I took the tray and followed her back.

“That door… to the kitchen, place it there.” Celia pointed to her right as she sat down on a cushion beside the round table.

“Alright.” The kitchen had an old mud hearth with cooking utensils on the side, and a big clay jar, that took up most of the space, was just next to the door. I left the tray on a wooden rack with the other used dishes then went back.

She flinched a bit after I sat next to her.

“Have you seen yourself?” She asked.

“Not yet.” I wanted to.

She reached her into pocket and handed me a small square mirror.

The moment my reflection showed my face, it was shocking.

My hair was black and long to the point that it reached my jaws. The slightly slanted eyes encased blue irises. I got a tall nose and quite a pointy chin.

I looked like my younger self, just with a different eye color.

“See!” She pointed at me as she lightly chuckled.

“You got a handsome face… shocked me for a little while.” She praised.

So, this realm is the same, people change their attitude depending on their physical appearance. I understood this concept, even in the Highest Heavens they liked to rank appearances; The Ten Heavenly Beauties, and The Ten Men of Destiny. My name was on the rankings at some point in life. Mother even wanted to fight those who voted me out of the rankings as my body was aging, and it took Father and I hundreds of years to placate her anger.

“Understandable.” I agreed.

She rolled her eyes for some reason.

“Anyway, Classes.” She looked at me, then suddenly, a rectangular visual apparition appeared in front of her.

Class : Swordsman (White)

Rank : II

Skills : Balanced Stance (Stable stance for attacking and defending), Charging strike (Quickly charge an enemy with a strike), Vertical Slash( As slash that…), Thrust (Focusing your…), Guard (Basic defensive…)…

My hands went through vision as I tried to touch it, while Celia snickered at my actions.

“This is a Class… just think about it and it will pop up.” She pointed at the writing on the topmost part. “Divided into six rarity classes by the color it was written… White is the weakest while Dark Red is the strongest.”

She lowered her finger.

“Next is Rank, there are 10 ranks to each Class, they were written on how the Deities are numbered, and once you have reached rank 10, you have the chance of promoting your class to the next. This… is only possible if you have done a certain prerequisite for the change.”

She pointed at the last one.

“Skills, once you have learned a skill, you can use it anytime... if you have the energy for it.”

She withdrew the visual screen, awaiting my reaction.

My thoughts wandered comparing the two concepts of power between my world and this.

‘We have completely different laws on how to progress as an individual. As cultivators in pursuit of immortality, we have 15 cultivation stages. The first 9 stages are pre-immortality with 10 levels in each stage, while the 6 remaining are whole individual realms with no sub-stages starting from Immortal to the Heavenly God phase.

This world, however, has only 6 Classes with 10 ranks to fully comprehend a class. But there should be more, there are Deities that watch these mortals. So, seven main stages tentatively, if we include their Gods.

Power is a different matter. If their Gods could spread divinity to each individual, they must be at least comparable to the thirteenth stage in cultivation, Demi-God. There should be a great power deviation the more class advancement they get. She is at the first Class rarity at the second rank, which is the weakest. I am at the first cultivation level at the peak. Sadly, I only know how to compare from Immortal and beyond, I wonder how to compare lower tiered classes and cultivators.

But…the skill part is what baffles me. Nobody trains a skill and forgets them anyway. What a waste of power to include that.’

“Heeeeeyyy…” Celia’s dragged out calling awoken me from my thoughts.

“Finally… I’ve been calling you for so long… Try it... Class” She was curious to see mine.

“Class.” I said it out loud, but nothing came up.

“It seems you aren't blessed yet.” She mumbled.

“Blessings can be granted only when you are 16 and over. And you need to pray to a God to give you the blessing.” She said.

“Why 16?” I asked curiously. In the Highest Heavens and even the lower realms, cultivators train their offspring the moment they can walk.

“Oh… the people who tried to be blessed at a younger age will get some sort of defect, while the babies go...” She used her hands to imitate an explosion.

I fell into my thoughts again. ‘So, the hint of divinity that I felt from all of them is present the day they are born, and could only manifest once blessed; while 16 is the age when the body is prepared for it.’

