My master is a damn bastard. Even now, the man is more busy carrying cloak's gift rather than making sure of my safety. I know the man very well, if I were to ask him about this, he would claim his very presence would ensure my safety.

  It is kind of the truth but the man forgets that I am in the territory of a tribe. I am sure that even Paltroc, who has been playing such a key role in my healing will kill me if he gets the chance.

  My master must think that he looks very impressive, carrying that ship on his back. He must expect it to intimidate the snow tribe in some way. He looks pretty stupid doing that. I am sure that he would be more comfortable if he were riding the damn ship. My master will never admit that fact though. He believes that learning something like driving a ship is a waste of time.

  Such tasks he usually leaves to his disciples like me. Well, I am not complaining about that for once in my life. It will give me an opportunity that I won't have in my life again. I won't speak what it is just in case somebody is reporting to my master. Let's just say that my master will have to finally stop this stupid ban on cultivation knowledge. Even I have limits and this mission managed to cross those limits.

  (After about half a day.)

  Right now we are making our way to the frozen peak. Traveling in this sledder is a pretty unique experience. Sensory formations without a strong enough mana sense are a pretty weird thing to feel. Especially when I am so used to my mana sense.

  That is half the problem people face when piloting an airship, you see. Sensory formations are very unreliable. My strong mana senses help me get more information from my surroundings, allowing me to use it more reliably. (There are still times when I struggle though.)

  On top of that another weird thing is the luxury in the room. Most control rooms tend to be bare with nothing in the room other than the formations needed to run the damn thing. This one has an entire miniature bedroom in it. The damn place has cushions for the driver's comfort.

  Well, I have wasted enough time describing the ship. It is a fine piece of work but it is not the reason for me to suddenly start to record. The reason that I suddenly started to record, is due to my master. Right now we are in the plains near the frozen peak, right at the edge of the truelands. This is the ideal position for me to execute my plans.

  I stop the ship completely. As I feel the ship stop, I can feel my master's attack. Even as I speak, the man mounts an assault on my mana strings. I try to hold my own against the man, but any mana string that I send towards the formation is immediately ripped apart.

  Well, that was to be expected. I did not expect to hold against my master anyway. Not that he will be able to do anything with control over the formation. The man is more likely to crash this ship even if he were to try and take control.

  Well, he will be coming to meet up with me any second now. I am surprised that he is not already here.

  "Why have you stopped here, you brat.", he speaks, appearing next to me as if he had always been there. How the hell does the man even do that?

  "Well, I am sure that you know what I am going to be demanding right now.", I speak to the man. "When have my demands changed? Remove this stupid ban on my cultivation knowledge and I will start the ship."

  "You do realize that what you are pulling off here will seriously damage my relationship with the snow tribe. The damn bastards are already on the verge of banishing me from these lands.", my master starts growling at me. Looks like I just pissed off my master. "I have made it clear to you. The day that you learn about the next stage is the day that you make a class seven formation."

  "I have been working on my formation work for the last four years and I have accepted every request that you have made for me.", I speak, my voice raising in rage. "This time, your challenge was a bit too much. I almost died, you old fool. With my sword, I would have had a fighting chance at the very least."

  "Well, you are an idiot if you did not think that the snow tribe would not figure out who you were with that sword. They would have found out the minute you swung that sword.", my master speaks, his voice steely calm.

  "Oh yeah, then why did you restrict me from my other formations.", I growl back. The damn bastard never accepts that he might have made a mistake.

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  "Well, I needed you to prove your strength. I thought this would be the best way to do so.", my master speaks, finally admitting the truth. The bastard always pulls things like that.

  "Well, I am not moving until you remove this stupid ban from me.", I speak, stating my intent.

  "Well, gods know why I have to deal with such a stubborn disciple.", he speaks. As he does so he sits down with me. "Do you want to guess why I wanted you to prove yourself?"

  "It must be some stupid tradition of yours.", I reply.

  "Will you be serious for a minute, you brat.", he speaks, his voice measured and on the verge of erupting. I have messed with the man for long enough. Any more and the man will be a pain to deal with.

  "I don't practice the usual magical path of the black mountain, kid.", the man speaks. "The elven magic path is similar enough to mine, but there are still significant differences. I stopped people from speaking about it because I know you, kid. You would have messed with things that you shouldn't have and ruptured your mana core. I thought giving you the techniques for the foundation stage would let you focus on cultivating your foundation. You just seem to have gotten obsessed with figuring out the stage after the foundation stage."

