Journey Towards Dao

Morning beams of sunlight penetrated through Auslen’s closed eyelids, waking him from his peaceful slumber.

His arms and legs glided lazily underneath soft, warm bedding.

Long, golden lashes fluttered open, allowing him to take in the details of his large bedroom in comfortable silence.

A gorgeously decorative white and gold ceiling immediately came into view, held up by walls paneled with white quartz. Luxurious red and silver velvet drapes hung from the top of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the bottom portion puddling slightly onto the marble floors.

Auslen sighed slightly before forcing himself to abandon the pleasantness of his warm bed.

Swinging his short legs to the side in an experienced fashion, his small bare feet fell to the expensive looking carpet which covered a portion of his floors.

His soft, slightly wavy golden hair fell around his body like a waterfall, rippling against his thin silk robe as he made his way to the exquisite furniture set that was in front of the large windows.

After sitting himself softly on a leather couch with refined posture that he arduously acquired from his tedious etiquette lessons, Auslen grabbed the large book that was placed on the nearby table. The title, Dao Roots and Qi Refinement, was sewn dramatically onto the black leather book cover.

He flipped the book open to his bookmarked page before continuing his review from his previous stopping point.

…

Knock, knock, knock—

After a solid hour of review, Auslen heard several knocks on his large oak door.

“Come in.”

The door was pushed open to reveal a somewhat handsome boy around the age of 10 years-old, dressed in form-fitting, dark gray servant robes. He had silver eyes and long, dark blue hair that was secured into a bun with a black ribbon.

This youngster's name was Vincent, Auslen’s personal manservant.

Vincent came through the door with a wide boyish smile, bowing quickly before he exclaimed happily, “Greetings Your Highness. I wish you a happy sixth birthday!”

Auslen looked up from his book at Vincent, his concentrated expression swiftly transforming into a cute, sunny smile as he replied.

“Thank you, Vincent!”

“It’s my pleasure, Your Highness. His Majesty, the King, has ordered me to inform you that the Royal Family will be having breakfast together to celebrate your coming of age. I'm here early to help you wash up and dress, Your Highness.”

“I see!”

Auslen closed his book and placed it to the side before standing from his seat. After stretching self-rewardingly, he began walking with Vincent towards his bathing chamber.

Disrobed and barefoot, Auslen gently dipped his feet one at a time into the large golden tub that sat within the center of the marble room. Once he felt acclimated enough, he gradually submerged himself into the hot, scented bathwater with a pleasurable sigh. Vincent then began scrubbing his small body in gentle motions.

Auslen relaxed his posture in silent thought, pondering over the long awaited events that this day would bring. His stomach fluttered every now and then as he couldn’t help the excitement that was steadily building within him.

The bath finished quickly, and Vincent then helped Auslen rinse his mouth. Afterwards, he skillfully dried and combed his long hair with careful precision.

Before long, Auslen was standing in front of a huge mirror, rubbing his soft cheeks as he gazed at his young figure in silent examination, Vincent working busily to finish dressing him in his mother's favorite set of red robes.

Ah, I truly am such a cute child. I can’t imagine how handsome I’ll be once I reach an adult age.

As he thought back once again to how his previous life had ended, Auslen couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

That lamp was certainly some sort of supremely powerful Mystic Artifact.

Auslen couldn’t find anything that had matched its description in his research during these past couple of years, but considering its miraculousness and how fast it sucked his Soul Force dry, it probably wasn’t something easily investigated.

Thinking of the casual wishes he had made to the lamp, he could see quite clearly in the mirror that wish number two had unquestionably been granted. And he had long experienced the immense riches that were attributed to his first wish.

Now, all that was left for corroboration was his third wish, which would finally be verified at his talent evaluation today.

Of course, Auslen was well aware of his excessive Soul Force talent by now, but he still had his Dao Roots to consider.

Within the mirror’s reflection, Vincent’s eyes could be seen glancing at Auslen’s distracted face from time to time. Mistakenly taking Auslen’s silence as nervousness, he hesitated before speaking in a reassuring tone.

“Your Highness, you truly don't have to be nervous about today's talent evaluation! Both the King and Queen have Grade 2 Dao Roots, which almost ensures that you'll have Grade 2 Dao Roots as well. Your talent is already better than 98% of cultivators!”

