"Azreal! You're awake?!" exclaims Darian as he runs towards Azreal, stopping just before they collide. "I heard what happened; I couldn't believe that you fought and killed a Sanguine Harbinger on your first mission. Fucking unreal. You know they are used to scare naughty children in the lower heavens?" Darian continues, his brother's face turning serious upon hearing 'Sanguine Harbinger'.

"Since Darian did not introduce me, I will do it myself," admonishes Florian.

"I am Florian Feldspar, an Inner Disciple of the Unbound Pavilion, which makes me your Senior Brother in the Sect, Azreal. It's a pleasure to meet my brother’s saviour," Florian smiles at Azreal.

"I got a friend out of it, so I’d call it even. It's a pleasure to meet the older brother of Darian. I had no idea you were in the Unbound Pavilion, and don’t worry about it. I gained Darian as a friend so I would call it even," replies Azreal.

"I was sure you wouldn’t wake from your Qi-drained state anytime soon, yet look at you! You are okay, right?" Darian asks as he inspects Azreal.

"Yeah, I’ve never felt better. I had a lucky encounter just after the Harbinger was killed. It allowed me to break through twice. I’ve just reached the middle realm of Martial Adept and managed to unlock a second affinity," says Azreal, becoming giddy with excitement. Both Feldspar brothers' eyes focus and their full attention is now on Azreal.

"That’s unbelievable, Azreal. You’ve only been a cultivator for just under two weeks, and you’ve jumped to the middle of Martial Adept. The most talented disciples often blitz their way through the Martial Adept realm in two to three months, with the average cultivator taking half a year to nine months. A week is unheard of, except for a few of the most well-known and highly supported geniuses of the first heavens," says Florian, whose eyes sparkle with amazement.

Azreal feels the intense gaze of the Feldspar brothers and returns their gaze with an inquisitive look of his own. Has Darian grown stronger? It certainly looked like it during the spar. How strong is Florian? These thoughts race through his mind.

Activating his Celestial Gaze, he first looks at Florian.

'The Mountain Blessed, is it related to the Mountain that the Sect is built on? He is so powerful yet only an Inner Disciple, are the Core Disciples stronger than this?' Azreal questions internally.

"You're a powerful man, Florian. I wouldn’t mind receiving some pointers from a Senior Brother such as yourself," says Azreal, turning his gaze to Darian.

"Darian, you’ve improved! This is perfect!" exclaims Azreal, happy his friend has increased his cultivation.

Turning to his brother, Darian raises his nose slightly while sneaking a sideways glance. "Stop it, Darian. I won't give you more praise just because your friend is impressed," retorts Florian, responding to Darian's glance.

The trio spend the next twenty minutes joking and catching up. Azreal is surprised to learn that this year's intake of disciples is especially talented. Aside from an unknown genius among geniuses who topped the Heavenly Root’s Celestial Nexus Array testing for the first time in hundreds of years, there is a surplus of talents that have shuffled the entire outer disciple power rankings. News of the Violet Sanctum opening early and the outer disciple competition moving forward sends waves through the lower power rankings of the Sect.

Florian stands to leave and tells Darian he will be entering the Sect’s sacred grounds to ensure his breakthrough to Martial King and Soul Monarch. Despite the incessant questioning of Darian and Azreal, Florian does not reveal a single hint as to where or what the sacred grounds of the Sect could be. A mischievous grin on the tall, well-built Inner Disciple's face is the only response the duo sees as Florian leaves the training grounds.

"Now that we are alone, have you heard that the outer disciple competition will be in teams?" asks Azreal.

"Yeah, I also heard that this competition will be extremely bloody, designed specifically to weed out the weak and fearful," replies Darian.

"So…" says Azreal, unsure how to even approach the situation of working as a team.

Darian begins to laugh. "What are you so nervous for?"

Darian's laugh continues, not one of ridicule but one of true enjoyment, the kind of laugh only shared when a close friend makes an idiot out of himself. Darian eventually gets his laughter under control before straightening himself up and staring at Azreal.

