《Emperor of All》


 Awakening

    [3<sup>rd</sup> Person POV]


    Arthur woke up as usual, at 6 am sharp. Over years, it had become quite a habit of his. He freshened up and looked at himself in the mirror. He was a fairly handsome guy with dark blue hair and crimson red eyes. He had fair olive skin and a regular build, nothing abnormal for a 15 year old kid. With determination in his eyes, Arthur jumped out of his room¡¯s window, which was on 2<sup>nd</sup> floor and began his morning jog.


    Arthur lived with his parents and his little sister in lower district of Xaviers City, one of the minor cities of Akaron Empire, in the continent of Raga. His parents were fairly average humans with average abilities and worked day and night in order to feed their children and afford Arthur¡¯s school fees. His father worked in the local smith and his mother did household chores for the wealthy families living in upper district. Arthur was very intelligent since young age and understood the pain his parents went through every day to earn enough for his school fees and that is the reason why he always worked hard. He went to the local school of lower district and was always at the top of his class in everything. He was well aware that his parents had accumulated a lot of fatigue in recent years and if they continued working in this way, their health will be severely affected. Plus, his sister Amy will turn 8 years old this year and that was the official age of starting school. By their current circumstances, it was the next to impossible for his parents to afford her education and unless he did something to alleviate their financial situation, there will no hope for his sister. Arthur knew that he had only a single shot if he wanted to do something for his family, a single chance to go from the bottom of the ladder to the top in a single go, a single chance to gain power and protect his family from all harms. The Awakening.


    In the world of Drexus, every living sentient species will go through Awakening when they reach adulthood, a process in which any latent talent or abilities hidden inside a child awakens and grants them special powers. Everyone awakens to some ability and the strength of each ability varies greatly. Some awaken to mediocre abilities while some have some heaven-defying and powerful abilities. After awakening his/her ability, a person can then start on the path of cultivation and is normally believed that the stronger your ability, the better your talent will be in cultivation and you¡¯ll always be one step ahead of everyone. The strength an ability is normally measured by tiers ranging from 1-10 and can be identified during the time of Awakening by calculating the number of hours you spent in the process. A person spending an hour awakens to a tier 1 ability, 2 hours to a tier 2, 3 hours to a tier 3, so and so forth. It is also possible to awaken more than one ability which is very rare and people who do so are absolute geniuses because whenever a person awakens two or more abilities, they are of tier-5 or move and makes them extremely talented.


    The World of Drexus is divided into 7 continents arranged in a hexagon shape, with one continent at the centre. The 7 continents are ¨C Raga, Lamore, Hexalia, Fey, Land of Beasts and the Forgotten Continent. The largest continent and the one which resides at the centre is called the Central Continent. Many species inhabit the world of Drexus. A few major ones include Humans, Elfs, Beastmen, Dwarfs, Dragonkin and Demons.


    The Awakening for every species happens at the age of 15 and every year all the famous Academies of Drexus across the world conduct a single, unified Entrance Test to discover and recruit talented youths. Once you are recruited by a reputed Academy, you are destined to be a powerful figure in future and getting money & resources will only be a matter of time. Arthur knew that he could only bet on his Awakening and hope that he would awaken a powerful ability so he will be able to change his family¡¯s life. But he was also aware that only a miracle can make that possible because generally it was seen that the probability of a child awakening a powerful ability depended on his lineage to some extent and Arthur had an average one. Still, he did not lose hope and had an unwavering determination.


    Today was the last of his school and his day of Awakening was coming soon. A child can Awaken at any time during his 15<sup>th</sup> year and there was no way to know the specific time. After finishing his jog, Arthur returned home. The moment he opened the door, a small figure jumped into his embrace.