  "Well, couldn't you have just told me all of this before?", I ask," I am capable of being careful."

  "Are you so sure about that, you brat.", the man laughs. "You created your sword because you ignored the explicit warning of your troop leader then. You told me this yourself. You might be capable of being careful, you just don't want to be. If I told this to you before, you would have ruptured your mana core trying to achieve it."

  "Why are you telling me all of this now.", I ask.

  "Well, I felt that it is about time that I started teaching you something worthwhile.", he speaks. "I thought that I would have done it at the hexmountain. Seeing how impatient you are getting though, I will do it now and here. Get out of the ship. It is about time that we got your induction started."

  "How am I going to do that.", I speak, a shiver crawling up my spine even thinking about it. "I would freeze to death."

  Suddenly my master is in front of me, grasping my shoulder. The next thing I know I am standing outside in the frozen wasteland. I don't feel cold. I don't feel anything at the moment. The man has stabilized all the ice mana in the surroundings to such a degree that I can't even feel the cold.

  The man's control over mana can be considered to be one of the most precise on the continent. I don't have my mana sense, but it is a beautiful sight to behold. The mana in the area flows like a river of strings all revolving around the man. I am not even sure if the man realizes that he is doing this at this moment as well.

  "Today I am going to show you a demonstration of my cultivation. You can consider it as a display of what you can do in the future. My master did it to me when he set me on this path. I am doing it for you.", he speaks. "Under my master, I only managed to keep awake until his fourth formation. I wonder till which you will reach."

  As he speaks, he shows me his hand. On it is a ring with a red ruby on it. He is always wearing it. It doesn't even emit even a bit of mana, so I did not think much about it.

  "You can say that this ring is my magnum opus", he speaks. "It might look quite ordinary, but it is a class three formation, kid."

  As he speaks, the ring begins to shine and the man's skin becomes grey. It takes me a few seconds to realize that he is sprouting hair. A few seconds later, it seems like the man has been covered by a wolf skin.

  "This is my first formation, "wolf skin".", he speaks. "It is a class nine formation, which allows me to cover myself in wolf skin. This wolf skin is capable of enhancing the durability of my skin and a few other benefits."

  As he completes speaking, he suddenly falls to the ground on all fours. His bones begin to collapse as he falls on his four legs taking the shape of a wolf. Within a few moments, the only thing that is standing there is a giant would.

  "This is the second formation on my ring, "wolf flesh", which allows me to change my body into that of a wolf.", he speaks. I open my mouth to ask a question. Looking at him though, I shut up. The man doesn't want to be interrupted. "It is a class eight formation."

  His presence magnifies as he speaks. Right now I feel like I am looking at a wolf preying on me. I swear I can feel teeth on my throat. It's claw cutting into my back. My master is nowhere near me, but I still can't ignore the nagging sensation that I should be running.

  "This is the third formation on my ring. You don't need to know what it is now.", he speaks. "Only that it is called the "wolf's presence".

  Again his presence changes. It is almost the same as his before but something is different. I can't pinpoint what it is though. Then I look at my master. He suddenly seems like a giant crushing me to death. I feel myself collapsing to the ground as my breath is crushed out of me.

  I have felt this before. This is what Jacob Starfall had pulled off. I feel a sense of anger in the pit of my stomach. It feels like I am lifting a mountain, but I manage to take a look at my master's face, I find him grinning at me.

  "This is the fourth formation on my ring. A pity your mana sense is so bad at this moment. It is a beautiful sight to behold.", he speaks. " You are doing good, kid. During my initiation, I could not get up at all."

  As he completes his statement, I can feel the presence of this man. It is like a crushing pressure as I fall to the ground again. I can feel my anger burst like a dam as I try to get up. I can't move even an inch. It reminds of me the time cloak crushed me to the ground, which inflames me even more.

  Even though it is useless, I keep struggling.

  "This is the fifth formation on my ring.", he speaks.

  Almost as soon as he completed speaking, his presence disappeared.

  "What was that?", is all I can speak as I begin to get up.

  "That my dear student, is your path to power.", he speaks. "And I am here to teach you the very first step to this path."

  I can feel the quest......