Leo returned to the Aurora mortal realm the same afternoon. The curios girl was reluctant to let her newfound exotic toy leave, but there was no way around it. Only when he was giving the last report prior to the departure, Leo learned that both times he could stay for a prolonged period only because of a bunch of fortunate coincidences. If an old geezer teleported to the Golden city, the first thing that the authorities would do was to verify his origins and if he was from a mortal realm, most likely he would’ve been immediately sent back.
Compared to the last time, Leo’s return to the sect caused an actual ruckus.
Lady Evelyn had long forgotten about his existence and the whole expedition to Dreadlands as well and for some time was coming up with new ways to cure her condition. Just like any other day she was meditating in the Spirit tower when elder Willis stormed in, in front of him holding the jade jar with the four dark-crimson horned beetles in trembling hands.
“S … sect m … master!” He stuttered barely able to put together words, “H … he returned! The Leo guy … he returned from the Dreadlands realm!”
Seeing the jade jar in elder’s hands she couldn’t hold back the excitement and, without paying attention to her demeanor, dashed over and grabbed it. Then she carefully lifted the lid … and the next moment elder Willis was kicked out.
Meanwhile the other division heads ran around in panic not knowing what to do with the ‘luck-sucking disaster’ who just returned, except for elder Cross who decided to not let Leo out of sight and sat alone with him in the office, staring ‘the truth’ out of the boy.
At first it was fine. Leo answered elder’s questions, basically giving a report, but pretty soon the old man ran out of things to ask and the damned kid didn’t show any initiative to tell what exactly happened during the last years. For Leo it became boring pretty soon and after a longer period of silence he actually fell asleep. Elder Cross, of course, was angry and annoyed, but in the end decided that watching over the potential source of risk was the best he could do.
Actually elder Cross was probably the only one from the higher-ups of the Sacred Order who never forgot about Leo and the ‘threat’ he posed to the sect. During the past two years he tried to extensively study the ‘luck vampirism’, but unfortunately apart from few tales there were no scientific researches to be found.
In the end the best thing elder Cross could do was to pray the kid died for the sake of the sect in a foreign realm, but unfortunately his ‘greatest fears came true’ and Leo came back while the rest of the expedition didn’t. In addition, him returning with whole four dark-crimson horned beetles instead of one or two clearly confirmed elder’s suspicions – the boy was the fabled ‘luck absorber’!
Leo was released only the next morning with the condition he would report to elder Cross personally twice a day. He was informed that the sect master was currently not available and for now he’ll have to wait for the promised reward of cultivating in the Spirit tower for three months straight. Of course, Leo was not certain whether he would use this opportunity at all considering his condition, thus there was no rush.
Disciplinary division’s main office was right at the main square and last night upon arrival Leo already verified his name was neither on Earth nor on Heaven ranking lists. Jack’s, on the other hand, was neatly in top ten of Heaven rankings and that meant his friend had also stepped into Foundation establishment stage.
In the morning, after he escaped elder Cross, Leo came out the Disciplinary office building and threw a glance at the rankings, but to his great annoyance realized his name appeared once again. And once again it was at the very bottom of the Earth dragon rankings, below the number one hundred – just like the last time. And just like the last time it was not marked by any number, but a word ‘LAST’, and similarly he was called ‘Lucky Leo’ again.
‘Pray to Heavens I don’t catch you, bastard!’ Leo cursed to himself and turned towards the alchemy division.
Earlier his mood was spoiled by the elder’s visage and now even more with this, and he urgently needed someone to lift it.
Unfortunately that someone brought another disappointment, because when after a knock no one answered, Leo opened the door only to see his older friend getting busy under the blanket with someone else. He already wanted to quietly leave, but Jack noticed him and immediately forgot everything about his last night’s date. A moment later Leo found himself being hugged by naked, sweaty and aroused young man, and it took him all the willpower in the world to not kick the best friend in the nuts right away.
“You bastard!” Jack happily shouted without letting Leo go, ignoring the fact he was still in the birth suit, “Is it going to be like this from now on? You’ll show up only once every few years?”
“Jack?” A weak and embarrassed voice from under the blanket somewhat returned the youth to reality.
He did slightly blush, but pretended to not notice the awkward situation and said, “Oh, right! Sorry! Leo, give me a moment … uhmm … no, wait … go to our canteen, I’ll meet you there. Let’s have a breakfast together!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Needless to say, it took more than a ‘moment’ for Jack to arrive, but at least he came all smiles.
“That was Lucia.” He said without apologizing for being late, “She’s one of the new ones. I bet she has a friend I can introduce you to …”
“I’m glad you’re working hard!” Leo said with a grin, “You’ll be also glad to hear ‘the place’ you were interested in has a spot for you after you advance to the Core foundation stage. I already recommended you and it’s great to see …”
“F*****ck!” Jack coursed so loud everyone in canteen turned heads towards them, “Seriously? You were there?”
“Mhm.” Leo nodded, “But this is not the place. I’ve been watched from the moment I stepped off the platform. Say, what if we went out to the city later and had a chat there? Meanwhile you can catch me up with the news of the past two years.”
