''After a fall when I will take over. All life will stall or at least grow slower? What am I?''
Inside a beautiful garden that was adorned with flowers and birthday decorations, three young girls were sitting before an ornate table. They were leisurely drinking tea and riddling each other. Despite being underage, each one of the three budding flowers was about to bloom into wonderful women in a couple of years.
Each girl was more beautiful and delicate than the other, and they were clearly different from the common rabble. All of them no doubt came from an influential family, and all three wore clothes to match their status...and the colors of their hair. A young miss who sported a wavy, brunette hair which ended in curls, was playing with said curls as she was thinking an answer.
A red-haired girl who carried a ponytail was sipping tea with a smug looking expression, while a blonde with a high-class hime-cut was just quietly listening, visibly uninterested about the whole game.
Few seconds passed and before they could turn into moments a calm and collected sound echoed, belonging to none of the three girls sitting at the table. ''...Winter.''
The voice that interrupted the riddling came from another girl in the garden. She was sitting on a ground farther away from the other three while meditating, her posture and discipline were evident from how she sat. It was a brilliant lotus position and appeared completely natural and serene.
This fourth girl sported a spiky and stubborn black hair which was barely long enough to cover her ears. Unlike other girls, she wore a black tank top and white shorts made out of fine cotton. Compared to the other girls, this wild short-hair had a larger physical stature and clearly toned muscles over her whole body. Spiky gave a single glance towards the table. Brunette's face grinned ear to ear while the Redhead looked dejected. Spiky was then struck with a finger point of doom.
''Ophelia! You said earlier to not disturb you while in your meditation. Now you dare to raise your voice and wish to participate in this? Also...it was correct...hmph!'' Red-hair busted in agitation and even hmphed while the brunette giggled and commented. ''Rii, you are mad just because Offy solved it so easily. Tehe~''
''Che! It is not like either you or Hina could do any better. Ophelia would just solve whatever you two come up just as easily...and what the heck is a Rii?'' Maria argued while turning her gaze towards the blonde, and then to now silently meditating Ophelia.
''Please, don't group me with Dina.'' Hina chimed, still looking bored.
''Really? Let's see...'' Dina gently swayed her head side to side while thinking, finally coming up with a riddle. ''You can swallow me, but I can consume you too. What am I? ''
''Pride.'' Ophelia answered without any hesitation, crushing Dina's hopes. Dina laid her head down on the table in defeat. Mutterings of 'unfair' and 'cheating' could be heard within Dina's whimpers. ''Blank...help...''
Blonde calmly sipped her tea and placed her porcelain teacup back on the table. A burst of challenge erupted from her eyes as she looked at Ophelia. ''I have three riddles. Answer them perfectly withing 10 seconds from each other or you will lose.''
''Okay.'' Ophelia sighed, now regretting taking part of the whole thing.
''A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, what am I?'' Hina launched her attack mercilessly.
Ophelia finally turned to look at the other girls and looked Hina like she was dumb. ''Rain is the answer.''
''I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. There's no happiness without me nor is there sadness. I am always in risk, yet never in danger. You will find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness.'' Words were spoken as passively as before, and the answer followed just as fast.
''Alphabet, S.'' Ophelia said while standing up, dusting away grass from her white shorts.
''...You are correct.'' Hina confirmed and immediately spoke again her mouth twisting a bit. ''There was once a criminal brought before a judge who ordered the man who was about to be sentenced to make a final conclusive statement. If this statement would hold true a lighter penalty of six years of labor would be enforced, but should the man lie he would serve full twelve years of labor. After the judge heard what the criminal had answered him the judge decided to let the man go free. What did this man tell the judge? What is the answer?''
Dina's and Maria's eyes widened. They both immediately began to try to solve the answer on their own, but they found it hard to even fully comprehend the riddle. Ophelia could feel two eyes piercing holes through her. Hina was confident in this riddle, but after seeing Ophelia's calm demeanor her lips and eyebrows twitched.