A long silence follows. Darian, with a smirk on his face, waits for Azreal’s first move, Azreal fidgeting under his own embarrassment.

"Darian, did you want to team up for the outer disciple competition?" asks Azreal.

Darian smiles and slams his hand onto Azreal’s shoulder. "Of course. I think you forget you’ve saved my life, and I watched you cleave a grey wolf and venomous spider in half without knowing which end of the sword is sharp."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Azreal immediately selects yes, after seeing his older brother’s character, confident that the Feldspar family is one to be trusted.

“Uhhh, Azreal, what is this?” asks Darian, a bewildered look on his face.

Azreal’s heart begins to slow, the world beginning to spin. 'Did I fuck up, please no!' he cries inwardly.

“Azreal, why is there a small purple box in my vision, asking if I want to become your companion?” Darian asks again, his voice slightly breaking as his eyes dart between the notification screen and Azreal.

‘Calm down Azreal, get out of your head, he is not going to hurt you,’ Azreal struggles with his thoughts.

"Just think of your answer. If you say yes, this will give us both benefits. I am trusting you with one of my deepest secrets, so I hope even if you do not accept, you will at least keep my secret," says Azreal with a quiver in his voice.

"Azreal, I wouldn’t share this, I don’t even know what this is. But I will accept," Darian replies with a genuine tone.

<+40 Vitality>

Azreal is ecstatic with his newfound vitality and his affinity to body cultivation methods increasing. An even bigger smile spreads across his face as he feels his body becoming stronger, his arms gaining muscle, his shoulders and chest becoming more defined, and growing slightly in height. "Darian, this is amazing."

"Heh, you get to benefit from all my hard work, what do I g—" Darian, inspecting his body as his words trail off. "This is unreal, Azreal, just how much potential do you have?" questions Darian, whose confused expression morphs into one of elation.

Azreal, unsure of what the system just told him, quickly activates his Celestial Gaze to investigate Darian.

Darian, falling onto the ground in a seated position, stares at Azreal with wonder in his eyes. "Azreal, how is this possible? The Adamant Body Arts was an extremely precious cultivation method, one that my family had fought fiercely to keep a hold of for generations, but the Titan Golden Body Arts is on another level. How and why did this entire cultivation method just flood my mind?"

"I don’t know, I only have a minuscule grasp of my own cultivation method," Azreal shrugs as he honestly can’t explain how this happened.

"Is this a bad time?" A timid feminine voice makes Azreal and Darian jump out of their skin. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you..." the voice trails off.

Azreal waves her apology away while having his other hand on his heart, attempting to still his racing mind. "Sorry about that, it’s not a bad time, we were just discussing the outer disciple competition that’s starting soon. What did you need?" says Azreal, turning to face the direction of the voice.

Standing with her feet together and hands behind her back, Azreal sees an enchanting young woman wearing outer disciple robes that are sky blue with white trim, featuring a flowing river and blooming lotus emblem. She is no older than twenty, with a freckled face and light brown hair tinged with auburn at the tips, which emphasise the beauty of her hazel eyes. Circle glasses rest on her face which only added to her innocence and allure to the male heart.

"Are you Azreal?" her timid words tear through Azreal’s dazed state.

"It’s him, the one who is currently stunned into silence," Darian laughs as he stands. "He’s all yours, Xiara. Azreal, I’ll meet you here before we head into the meeting tomorrow. It will be best to be in teams before we go, to avoid an ‘unfortunate accident’," says Darian as he walks past Xiara and gives her a friendly nod.

"So, you’re Azreal. I don’t know if you remember me, but you pulled me from the spider's cocoon during the Entrance Examination," Xiara speaks as she takes a few deft steps towards Azreal. "I wanted to thank you in person, so I made these for you. Please accept them," pulling out a small blue velvet bag that is adorned with the same emblem as her robes, a flowing river with a blooming lotus embroidered onto the bag.