Of course, while spending a whole day with the two Hubert siblings, Leo didn’t forget about his best friend and mentioned his dream of coming to the Golden city one day. Alice didn’t even bat an eye and promised a job even if Jack had mediocre talents – even a family like theirs needed regular assistants. Now hearing about it, Jack realized his dream actually could come true one day and instantly regretted any moment of fooling around for the past years, hence the loud cursing.
Leo was mostly amused by that and soon his mood was lifted. The two youths chatted for half a day while walking around the sect, then, after Leo visited elder Cross for a short check-in, went out to the city where he could finally tell about his own adventures.
As it turned out, the Sacred Order currently was experiencing a heavy period of stagnation while apparently there were forces who intended to throw the sect off the pedestal it had occupied for centuries. There were rumors about a new war brewing, but there were also rumors of a potential peaceful takeover, so Jack guessed it could go either way.
The two friends chatted till late night, but the next morning both went back to cultivation with a newfound determination, each for their own reasons.
The first thing Leo did was he found elder Payne and asked him about the movement techniques and footwork. He intended to learn how to walk and run on unstable surfaces like snow and swamp before leaving the sect and he guessed there was not much time left. The division heads acted even weirder compared to years ago and it highly likely had something to do with the sect master being absent or unavailable. Fortunately this time Leo had no illusions his contribution was going to be appreciated and already began to prepare for the next exile.
He didn’t intend to let anyone know he had advanced or that he had been to the Golden city again. His plan was actually similar to Jack’s – reach the Core formation realm first and then leave this place.
Unfortunately Leo had it worse than his older friend who could freely cultivate as he wished. After a month of intense training, Leo suddenly began to feel stinging pain in feet and palms. The swollen and painful extremities clearly indicated his body wasn’t as resistant as he hoped and it clearly couldn’t handle the amount of Qi he was absorbing.
Leo realized had reached the limit master Shaw spoke about and the thin, root-like Qi pathways in hands and legs were about to rupture. And the biggest problem was that there was no stopping the process – after being Qi starved for years his body kept greedily absorbing it from the environment even without cultivating made his condition worse by day. Additionally, judging by the attitude of the elders, there was no one whom he could ask for advice in the sect, but to either get back to the Dreadlands or to the Golden city was impossible.
In desperation he decided there was no other way, but to turn to the only expert in this realm who could actually help him – even though he would be stepping on the corrupt path once again. Indeed, Leo went to see grandpa Noel.
Needless to say, the old man was delighted to see him after all this time even though Leo didn’t bring along any alcohol. Truth to be said, at this point Leo was already in such pain, he had hard time remembering the basic pleasantries and bringing booze to the old man was the last thing on his mind.
Noel, of course, was rather distressed seeing his young friend in pain, but there was nothing much he could do apart from hearing him out. The last time he could still make fun of the kid, but the current condition was too serious.
“So the problem is the pressure, right?” After listening to Leo’s explanation the old man asked.
“Ye.” Leo weakly nodded, “I feel the thinnest parts of the pathways might rupture any day.”
“And there is no way to release it?” Grandpa Noel pondered out loud, “When I need to release the pressure, I just pee, you know?”
He did try to joke, but Leo’s countenance completely changed. He hurriedly bowed to the old man and rushed back to the sect’s library. There he picked up one of the manuals he studied few days ago and hurriedly began to read it.
This was the work of a Core formation stage cultivator and had a large note ‘ineffective’ on the top cover, but despite that Leo still looked over it when he researched the movement techniques. This particular one caught his eye because of the name of the technique – ‘Basic water walking’.
The author described a technique that allowed to remain on the water surface by constantly releasing Qi from his feet, but while technically it was doable, the ridiculous Qi consumption was just not worth it. In fact, there were many techniques that gave the same result while in comparison cultivator barely used any Qi at all – everything came down to the proper execution and a ton of practice.
But Leo was not interested in the effectiveness of the technique at all. Exactly the opposite – according to grandpa Noel he needed something that would release Qi in large amounts and this technique might actually be a solution to his problem, at least temporary.
A short while later loud moans of pleasure were heard behind Leo’s door. Not that he didn’t care for someone overhearing – he just couldn’t hold back the involuntary shouts of ecstasy.
Obviously Leo didn’t practice the ‘Basic water walking’. He simply copied the idea and focused on sending Qi out his body through the ten fingertips. At first it was rather difficult – after all he hadn’t practiced any Qi techniques for years, but the ‘trial and error’ principle in his case worked miracles, because every wrong step was accompanied by excruciating pain.
Three days later Leo leisurely jogged through the city of Avila with a smile on his face and the Cleaver on his back. There were no signs of swollen extremities and, even though he felt completely spent because of the practice he did during the last days and nights almost without rest, he was certain he knew who the true expert of the Aurora realm actually was.
Yes, the old man was from the corrupt path, but he never did anything wrong and saved Leo’s life twice. It was a pity he was an outlaw, but there was no way the youth was going to tell on his benefactor. Exactly the opposite – Leo borrowed some money from Jack and was currently bringing the old man Noel the best alcohol one could buy in Avila.