Jin explained himself: "I went outside at first and met people who helped me find the answer. Instead of thinking of the unpredictable future, it was better to think of the past. The basics. So, I asked myself, what do I want a spear to be like? And the answer came to me easily. I want it to be sharp. Sharp to the point that it can pierce through anything. Because that's the essence of a spear, to pierce"

Hae-Hyuk nodded with appreciation. It would be a little bit tougher to get that element in the spear as it was classified as one of the unclassified and needed to be man-made but he could do it. He was glad to see that his disciple made a very great choice.

A lot of people do make the mistake of imbuing elements of the eleven categories in their weapons. It isn't bad in itself but it greatly limits them. Because one element might be the opposite of another. And would restrict it. As such, adding a categorized element to a weapon would restrict the use of elements later on.

Having thunder and wind was already pushing earth away quite badly. If Jin had picked another like that, it would have been worse. Of course, if one only used those elements, it would be great. But this wasn't the case here. Hae-Hyuk wished for his disciples to understand that they needed to pick elements that wouldn't restrict the use of another.

Accordingly, 'sharpness' was such. It was the opposite of 'bluntness' but it wouldn't restrict 'bluntness' like water restricted fire. Just because something was sharp didn't mean you couldn't use it to hit bluntly or that it would hit lighter in such a way. The property of fire would restrict water just by existing. It wasn't the case with 'sharpness' and that made it ideal. Especially for a spear for just as Jin mentioned, you wanted the spear to be sharp.

Hae-Hyuk appreciated the choice made by his disciple and believed he would also make a great choice when it came time for him to pick his core's elements. He wasn't going to ask him about those now though. He believed more time was required for Jin to make a comprehensive decision.

After some chatting, Jin left. Hae-Hyuk would make the spear with the three elements of 'Wind', 'Thunder' and 'Sharpness' so he only had one thing left to do: cultivate. Now that this was dealt with, he could return to training. As for his core's elements...He still had time to ponder. He wasn't yet at the tenth stage after all...

And now it was the fifth day after the start of the trial for Sophia. She had tried so hard. She showed her sincerity with techniques, herbs, medicines, weapons... She was at her wit's end. She was dejectedly sitting in the supreme hall of the tower where only the top cadres could go. And one of them just happened to pass by and witnessed her sorry sight.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He went to sit in front of her and asked her what was wrong. As she looked up, she saw the right-hand man of her Mother and one of her self-proclaimed 'fathers'... She didn't quite like them. Those fathers of hers. It always felt weird since there were so many of them. She could never bring herself to consider them real fathers and as time went by, she interacted less and less with them. Even though they did all love and spoil her whenever they could.

She looked at the man and, in the end, decided to empty her head by spitting out her every grievance: "He doesn't want techniques, he doesn't want pills, he doesn't want weapons... I don't know anymore!"

The man thought for a moment before he asked her: "What did he ask for?"

She answered: "Sincerity"

The man nodded and told her: "Have you tried that?"

She looked puzzled: "Tried what?"

The man warmly smiled as he told her: "To be honest with him about your goals in learning under him, to be sincere"

She felt as if lightning hit her. Right. Why didn't she think of this? She thought from the start that he wanted her to give him something but she was wrong. She approached the topic from the wrong angle. It wasn't him who wanted something from her! It was her who wanted something from him!

And she never once asked for it yet!

As she looked at the man in front of her, she had mixed feelings. She didn't expect for the solution to come out from someone like him... Still, he did give her a new answer. She thanked him, bowed once and even went as far as to hug him once before leaving in a hurry.

From a different door, Isla entered. She was smiling as she saw the bewildered gaze of her first husband. She joyfully asked him: "How did it feel to be hugged by your daughter after so long?"

He looked at her, sighed and answered: "Weird. But warm. I regret not being able to be more of a father for her"

Isla looked down as she said: "It can't be helped. This is the problem of harems. Anyways, thank you, for her"

He denied her gratitude by shaking his head sideways as he told her: "She's my daughter too. If I can't even do that, what kind of father would I be?"

After that, Isla went to sit on his lap and they had a passion-filled embrace...

Meanwhile a few levels down, Sophia was meeting for the Nth time with Hae-Hyuk. He received her like any other day. They did chat for some time before Sophia got on her knees and pleaded: "Please, take me as your legacy disciple!"

Hae-Hyuk only had one thought in his mind: 'Finally' before he answered her: "Why should I?"

Sophia had no answers. She wasn't someone he needed, but she needed him. So, she told him: "You have no reasons to but I beg for you to. I want to learn from you so that what happened before will never again happen. I want to change! Please, help me!"

Hae-Hyuk smiled and said: "Sophia Crowe, I, Hae-Hyuk, ask you, will you become my legacy disciple?"

Sophia remained on the ground, bowing and said: "I, legacy disciple Sophia Crowe, sincerely greet Master Hae-Hyuk!"