Chapter 5 Not A Loser

"Is Shirley really so powerful?" Rocky asked, seeing that Lena was really serious.

"Bart from the Ximen Clan was the recognized talent for manipulating the spirit since the first generation of spirit manipulators was born. It's said that he possessed a strong power of spirit manipulation beyond his years. Even Bryant, the most powerful spirit manipulator of the Ximen Clan today, didn't match his strength at the same age. But Bart was not born into the Ximen Clan. He was adopted by the patriarch at that time. Though he was talented, many people bullied him because he was adopted, so he disappeared forty years ago. No one knows where he is now and some people even say that he is already dead. Otherwise, the most powerful spirit manipulator in the Holy Dragon Empire should be him, not Bryant Ximen. You should never underestimate Shirley. A spirit manipulator's power is dependent on their own training and practice, but the key is being born with talent. For instance, you can never be a spirit manipulator because you don't have the talent," Lena told him bluntly. She knew it would hurt him in this way, but she wanted Rocky to understand the gravity of the situation and not act recklessly again.

"Really? I don't think so! Once I have the opportunity, I will show you that talent is nothing," Rocky said arrogantly. Lena was taken aback by his attitude.

"But what on earth are spirit manipulators and the spiritual method?" Rocky asked abruptly, and once more Lena was shocked by his words.

"You truly don't remember anything! No wonder you've been saying such ridiculously arrogant things. But I have never met anyone like you," Lena said with a relieved smile.

"Memory loss is better than being dead," Rocky sighed with emotion.

"Well, to put it simply, a spirit manipulator has the power to manipulate spiritual creatures and use the spiritual method," Lena explained.

"Spiritual creature? What's that? I've never heard of this kind of creature, I only know primates..." Rocky murmured, confused.

"Spiritual creatures are creatures that have the spirit such as cats, dogs, wolves, tigers, leopards and so on. Of course, what makes the spirit manipulators in the Holy Dragon Empire most proud is that we can manipulate dragons. You know, what Shirley was riding!" Lena said proudly.

"That was a dragon?" Rocky asked in surprise.

"Yes," Lena affirmed.

"It is really related to dinosaurs, but it is a little different from what I imagined before. I must catch one and do some research once I have the chance," Rocky murmured, his eyes filling with expectation and excitement as he touched his chin.

"Relative of dinosaurs? What are dinosaurs? There are only two kinds of dragons: the war dragon and the spiritual dragon. I've never heard that dragons have relatives called dinosaurs," Lena was in turn confused by Rocky's words.

"Oh, nothing," Rocky said dismissively. He asked again, "Was the powerful light Shirley used to hit me the spiritual method?"

"Yes, and Shirley only used one-tenth of her power. If she uses her full power, she can make a city wall collapse in one second. You would most definitely be a pile of flesh and bones now if she attacked you with full power. So don't ever offend her again from now on, and don't you even think about commenting on her figure. Do you understand?" Lena said severely.

"I get it. Don't worry. I won't offend her as long as she doesn't offend me." Rocky did not care much about what Lena had warned him about. But he was interested in the other thing that Lena told him, so he immediately asked, "I want a dragon as well. Can I have one?"

"Manipulating dragons is a unique talent and ability of our royal clan of the Holy Dragon Empire. Since you are the prince, you could manipulate dragons, but... You have used up all your chances, Basil, because you participated the sacred ritual five times and also failed five times to bond with the Dragon Spirit Bead and attained the dragon spiritual power," Lena sighed as she shook her head.

"What is the dragon spiritual power?" Rocky was still confused.

"Something that gives you the ability to manipulate dragons. Otherwise, ordinary spirit manipulators can only manipulate regular spiritual creatures. And to acquire the dragon spiritual power, you have to bond with the Dragon Spirit Bead which contains the dragon spiritual power and is brought by the ambassadors of the Dragon Master Clan at the sacred ritual of the Holy Dragon Empire. If you successfully bond with it, a Dragon Spirit Mark will show on your arm, and that means you have acquired the dragon spiritual power. Only in that way can you manipulate a dragon," Lena explained to him patiently.

"What is the relationship between the Dragon Master Clan and the Holy Dragon Empire? Why do they give such a powerful bead to the Holy Dragon Empire?" Rocky was still struggling to absorb all this new information.

"What? You've even forgotten that basic fact?" Lena asked, shocked. She felt so strange at Basil's memory loss and altered attitude.

"Yes, looks like I have lost so much memory." Rocky was afraid that Lena would doubt him.

Lena had to continue to tell Rocky the background of this world.

Rocky learned that this world was called the Wild Spirit Land where the spiritual race lived with human beings. The spiritual race was the hybrid of the ancient mythical creatures and humans in the ancient times. They had strong power and they could manipulate every kind of creature in the world. And the Dragon Master Clan was a high-class clan in the spiritual race. They could not only manipulate regular spiritual creatures, but also manipulate the powerful dragons.

However, because the spiritual race had low reproduction rates, their population significantly decreased for thousands of years. So some clans of the spiritual race had died out, and the rest clans of the spiritual race were headed in the same direction.

But hundreds of years ago, some clans of the spiritual race noticed the human beings in primitive times, so they began to try to bond the power of the spiritual race into human beings to carry forward their power. The founders of the Holy Dragon Empire were the first group of people who got the power from the spiritual race.

From then on, these people who got the power of the spiritual race reproduced and evolved rapidly. They had gotten stronger and wiser for hundreds of years. At last, they developed into this beautiful world.

Besides the Holy Dragon Empire, there were many other human kingdoms where the humans had got the power from other clans of the spiritual race on the Wild Spirit Land. The Holy Dragon Empire was the most prosperous of these kingdoms, with other nations also occupying a part of the land and strengthening their power. The fighting among the clans of the spiritual race became the fighting among the human countries. The spiritual race made humans replace themselves to fight the endless war.

As they developed for thousands of years, the humans who had acquired the power of the spiritual race evolved and strengthened the power. At last, the power of the spiritual race was divided into six stages: the Mortal Stage, the Earthly Stage, the Heavenly Stage, the Supernal Stage, the Divine Stage, and the Immortal Stage. Each stage had nine grades, with the ninth being the highest.