The sun begun to rise. It's brilliant light illuminating the darkness on the planet of Ephisos.

Four figures could be seen sitting at a camp. They looked worn out, as if they had journeyed across the seven seas.

"So..... Isn't anyone going to say something?"

Brian asked casually.

There was a palpable tension in the air. Lenin didn't know how to explain how he had done those things, and Cravisna, who had been persevering on pure adrenaline, could barely move.

"Hahaha... What do you want us to say? That we were whopped by an ant?"

Lenin tried to defuse the tension with a joke. It failed horribly. He sighed.

Aina turned to Lenin.

"Explain. No lies"

She said with a very serious expression.

Lenin knew exactly what she meant, and so did Brian.

"I also want to know". Brian, who normally fooled around also had a serious expression on his face.

"Shouldn't we gather the material from the life sucking ant first? It could really help in your cultivation." Lenin said this in an attempt to change the topic.

"That can wait till later"

Aina said.

Lenin, "..."

"Hahaha!"

A loud laughter sounded through where they were seated. It was Cravisna. He had noticed what was going on and he couldn't control himself.

This boy's friends didn't know about his powers and he was trying miserably to get out of this situation. How could he not laugh!

"Ugh"

Cravisna was stunned. What was this palpable killing intent. He turned to it's direction.

"Don't talk again. You may be stronger than us, but your injured. If you interrupt again, I'll kill you"

'Damn it. I can't believe I'm being threatened by a girl'

Cravisna seethed with anger.

Before Aina and her mother left the elven kingdom, Aina's mother had trained her in a very brutal way. Unlike the normal elegant elven training method. This was so she could survive any attempt on her life by her own people, due to her hair color.

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This in turn caused her to have a very strong killing intent, even though she had not killed anyone before.

"Calm down. I'll explain everything"

Lenin said.

"I'm not sure what actually happened. Yesterday, when we were sleeping I heard noises coming from deep in the forest. When I went to check, it was Cravisna battling the ant. Because I was mortal, I decided to hide and watch the battle. Unfortunately, Cravisna was losing the battle. He was about to be killed, and I jumped in without thinking. I don't know wether it was because of the near death experience, but when the claws were about to hit me, my qi just kicked in and my cultivation rose."

Cravisna, who was listening to Lenin's explanation had his mouth opened. How shameless was this boy? To blatantly lie to his friends.

Lenin glanced at Cravisna, as if warning him to keep his mouth shut.

"Well, your story seems credible. But.... I don't get one thing. How could you suddenly be able to use qi? What is your cultivation realm?"

"First stage Nascent Soul Realm."

"Hmm... I see. WAIT! WHAT? FIRST STAGE NASCENT SOUL REALM?"

Aina shouted.

Brian, who was chewing on a meat, dropped it.

"Nascent Soul Realm? The legendary realm that only 55% of cultivators reach in their lifetimes?"

Even Cravisna, who knew some truth about Lenin's power was shocked. The reason why most of the third years had the cultivation of a nascent soul realm expert was because, they were the best of the best of humanity.

Not to talk of the fourth years. The fourth years were like myths in the school and we're rarely ever seen.

"That's not possible. There's no way you could become strong that fast" Aina said.

"Well, from what I can tell from my body, I'm not sure but I feel like all the years I spent trying to cultivate actually allowed me to gather alot of qi unknowingly. But because of the life and death situation, the qi was forcefully released which allowed me to increase my cultivation"

"Hmm... That would make sense. It would explain the pop sound we heard from you during the battle"

Even though Aina said this, she didn't believe Lenin in the slightest. She was no fool. But of course, there was one fool among them.

"Yes! What you said makes absolute sense" Brian said enthusiastically.

"That's enough. No matter the reason, it's good that you are now a cultivator"

Aina said this with her eyes closed while nodding her head.

This made Lenin feel bad. Under normal circumstances, he would never want to lie to his friends. But he had no choice. He didn't want to put them in danger. Well, not until he was strong enough to protect them.

'I'll tell them when the time is right'

"Excuse me. Could you children bicker about all that later. I'm on the verge of dying here" Cravisna scolded.

Lenin, "...."

"Let's just kill him"

Aina's eyes glinted.

"Hah! Stop joking around and help me. If you leave me here in this state, the monsters would kill me"

Brian looked at Aina, and then shrugged.

"Well, we still have some time. And we haven't trained much. So we can keep him with us till he's healed"

Aina told Lenin.

"Sure. Why not"

......

A loud roar resounded. A red furred lion about as large as a car was viscously fighting for it's life. It's opponent, a brown haired elf with superb skills, pushed it into a corner.

'I can't believe Aina has improved this much in only a week. What terrifying talent is this? I'm afraid I can't even compare to her. Ever since I reached the nascent soul realm one week ago, my cultivation barely increases'

"Heaven splitting sword!"

A pink sword appeared on the fingers of Aina and cleaved through the lion.

"Rrrroah!"

The lion died.

"Phew! I'm tired"

Aina wiped sweat from her face.

"It's been one week. We better pack our stuff and head out."

"It seems you've improved again, Aina" Lenin said as he walked towards her.

"Improved? I'm no where near a breakthrough"

Lenin shook his head.

Lenin and Brian packed up the bodies of the creatures they had fought and made their way to the teleportation area.

Cravisna escorted them. It seemed they had grown closer to him during the past week. Mainly because of the life and death battle.

In front of the teleportation area....

"Well, I think we'll see you later"

Lenin smirked.

"Yeah. Until we meet again"

Lenin taught of something.

"Say, don't you think we can be sworn bro-"

"Fuck you. I know what you're coming to say. Sworn brothers? Do you think this is one of those novels people used to read in the past. Not to mention you tried to kill me!"

Lenin,"...."

Cravisna turned and begun to walk away.

"But I must admit. You are worthy to be my friend"

Cravisna said proudly.

Lenin shook his head.

'Worthy? This guy is a narcissist'

"Come on. We have to go"

Aina called out.

They used the teleportation panel and teleported away.

.......

In an elegantly decorated room, a youth sat down proudly. He had the demeanor of a king. Power naturally radiated off of him.

He seemed oblivious and unbothered by anything.

It was Lanvris Secraf, the first year King! He opened his mouth and thought out loud.

"The ranking battles, huh? I heard there's going to be alot of spectators. Better do my best"

He said with a mischievous smile.