Aiden didn’t take any time to rush to where he had seen the beast land. After his breakthrough into the third dan of the foundation realm, Aiden was a lot faster and could cover almost 5 to 6 meters in just a second when sprinting.

When he arrived at the scene, the students from Trimshire had already finished capturing the young fidialatus and were in the process of loading it onto a huge four-wheeled slab of wood which was attached to a horse wagon.

Instead of horses, however, there were 2 strange beasts at the front, faintly leaking mana. Their body was built like a bull’s, but they had an emerald mane running along their back. Their heads were like horses and so were their legs.

“Those are fortiseros, a type of heavy beast used for transporting things. They have more power than bulls and can also achieve a better speed than horses when carrying greater loads.”, said Denzel.

It was clear that they were going to transport the fidialatus somewhere.

“Hey Nilger” Aiden approached their leader, “if you do something to it then the mother is going to raze this city to the ground! You already heard her cry!”

“The mother will indeed follow, but it won’t destroy this town. We won’t allow that,” said Nilger.

“What do you mean?”, Aiden was confused.

“We’ll be taking this young one back to the academy. Our professor will take over after that. Our job is to lure it so that he can subdue it there.” Nilger said.

Obviously, for the good-hearted Aiden, this did not sit right with him at all.

“Don’t”, Denzel said just before Aiden could start arguing with Nilger.

“It’s their mission. You do not need to poke your nose in other’s business. Further, if their professor is strong enough to subdue an adult fidialatus, then he must be in the foundation realm 5th dan. You have nowhere near enough power to win against him if the need arises.”

“But am I just supposed to watch as they……”, Aiden got interrupted by Denzel again.

“As they what?! You don’t even know the exact reason they are luring it? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Don’t get carried away with just what you know. Ponder over that which you don’t.”

Nilger was watching Aiden closely all this while.

‘The expression on his face doesn’t seem to be very supportive of what we are doing. If he makes a move will we be able to get away safely?’, Nilger thought.

‘From his reaction time, he has definitely surpassed the innate Meridian stage. But as to which stage he is really in, I have no idea. We have 2 innate meridian primary stage experts and 4 core formation consummation experts on our team. If I send Stacey back to the academy with the fidialatus, we should be able to hold off against him with the 5 of us.’

Just at that moment, Aiden had an idea, ‘Interfering in their mission wouldn’t be nice and Denzel isn’t wrong either; but I don’t want this poor beast to suffer either. If only I could follow them and see with my own eyes that no one would be harmed……..’

“Would you mind me coming along with you to Trimshire then?”, Aiden asked.

Nilger who had a serious expression on his face, relaxed a bit after hearing this.

‘If we take him back to the academy then he won’t be able to harm us even if we wanted.  Professor Balmer would be able to handle the situation and do as he sees fit.’,  he thought.

“That’s fine by us. But we need to depart soon. Do you have all your belongings on you?”, Nilger said.

“Oh wait, I forgot some things. I’ll be back in half a minute. Don’t leave without me.”

Aiden rushed to the inn and ran past Berta at the doorway who was sweeping the entrance.

“What the….”, Berta almost lost balance with how fast Aiden came. “He is a mana user? But at this age?”, she thought when she saw him rush up the stairs.

Picking up the sack of gold which was his only belonging, he rushed out of the inn and submitted the room key to Berta, “I’ve got to get going but I’ll be back soon.” and rushed off again in the direction he had come from.

“Hey but you paid for three…….”, Berta screamed out behind Aiden’s disappearing figure.

“Sigh, people always leave after experiencing the nightly incident. It’s not like a child can be any different.”, she looked down after a sigh and continued sweeping.

Meanwhile, Aiden had rushed over and, following Nilger’s lead sat down at the back of the carriage.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you want to come to Trimshire with us?”, Nilger spoke up just as the carriage started moving. Tyler had been put in charge of driving.

“Oh, I just wanted to visit Trimshire. I’ve heard of its name a lot but never been there before.”, Aiden replied with a smile.

