Kyro listened intently to Damien’s words and felt honestly surprised by his answer. Kyro thought it was some comprehension he found in an ancient site with the hopes to have their knowledge passed down. Contrary to his thoughts, it was more of a natural process only formed in beings of a higher level like himself.

“Inherited memories, maybe? But that’s nonsense, you are just a human, no offense. That is how Heavenly Beasts or higher pass down knowledge to their offspring. I will admit I can sense some stinky Phoenix traits in you but that’s it.”

Kyro satiated in a quiet contemplation, but even his mind could not be set on an explanation. In the end it was best for him to accept it for what it was.

“Forget it. In a world like this, it’s fine to expect anything can happen. Kiddo, I’ll say it first, I let you stay for my own selfish reasons. I wanted to make my Karma turn for the better, but now things are interesting. You traveling with a Combat God, and now this. I want to see what you got.”

Damien did not mind what intentions he had, as long as it benefited him. What caught his attention was the talk about his Dao and Heavenly Beasts. It appeared that there was more to cultivation and rankings than what he was taught.

“You spoke about a higher plane of the Dao, and Heavenly Beasts which is new to me. What can you tell me about that?”

Kyro felt embarrassed he let out such minor information. He did not oppose teaching Damien more about the world, but it would do him more harm than good. So far he was on his own path and knowing more could derail him into chasing something else. That would be the biggest disservice Kyro could do.

“There is no need for you to worry about that. It is fine to not know something.”

Damien pouted with his sad puppy look, clearly trying to gain some sympathy. Kyro did his best to ignore, but in the end it affected his old yet warm heart.

“How about this? After you finish training I will assess you again. Depending on how you advanced I can give you a little more information. Is that okay with you?”

Damien nodded vibrantly as his whole mood changed around. Kyro felt like a fool to fall for such a simple trick, however he couldn’t help but feel happiness in that moment. It was as if he found a connection after all the lonely years he endured. After their talk was over, Damien wasted no time in cultivating. His next step was to get used to this environment and understand it from the inside out. He didn’t bother with the Solar Fire Dao for now since it could deviate his Dao instead of integrating with it smoothly.

‘I need to solidify my foundations so if I add anything else it will not break apart. Also it would be better to focus on the core principles of the Solar Fire Dao before jumping straight into it. This way everything could connect!’

Damien laid out his plan and began to go into a cultivation frenzy. Time as of now was no concern for him. He felt his cultivation speed reach a transformative speed even though he was only using the Earth Realm cultivation technique. It was all due to the Solar World Tree’s special environment that was loaded with Mana. He spent the first weeks desperately catching up in his cultivation, followed by deep meditations on the Dao. With the help of pills and potions he made a quick advance to the middle stages of the Sky Realm in Dao Magic. If he had stayed in the academy training in the chambers, he would barely make a dent in his advancement. Followed by a lower chance to compete and win in the I-CAT.

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Once he reached his absolute limit where he could no longer see any more unprecedented progress, he stepped on the breaks. It took him two weeks to reach Rank 6 and it was a little shoddy at best. He needed to reconsolidate his Mana since he advanced too fast. This was due to the pills and potions which always carried a side effect or toxin to the body. Not even the top tier ones are impervious to the laws of Heaven. To make something beyond with no side effects was never noted down in their history. Damien took an extra two weeks to bring his Mana Fluid up to the purity of the rest. This way there was not an imbalance to his force.

Within the first month Damien had only cultivated his Mana but that didn’t discourage him. Mainly because he had no sense of time when he was cultivating, so he did not realize he wasted a third of his school break. Kyro watched him the entire time from his perch, and he could not have been more hysterical. He had caught glimpses of the purity of his Mana from the influx of energies he produced. Even he did not come up to par with Damien when he was in the Sky Realm.

“What a monster that child is. Makes my title as a Heavenly Beast a joke.”

Now that Damien reached a point he was satisfied with his Dao Magic stage, he felt ready to pursue the Dao with no distractions. Just like his game plan he started from the basics and reviewed his own Dao over again. Sometimes it was better to go in depth into what you already knew, because things in plain sight can go blind from your view. It was like seeing something so many times that you are used to it, so you don’t question it. But what happens when you begin to question it? It brings out something better than before.

Damien was doing a whole revamp of his Dao of Fire not only because he wanted to integrate the Solar Dao of Fire, but also because he felt things were too mysterious to him, even though he was supposed to comprehend them. This was a flaw due to his Flame Core providing the comprehension in the palm of his hands. This led to usage without the complete knowledge of what he was doing and it irked him as of now. Before he rode on the high of his strength and then became busy with cultivating and now on this journey. It was only because he had finally slowed down it occurred to him. He had only intended to do this for about a month but plans never go as planned.

Months passed by like days to Damien as he was in this state. Kyro rested peacefully the entire time since it was rare to find any travelers coming here. The world kept moving along without a care of anyone’s thoughts. During the beginning of this isolation, Aya left but not without purpose. Her first order of agenda was to meet with their careful stalker. She did it now, since she felt safe leaving Damien with Kyro. It took her an entire week to catch their elusive spy in the open. It was a man with unnaturally long limbs and long hair that dropped below his waist. Will, who had been trailing Damien all along, had finally met his match. He put his arms up in the air in defeat. The only thing was that he didn’t seem to care or be scared he was caught.

“You got me. So what now?”

Aya carefully analyzed Will’s unique structure and tried to predict his strength, but he wasn’t boasting any power.

“Why are you following Damien? I let you get this far, but now we are all alone.”

Will propped his long arms back down with a slight hunch to his back.

“That’s for me to know. Why are you traveling with him? I can’t fathom why a Combat God is with him. Maybe he is showing his true colors? I don’t know.”

“What are you blabbering about? Tell me your purpose or else.”

Aya’s aura skyrocketed, bringing about a change to the atmosphere. Every single beast in the vicinity retreated in fright. Will looked nonplussed and whistled at the sight. I will split apart his hair revealing a third-eye in the middle of his forehead. He squatted down like a frog with his hind legs sprung while his skin manifested translucent jade dragon scales. His aura matched hers in every sense surprising Aya.

“A 3-Eyed Dragon Toad in these parts!? Why is someone like you fooling around on this continent?”

“I can say the same to you.”

Any more words would be useless for these two. All that was left was action. They moved at the same time, causing a clash that changed the environment. Their fight went on for days without a clear victor. All that was left was the devastation of their power. They both left without answers but it was clear it did no one any good to continue. Surprisingly they were evenly matched, which left Aya stupefied afterwards. Here in the Zyres Continent she could be said to be invincible without a match, however she couldn’t be more wrong. Aya knew Will was born here from his Mana signature, which made it all more shocking he was that strong. It left her with a lot to think about knowing someone like him was following Damien around.