''Answer to your question is: 'You will sentence me for twelve years of labor.' '' Ophelia said while taking a wider stance with her legs. She then began to do stretches at her own leisure.
Hina's eyes widened and her stoic image finally took a hit as her mouth opened wide, her composure was lost. Dina and Maria were both confused by Hina's reaction and Ophelia's answer.
''I don't get it at all!'' Dina exclaimed while she was doing wide motions with her hands. ''Explain it so I can understand it better...please?'' Ophelia chuckled at Dina's cute reaction and explained it to her in detail.
''It is a dumb riddle that only works because of most people in high positions, like a judge, for example, have an extraordinary sense of pride. By making a statement that he would be sentenced to twelve years of labor would either be true or false depending on the judge, but it wouldn't matter. If the statement was false it would mean that the judge was sentencing the man for six years of labor. If he was sentenced to work for six years it would, in turn, make man's sentence false. Meaning judge would need to punish the man by sentencing him for twelve years, in turn making his statement absolutely true. This kind of conundrum forces the judge to either: Not care about his own face, and sentence the man to twelve years anyway making him a filthy liar and risking his body to become a nesting place for a heart devil. Or he could just let the man go free. In the most likely scenario, Judge would refuse to go against his own word and would simply let the man go free. Mortal men who are put into powerful positions are all full of pride and fear, meaning they would never take a chance to go against their own word. I hope this clarifies my answer.'' Ophelia finally smirked.
''Alternatively, the man could have told the judge 'I am a Houtian.' If the man was really a Houtian expert he could just kill the judge, and no one would have been able to do a damn thing about it. Personally, I like the Houtian answer better.'' All the girls giggled at Ophelia's alternative solution. An answer like that was more fitting to a fighting maniac like Ophelia.
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In Drakern family's young generation Ophelia was known as a straightforward child. Despite being witty and smart she still showcased youthful vigor that was shown mostly in boys and preferred to go through the problem rather than around it. Her choice in clothing was always practical and minimalistic. Thanks to her rather tall physique and short hair, she naturally gained the reputation of being a tomboy.
Even though many women also chose to train in martial arts. It was usually more sensitive ones like musical, bow, spiritual and sword or dagger arts. However, some women also trained in more physical arts and knew many finger, palm, and leg techniques but it was hardly ever a true focus for them. But Ophelia had always shown to be a hard worker in both spiritual and physical cultivation and it showed in her outer appearance.
Ophelia, now at 13 years of age stood a magnificent 5.7 feet tall and her body was nicely toned. Her muscles at right places were completely visible unlike that of girls who did no such training. In the future when she would reach full maturity she would become known as a great beauty. Her olive skin, raven black hair, athletic body, and height gave her confidence in this.
Ophelia finished her stretches and waved her cousins' goodbye. It was time for her daily training routine. She would freely run around at her family's lands. Drakern family was one of the wealthiest families in the kingdom of Mideen and they were known for their mighty warriors and martial experts who would follow the path of martial arts in hope for wealth, power and eternal life it promised.
Not only did Drakern family possess vast fields of farmland and dozens of rich mines, they were also rulers of a Golden-ridge City. A second largest city in the whole Mideen Kingdom and the trade capital of the whole nation. Golden-ridge City only lost in size to the capital of Mideen, Aurum.
Drakern family had their own family district next to the districts that house other wealthy and influential families. Just the area where the main family's mansion was located was over a thousand hectares, without even taking on account to branch families and servants quarters. It took hours if she wished to circle both main and the branch family districts.
After finishing her daily run she would begin training with weights and spar with other people from the younger family. She would always seriously study martial arts when one of the Drakern family's elders bothered to teach them about the basics. But after today her training regime changed drastically as she received her very first technique which she could use to cultivate. She became a lot more secluded and secretive while she was training. She no longer appeared to spar in front of others and only met with her closest friends.