“I see... so the Gods provide the blessings?” What generous gods if they did.

“The initial classes they give are similar but change as you progress. The God you chose would determine your path.” She showed her Class again.

“For example, among the 10 Deities, I chose to pray to Legathia, The Goddess of Life and Salvation. If I follow her teachings, I have a chance to become her Paladin, a fourth class rarity… colored purple. This class is specialized in protecting the people and her name using the power of the light.” She said in great reverence.

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“10 Gods… and who’s the strongest?” My Father is the strongest God, I’m curious to know who directs this world.

“Don’t… ever ask that question.” Her voice echoed in the room as her eyes locked into mine with deep concern and warning. “Conflicts happen because of that.” She continued with a sigh.

‘Unwritten rules.’ Each person reveres their own deity as the highest and will be insulted if challenged directly, the same as the lower realms back home.

“Then, can one worship several gods?” I tried to shift the topic.

“Yes of course…but your main God will dictate your path… usually in every town, there is a temple of worship for the nine gods. The one excluded is the second God, The God of Corruption, Messar; The patron of criminals and demons. Those human-like creatures with horns different from beasts, and some have sinister wings.” She expounded while using her fingers as horns.

‘So they have demons as well.’ Another similarity.

“Then, how do I get blessed... exactly?”

“The temple… pray to the deity you want and then you will get a class. Your consciousness will be transported to a different plane though…white light… bright... and you would get choices for your class. You can only choose one, depending on your aptitude.”

The Gods here are apt in dimensional power if they could transport your soul to their own plane. This concludes that they are at least in the Demi-God realm.

“And… how did your conversation go?” I was curious about how the Gods here conducted themselves.

She let out a short chuckle. “I didn’t, I only saw the Class choices I had... but some say that if you are strong enough, they will actually talk to you… maybe the 5th or 6th rarity, and you’ll be able to.”

Same mentality as the Gods back home, they only talk to individuals who reached a certain advancement.

‘Classes are out of the discussion since the divinity of this body has dispersed, it must have been extinguished when the original person died. I don’t want to get a class anyway since I already started cultivating, the foreign divinity and Qi might clash.’ The information present is still lacking.

‘If I…’ I glanced at Celia and quickly removed the thought of teaching her Qi as a test. The risk was too high.

‘Visiting the temple…’ I was about to speak but she went on first.

“The next town is quite far… a week of travel. Usually, we go by a traveling cart that comes by every weekend.” She anticipated my next question.

“I see.”

“It will be three days… the cart will arrive, will you leave?” She asked in a voice that trailed softer as she finished her question.

I chuckled. “I never leave until I repaid my debt ten times.” I finally got the chance to say it, father always used this phrase.

“That’s a good saying. So… what class do you think you were?” Celia approved of it and followed with another question.

“Class… I don’t know.” I have no idea.

“Combat?” She starts to get closer.

“Maybe…” Most people in this world should be some sort of combat specialist.

“You can fight?” She is still closing in.

“Probably…” The countless battles of high-ranking cultivators that I scrutinized should count. Their skills, techniques, and even mannerisms, I remember them all.

“Let’s test it…” She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the house towards the back of the field.

“So what do you use?” Celia seemed excited, she was lightly hopping.

‘Well, I haven’t used any weapon. I was a cripple.’ I thought of memories of the Immortals showing me their proudest skills, just for me to analyze.

“Sword… I guess?” It was the most common weapon, and the abundance of knowledge in different sword techniques are stored in my brain.

“Sure…come.” She grabbed me by the arm again and we went further back.

Behind the house was a tool shed, rusted tools and weapons were dumped inside.

“Choose what you like.” She presented with glee.

I took a sword, one-handed like hers. Easy to use at my current strength.

“Men usually wanted long swords.” She commented on my unusual choice.

“Well, I just recovered so this will be fine.” I replied.

We moved towards the center of the small field. 'I guess this place will be good for short exchanges.'

“Ready?” She asked as she lunged at me to strike.

She used her footing well, but her strike is too well telegraphed. It will be too easy to block, even if she relied on her increased power by using her speed and double grip.

