A few hundred meters away from where Caz was, a young girl was sitting around a campfire with a big pot of what seemed to be stew. She had a cheerful smile on her face as the stew slowly cooked.
The girl was Alicia Commery, a 16-year-old cultivator in the middle of the Body Strengthening realm. Comparing her cultivation to others her age, she was actually faster than most. While not a monstrous genius, she could easily catch the eye of powerful sects like Flying Mountain.
She originally came from a relatively large city. The city itself was almost like a Kingdom, a small kingdom, but still bigger than most. She was the younger 'princess' of that city, she had an older sister which made her the youngest and this made her father and mother pamper her to no end.
While some would say she was a bit arrogant, they also knew that she had a heart of gold. Alicia would often teach the young kids nears the slums around her city. Things like how to read, write, simple math and other common things that they might need.
Alicia learned that she had an innate talent for cultivation from one of her father's friends. The friend of her father was a semi-powerful cultivator at the Martial Warrior realm. He noticed that her talent for cultivation was nearing even the genius level. He quickly recommended her to one of his buddies at Flying Mountain. The man's friend was an Elder there and was more than happy to accept Alicia if she chose to join.
After about a year of cultivating at Flying Mountain, she had rapidly advanced to the middle of Body Strengthening.
She was quite happy with her progress as countless praises rained upon her from peers and elders alike. Even though some people might think that sect disciples treat one another as nothing more than cannon fodder, it's actually only partially correct. While they don't treat everyone they meet like their long lost cousin, it doesn't mean that they despise every person they meet.
It might help that Alicia is a beautiful girl, medium length white hair with blue eyes, pretty short standing at about 4'11 with a petite but growing figure. She always had an innocent and naive aura about her, and this hasn't changed in the last year of cultivating.
She was just returning from a sect mission, sects allowed certain people to propose quests for the disciples to take on. Once a mission was completed, they would be awarded money, but if it was just money then not many disciples would care for it. The main thing about missions is that they allowed you to get Sect Credits, the credits allowed you to purchase resources and Martial Art Skills. Martial Art Skills or just Skills were, in the simplest manner, just fancy moves that allowed for greater boosts to attack strength, agility and soul power just to name a few.
Before heading inside of the city, Alicia decided to take a break from walking and set up a little fire to make a small pot of stew for herself. It had only been a week since she had left but it felt like an eternity for the young girl.
Alicia was excited to just be back and out of harm's way, accepting missions is very mentally exhausting, even for senior disciples. Something could go wrong at any minute.
While making sure the stew was done, she grabbed a bowl out of her carrying bag and was about to dig in when she noticed a man who was sitting next to her with an expression that screamed 'feed me please'.
"HYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Alicia started screaming and fell over.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The main beside her let out a feminine scream himself. "WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?"
"Who are you?! Where did you come from?!" Alicia questioned with a deadly but scared glare. She never even felt this man's presence, she barely caught a glimpse of him when she grabbed her bowl.
"Oh sorry! My name is Caz, I thought I smelled something delicious when I was about to enter through the gates, so I followed the smell and saw you. Can I have some?" Caz had puppy dog eyes that would make someone feel like petting him, or if you were Hanna, beat him.
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"Why should I give you some? You're suspicious, suddenly appearing like that out." Alicia had calmed down but still warily glaring at Caz. It was rare to see a devil on Tairo, especially a devil with this kind of appearance. She could justify the tail that was rapidly swinging from side to side like an expectant puppy looking for food, but those eerie eyes made her shudder.
She would have instantly attacked the man if he didn't have that childish smile on his face. Seriously, how can you have eyes like that, but still have the grin of an 8-year-old playing with his toys? Seeing the long vertical slits follow her around as she picked up her bowl made her feel creeped out, yet oddly safe.
"Please?! I'll do anything, I haven't eaten in 2 hours! If I go any further, I feel as though my soul might soar into the heavens, would you let little ol' me die from starvation? This would be bad for your karma, just watching a starving man while you eat a bowl of st-"
"SHUT UP, SHEESH. Fine, I get it! Eat all you want." Alicia didn't know this man, but she could feel that if she didn't stop him from talking, it was a big possibility he wouldn't stop talking for hours.