“While we are on our way, allow me to just introduce everyone.” Nilger started introducing the members of his team.

The girl who had suggested not harming him, Stacey, was 11. She just raised her hand for a wave, with a bright smile when her name was called.

The person who had pointed Aiden out first was named Ethan. He was in charge of guiding the team through the town as he used to be an inhabitant there before joining the academy.

Emma and Evan were twins who were both 14 years old.

“Oh yes, we didn’t get your name before.”, said Ethan.

“Name’s Aiden.”, he replied cheerfully.

“Oh, which family do you belong to?”, spoke Evan. What’s your surname?”, followed Emma.

“Um….I’d rather not say”, said Aiden laughing awkwardly. How could he tell them when he didn’t know the answer himself?

After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, it became pretty quiet. Aiden didn’t have much to talk about and neither did the others.

For Aiden, it was because it was his first time sitting around with people of his age, and he had no idea what to bring up. Further, he preferred the silence.

For the Trimshire students, it was because they were still on the mission and they were not sure whether to regard Aiden as a friend or foe.

Nilger had informed them that Aiden will be coming along and to act friendly but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be nervous around a stranger.

“You are too sentimental and caring Aiden. I do not know if you realise this or not, but that is a fatal weakness of yours.”, Denzel said, referring to how Aiden had decided to come along just for a fidialatus he had never even met before.

“Hey, it’s not just for the creature. I also want to see what this Trimshire Academy is all about. I’ve heard so much about it from others around me, so it’s a good experience for me to visit right?”

“Do as you wish, but remember, emotions will always stand in your path of progress. As long as you have not conquered your emotions, you are, but a puppet to your heart. And in this way, you shall even fail to align yourself with the heavens.”

“What do you mean by that? Further what exactly is this ‘heavens’ that you always keep  talking about?”

“The heavens refers to the natural order of the world you live in. It is the consciousness of the world itself and the culmination of every single law in its respective world. Thus it opposes anything that goes against the principle laws of nature. And cultivation is one such thing. Cultivation is the effort and act of a man to increase his strength from what would be considered normal for his species, thus opposing the natural order of beings that the heavens have created.”

“One must understand, however, that the heavens are cold, calculating and impartial. It discriminates not, between good and evil, right and wrong. It knows not of emotions such as happiness, sadness, love, hate, anger or jealousy. It preaches not ideals, doctrines, philosophies or ideologies.”

“As we cultivators strive forward in pursuit of the ultimate goal of superior strength and immortal longevity, our bodies are said to become more and more aligned with the heavens, for the heavens of your world represent the peak of power. Thus in the process, emotions which are a foreign concept to the natural order, are blockades, diversions or impurities that stand in your way to reaching perfection.”

“If one seeks to advance further in one’s cultivation, one must control and completely tame one’s emotions. I say control, because it is in fact, impossible for a human to completely kill off all emotions that he experiences.”

Aiden slowly pondered over Denzel’s words.

“Denzel……is it really so important to subdue one’s emotions?”

“If one wishes to remain a normal being, with a normal life, have a normal family, work honestly, live for a few years and then return to dust, then no one is asking him to keep his emotions in check.”, Denzel replied.

“But you are not a normal person. From the very second you decided to start cultivating, it was predetermined that you’d have to subdue your emotions one day or the other. It only remains a matter of time and how fast you cultivate.”

Aiden’s state of mind was disturbed. His teachings from Matilda and the lessons from Denzel were colliding in his mind.

Matilda had always told him to walk on the path of good. He had heard many stories of chivalrous knights, good-hearted people, and how kindness was always rewarded. He had been taught to refute evil and disapprove of wrong-doings. But here Denzel was telling him to throw away the very concept of right and wrong. Cultivation, as far as Aiden understood, was indifferent to the concepts of good or evil. It was all based on self-interest! Cultivation was….Cultivation was…..

“Aiden!”

Suddenly a voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Wha, What?”, Aiden looked around. He realised his face had assumed a solemn expression. Anyone looking at this on the face of a twelve-year-old would doubt his age.

“We’re here.”