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With a thud, Ophelia collapsed in the middle of her own personal courtyard. Her face was pale and drenched with sweat, and her breathing was erratic. She rolled onto her back and took deep breaths. Ophelia was brightly smiling, she had finished her new daily training regime consisting of lifting, striking and smashing boulders.
Every day after she would have finished her training she would simply collapse in her courtyard and stare at the sky. She would think back into her previous life and how she felt right now. She was living a dream. Although she was born as a what some could call a 'weaker' sex, she would not let it bother her. She had apparently been born with a good physical talent, also her family was one of the richest in the nation and she had never had anyone bully her. What was there not to like?
''I wonder how would my life be if I was still living as William.'' Ophelia thought before quickly touching her lips. Saying her own old name in a girly voice was weird. After all, she was now called Ophelia, had been for thirteen years now.
''Anyway, did I gain anything for my efforts today?'' Ophelia smirked and concentrated deeply. Then a simple window materialized in front of her. This was the ability that had saved Ophelia for more than once already, a status window. She could see all of her training, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses represented in real time, ability to see one's own true power was incredible. She had never heard of an ability which could see one's power as a video game like fashion. So she was confident that this was her own unique cheat.
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Ophelia Drakern
Realm: Qi Awakening Realm Stage 5.
Age: 13
Level: 1
Health: 1500 / 1500
Stamina: 30 / 1750
Martial Qi: 3100 / 3100
Strength: [20+1] = 21 + (15) = 36
Endurance: 20 + (15) = 35
Vitality: 15 + (15) = 30
Dexterity: [15+1] = 16 + (15) = 31
Mind: 17
Spirit: 0 + (62) = 62
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''Sweet, my physical base strength has increased from 20 to 21 and dexterity has similarly increased.'' Ophelia gasped and took deep breaths trying to recover her stamina while admiring her status, there was still so much she didn't know about her special ability.
She had done all sorts of training, tasks and alike to raise her level but not once she had gained any experience towards raising it. At least she had never gained any notification about doing so. Being only thirteen-year-old girl also meant that she had never killed anything or anyone either, she had never even been allowed to go hunting. Ophelia was pretty certain that level was only raised by killing things, but she had no idea what leveling actually does.
She also didn't have an idea about what was actually considered a skill or not. She also didn't know for certain how she could gain them. In her status window, she had an another tab which was specifically for skills and techniques she possessed. Mundane things like jumping, running, regular punching, kicking, writing and such weren't considered skills because she never gained any despite doing those things every day. She only had very few skills.
-Spiritual Breathing Technique-
Rarity: Common
Grade: Low
Level: Stage 10. [MAX]
Type: Active
[Basic meditation technique which every martial artist would know. By remaining calm and breathing slowly and deeply, one can absorb spiritual Qi from the atmosphere, and quickly replenish their stamina and own martial Qi reserves. Each level recovers 10 Martial Qi and Stamina while meditating per minute.]
-Qi Awakening Realm-
Rarity: Common
Grade: Low
Level: Stage 5
Type: Passive
[First realm which martial artists must overcome. Each stage of Qi Awakening Realm increases martial artists Qi reserves and each stage widens the gap between the martial artists that lag behind. Each stage effectively doubles the increase in Spirit which was gained from the previous stage, body's other improvements in Qi Awakening Realm are relatively small. All in all, there are ten stages in the Qi Awakening Realm.]
Stage 1: +2 Spirit, +1 Strength, +1 Vitality, +1 Stamina, +1 Dexterity.
Stage 2: +4 Spirit, +2 Strength, +2 Vitality, +2 Stamina, +2 Dexterity.
Stage 3: +8 Spirit, +3 Strength, +3 Vitality, +3 Stamina, +3 Dexterity.
Stage 4: +16 Spirit, +4 Strength, +4 Vitality, +4 Stamina +4 Dexterity.
