Mortal Realm

Neograze Empire

Fargo Kingdom (forest region)

Xuan Martial troupe territory

Sect grounds

The carriage stopped near Lydia's personal quarters which looked like a mansion if anything, Officer Yue was discharged and Sato took the other recruits to get settled leaving Longwei for Lydia to deal with personally. "You have guts kid, and going by the way you carry yourself you somehow have the experience to back it up", Lydia stated as they both stood outside her quarters.

"And so??", Longwei asked in disinterest, while she was his master in name, there wasn't anything she could teach him that he did know and remake, he's probably failed more cultivation experiments than she will ever live to try, and that was when he was mortal. "So let's do this, I will give you whatever resources you need to grow at your request and you will have no restrictions on your training, I won't limit you or control your progress in any way", Lydia said with a calm smile.

"What's the catch??", Longwei asked as he wasn't buying any of it, even if it was something trivial favors like this always have a counterbalance. "Simple, your every action outside of training will represent me and my image...I will officially announce you as my disciple once you pass the Troupe hunt", Lydia demanded with a smirk.

Longwei's P.O.V

This bloody sadist is just out for more entertainment as per usual. If I agree it will bring me more enemies than allies since she is a councilwoman with one of the more questionable reputations in the organization, besides that though I'd say this offer is my best path forward, after all, it would be better if she left me to my devices and only provided material support, I doubt there is much she could teach me anyway. "I agree", I squeeze out with a sigh, the things I do for peace of mind. I take another look around and see a training yard near the back, surprisingly there is actually very rich Qi coming from over there, it's more than enough to allow me to break through all the way to a rank one Qi Refiner. "Give me your Aura pill, I have a week of cultivation ahead of me and I plan to start immediately... Master", I say in all seriousness, if I am going to do this I will win by an overwhelming landslide or I don't even bother trying.

Not even a half hour later I had received 10 aura pills and consumed them all, usually, people doing this would be suicide as the energies would be too much for a mortal body like mine to handle, however, this is where my foundation training kicks in, although as a mortal I can't manipulate Qi of any kind, I trained my body in certain conditions for a full year straight so it could develop tolerance to the harm a qi overload would give.

As expected my body began to violently contort as I pucked puddles of blood, my muscles felt like they were being melted while my veins felt frozen and paralyzed, if I am being honest, I underestimated the pain this would put me through as not long after I consumed it I passed out.

I woke up on the ground and looked around myself to get a feel for my surroundings, it was nightfall so only a few hours had passed at most, and as expected the qi overload pushed me beyond the first rank of body refinement, and with a week's worth of exercise and qi refinement to go, I doubt I will have many problems with the trial hunt.

Reader's P.O.V

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

One week Later

Xuan Martial troupe Territory

Military grounds

Longwei stood beside Lydia with a look of indifference painted on his face, the currently stood at the edge of a cliff that led down to a forest, the mountain range formed a sort of cover around the forest forming a kind of valley, the secret Martial Troupe referred to these as the hinting grounds, for more reasons than one. While it was indeed a part of the troupe's territory, they had no real control over it as wild creatures roamed as they pleased and killed as they pleased, the natural law of the jungle still applied here. This 50-kilometer forest range was the ultimate survival ground for cadets of the military to practice Their formations and to test Their grit, usually some end up dying in these tests and would be replaced immediately and without remorse, out here one was truly alone.

On this very ground of the forsaken was where the Troupe hunt trial was going to take place, a tournament of indefinite time where Cadets of the academy were to hunt down and capture the recruits that wish to join the Troupe, the aim for the recruits is to either defeat every single cadet and return to the surface or be the last recruit captured since Longwei was somewhat alone right now the rules were different.

According to Lydia he basically had to survive in this place for a month and then climb out bare-handed or defeat 100 disciples of the academy. He would then be assigned points according to the ranks of said disciples that he defeats. For the outer court disciples, they would be worth 1 point, inner court disciples would be worth 10, core disciples would be worth 50, Elite disciples would be worth 100 and officers would be worth 250 points, they would be identified by the headbands they were given.

Once he was done his points would determine his place within the troupe and which faction he would be assigned to, though other factors would be considered when this is called into question. 100 points would guarantee him a place in the outer court, 1000 points would secure him a place in the inner court, 5000 points would secure him a place as a core disciple, 10000 points would secure him a place as an elite disciple, and lastly, 25000 points would secure him a place as an officer, there was no limit on exactly how many headbands he could collect, but he wouldn't be seen as a member of the Martial troupe until this trial was over and passed, as such for the month-long duration of the troupe hunt he has access to no resources provided by the troupe. However, any and all resources he hunted for himself out there be it stolen or earned were his for the keeping.

Longwei wore all-black Martial gee with a black ribbon tied to his right arm, he had a pair of short swords sheathed to his waist, one on each side and he wore a pair of gloves. Beneath his gee, he wore a pair of iron braces on each wrist and ankle as well as a thin plating of armor on his chest. What not even Lydia knew however was that contrary to even Longwei's expectation, he was a rank 5 Qi refinement cultivator. Though he took no breaks and trained diligently. He underestimated his body's natural talent and did not account for such a monstrous growth in strength, at least by this world's standards.

While in truth he could be stronger as he had adequate enough Qi for a breakthrough or two he simply didn't have the time left over to adjust to his new strength, he decided to save all of that for when the troupe hunt actually starts. Longwei understood that a talisman he currently held would transport him into a random uninhabited portion of the forest and then disappear, how he made his way back was his business and as his instructor, Lydia was to ensure that there was always someone to receive him should he make it back up with the required 100 headband ribbons.

Longwei's P.O.V

This trial should prove useful, so long as the other recruits stuck to Their ends of our little bargain I should have no problem blitzing through this troupe hunt within the next few days, however, what very few understand is that from this very troupe hunt trial one could be nominated and elder or even a supreme elder if Their scores were high enough. From the trend, the score followed I'd reckon that to qualify to be an elder you would need roughly 100000 points, for the position of Sargent that would be 250000, and the supreme elder would be closer to a million points. While that is difficult to fathom there are truly no limits to the gains of this trail, with strength and a wealth of knowledge like mine this is simply a breeding ground for resources and points, though I should probably leave my ranking at the elder rank as any further would give me an unnecessary amount of attention and enemies. Now let's kick this competition into full gear, from the moment I teleport I have an hour's head start to prepare for both my human and wild enemies, this is where the hunters are decided.