    ¡°Big Brother, today is the last of your school right? Then big brother can play with Amy all day right?¡± A cute voice asks Arthur. He smiles and pats Amy¡¯s head and gently places her down. ¡°Yes, from tomorrow onwards, your big brother will give all his time to his cute little sister.¡± ¡°Yay¡± Amy threw her hands in the air started dancing happily. Arthur smiled and shook his head. He went to the dining room where he found his mom cooking in the kitchen and his dad reading the morning paper.


    ¡°Arthur, quickly go and wash up. Breakfast will be ready in 5 minutes. You don¡¯t want to be late for your graduation ceremony right?¡± His mom said. He nodded and went in to wash up. After a few minutes, he was out wearing the clothes his mom had prepared for his graduation and sat down to eat. His Mom, along with Amy joined them and the family ate silently. After breakfast, his mom stood up and started fixing his clothes. ¡°All the best Arthur. We are incredibly proud of you and I know you will become someone great in future¡± she said, kissing his temples. Arthur hugged his mom in return, bade his farewell to his father & Amy and left his home.


    His school was a short distance away from his house so he reached his destination in short 10 minutes. He made his way towards the only hall his school had, where the graduation ceremony will take place today. Along the way, a lot of people greeted Arthur and he waved back. He was a popular figure in his school since he always topped the exams and everybody liked him because of his good nature. He reached the hall in no time and found it already filled with a lot of students. He took a seat towards the back and closed his eyes.


    [Arthur¡¯s POV]


    After some time, someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned my head around only to be greeted with the sight of a heavenly beauty. She had platinum blonde hair, icy-blue eyes, cherry red lips, an hour-glass figure and a country-toppling face. Sylvia Roseheart, the prettiest girl of my school and my best friend. I had once saved Sylvia from a bullying incident when we were kids and since then we have been best of friends.


    ¡°Is the seat next to you taken Mr. Topper?¡± she says with a mischievous smile.


    ¡°For a beauty like you, it is always empty¡± I reply with a smile.


    Sylvia giggles and sits next to me. ¡°So what do you plan to do after school?¡± she asks with a nervous tone. ¡°Well, most of it depends on the ability I awaken to, but if it is tier 3 or above, I¡¯ll try my luck with the Entrance Test and if it is not then maybe I¡¯ll join the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Honestly, I am not sure what I¡¯ll do. What about you?¡±


    ¡°Well, I have a high chance to Awaken a healing type ability and if it is above tier-3, then I¡¯ll try the Entrance Tests too or maybe join the Holy Church like my mother¡± she replies. She then turns towards me and with a worried look asks ¡°Hey Arthur, you¡¯ll still come and see me after this right?¡±


    I chuckle and hold her hands. ¡°Idiot. Ofcourse I will. Don¡¯t you remember my promise? I¡¯ll always be there to protect you.¡± Her face turns deep red and she meekly nods her head. We then turn towards the centre of the stage where our head-master had already started his speech, still holding hands. I am well aware of the fact that Sylvia likes me and I like her too, but right now my biggest priority is my family. Sylvia is a very beautiful girl and I am sure those rich noble brats will sure eye her one day. Until and unless I have the power to protect the people I love, I cannot get involved in matters which will endanger my family.


    The rest of the ceremony was pretty boring with Head-master telling us about the basics of the Awakening process, what precaution must be taken, etc. Towards the end of his speech, however, he said something which grabbed my attention.


    ¡°It has not been confirmed yet, but there has been news in the royal capital that during the Entrance Test of next year, elders of the 5 renowned sects will be present and there is a high chance that they may choose personnel disciples from the top 50. So everyone, do your best.¡±


    Personnel Disciples? That¡¯s a huge thing. Sure enough, as soon he finished, the whole room erupted into excited whisperings and chattering. Sylvia slightly squeezed my hands and said ¡°Arthur, let¡¯s inform each other as soon we awaken our abilities so we can decide what to do next ohk?¡± I nod and we bade each other farewell.


