"Little Sachin, are you still thinking about what happened this afternoon?" Taking a big step forward, Jagdish Joshi smiled again.
"Ha ha, what's there to think about? It's within my expectations." Sachin Joshi shaked his head and forced a smile.
"Ai…" Looking at Sachin Joshi's tender face, Jagdish Joshi let out a sigh. The both of them sinked into silence for a while, before Jagdish Joshi said. "Little Sachin, you're 17 now, aren't you?"
"Yes, father."
"Just one more year… and you have to attend the Adulthood Ceremony…" Jagdish Joshi said.
"Yes, father. Only a year left." Sachin Joshi's fist clenched for a while before he replied. He was extremely clear what the Adulthood Ceremony meant. Once the ceremony had past, for the Sachin Joshi that didn't train, he would be subject to the criteria of searching for Falan techniques. Because he was so weak, he would be sent to do a normal job in the other parts of the Joshi clan. This was a clan rule and even if the clan leader was his father, he would not be able to do anything about it.
If one didn't reach Falan Disciple by the age of 25, the clan would abadon them.
"Sorry, Little Sachin. If you don't reach the Falan Scholar 7th stage by next year, I can't do anything to help you, no matter how much I want to. In this clan, I'm not the sole decision maker. There's also those old geezers waiting for me to make a mistake…" Looking at the peaceful Sachin Joshi, Jagdish Joshi voiced guiltily.
"Father, I will continue to work hard. One year later, I'll definitely reach the Falan Scholar 7th stage!" Sachin Joshi reassured his father.
"4 stages in 1 year? Ahh… if it were me from before, it may have been possible, but now… I might not have much of a chance…" Though Sachin Joshi was trying to reassure his father, he himself was bitter about it.
Knowing full well Sachin Joshi's position, Jagdish Joshi could only answer with a sigh. He knew that 4 stages of Falan Scholar in a year was extremely difficult. He gently patted Sachin Joshi's head, and smiled, saying. "It's getting quite late, you should go back and get some rest. Tomorrow, the clan has a guest and you shouldn't miss the ceremony."
"Guest? Who?" Sachin Joshi asked, full of curiousity.
"You'll find out tomorrow." Jagdish Joshi winked at the restless Sachin Joshi, leaving with a big smile on his face.
"Don't you worry, father. I'll work really hard." Sachin Joshi rubbed the simple ring while raising his head and whispering.
Just when Sachin Joshi raised his head, the black ring on his finger sudddenly lit up with with a mysterious glow and flashed. Blinking, Sachin Joshi realised it wasn't a person…
A young man was meditating on his bed. In front of him, his hands were clasped in a weird yet relaxed manner. His chest peacefully rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath. Everything was just… so natural! With every breath he took, a pale white stream of what seemed to be air darted into the young man's nose and mouth, squeezing into his body and reshaping it.
As the young man was meditating, a strange yet dim sparkle appeared for a brief moment on the plain black ring that he wore on his finger.
"Huuuu…" Sachin Joshi slowly let out his breath and opened his eyes, blinking. A pale white light flashed across his black pupils, that was the Falan Power that had just been absorbed but not yet completely refined.
"It took such great effort to get that Falan Power, but… f*ck, it's disappearing again! No, no please noooo…" Sachin Joshi tried desperately to keep the disappearing Falan Power from slipping away but to no avail. As the last bit of Falan Power left his body, Sachin Joshi's face changed from being calm to one of anger and despair and his voice rose with fury.
He curled his hands into fists and was rapidly clenching and unclenching them. Eventually, his visage transited from extreme anger to a forced grin. After all, there was nothing he could do about it. Wearily, he dragged his body off the bed and stretched his numb legs. With only Falan Scholar of a 3rd Stage, such menial matters were always present.
After having done a few exercises in his plain room, an old, wizened voiced sounded outside of his door. "Young master, the clan leader has requested your presence in the hall."
The young man was the third son of the clan header, Sachin Joshi. Above him were two brothers, but they had already left the clan in search of adventure. Only at the end of each year would they come back and meet their family. Overall however, the two brothers were extremely nice to their little brother, Sachin Joshi, even when he fell from being a genius to a piece of trash.
"Coming!" Sachin Joshi changed his clothes and went out. Outside of his room was anelder in a green robe. "Let's go!"
Looking at the Sachin Joshi's fresh face, the elder nodded his head. But when he turned around, his eyes showed a flash of regret. If young master had his former talent, he probably would have been a great Falan Disciple, such a waste…
The elder and the Sachin Joshi crossed through the back yard and finally arrived solemnly at the welcoming hall. After politely knocking, the two softly went in.
The hall was quite large, but there were many people already in it. At the head of the hall were Jagdish Joshi and three emotionless elders. They were the clan elders and had equal importance to the Clan leader.
On the left, below the four were other elders from the clan. These elders didn't hold as much power as the clan elders but nevertheless, they had quite a bit of say and weren't pushovers. Besides these elders were young men that had shown promise and talent.