order. "I'll have some rice cakes." He said in a calm manner.

Old Lu nodded and left them alone as he made his way to the kitchen. Amon looked at Karen wanting to say something, but was hesitant to do so. It didn't go unnoticed, as Karen looked at him and said "Tell me what's on your mind."

"To be honest, I'm quite impressed by the way you and your friends treated me." Amon was blunt and honest. Not only did they save his life, they also took him to Sky Reach Village when they could just have dropped him off at the sect's gates, if not leaving him alone in the Broken Forest. Now, Karen was even treating him to food.

"I'm also not so sure. I understand why you would be feeling that way, and I don't mind speaking or treating with respect anyone on this sect, but I know I am not the norm in the Inner Sect." Karen said after thinking for a moment. "But I do admit that bringing you here was a bit too much."

"If I had to take a guess… I would say it is because of his brother." She said, with a wry smile on her face." Jake really likes his brother and just doesn't see him because his father always gets in the way. I think he was really surprised by the way you acted"

Amon's ears turned red as he heard this, and he remembered the way he just fell to the ground when he heard Daniel was alive.

"Daniel never told me about his family. Actually, he always avoided the subject completely." Amon said. "But I'm sure he likes Jake too." He added hastily, thinking he was making Daniel look bad.

"Well, it is understandable. From what Jake told me, Daniel acting like that is not strange at all." As Karen was saying that, Old Lu returned with two plates in his hands. One with steaming hot pork ribs and one with a large serving of rice cakes. He left the food on the table and respectably left again.

"Go on, dig in." Karen said, not standing to ceremony. She took a rib and carefully nibbled it, trying her best to not let anything fall in her clothes. Amon sheepishly extended a hand to the plate with rice cakes and took one.

He took a bite, enjoying the rich taste of the food. It was really nostalgic. He loved when his mother brought him here to eat rice cakes every week. He started feeling warmth in his chest. He really missed his mother.

Before he realized, he had wolfed down half of the plate. Karen laughed seeing his desolate expression, but Amon didn't take another rice cake from the plate. Instead, he asked Old Lu to wrap up the remaining rice cakes so he could take them to his mother when he returned home.

As they finished eating, they stood up and Amon retrieved Brightmoon, tying it to his back again. He was finding it strange that Lya had been silent ever since he got into the spirit vessel to return to the sect, but he couldn't just ask her in front of Karen.

Amon carefully held the silky cloth with the rice cakes and stashed it in his clothes. As Karen led him away, Jake and Joshua were coming in their direction.

"How was it?" Karen asked when she saw them.

"Just fine. We got ten thousand contribution points from the bounty and three thousand for the spirit core Joshua retrieved from it." He said, doing some calculations. "Adding up, it should be three thousand and a few hundreds to each one."

"That doesn't add up at all! What kind of math is this?" Karen asked, confused.

"Of course it does. We are dividing it by four." Jake replied. This time, Amon was confused. Why would they do something like this?

Before he could deny the contribution points they were giving him, Jake cut him off. "You faced that thing twice and even managed to distract it enough for us to try that surprise attack. Not only that, you dealt the finishing blow. It is only fair."

Jake was twisting the situation around so it would look like Amon had been a huge part of the battle. As Amon opened his mouth to say something, Karen subtly poked him with her elbow, hinting at him to keep silent and accept.

To be fair, even if Jake didn't tell her about this before, she didn't mind. She would never be lacking in contribution points and this mission was an unexpected benefit.

Adding to that, the greatest reason they were allowed to go in this mission was to get experience fighting spirit beasts, not to get contribution points.She knew Joshua had also accepted this distribution of points, as he was even more unconcerned about such things than she was.

"I…" Amon was still reluctant to accept such favor, but Jake threw a glowing ball he took from his clothes at Amon. "Touch your contribution card with it and the points will be added."

Amon clumsily managed to hold the ball. When looked at Jake's eyes, he gave up declining the favor. Turns out Jake was as stubborn as Daniel when his mind was set on something. They were really alike in some ways.