    Soon, 3 months passed without anything important happening and it was the last month of the year. Sylvia and I have yet to awaken our abilities and we had a feeling that we will soon. Today I have promised to spend some time with Sylvia in the forest just outside the city to help her collect herbs. Her mother is a priest in the Holy Church since she has a tier-3 ability [Minor Heal] and her father is an herbalist with a tier-2 ability [Minor Herb Identification]. She often helps her father pick herbs from the nearby forest.


    I reach our designated spot outside the city gates and spot her standing there wearing a pink dress. She was becoming more and more beautiful in my eyes and it was becoming difficult for me to control my feelings.


    ¡°Hey¡±


    ¡°Hey. You are late. Let¡¯s go, we have a lot of herbs to pick¡± she says and we slowly enter the forest. This forest was just outside the city so there were no monsters present in its vicinity, only normal wild animals. Monsters are beings who have the innate ability to cultivate and are incredibly dangerous and ferocious. They are divided into 12 grades and any monster above grade 10 were legendary creatures and could cause massive disasters on the scale of destroying several cities instantly. It was rumoured that on the continent of Land of Beasts, some grade 11 and 12 monsters resided. This continent was famous for its abnormal population of monsters and it was normally used as a training or hunting ground by practitioners.


    After a few hours of herb-picking, suddenly Sylvia started swaying and I quickly caught her. ¡°Hey Sylvia, you ohk? What happened?¡± Suddenly her body started glowing and I realised that she is Awakening. I carefully placed her in the ground and helped her sit down comfortably. ¡°Sylvia, listen to me. You are Awakening, so you¡¯ll have to concentrate and bear the pain which will follow. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be here for you. Just bear with it¡± I say and grab her hands. She nods and closes her eyes.


    A few minutes passes and the glow on her body is still present, albeit a bit dim now. Suddenly, Sylvia¡¯s face scrunches up and I know that the pain has started. I squeeze her hands and gently caress her hair. An hour passes and I can see her gritting her teeth. Two more hours passes and her body starts shaking from time to time. One hour later, the shaking of her body has started getting intense, and I was shocked to see that the glow was showing no signs of weakening which means her ability will be a tier-5 or above. That was amazing, but it also gave me some pressure. One more hour passed and I could see tears in her eyes. I gritted my teeth and hugged her tightly ¡°Sylvia, bear with it. Your ability is very powerful and is probably a tier-5 or higher. You have a bright future ahead of you, so please bear with it.¡± I whispered in her ears. Her shaking calms down a bit and the process continued. Two hours passes and during those two hours, Sylvia had started screaming a bit, but somehow I managed to calm her down. Suddenly, blood started coming out of her eyes and mouth and I was incredibly shocked. Her body was intensely shaking and her platinum blonde hair was gaining a golden tinge at the base. Her hand started glowing intensely and I had to close my eyes. After a few minutes, the glow subsides and I saw a tattoo mark on the back of her hands. It was in the shape of a phoenix and was golden in colour. Her bleeding stopped and her body stopped shaking. Thirty minutes later, which marked exactly 8 hours since the beginning of her Awakening, Sylvia¡¯s body slumped down and she fell unconscious.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I hurriedly checked her vital signs and relaxed when everything was normal. But still, never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that Sylvia will awaken to a tier-8 ability. A tier-8 ability user was considered a genius among geniuses and even the five renowned sects will fight with each other to recruit her. She was now destined to stand at the summit of the world at some point and she was the girl I liked. Hah¡­talk about pressure right? Man¡­..I can¡¯t even imagine myself getting a tier-5 ability, forget about tier-8. Is God playing a joke on me or something?


    Suddenly I started feeling hot, but I ignored it. Must be my nervousness or exhaustion. First, I¡¯ll have to help Sylvia. I took out of water bottle and cleaned up her face from blood. I took out a few herbs which we had collected, grinded and mixed them with water and made a paste. Sylvia had taught me a few things regarding herbs and this paste will help her heal her internal wounds. The only problem is, how do I feed her? She can¡¯t drink this on her own¡­¡­.will I have to do that? I am damn sure she¡¯ll kill me if she comes to know I took her first kiss without her permission, even though in high likelihood it belongs to me. But this is an emergency and I have no choice. I nervously drank the paste and slowly touched her lips with mine. Wow, so soft. I opened her mouth with my tongue and poured the entire paste in it. That¡­¡­¡­was an awesome experience. I quickly separated myself from her and sat down panting. Phew¡­I guess I gotta wait until she wakes up.


