Rydel looked at the duo with confusion. Although he couldn’t feel Lady Akemi’s presence, her abilities were above everything that he had seen. At the very least, she was on the peak D-grade or even the fabled C-grade.

The strongest of the Elphyra Clan was the Grand Elder, who was always in closed meditation, and Galather, who was an early D-grade warrior. D-grade beings received an official title upon breaking through, Ascended. He didn't even know how C-grade beings were called, his background was simply insufficient.

“I know what you are thinking! Don’t worry about it! You are just a companion, it is not like I am pairing both of you to get married. My little baby girl will have countless companions throughout her long life unless you manage to not die, or she decides that it’s better to walk the path of the Dao alone.” Akemi explained while Naveena jumped on her lap. Akemi moved two of her tails and Naveena tried to hit them with hers.

“But… why would you want to bring her to a worse environment without any protection?” Rydel insisted it didn’t make sense to him.

“Sigh, you are no fun! My current situation is difficult. I’m heavily injured, and I’d need a couple of hundred years to recover. I don’t want little Naveena to suffer bullying in her most important years while I can’t protect her.” Akemi looked at her with a gaze full of love.

“Of course, it isn’t as if I’m defenseless, but powerhouses can’t grow in a greenhouse or they’ll become fragile flowers blown with a little bit of wind. Your world is perfect, it’s on the periphery of the galaxy where there aren’t many experts roaming, and none will identify her.” Akemi patiently explained.

“Why me? Is it because I am the very best in this world?” Rydel said with eyes filled with shining stars.

“Of course not, silly! I divined thousands of potential candidates and opened entrances to this realm where they’d be able to see it. Some of them became too greedy and died, others were insufficient and died! Those that were not of my liking were killed too! You’re young with a good personality, ruthless but caring when needed, and your talent is okay. You can make a good team with my precious daughter.” Akemi happily smiled as if what she just said wasn’t horrific.

Rydel was sweating buckets as she continued to explain. In summary, everyone else before him was dead. He wasn’t so happy to receive her attention anymore. Of course, he understood the implications. He was free to refuse her offer, if he didn’t mind dying of course.

“Cough, I can definitely see the appeal of your offer. You know, I’ve always wanted to have a companion in my adventures and I swear to risk my life to ensure that nothing happens to her!” Rydel honorably said.

“That’s the spirit! Just so you know, I won’t protect you in any case. It’s my obligation to ensure that a good seed like you grows without problems, if you thought that you always had me as your last resort, you’ll never have true risks and you’ll stale and become a wastrel.” Akemi said.

“Can I ask you something?” Rydel said with some concern.

“Of course! I’ll respond to anything that I want.” Akemi's implications were clear, not asking about private things and things that didn’t concern him. Rydel didn’t want to push his luck, but he has to know this.

“Who is the enemy that attacked you? Is he going to pursue Naveena and put us at risk?” Rydel finally asked.

“It was that fucker, Patriarch Thousand Fruits, he ambushed me while I was visiting a distant resources planet. He didn’t dare to kill me, as he won’t survive the backlash, but he dared to make a hidden attack.” Akemi angrily said, for a few seconds the world trembled. She had amazing control and Rydel didn’t feel anything.

Rydel blankly looked at Akemi, he didn’t want to underestimate an expert, but his title didn’t sound impressive.

“I know, I know! I laughed at his face too when I met him. That was how the grudge was formed, I couldn’t help it. Sigh don’t become a petty man in the future or you won’t have any success with the ladies.

Anyways, he’s an expert that has trained the Dao of the Fruit to an unfathomable level, the mutated beasts that you’ve seen in this realm are the result of me expelling the remnant energies. You don’t have to worry though, he’ll lay low for some centuries.” Akemi said.

“Where did the energy attuned with the moon come from, then?” Rydel asked with curiosity.

“They are naturally exuded by me of course, just by living here.” Akemi said with pride.

Rydel was surprised, he was able to use his abilities just by borrowing the lingering energies of Akemi. He didn’t know what to think about that.

“Anyways, you have already accepted the exchange, it’s time to fulfill part of my bargain. Let’s see if you survive, good luck!” Akemi and Naveena waved their tails, he didn’t have any time to protest before being transported out of the chamber, Rydel appeared above one of the mercury-like lakes of the moon and plunged right into it. The process started right away, energy was swallowed by his body.

The weight that Rydel lost was because he had inadvertently cleared his meridian pathways. Although his total mass was less, his body was being continuously washed by his energy, which energized it and made him stronger overall.

Moreover, his meridian pathways were completed. A normal being going through the early E-grade would only clear part of his pathways, which would make the circulation inefficient as not every part of the body would receive the same amount of energy, creating weaknesses.