Auslen naturally knew all of this, as he had poured an immense amount of effort into his studies in preparation for this day.

Dao Roots were the system of meridians traveling throughout the body that Qi could travel through. Every human had meridians, however, the vast majority of the human population’s meridians were blocked.

The remaining minority had meridians that were perpetually open, allowing the talented few the opportunity to cultivate.

These meridians were known as Dao Roots.

Dao Roots were separated into grades that were determined by the width and thickness of the meridians, indicating the amount of Qi that could pass through them at any given moment.

Grade 6 Dao Roots were the narrowest and the weakest, while Grade 1 Dao Roots were the widest and the strongest.

The majority of cultivators only had Grade 6 Dao Roots, and Grade 1 Dao Roots were nearly unheard of. So it could be seen how lucky Auslen was to have near certainty of obtaining Grade 2 Dao Roots.

However, if Auslen was forthright with himself, Grade 2 Dao Roots simply could not satisfy him.

Wouldn’t only having Grade 2 Dao Roots somewhat cheapen his third wish of being “exceedingly talented?”

Based on the extraordinary outcomes of his previous two wishes, he had long suspected himself of having Grade 1 Dao Roots.

Of course, he didn't reply to Vincent honestly. Instead, his pale cheeks blushed as he spoke with a tender, childlike tone. “Thanks Vincent, I’m okay now!”

Vincent innocently smiled as he finished tying up half of Auslen’s long, golden hair with a red ribbon.

He then walked back to the wardrobe, pulling out a small jewelry box.

Making his way back to Auslen, he opened the box, revealing a brand new, dark green ring that resembled some sort of tree bark. Intricate glyphs were carved upon its surface, evidence of the ring’s identity as a Mystic Artifact.

Vincent took out the small ring and slid it onto Auslen’s left ring finger carefully.

As soon as the ring was secured, Auslen could feel an invisible field of energy instantly appearing around himself, contracting continuously until he felt uncomfortably restrained.

As Auslen looked in the mirror, nothing about himself seemed to have changed.

However, even though his father had never explicitly stated as much, Auslen instinctively understood that this ring had the ability to hide his unnaturally powerful Soul Force.

His father had ordered him to wear a similar ring everyday since the incident with the Demon, only allowing him to take it off when the Spell Formation powering the Mystic Artifact was exhausted.

This ring would be his twelfth of such ring, as each ring could only maintain its effects for half a year's time.

Thankfully, this Mystic Artifact didn't require a large amount of his Soul Force to remain active, and could be worn perpetually, the only side effect being the formless sensation of restraint.

“We're all done, You Highness. Let's make our way to the Main Palace!”

After walking through a few sunlit hallways, the two departed the small side palace before walking along a stone pathway through Auslen’s personal garden.

Auslen was given his own palace during the previous year, as he had felt that traveling through the imprudently large Royal Palace every day was unnecessarily wearisome.

His mother had finally relented to his pleas and had this palace cleaned out for Auslen to live in, with a few servants assigned to help maintain the residence.

As Auslen and Vincent walked along the stone tile path, Auslen’s eyes were drawn to the beautiful Peach Blossom Tree that stood proudly within his garden. Its deep pink flower petals rained dramatically around the particularly tall tree trunk before littering the ground with an attractive blanket, causing Auslen’s eyes to squint in appreciation.

Auslen had come to appreciate the Peach Blossom Tree as his favorite aspect of this garden, and he made a conscious effort to nap often underneath the tree whenever it bloomed during this time of year.

But he had no time to admire its beauty today.

After leaving the garden, the two continued to follow the stone path before arriving at the Royal Palace. They walked up the stairs, passing many guards on the way as they entered through the arresting door-less archway.

Soon, they arrived in front of a pair of wide open doors that led to the Royal Dining Hall.

As Auslen made his way through the doors, he didn’t even have the opportunity to take in the surroundings before he was enveloped in a smothering embrace.

“Happy birthday, my dear!”

Amabella’s loving excitement was on full display in her exclamation. Auslen had no choice but to place his arms around his mother in helplessness.