    Then out of nowhere, an azure glow covered my body. Shit, this is an extremely bad time for me to awaken. But Azure Glow? I have read in my book that the Awakening process is always accompanied by a yellow glow, then what¡¯s with this Azure Glow? Well¡­.whatever. I closed my eyes and sat near Sylvia. I had to concentrate and keep my mind clam when the pain starts. 30 minutes passed and I began to feel a pit of pain in my body. It was nothing serious and was something like the feeling you get when you fall down from a certain height. An hour passed and slowly the pain started increasing. Two more hours and I had to grit my teeth to bear the pain. By this time, I felt like I my bones were being twisted from inside. Again, Two hours passed and the pain was getting worse. It almost made me cry but I held on thinking now that I have survived 5 hours, I have an ability of tier-5 or higher and my dreams of changing the lives of my parents was possible. With that though in my mind, I held on and faced the pain for two more hours. By this time, I was feeling the pain in every part of my body and it felt like all my intestines, muscles and bones were violently twisting and breaking. One more hour passed and it was my 8<sup>th</sup> hour, the same as Sylvia. I had no time to be happy as I could feel that the pain had started reaching my soul, and I gotta say, the pain of soul is thousand times worse than physical pain. I screamed and almost collapsed but then the image of Sylvia came to my mind. If I give up now, she will be forever out of my grasp. I¡¯ll lose the only girl I have ever liked and I didn¡¯t wanted that. My mind screamed in defiance and I held on. After the 8<sup>th</sup> hour, the pain showed no signs of stopping and increased exponentially. By this time I had lost my mind and the only thing holding onto my sanity was the thought of my family and Sylvia. One more hour passed and the pain kept increasing. I had already lost sense in my limbs and I knew they were broken, bones badly twisted and muscles destroyed. Slowly I started to feel the bones in the rest of my body creaking and on the verge of collapse. I had already lost my thinking process and had subconsciously raised my hands towards my neck to end my life and stop the pain. But then my hands brushed against a locket, the gift which Amy gave me on my 13<sup>th</sup> birthday. Inside the it was a picture of us hugging each other and smiling. A little bit of sanity returned to me I tightly gripped my locket and resisted the soul-torturing pain. I thought about all the happy moments I had spent with my family and Sylvia and by the time the 10<sup>th</sup> hour was over, I was already unconscious, my body all bloody and battered.


    Suddenly, I found myself in darkness. Everything around me is pitch black. I keep looking around to get a feeling of my surrounding but found nothing. After some time, an azure glow flickered in the far distance and I moved in that direction. The azure glow got stronger and I could now see that it was coming from a sword which was floating a few distance away from me. I slowly approach the sword until I was standing in front of it. I carefully looked at the sword and was simply captivated by its beauty and majesty. The sword had a lot of markings on its surface depicting a lot of legendary and mythical creatures like dragon, phoenix, qilin and some beasts which I didn¡¯t even recognise. On the hilt of the sword, there was a single world carved in a language I didn¡¯t know but somehow I knew what it meant.


    ¡°Emperor of all¡­..¡± I whisper.


    I got a strong urge to hold the sword so I lifted my hand and slowly hrld the hilt of the sword. As soon as my hands touched the sword, I heard a whisper in mind.


    ¡°You¡­..have¡­..the¡­¡­power¡­¡­.of¡­¡­.the¡­¡­..Emperor¡±


    ¡°You¡­¡­.will¡­¡­be¡­¡­..the¡­¡­¡­.ruler¡­¡­of¡­¡­¡­¡­all¡±


    Then the sword flew towards my chest and disappeared. Then my vision turned dark.