"Thank you all." Was all Amon could say. Karen smiled and Joshua just shook his shoulders. Jake gave him a slap on the back.

"Come on, I'll find someone to take you home." He said, taking Amon away. Amon hastily thanked Karen for the food as he left.

"I'm sorry about this, but I can't take you home by myself. I can only leave the village on missions and my father is quite rigid regarding such matters." Jake sighed.

"Not at all. Thank you for going through all of this trouble for me." Amon said. "By the way…"

"You want to know about Daniel, right?" Jake read his mind. Amon nodded.

"He is in the Medical Pavilion. We can't visit him as of now. And since you won't be able to return here, I think you will only be able to see him when he is able to return home." Jake said with a sorry expression. "I'm sorry, but I think it will take a few months."

Amon was downcast hearing this, but it was for the best. At least Daniel was alive. "Please tell him that I'm sorry about what happened. And that I'm really thankful for what he did and happy that he is alive."

"Heh, Daniel has a really good friend." Jake said with a smile after hearing Amon's words.

"He is also a good friend. A great one." Amon replied. "And you also have some good friends from what I could see."

Jake laughed hearing that. He was starting to really like this kid.

They walked to the golden platform where the spirit vessels where landed. Jake quietly approached a white-clothed man and traded a few words with him. After a while he called Amon to join them.

"Luke here will take you home. Just tell him where you want him to drop you off and he will take you there." Jake said.

"Thank you for everything, Jake. Please thank Karen and Joshua again too." Amon said, genuinely grateful.

Jake smiled again hearing that, and gave Amon another slap on the back. "You worry too much kid. You should be more carefree." He then looked Amon in the eye, unblinking. "I hope you continue being a good friend to my brother. And I hope that one day you join the Inner Sect so we can see each other again."

"I'll do my best to get in the Inner Sect. And I give you my word that I'll always be a good friend to Daniel." Amon didn't flinch as he answered that. His golden eyes shone with assurance as he spoke.

Jake nodded. "I'll wait for you." He said, turning around and leaving.

Luke quietly approached Amon. "Where should I take you, sir?" He asked.

"You can leave me in the Northern Station, if it isn't much trouble." Amon replied.

Luke then guided him to a small spirit vessel. It was even smaller than the one Jake had used, and was completely white. Amon got on board and Luke took off.

---

"Are you there, Lya?" Amon asked, concerned as he walked home. Luke had dropped him off close to the Northern Station. He didn't fly into it at Amon's request, as he didn't want to attract too much attention.

"Of course I am!" Lya's voice echoed in his head, excited.

"Then why didn't you speak before?" He asked, confused.

"Because I didn't want you to sound insane to your new friends, talking to yourself and all."

"If you say so…" He said, dropping the matter. "You heard everything that happened, right?"

"Yes, I did. Why?"

"Just to be sure." Amon said, and turned quiet, leaving Lya confused.

Soon enough, he reached his shabby house. He made his way in, not trying to keep his silence at all. He went past the living room and stood at his mother's door. He gently knocked it twice, before a familiar voice answered as always.

"Come in." The warm and gentle voice invited him in.

Amon opened the door, seeing his mother lying in the bed, looking at him.

"You should only be back tomorrow. What happened?" She asked, but soon her brows furrowed slightly.

She saw Amon's clothes that were still in tatters. His hair wasn't dyed anymore and anyone could see the ashen color it had. On his back, there was a sword she had never seen in her life, and in his finger, there was a strange crystalline ring. Even stranger than that, she didn't see Daniel.

Amon threw himself in her embrace, just like he had done a few days ago after he met Erin. This time, however, he didn't cry. He just hugged her tightly.

She returned the hug, slowly patting his back and ruffling his hair. Even if he wasn't crying, she could feel that her son was having a hard time controlling his emotions.

After a while they separated. Her eyes were calm, albeit full of worry. His eyes were red, full of pain.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Rebecca asked, concerned. She growing anxious, and remembered the bad feeling she had the day Amon left. She quietly grasped the green necklace under the sheets.