Rydel’s problem was that his spirit attribute wasn’t enough, he had the gap where energy would pass, but he didn’t have the coverage that would close the circulation, preventing energy from leaking everywhere. He had the piping system without the pipes themselves.

Normally, people that were in the early E-grade didn’t have the spirit attribute high enough either. However, they’ll have the experience received from advancing in their classes. Experience was the most basic form of energy, it served for any purpose.

When you did anything related to your class and gained experience, you collected this basic block of energy, which could be used to upgrade your levels. Then, you slowly constructed the ‘pipes’ of the meridian pathways in your cleared areas until level 20. That also meant that if your foundation was unstable or made a mistake when advancing, you could potentially injure yourself. There was no infinite leveling as long as you continued killing.

As Rydel wasn’t able to gain any type of experience, he needed to do it the old-fashioned way, that was having a spirit large enough to advance. Also, he couldn’t rush it as his body still had to process and mark the energy to make it of him.

That was easier to say when you weren’t in a lake made of condensed moon-attuned spiritual energy. Rydel closed his pores and hoped for the best.

Right now, he had sunk to the bottom of the lake, the pressure wasn’t enough to hurt him, but it was enough to prevent him from going up. Also, he couldn’t breathe, he can replace oxygen with spiritual energy, but that’d mean letting a torrent inside of him.

Rydel opened the pores of his hand and used his entire willpower to prevent the energy from overwhelming him. His hand was like a wall that was being hammered by a battering ram and he needed to let only a trickle of the force through. Rydel thanked the training in energy control, if he didn’t have it, he’d already be dead.

He made his first trial and his hand almost exploded, he blocked the energy again. Rydel thought and used Moonlight Mending, the ability to heal his wound. However, he weakened himself too.

He recovered in about three hours as the wound wasn’t very big, in that time Rydel was on the threshold of suffering from oxygen deprivation. He couldn’t wait anymore and let another trickle of energy inside him. Still too much, he couldn’t control the right amount and suffered another wound.

This process repeated back and forth for an entire week, Rydel couldn’t sleep nor eat either. Thankfully, spiritual energy allowed him to function at minimum capacity. That didn’t alleviate his tension, mental and physical fatigue, it only accumulated with time.

Finally, Rydel could reduce the energy flow enough to not destroy his body, but his meridian pathways were fragile, so it wasn’t enough. Rydel continued to regulate the flow for another week until he reached the minimum threshold to start the process.

Rydel directed the trickle of energy inside of his pathways until it made the entire route. The most focal and complex point was his glabella, from where dozens of little pathways started and went to every part of his body.

The next task was to control that the necessary energy input was always in his pathways as they built themselves. This process was nerve-racking as Rydel couldn’t make any mistake and the formation was painfully slow.

Months passed as Rydel concentrated on his task, it was pure torture. He had to be strong, for himself and everything that he cared about.

The pathways themselves were slowly being tinted in silver, with every day changing a little more.

After a total of six months, he had already spent two years in this cave, he could already go back to his clan as the mission was a success. If someone asked him if he’d gained real-life experience, Rydel would mark them as persona non-grata and kick their asses.

Fortunately, he has almost finished the formation of his meridian pathways. He has finished constructing the ‘pipes’, in his early stage, he’d need to solidify them, as they were still unstable, before he could enlarge and reinforce them in his middle stage. What would he do in the late stage? He had no clue, problems for the future Rydel.

Everything clicked in place, his ethereal silver pathways were done. Rydel felt completed. And his status agreed with him.

Name: Rydel Elphyra

Age: 12 years

Race: Forest Elf

Class: ---

Daodrops: Dao of the Moonlight (Middle)

Traits: Moontouched, Perfected Being (F)

Vitality: 20

Strength: 18

Dexterity: 20

Endurance: 20

Perception: 50

Spirit: 75

[Perfected Being (F): You have rid yourself of impurities and formed your meridian pathways before the First Trial. Merit has been rewarded.]

He had almost doubled the number of attribute points that he had, essentially breaking through any previous limits. But that wasn’t his most important reward. Merit, a word that'd make greed appear in the hearts of many beings of the universe. What class choices he had after The Trial depended on what achievements he has done during his entire life.

Anything could be an achievement, and the more difficult it was to do at his level, the more merit he’d gain. Universal merit would make any classes that he received better, increasing his possibilities in the future.

It didn’t seem much, but for those that were at the threshold and couldn’t receive any class because of lacking merits, it’d be life-changing.

Rydel was transported back to Lady Akemi’s chamber. He was welcomed with the sounds of claps.

“Not bad at all! I honestly thought that you wouldn’t make it. It’s great to be proven wrong with nice surprises.” Akemi said next to him.

Naveena was on her shoulders, and they both patted him on the head with their tails. Rydel said nothing and as tension escaped his body he fell asleep while standing up.