    I heard someone calling my name but I couldn¡¯t focus on anything. After some time, the voice got louder and slowly I gained some control on my body. I opened my eyes and a teary eyed Sylvia was hugging me crying out my name again and again. With a weak voice, I say ¡°Sylvia¡­.¡±


    She stops crying and looks into my eyes. Realizing I am alright, she starts crying again and this time hugs me more tightly. I wince from the pain and realizing what she is doing Sylvia let goes off me and apologizes with a red face. She then thinks of something and nervously raises her hands to my chest. I look at her with a confused face but she ignores me and closes her eyes. After a few seconds, a golden glow covers my body and I could feel all the wounds healing at an unbelievable pace visible to the naked eye. In just 5 seconds, I was completely fine with no injury whatsoever in my body. I looked at her with disbelief and she giggled seeing my expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s the ability I have awakened.¡± She says.


    Right. Her ability is a tier-8 ability and it must be some Healing type ability.


    ¡°How is your condition? Are you feeling ohk?¡± I ask. She shakes her head. ¡°I am alright. Thanks for taking care of me and encouraging me during my Awakening. If you weren¡¯t here, I don¡¯t know whether I could have successfully crossed the last few hours.¡±


    ¡°Silly girl, no need to thank me. More importantly, you do realize that you just awakened to a tier-8 ability right? Do you know what that means?¡± I ask her with a happy smile. She laughs ¡°You are not one to talk mister. By the time I woke up, you were already Awakening and you took 7 hours to finish it. By that assumption, your ability is a tier-8 or higher.¡±


    I scratch my head and give her a bashful smile. ¡°Well, atleast we¡¯ll still be together when we join an Academy.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡± she says and a slight blush covers her face. My heart starts beating faster and I know this is the moment. The moment I woke up, I had decided that I¡¯ll confess my love to Sylvia since now I had the ability to protect her. I slowly approach her and stare into her eyes. I had failed to notice before, but her icy blue eyes had a golden ring at its centre now. I gently hold both of her hands and she blushes a deeper shade of red.


    ¡°Sylvia, there is something I want to tell you.¡± I say seriously. She just nods.


    ¡°I love you. I have liked you since we were kids but in recent years, I have come to realize that I have fallen deeply in love with you. During my Awakening, it was your love which helped me keeping myself sane and bear with the pain. I cannot think of spending my life without you.¡±


    By the time I finish, there are already tears in her eyes and with a happy face she hugs me.


    ¡°I love you too idiot. Took you long time to finally say it.¡± She says with a shaky but happy voice.


    ¡°I am sorry. I was just scared that I won¡¯t be able to keep you happy. You are just so beautiful and I just¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t complete my sentence as she placed her finger on my lips.


    ¡°Sshh. I know. I know how you feel from the very beginning. Idiot, you are the only one I love and I¡¯ll gladly spend the rest of my life doing the same.¡± She says.


    In reply to her sentence, I simple seal her lips with mine. She is surprised for a second, but returns the kiss and holds me in her embrace. We kiss like that for minutes before we separate, out of breath.


    ¡°That was¡­¡­so amazing.¡± I say, panting. She gently hits my chest, but stays in my embrace. We stay like that for a few minutes before I ask ¡°So Sylvia, what exactly is your ability? How could you heal such severe injuries of mine in no time?¡±


    ¡°Well, my ability is called [Holy Scion of light] and it gives me the ability to heal anyone suffering from any kind of negative effect like injuries, poison, etc in a very short amount of time. I am not yet proficient with my ability but I think with higher cultivation, I can heal a person one step away from death instantly. There are also some other hidden powers of my ability but I don¡¯t know what those are. Oh, it also gives me some holy attack spells.¡±


    Wow, isn¡¯t this a little bit too overpowered? I mean, healing any kind of injury instantly? Once she reaches higher cultivation stages, her opponent will cry tears of blood when fighting her.