Amon slowly told her all that happened from the moment he and Daniel left the house. When she heard about the Direwolf, her face paled and she hugged Amon again, almost suffocating him.

"I'm sorry." She said as silent tears fell from her eyes. Still being hugged, Amon continued recounting what happened. When he was about to tell about the isolated space, Lya's voice interrupted him.

"Don't tell anyone about that lake! Just tell her you found a corpse lying around with the sword." Her voice was urgent. Amon hesitated for a moment, but then quietly nodded. If word ever got out about that isolated space, there might be trouble. Even more so if someone found out about Lya. It would be better if he didn't get his mother involved.

"Then, I was walking back, I stumbled upon a corpse…" He slightly altered the story and told her everything that happened afterwards. How he stumbled upon the Direwolf again and how Jake and his friends saved him.

His mother hugged him with even more strength at each word he spoke, clearly worried. When he finished the story, he took the pack of rice cakes from his clothes.

"Here, I managed to save these from the restaurant in Sky Reach." He said, offering her the rice cakes.

Rebecca put her hands on his face and gave him a long kiss in his forehead before saying, "I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

They ate the rice cakes together and talked for a long time. Rebecca never once touched on the matter of what he would do with the ring or the sword, as she decided to let him choose. In the end, Amon stayed in her room until it was almost sunset, when he left to whip up some dinner using the food Daniel had given her before the Scavenging.

He quietly brought the food to his mother, and then left to his room. He sat on the black mat on the floor, took Brightmoon from his back and laid it in his crossed legs.

"You saw my mother, didn't you, Lya?" He suddenly asked.

"Yes, I did." She said in a low voice.

"Do you know how she ended up like that?" Amon made a question, but Lya didn't need to answer.

"It was five years ago, in the last Scavenging. My father had just left us and a lot of things I couldn't understand were happening to us. We had to move from Sky Reach to the Outer Sect, and a lot of strange people visited our house everyday." He said, his voice full of sadness.

"I really wanted to go to the Scavenging that year, because I wanted to find a huge artifact and sell it for a fortune, so my mother wouldn't have to worry so much."

"She didn't want me to go. She was worried for me, and probably had too much in her hands and couldn't waste four days for nothing." He took a brief pause, as if fighting hard to choose the words to say. "In the end, she gave in."

"In the first three days, nothing happened, and we also found nothing. On the fourth day, a Silverback Wolf found us." He looked up as he said that, and looked at the ceiling.

"An interesting fact about Silverback Wolves is that, even if they are class 6 spirit beasts, they are nowhere near as big as Direwolves. The Silverback Wolf that attacked us would be able to enter this room without a problem." Amon said, looking around. That Silverback Wolf had been only two meters high and four meters long.

"What they do have to compensate their size, is speed and strength. This is important, because even if my mother was stronger than it, she wasn't faster. If she was alone, she could have made it retreat, even if she sustained some injuries. At the very least she could hit him hard and escape, and the wolf would hardly follow her." He had a blank look in his face as he spoke, almost as if he was trying to distance himself and present the facts.

"The problem is that my mother had to focus on protecting me that day. She couldn't show her full strength because I was close, and she couldn't outrun the wolf. All she could do was fight with a gigantic disadvantage."

"You already saw the end result." Amon finished speaking. Lya was still silent, quietly listening.

"Five years ago, my mother was crippled because of me. Yesterday, Daniel almost died because of me." He said, holding Brightmoon tightly.

"That happened because I was weak, Lya. Because I couldn't protect myself" He raised the sword, looking intently at it, almost as if he could see Lya inside it.

"Please, help me become strong enough to protect myself, so such things will never happen again!" He pleaded, almost begging.

What answered him was only silence.

Amon could only loathe himself. What utter foolishness. He shook his head, disappointed.

At that moment, however, a melodious voice made its way into his mind.

"This is a reason I can accept."