Stage 5: +32 Spirit, +5 Strength, +5 Vitality, +5 Stamina, +5 Dexteri
-Basic Qi Circulation-
Rarity: Common
Grade: Low
Level: N/A
Type: Active
[Most basic way to circulate Qi in one's body. By concentrating one can gather pure spiritual world qi from the atmosphere and gather it into a vessel within a body. By circulating the gathered Qi it is possible to turn it into a Martial Qi and make it into a permanent addition to one's power. This technique is one of the most basic of its kind and it takes a lot of effort to make one circulation and can only take martial into the peak of Body Reconstruction Realm.]
Qi Circulations Per Hour: 10.
Next Qi Awakening Realm Grade = 600 Circulations
''No matter how many times I look at this it stays amazing. But it is weird that the cultivation realm is treated like a normal skill by this system.'' Qi Awakening Realm was indeed incredible, just by condensing world's Spirit Qi, Ophelia could transform that into her own Martial Qi and make a breakthrough and gain instant benefits. It takes incredible effort to raise a base stats naturally, but by making a simple breakthrough in Qi Awakening Realm the points came down like a rain in a rainforest.
''But I must invest in a better circulation technique. Basic Qi Circulation is incredibly terrible. It would take me almost 9 hours of Qi circulation every day for a week to advance 1 grade in Qi Awakening Realm.'' Even if this kind of speed felt really slow for Ophelia it was actually incredibly fast. Although it was possible to circulate Spiritual Qi in one's body for ten whole rounds per hour, it wasn't normal that every youth could actually do this.
One of the big reasons was because of youngsters lack of patience and the feeling of stagnation when no visible progress was being made. Because of this, not everyone trained to the full potential of Basic Spiritual Circulation. Persistence and amount of hours poured into one's training separated commoners and those who were considered to be genius
For example, Ophelia had only gained Basic Qi Circulation skill from an elder when she had officially become a ''teenager'' at thirteen years of age, as children of Drakern family were forbidden to cultivate till their foundation had become solid enough to avoid possible accidents. That had been a mere month ago. Thanks to her quick training she entered a massive growth spurt and stood way taller than any of her friends. And she was still growing, albeit a lot more slowly.
Ophelia opted to rest for an hour and recover her stamina using Spiritual Breathing Technique. She would then continue with her daily routine, to eat, circulate qi, perform strength and fitness training in her courtyard, sleep and then repeat. She had lived like this for nearly a month now, only distractions to her routine were the visits from her three female cousins and her own personal maids.
Because Ophelia's parents were busy with working in lofty positions, and the fact that her siblings were all older than her and were cultivating while adventuring, almost no one in their family actually knew about her recent and rapid advancement in cultivation aside from her personal maids and her three cousins. In a little over a week, an examination would be taking place. It would be a physical one and it would be in a form of a tournament between the younger generation. All children from thirteen to fifteen years of age would be asked to participate in the examination.
Drakern family was a large clan and because of that it wouldn't be strange to see hundreds upon hundreds of children participate in the ''Youth Evaluation''. Thanks to huge numbers of talent, scouts from kingdom's many academies and combat schools were present at the event. But the biggest scouter was from the kingdom's Tertiary Dragon Sect.
Tertiary Dragon Sect was a huge martial sect that has the military power to match a whole kingdom, or two, and it is thus categorized as a ''kingdom / third grade'' sect. Tertiary Dragon Sect works under two larger sects. Empire class Secondary Dragon Sect and continent class Primary Dragon Sect. And graduates from Tertiary Dragon Sect either continue their studies in Secondary Dragon Sect, or they are dropped and receive a ''Tertiary Dragon Stipend'' and a title of a ''Tertiary Dragon.''.
However, even if Tertiary Dragon Sect's scout was there it was unlikely that many would even make it to actual Tertiary Dragon Sect. Because all new students would first have to be accepted into a Tertiary Dragon Sect's own Combat Schools and perform well in there. Golden-ridge City had one of these institutes and it was called Golden-ridge Dragon Martial House. This was also Ophelia's goal. As a person from earth, he was used to going to schools anyway. So he immediately likened the sects as just another school system.
While training and thinking about her future, a whole week quickly passed by, and Drakern family became a lot more lively.