    ¡°So, what tier is your ability?¡± she asks me. I can¡¯t tell her that I have a tier-10 ability. Holy Shit, even I can¡¯t believe I have one, but after going through that pain, if I didn¡¯t get atleast a tier-9, that would have been unfair.


    ¡°Mine is a tier-8 too¡± I reply. I feel a bit bad about lying to her, but it¡¯s for her own good. I have heard of some abilities which can read minds or force a person to say the truth. I¡¯ll tell her the truth in the future when it is safe to do so.


    ¡°Hehe¡­..we are the same.¡± She says and kissed my cheek. ¡°So, what does It do?¡± she then asks. ¡°I don¡¯t know. How did you check yours?¡±


    ¡°Just think about your abilitiy and the information about them will appear in your mind¡± she says with a smile.


    Ohk, let¡¯s try that. I think about my abilities and I feel a warm sensation in my heart. Suddenly, some information appears in my head.


    <u>Abilities</u>


    [Sword of the Emperor (Tier- ??] ¨C Locked


    [Ability Devour (Tier- 10)] ¨C Grants you the ability to devour the ability of your target and use it as your own. Target may retain their ability if the user wishes.


    Range ¨C 100 metres


    Abilities devoured ¨C N/A


    ¡°¡­.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­..¡±


    WHAT THE FUCK??????


    What kind of messed up abilities are these? Ability to devour any ability? Won¡¯t that turn me into some god-like figure? I mean, if I have the ability to steal my opponent¡¯s abilities, I can severely weaken them without lifting a finger. Just like that.


    And what¡¯s with this [Sword of the Emperor]? Why is there a question mark next to the tier? It doesn¡¯t have a tier? Or does it exists outside the range of tiered abilities? That¡¯s messed up on a whole different level.


    Seeing my panicked face, Sylvia nudges me ¡°What¡¯s wrong Arthur? Did you see your abilities?¡± she asks worriedly. I wake up from my inner thoughts and look back at the divine beauty in front of me. ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just that I was a bit surprised with my ability. I am sorry Sylvia, but I think it¡¯ll be better to not tell you my ability. It¡¯s a bit messed up and I don¡¯t know if it will be safe for you to know about it. There are a lot of weird abilities out there and I don¡¯t want anyone to harm you. I¡¯ll tell you one day when it is safe to do so.¡±


    She looks me in the eye for a second and then fives me a dazzling smile ¡°I trust you Arthur. If you think it is the right thing to do, then sure. By the way, I think we should get going. We have been here in this forest for more than half of the day and our family must be worried. We¡¯ll talk later about all this ohk?¡± she says and stands up. I nod and start arranging our things spread nearby. We pack up and leave the forest. I realize that it¡¯s already evening.


    ¡°Hey Sylvia, except you parents, do not tell a single soul about your ability. There are a lot of dangerous and jealous people out there. We¡¯ll leave for the royal capital together in two months, just after the New Year. Let¡¯s meet up tomorrow in this forest, in the very same spot. We need some plans to get a better idea of how to use out powers and know their limitations.¡± I say. She nods. We kiss and go on separate ways.


    I wonder how my parents will react after knowing I have a tier-8 ability. Hehehe¡­¡­.

 Holy Scion of Light

    I reached home and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Mom opened the door and as soon as she saw me, she started crying and hugged me. A few seconds later, Dad and Amy came out too and were happy to see me all fine.


    ¡°Where have you been Arthur? You said you were going to help Sylvia and will be back before lunch, but you never came back. We were so worried about you. If not for my ability, I would have assumed you¡­..¡± Mom said in a quivery voice but I interrupted her ¡°Hey, calm down Mom. I am fine. It¡¯s just that, I Awakened when I was in the forest nearby and that took some time. I am sorry for worrying you all¡±. Mom¡¯s ability was [A Loving Heart], a tier-2 ability which tells you whether your loved ones are in danger. It¡¯s a non-combat ability and doesn¡¯t have much uses for a cultivator but for someone like mom who treasures her family, it was the perfect ability. Dad¡¯s ability was [Minor Calm Mind], a tier-1 ability which helped him keeping his mind calm in most of the situations but since it was a tier-1 ability, it was not much powerful and there were various instances where Dad lost his cool.