Azreal, finding himself once again in close proximity to a stunning woman, his breathing rate increasing as his mind wanders. Azreal’s interest in what's inside the velvet bag moves his hand to grab the velvet bag and check what's inside.

"These are twin harmony pills! There are five of them, and they even have little golden veins just like Great Elder Lu’s!" Azreal is ecstatic with the contents of the velvet bag and quickly activates Celestial Gaze and focuses on Xiara.

"The Fiery Alchemist huh?" muttered Azreal subconsciously as he glanced towards the floor while thinking about the meaning of her title. "What did you say?" asked Xiara as she closed the distance further, moving her head beneath Azreal’s and looking directly up at him. Causing Azreal to flinch and jump away for the second time in as many minutes.

"Haaaaa..." Azreal lets out a stifled scream as his body reacts before his mind has caught up. Xiara’s cute laugh is the only sound that could be heard as Azreal’s face becomes flushed, 'Azreal, stop looking like an idiot, afraid of everything,' he screams at his own inner thoughts.

"I-I said the Fiery Alchemist," Azreal finally replies to Xiara’s question.

"I don’t know who that is. But I admit ‘Fiery Alchemist’ has a nice ring to it; it resonates with me," says Xiara, a brilliant and kind smile only outshone by the glint of a future life flashing through her eyes. "Anyway, I also wanted to join your team. I heard from one of my Sect Elders that there will be an outer disciple competition and teams need to be formed. I want to repay you. I will not hold you back. I promise," Xiara says with a confident tone.

'Do cultivators not know their own titles, or is it given to them by the system?' Azreal ponders for only a moment before focusing on her request to join his team.

"Ah... I, we do need another team member, but I don’t really know you," Azreal replies as he runs his hand through his hair. "I can tell your soul is strong, stronger than mine, but I have no gauge on what that actually means," Azreal continues while using his Celestial Gaze on Xiara.

Xiara stares at Azreal with a dumbfounded look on her face. "You're saying that you’ve cultivated to the middle realm of Soul Novice, and you do not know what soul power is. Do you think I'm gullible?" her previous timidness fading into the background.

Azreal, unsure of what to say, gives a demure smile in return. An awkward silence falls between them. Xiara is the first to break the silence. "Wait, you're being serious? You have no idea what soul power is? Where did someone like you come from?" her head tilting as she moves in to close the distance towards Azreal, now only a step apart.

Azreal goes to speak before Xiara cuts him off. "I’ll explain it, don’t bother explaining. You were being honest, and I was just shocked. You're almost at my level without even knowing the basics. That is terrifying, and I am glad you're on my team."

'I suppose she’s on the team now, Darian seemed friendly towards her earlier, I am sure she's fine,' Azreal inwardly accepts her as a teammate.

"Now, do you know the basics of Qi?" Xiara asks, her eyes pleading for his answer to be yes.

"I know it's a power within my body and can be absorbed from the air if there is enough Qi," pausing for a moment before he came to a realisation. "I don’t fully understand it, I have only been a cultivator for a couple of weeks. And I was unconscious for a few days during those two weeks…" Azreal says while an awkward laugh is his only defence against his own self-hatred for being so useless, his thoughts begin to turn dark.

"Hey! Stop that!" Xiara says while moving her hands to his face and cupping each cheek in her soft hands. "Don’t go to a dark place. I’ve seen men who’ve lived with pity or hatred of themselves, nothing good comes of it. You saved my life without knowing the basics, I think that is amazing. And I think you are an amazing person, Azreal. I owe you my life, and from what I’ve heard around the Sect, I am not the only one." Xiara’s words cut through Azreal, a piece of his black heart and clouded mind beginning to change colour.

"I still have no idea how you managed to cultivate to such a high degree with very limited knowledge in Qi and Soul Power, but I will explain the basics that everyone wishing to live as a cultivator must know!" Xiara says while readjusting her glasses and posture, taking on the form of a teacher which sparks a small flame of desire in Azreal.