Kweku shuffled over to his bed, practically throwing himself onto its hard bamboo surface, his eyes were dark and sunken, his brown skin drawn tight against his wide cheekbones and streamlined jaw.

He clutched a small object tightly in his left hand, gripping it as if it were his own heart.

It seemed to be a small ball, which glowed softly in the darkness, barely illuminating the room.

"Ato..." He called out, his voice dry and croaky. "Water..."

Ato reached out, grabbing a gourd from the corner of his bed.

He passed the gourd to Kweku, who greedily gulped down every last drop of water within it.

He then lifted his hand, bringing the orb into contact with his lips...

And immediately swallowed it.

"What the Fuck!"

Ato stared in disgust at the now meditating Kweku, who simply sat on the bed as if nothing had happened.

He remained in that position for a few minutes, before quickly snapping his eyes open.

Kweku's countenance had visibly improved, the once dark dreary bags beneath his eyes were now replaced by soft and supple skin, his gaunt figure had become much meatier in terms of muscle, and he certainly seemed to have gained a few centimeters in height.

No way... Did he just break through?

It seemed whatever object his roomate had just ingested had allowed him to achieve a higher rank, elevating him from the first tier of Body Tempering to the second.

Kweku stretched out his hand, and it was immediately encased and a shell of hardened earth, which ran all the way up to this shoulder.

So that's his spell...

Ato felt quite annoyed that he couldn't learn it.

After dispelling the spell, Kweku went back to bed, and so did Ato.

Or at least, he tried to.

His mind kept wandering back to the event on the farm, the momentary adrenaline rush bringin a huge smile to his face.

It was so fun!

Yet it was also very, very scary.

Ato was completely unsure how he'd managed to dodge all those hits, or why he'd provoked the supervisor in the first place.

Fucking liar... Said the voice in his head, one which he had not heard in a long time. You know damn well why.

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Ato, for once, succeeded in ignoring the voice, and finally managed to get himself to bed.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Kokorokroo!"

'Bam!'

Ato violently banged his head against the wall of his hut, the action eliciting a sharp hiss from him.

The chicken gave its final cluck yet again, and Ato now sat over a fire, holding his hand over the open flame.

whereas before he would have gotten nasty burns from doing that, now he could simply place his palm over it, only feeling a sight discomfort.

He observed his hand, feeling the mystical energy swirl around it, protecting him from the searing heat of the flame; The kra within him had unconsiously moved to prevent him from getting burnt, while at the same time being slowly burnt.

He retracted his hand, feeling his Kra refill to its former capacity.

That was a concept he didn't quite understand.

From what Ato knew, one had to gather Kra within them until their bodies couldn't contain it anymore, the different stages of the cultivation realms were simply different thresholds of gathered Kra, with one reaching 'full capacity' once they had attained the fifth stage of Body tempering.

Since one's Kra was usually at a constant level, any reduction in Kra would usually be passively restored to its original capacity.

This meant that the only way to increase One's Kra capacity was through the usage of the cultivation techiques, which were methonds used to gather Kra to one's self and refine it once the person had reached the required level.

And just like in Ato's old world, some methods were simply better than others, or required spicific constitutions.

If this world was anything like those cultivation novels he'd read online, then there were probably a wide array of cultivation techniques, with some of them probably containing their own spells within them.

As he glanced over at the sleeping Kweku, a sudden thought flashed through his mind.

Could he be one of 'Heaven's favoured'?

The concept of 'he favoured by the heavens' was always an interesting part of any xianxia story, whether they be self-righteous douchebags, or black-hearted mass-murderers, they were always a common existence within the world of the story.

And Kweku's little stunt just so happened to fit the bill.

Ato wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly woke up and began asking if he could hear the old man's voice.

Chuckling a bit at the thought, Ato crossed his legs and began cultivating, aiming to gather as much Kra as he could.

An hour later, he stopped, feeling his Kra surge and swell before settling down.

He'd managed to nearly double his current Kra reserves, which brought a smile to his face.

Ato glanced up at the sun through the window of his hut, normally they would already have been called out to work, but it seemed today was a weekend of sorts.

Seeing as Kweku was still asleep, Ato decided it was about time for him to take a nice, long stroll.

He left the hut in a jovial mood, watching the birds in the sky go by.

"Weee!" A child raced by, pursued by three other children, all with big smiles on their tiny faces.

"Get back here!" giggled the others, picking up the pace.

It was a cute little scene, which would have been even cuter if he hadn't suddenly been reminded of the fact that they were all simply slaves, with no free will of their own.

The sound of bones snapping echoed through his mind as he recalled the sight of the farm worker squirming and screaming as his arm lay uselessly by his side.

I've got to lay low...

But he was a bit fucked in that regard wasn't he? Everywhere he went, people glanced his way, whispering quietly about his supposed fight with the supervisor, the events of which had been greatly exagerated.

A slender arm wrapped around him, dragging him into an alleyway.

In the alley, Ato finally got a look at his kidnapper, who just so happened to be one of the girls from the courtyard: Abena.

She was dressed a little differently.

Abena wore a light wool vest, which ended just above her knee and loose cotton trousers, which almost encompassed her feet, virtually hiding them from view.

A little brass charm hung from the right side of her attire, one which Ato just so happened to recognise.

"You're in the army?"

Abena looked surprised at his question, fingering one of the long strands of braided hair that found their way out of her bun.

"Well, yes, but that's not why I'm here."

She took a deep breath, steeling her resolve.

"Ato." she began. "I want you to fight me."