    After hearing everything is fine, Mom calmed down a bit. ¡°Son, you have Awakened? How is your body? Still feeling pain?¡± Dad asked. I shook my head ¡°No Dad, the pain is gone. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡± He nodded and we all went in. ¡°Big Brother, are you hurt?¡± Amy asked hugging my leg with a worried tone. Aww, she is so cute.


    ¡°No my cute little Amy, I am not hurt. Your big brother is very strong you know¡± I say patting her head. She giggles and nods ¡°Yes, big brother is the best¡±.


    ¡°So, what kind of ability did you awaken son?¡± Dad asked with an apprehensive tone. With a serious face, I eye Amy and say ¡°Perhaps we should discuss that later. Right now, I am starving¡±. Getting the message that it¡¯s not safe to discuss in front of Amy, he nods and Mom went to kitchen to cook something up. Amy is a kid and kids don¡¯t have control over their mouth. It¡¯ll be safer for her to not know anything. Later that night, when Amy fell asleep, we three gathered in the main hall.


    ¡°So, Arthur, what is it that you couldn¡¯t speak in front of Amy?¡± Mom asks.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry son, even of your ability is not powerful, it¡¯s fine. You can still enjoy a happy and peaceful life here. We are here to support you¡± Dad says with a smile.


    I feel a warm feeling in my chest and I thank god, if he exists, for giving me such a wonderful family.


    ¡°Dad, Mom, the reason I didn¡¯t want Amy to listen is because of her own safety. The truth is, the ability I have awakened is of tier-8. If by any chance somebody else becomes aware of this, our family will be in grave danger¡± I say. I could see disbelief in my parent¡¯s faces and Dad almost fell down from his chair. After a few minutes of digesting this information, Dad started laughing out loud and Mom had covered her mouth with tears in her eyes.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­.my son is a genius among geniuses. I have known all along that you had something in you my son, something greater than the rest, but this was beyond my imagination. Good, good, my son will one day become one those legendary masters of this world¡­.haha¡­¡±


    I guess Dad was in a very good mood. Well that¡¯s to be expected since it basically means they won¡¯t have to worry about Amy¡¯s education and they can live the rest of their lives in peace knowing I was capable enough to take care of myself. Mom said nothing and hugged me tightly. She didn¡¯t need to, I could feel her happiness from her hug and that¡¯s all I cared about. We discussed a bit more about my Awakening process and my parents didn¡¯t force me to talk about my ability.


    ¡°So, what are your plans now son?¡± Dad asked.


    ¡°Well, ofcourse my next plan is to go to the Entrance Test in the Royal Capital and get recruited into one of the five renowned Academies. I forgot to tell you, but Sylvia has awakened a tier-8 ability too, and we¡¯ll be going to the royal capital in 2 months.¡±


    ¡°What? She awakened a tier-8 ability? Do you know how rare is it for two tier-8 ability users to originate from the same city, let alone the same empire? I have never heard of such a case happening ever in the past.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­Yeah. By the way, I¡¯ll be registering for the Adventure¡¯s Guild tomorrow with Sylvia. Now that we have some combat power, we could fight some lower tier-1 monsters and earn some money. And don¡¯t worry, Sylvia has a healing type ability, so our injuries can be healed very easily.¡±


    My parents were worried at first but after hearing about Sylvia¡¯s ability, they relaxed a bit. ¡°Still, be careful son. These monsters are not easy to deal with and you don¡¯t have much combat experience.¡± Dad said and I nodded. We went back to our rooms and I laid on my bed thinking about my future.


