Before dawn.

In the training center.

In the silent field.

After testing his talent and potential, Evangeline had instructed him to wait for her here.

After leaving the central region of the academy, Arlo took Joe back to their room before coming to the center.

He stood still for several moments before sending his Ki into the slime seal on his arm, and immediately after, bluish energy flowed to his hands. Soon after 10 orbs revolved around him. This progress was thanks to Anita's effort. The more Anita got stronger, the more of her power Arlo would be able to access. While Anita's core strength was limited by Arlo's cultivation, after devouring the firebird, she underwent a drastic transformation.

Arlo had been so excited to test her new powers out, but he had been suppressing his excitement. He could not expose Anita's existence to the academy. So far, he had been happy that Teacher Grim had not questioned him about her.

*Zing!*

The fist-size ten orbs slowly revolved around him with a loud ringing sound like planets around the sun creating a wonderful sight.

Arlo tried to control the ten orbs simultaneously but found it very difficult to accomplish. Using his connection with Arianne, he could only perfectly simultaneously control four orbs.

However, he didn't fret, after all, he expected such a result. He already had the perfect solution to resolve this issue.

He closed his eyes and shut his senses from his surroundings. The sound of the revolving orbs slowly disappeared around him. Deep within his mind, Arlo saw a small flame flickering silently within his dark consciousness. He tried to connect to the flame, and immediately after...

The ten revolving orbs came to a sudden stop.

Arlo's divine sense spread out to cover an area of twenty meters with him as the center. This improvement was due to the constant usage of his divine sense when he was still in the northern continent.

Only a very few in the academy knew that he had awakened his divine sense and could even utilize it like a vampire. So far so good, Arlo had not seen any vampire actively utilizing their divine sense in a fight, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized he had only seen a few fights among vampires since he entered the northern continent. Sure, he had seen Arianne and a few others use their spiritual energy to shut down the senses of their opponents but still, that wasn't enough for him. He felt like there was far more potential in using spiritual energy.

Using his spiritual energy, Arlo controlled the ten orbs to his will. The orbs which had been revolving in the same direction started moving along different paths. He took several minutes to adapt to controlling the orbs like an extension of himself.

After he became satisfied with his progress, Arlo recalled his last training with Evangeline. Evangeline had taught him 'control' the last time.

According to her, Control is a passive technique a true warrior should possess. The ability to predict the opponent's move and perfectly respond to it with a minimum but efficient movement could determine the outcome between two strong fighters.

Arlo took a fighting posture and started practicing his martial arts.

Dirty martial arts!

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Contrary to its unattractive name, he had come to love the technique.

He sent his right elbow out in a horizontal sweep, then he rotated his body and swept his left elbow in the opposite direction. At the same time, he controlled the ten orbs to cover his blind spots.

Arlo continued to train for hours without stopping once. After the awakening ritual, he realized he had an amazing talent, but he knew he had to work hard to bring out his full potential.

Besides, he had to prepare for the next ranking war which was in two days. He knew he was now relatively weak in his class, but he still wouldn't give up and would try his best.

Yes, he could not cultivate for now, but he could still get stronger. Evangeline had already proved that to him.

After the awakening of their bloodline, the majority of his mates broke into the advanced realm, with Ric, and Bon jumping straight to the middle level. However, their result couldn't compare to Rosaline and Judi who became late-level advanced mages, and Arianne who became peak-level advanced mage. He attributed their sudden rise in cultivation to their overwhelming talents.

But what Arlo didn't know is that the main reason why Rosaline and Judi had such an increase in their cultivation was due to the Origin blood they received. While others received origin blood from high nobles or Counts like Ric and Bon, Rosaline and Judi could receive theirs directly from the Lords. There was simply no comparison between the quality. Not to mention that the quantity they received was more.

As for Arianne, her case was simply special.

'I am no more a match for her.' Arianne's image flashed within his mind. Arianne and Joe were his first friends, yet he didn't know why he felt bad that Arianne was moving far ahead of him.

Was it because of his pride?

Arlo quickly shook off the miscellaneous thoughts.

'Let's focus on Jude for now!' He didn't mind losing his rank in the next ranking war, however, he absolutely must kill Jude in their fight next week.

Thinking about Jude and Toon's attitude toward him at the awakening ritual, Arlo's handsome face distorted completely as his eyes shone with killing intent. If someone looked at him at the moment, they would mistake him for a demon. That was how scary his current appearance was.

He used his anger to fuel his resolve and soon after, Arlo became lost in his training.

.....

In the central region.

Immediately after Arlo left the hall.

A disturbing silence enveloped the great hall, and those present gazed at the shattered fragments of an orb with distorted faces.

Evangeline released a deep breath.

When she noticed the tense air, she quickly sent Arlo away. She didn't dare to imagine how Scatlett and the lords would react.

Surprisingly enough, not even a minute later, Scarlett spoke with an unreadable expression. However, her ruby eyes shone with an intense glow.

"The secret realm is about to open!"

There was a momentary silence before...

"What!?"

The Lords who had a menacing aura around them suddenly shouted in surprise.

Headmaster Holden hesitated for a moment before he asked carefully, "My liege, the secret realm opens every decade, but there should still be four years before the next opening."

Scarlett nodded, "That is right. However, for some reason, the secret realm will open soon..."

Scarlett didn't say more than that. While some of the lords wanted to ask why she said so, they hesitated before refraining from doing so.

The secret realm was accessible to all the races in this world and while they all jointly monitored it, they only do so when it's near the opening time. Allocating members to watch the gate every decade would be a waste of time and personnel.

Yet now, their liege was telling them the gate was about to open, something that had never happened before. Frankly majority of them doubted her words but they didn't dare to show it.

While they didn't show it, Scarlett could read their thoughts and she didn't blame them for not believing her.

The reason she didn't tell them why she believed the gate would soon open was so that they wouldn't go after the pitch-black snake after knowing its origin.

'Never before has a beast left that realm! It is rather intriguing.'

She withdrew her thoughts and commanded, "Send words to the werewolves, magical beasts, and humans. Let them know the gate will soon open. Prepare our students and head out in a day. Oh..." She paused for a moment before she continued, "Take Arianne, Arlo, and the beast boy with you!"

The expressions of the lords simultaneously changed, "My liege, we only have ten medallions! How can we give two to outsiders?"

For the first time, the lords questioned her and tried to persuade her.

Scarlett waved her hand dismissively, "Just do as I said."

The Lords who wanted to talk back swallowed their words when they noticed her cold stare.

Evangeline on the other hand was very pleased. She didn't care about Joe, but the fact that Arlo received an opportunity to enter the secret realm brought her great joy.

'Hmm...thay boy is starting to rub off on me.'

A sweet smile graced her stunning face. It was the joy of having a remarkable student.