"There is something in this country called cultivation. Cultivators absorb the energy between the earth and the heavens into their own bodies. This energy is called the World Energy. There are ten different stages in cultivation: the Apprentice, Master, Grandmaster, Elemental Apprentice, Elemental Master, Elemental Grandmaster, Elemental Lord, Elemental King, Elemental Emperor, and Elemental God Realms." Farn told Aurelie.

Aurelie gave a visible start. Both Farn and Mellana had called her an Elemental Apprentice. But why? And how could Farn say all that without pausing to sort all that out in his head? She knew she would've had to. Well, maybe not her, but a lot of people she knew would have had to.

This was explained to her in Farn's continuation of his explanation to her. Not how he could say all that so quickly, but why he and Mellana had thought she was an Elemental Apprentice.

"Each realm is further divided into ten stages, and the third and seventh stages are both bottlenecks, and the division between realms is a very large bottleneck. The third realm, the Grandmaster Realm, is known as the dividing realm between the common and elite cultivators. Most people can never break into the Elemental Apprentice Realm, and those who do are highly coveted by all five kingdoms. Everyone in this continent looks like us, with pale skin and hair, and purple eyes. But once someone breaks through to the Elemental Apprentice Realm, they gain something called the Elemental Form, in which they gain control of an element and their appearance changes, though they can switch between their regular appearance and their Elemental Form. The Elemental Form reflects the element it controls. For example," here Farn gave Aurelie a sly glance, "those who control fire have blue eyes and red hair as their Elemental Form."

Aurelie froze for a moment. She had been, and still was, staving off a huge outburst of denial, deciding to deal with it after the two had left. Right now, she decided to take everything at face value and not mind the impossibility of what Farn was telling her. The first thing that sprang out at her was the need for secrecy about her looks. Those super powerful Elemental Apprentices could mistake her to be one of them and that could be a problem because she wasn't. She could then be found out as not from this world. She wasn't quite sure as to what would happen in that scenario, but images of dissection tables and people burning at the stake danced through her head. Of course, there was also a benefit. There would be those who would be afraid of her, and that intimidation could work in her advantage. Unless they found out she wasn't an Elemental Apprentice.

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Aurelie looked at Farn, then asked, "How know you I not Elemental Apprentice?"

Mellana, not knowing how Aurelie spoke, couldn't help but let out a small giggle, but Farn answered her.

"Because you didn't light the fire that night. You waited for me to come back with firewood. Plus, you don't have the aura of a cultivator. And if you wanted to hide the fact that you were a cultivator for whatever reason by suppressing your aura, why stay in your Elemental Form? It's a dead giveaway. Lastly, the very fact that I had to explain cultivation to you proves that you aren't an Elemental Apprentice."

Aurelie looked at Farn with a considering glint in her eyes. He was smart and observant. If there were others like him who could think all this out, then the intimidation tactic would never work.

Farn bounced on his knees, then said, "Tell me about who you are and where you're from. You promised!" This was the main reason he had been in such a rush today. The enigmatic girl in the woods had promised to tell him all about herself.

Aurelie hesitated momentarily, then opened her mouth to tell a lie, one that she'd tempered throughout the entire week and tweaked here and there during this meeting. One reason she had made Farn have his explanation first was to see how much fabrication she could get away with, and she had even borrowed a map to see where she currently was, surprised to see that the forest she was in bordered on the sea.

"Before, a small mountain village I lived in. Born with these looks I was, and because looked different I did, persecuted a lot I was. After turned sixteen I did, driven out of village I was. Waiting to do this, they were. On a different continent and isolated my village was, and knew nothing about cultivation we did, so that why I not know what it is. Pure chance it was, that I come here to this continent. Sailing on ship I was when huge storm hit and ship capsized. Overboard I was thrown, and cling to piece of wood from boat I did. Managed to hold onto wood long enough to land on this shore here in forest. Wandering around in forest for week I was when I met Farn."

Mellana and Farn looked suitably outraged at her treatment during her 'past', though it was evident that Mellana was struggling to keep a straight face at how weirdly she had presented it. Farn even asked where her village was so as to go and pummel the ones living in it who had treated her so badly. Aurelie obviously couldn't tell him, and redirected his thoughts by saying "No need, you don't that do. I want you teach me cultivation, and I do myself."

Aurelie wasn't quite sure if she could cultivate, but trying wouldn't hurt anyone. And if she could do it, then the huge bubble of denial that lurked under her calm exterior could shrink a bit. Or it could grow even larger. But she had already said the words, and Farn was explaining how to cultivate to her now.