I stood still with one hand behind my back readying to block. She swung her blade from over her head as I positioned my sword to meet the base of her sword to lessen the impact.

*Clang!* The sound of the sword clashing together reverberated in the air.

My eyes widened as my vision blurred. I was thrown to the ground, and my hand that gripped the sword was shivering from the impact.

“Sorry... are you ok?” Celia looked down at me offering a hand in concern.

*Pfft* “Hahahahaha!” I let out a long laugh.

Celia was aghast at my sudden laughter. She might have thought I had gone crazy. Her confused expression made me laugh even more. I dropped the sword on the ground and laid on the dirt while I stared at the clear sky, smiling.

‘I’m a huge moron. Just because I have observed thousands of cultivators battle, and analyzed their fighting styles, it doesn’t mean I could do perfectly mimic them without practice. Pure arrogance of the son of the Heavenly Venerable Emperor, I’m disgusted at you.’ I started to let out a little chuckle.

Celia’s face came into my vision, still wearing a confused expression.

“Did I hit you too hard?” She asked again while offering a hand.

I clasped her hand and was helped to stand.

“Sorry about that, I just remembered some things.” I explained my behavior.

“Remember? What else did you remember?” My memories seemed interesting to her now.

“How to fight… but my body doesn’t react the way it should.” I lied. I know how people fight, but not to fight.

“Really?!” Her eyes shined. “Show me!” She was excited.

“I just recovered. I can’t do it without proper training.”

“You suck.” She pouted.

‘Why was I just insulted?’ I couldn’t understand how she acted.

‘Hmm… as the son of the Heavenly Venerable Emperor, insults are a transgression… let me think… A movement technique for beginners should be easy.’ I browsed my memories to find a technique to retract her statement.

‘Fleeting clouds of the Silent Moon: First Stage’ This should be the easiest, used by most of the sword users in the Lower Heavens.

“Let me test first.” I took a branch and started making several markings on the ground.

“What are you doing?” She went over curious about the marks.

“For practice.” I marked the last spot on the ground, and it was ready.

"Can you move a little to the side? This needs space." I asked her.

She obliged and went to lean on the house wall.

Slowly, I started to step towards the different markings forward, then at the same pace going backwards. I repeated these movements as lightly as I can, and gradually increased my momentum once I'm used to a certain speed.

Celia was just carefully watching me.

'Minor completion this fast, I'm truly a genius.' My clothing was drenched in sweat after doing it at least a hundred times as I stopped and held my knees.

“So, what was that?” Celia asked as she patiently watched me doing the same movements for about an hour.

“Movement technique... that... specialized in speed... and evasion. Good for beginners.” I was catching my breath.

“And?” She seemed unaware of a movement technique.

“Wait… let me rest a bit and I’ll show you” I started to regulate my breathing.

Just after a few moments. “Attack.” I told her.

She slowly moved towards me and attacked, but I evaded slightly just as she slashed, and moved to her blind spot then poked her neck with my finger.

“One.” I let out a smug smile.

“Not yet!” She chased me around the field with a flurry of strikes, but she couldn’t hit. It was just almost, every time.

“Why are you only running away?” She taunted as she was happy keeping the pressure.

“I told you, it’s a movement technique.” I ducked, sidestepped, and bent backwards, while we engaged in banter.

I leaped back to gain distance and took my sword on the ground. She lunged at me with her blade positioned to thrust. As she started to stretch her arms, I moved slightly to the side in anticipation, avoiding it by a millimeter. I shifted my grip, letting my sword point at the back, then grabbed her thrusting arm and placed my blade near her neck. The position was held for a brief moment in silence.

“Too wide open.” I commented and released her.

She dropped her sword and glared at me.

“HEY! You said you didn’t have class!” She must be furious since she suddenly lost like that, and never did she hit me once.

“I told you… I don’t have.” I argued.

“What was that then?!” She started poking my chest.

“A movement technique, how many times-“ She cut me off.

“Liar! That should be a skill… Come with me!” She grabbed my arm and started to drag me… again.