As Auslen tried to gently extricate himself from her grasp, he offered muffled gratitude, “Thank you, Mother.”

She squeezed Auslen harder as she said, “Stop calling me that! I already told you to call me ‘Ma-ma’ like you used to!”

Auslen’s small mouth twitched wildly in exasperation.

He had been gradually increasing his maturity level in front of his parents during the past couple of years so that his future actions were not too sudden and out of the ordinary. Recently, this also included changing the way he addressed Amabella and Cedrick.

Unfortunately, his mother had not taken kindly to this change, and now, she simply refused to let him go until she got her way.

Thankfully, his father proved once again to be the more understanding parent.

“Amabella, Auslen is six-years-old as of today and has officially come of age. Allow him to address us in whatever way he deems the most comfortable.”

Amabella pouted dramatically before letting go of Auslen in a huff. She turned to head back to her seat at the long, ornate dining table in the middle of the hall, glaring at Cedrick all along the way.

Auslen smiled gratefully at his stiff-faced father, and he made his way to his seat.

Vincent hurried from behind Auslen to pull the seat out for him, raising the Second Prince’s small frame gently onto the chair before pushing it back towards the table. He then stepped back to stand near the wall with the few other servants.

Once Auslen was adjusted, his gaze landed on the nearly teenage Crown Prince who was staring at him silently. His light green hair had grown a good deal longer, but was now tied into a severe ponytail in a similar fashion as his martial teacher, Gerard.

Auslen gave him a sweet smile, but the Crown Prince simply nodded before lowering his expressionless face towards his empty plate in silence.

Tch, not cute at all.

Ever since that day five years ago, Aiden had been quite withdrawn. He almost never interacted with Auslen if he could help it, which was quite the contrast to his younger self who would make any and every excuse to be within Auslen’s vicinity.

Nowadays he spent the vast majority of his time focused on his cultivation and martial training. Auslen had even heard from Vincent that Aiden was nearly ready to build his foundation.

Auslen expected this reaction from Aiden, so he didn’t care too much. Such a terrifying experience was far too difficult for a child to manage.

And I’m sure witnessing his younger brother suddenly behaving in such an abnormally unfamiliar manner couldn't have helped the situation.

At the very least, Aiden seemed to have perfected the stiff-faced expression he used to consistently fail at maintaining.

At this moment, servants with wonderfully smelling trays entered the dining hall, lining endless colorful plates of delicious looking food in front of the Royal Family members.

After the usual poison testing, the family of four began to eat.

Auslen looked at his plate of thinly breaded chicken, broccolini, and glazed sweet potatoes in conflicted nostalgia.

Auslen used a fork to place a sweet potato into his mouth as he thought to himself silently.

In this world, many of the plants and animals were identical to the ones he was familiar with on Earth. The architecture, clothing, as well as the cuisine carried recognizable similarities as well.

After he had finally been given access to the Royal Library, obtaining the reason for such uncanny similarities was relatively simple.

As it turns out, both Earth and his current planet, Dhara, apparently had a sort of connection.

According to unverified sources and legends, both planets were supposedly created by the same unnamed Deity. Earth being the Deity’s first attempt, while Dhara their second.

Since both planets shared the same creator, it’s only plausible that there would be visible overlap between the two.

In addition, he learned that Earth was considered to be a Lesser Planet, while Dhara was a step above, a Greater Planet.

The difference between the two of them was that Greater Planets had the correct atmospheric conditions that, once combined with energies from outer space, created a phenomenon known as Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Earth’s atmosphere lacked this optimal composition and could only be considered a failure from this point of view.

Clink.

As Auslen went for another bite absentmindedly, he was startled by a small noise, causing him to look down at his plate that he noticed was completely empty. It seemed that he had finished off his food unknowingly.

A bit embarrassed, Auslen set down his fork as he waited for the upcoming event.

After witnessing the entire scene, Amabella giggled as she spoke.

“Are you finished eating, Auslen?”

Auslen ignored his mother’s teasing and agreed smilingly, “Yes Mother, I'm finished.”

Hearing this, Cedrick placed down his utensils and wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin before speaking.

“Alright then. Let's make our way to the Talent Evaluation Chamber.