"I knew you'd come around, they always say cute girls are the kindest. *slurp*. Oh god, this hits the spot. Delicious!" Caz had already grabbed a bowl even before she finished her sentence. Quickly slurping down the stew.
"C-cute, huh. Maybe you aren't so bad. My name is Alicia Commery, I was born in the city of Comm. Have you heard of it?" Alicia suddenly felt like this man wasn't so bad if he could call her cute. Her future self would like to come back and slap her for this thought.
"Comm, huh? Doesn't ring any bells. This is my first time travelling around these parts, so I'm not surprised. As I said before, I'm Caz, no last name. If you haven't noticed somehow, I'm a devil. Tails are neat, right? You humans should get some." Caz said while he had a curious tone, almost seriously wondering why humans didn't have tails.
"You can just grow a tai- Whatever, why are you suddenly travelling to Cou? Any reason in particular?" Alicia asked with an inquisitive expression.
"Hmm, not really. I just felt bored and wanted to explore. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I was going to see if I could see the Flying Mountain Sect thingy." Explained Caz with a cheerful smile that only children would have.
"I see! If you want, I could guide you towards the sect! Coincidentally, I am a disciple of that sect. I'm sure you could join if I put in a word for you. How about it?" Alicia asked him with a happy face, she always wanted to be a senior sister who helped her juniors with cultivation problems. She mostly wanted to do this to get back at her sister. Alicia's sister was a Disciple of the Ferocious Fairy Sect. It was an all-female sect, they didn't have anything against men, it's just that their founder only taught girls in her younger days, so they just kept up with tradition. Adding onto that, most of their techniques weren't suitable for males anyways.
Her sister loved her, a bit too much. Since the Sects were relatively close, she saw her sister quite often. She always helped Alicia with any question towards cultivation, so this ignited Alicia's determination to become a senior and guide juniors as her sister did with her.
"Hmm. I have a question before I answer." Caz said with a serious face. It was like his cheerful and carefree attitude didn't even exist.
Alicia was stunned and slightly fearful of his aura but still nodded. "O-of course, ask away!"
"Are the female disciples just as beautiful as you?" Caz still had the serious look, as though this question would decide life or death.
Alicia didn't know how to respond at first but when the question finally clicked, her face had a blush that extended to her ears. Stuttering slightly after a bit, she responded in a small voice, "yes, t-there are even ones that I can't even compare to." If Caz's ears weren't amplified by his cultivation, he would have never heard her.
He looked angry when he responded. "What? You dare lie to me?" Caz said while he quickly stood up and looked offended.
"W-what do you mean, I told the truth!" Alicia looked very confused as she was still somewhat stuttering from her previous blush.
Caz started laughing. "You did lie to me! How could there be someone more beautiful than our very own Alicia?! Show me the way so that I may rip the disguise from their face!" He thought he looked like a mighty hero in his head. Alicia just thought he was a moron.
"Ehehe~. While I do appreciate the compliment, please do not start clawing at the faces of the disciples." She warned him with a joke. For some reason, she felt that if she didn't do this, he would really jump on random people and attempt to take their "disguise" off.
Caz laughed while his cheerful expression quickly came back. "Fine, I would never do that! *Probably*."
"Did you just mumble something after that?"
"No."
"Hmm, alright then. Enough talk, let's head into the city. It's almost noon. You have some of the weirdest luck I've seen, the yearly entrance exam at around 2:30." Alicia said as she was looking in the direction of the Kingdom.
"Huzzah! I knew those lousy Gods would bestow me with their luck!" Quickly holding a small pot with both hands, he slurped the rest of the stew down while a dumbfounded Alicia was staring at him. He put the pot down and patted his stomach with a burp. Alicia laughed loudly at the sight. 'What a weird man'.
What Alicia didn't know, was that this 'weird man' was going to bring endless grief towards the elders of Flying Mountain.