    My ability was very powerful and the only drawback it had was the range required for its activation. This means I could have an unlimited number of abilities and just thinking about that made me grin. The reason why abilities were given so much importance was because abilities do not consume the energy of the user unlike martial techniques. They can be used indefinitely as long as they don¡¯t put a strain in the user¡¯s body. Imagine someone having a combat-based ability fighting a non-combat ability user and both of them have the same cultivation level. In this case, the former will have a very big advantage and can easily defeat his opponent.


    My ability doesn¡¯t restrict me to absorb abilities from only humans and I could try that with other life-forms too but I¡¯ll have to acquire [Appraisal] before I can test my abilities on monsters since certain abilities can affect the physical appearance of the body and I don¡¯t want to look like a monster for sure. But the problem is, [Appraisal] is a pretty rare tier-5 or above ability and I can only hope to find one when I visit the Royal Capital. It lets the user view the abilities of his opponents and the details depends upon the tier of the ability. I had heard about an elder of an Academy having an upgraded version of [Appraisal] which shows the entirety of the opponent¡¯s abilities and what they do. But there is one big disadvantage of [Appraisal] and that is you can¡¯t view your opponent¡¯s abilities in case their tier is higher than the tier of your strongest ability. For example, suppose the tier of your strongest ability, assuming you have more than one, is tier-5 and your opponent¡¯s ability is tier-6. Then, you won¡¯t be able to appraise your opponent¡¯s abilities. But I won¡¯t have such problems since my strongest ability even exceeds tier-10.


    I really wanted to start my cultivation now that I have awakened, but sadly in order to cultivate, you need a cultivation technique and the good ones are only available in academies. Normally if someone has a chance to pass the Entrance Test, they avoid starting cultivation since those Academies have far better cultivation techniques than the ones available in the market and once you start cultivating in a mediocre technique, if you decide to change it in future, you¡¯ll have to abandon your cultivation base and start from the scratch again. This is where those ancient clans and families have advantage since they already have the best techniques and resources and thus their children start cultivating as soon as they awaken. This is also the reason as why the top scorers of the Entrance Test are always from ancient clans or families.


    Cultivation is divided into 9 stages with each stage further divided into lower, middle, top and peak. Those 9 stages are ¨C Body Enhancement Stage, Foundation Stage, Core Formation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Soul Formation Stage, Dao Establishment Stage, Dao Lord Stage and Dao King Stage. It is said that there are some higher stages too but I have no idea about them. Thinking about my future cultivation, I fell asleep.


    The next day, I left my home in the morning towards the forest outside the city to meet Sylvia. I exit the city gates and I can see her waiting for me a short distance away.


    ¡°Hey¡± I say and kiss her. She blushes and greets me back. We hold hands and walk towards the spot where we awakened yesterday. While walking, I decide to use [Ability Devour] on Sylvia without taking away her ability.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    [Holy Scion of Light] acquired


    I received a message in my head saying it was successful. Then I think about this new ability I acquired.


    [Holy Scion of Light (Tier-8)] ¨C You have been blessed by the Holy Light and you wield its powers in your hands.


    Powers Unlocked:


    [Holy Heal] - Heals any negative effect like injury, poison, fatigue, etc.


    [Holy Spear (5)] ¨C Conjure a spear of Holy light.


    HOLY SHIT!! I had greatly underestimated Sylvia¡¯s ability. This ability will provide the user with more abilities as the user grows and I have heard that these types of abilities are categorised among the best abilities a person can get above tier-7. [Holy Heal] is a great ability for healing and [Holy Spear] looks powerful too. I guess for now only 5 spears can be summoned at a time going by the (5) written on it. Well atleast Sylvia will be able to protect herself from danger.


    We reach our spot and sit down beneath a tree, hugging each other.


    ¡°Hey Sylvia, I think we should go register in the Adventure¡¯s Guild and try taking some mission to fight lower tier-1 monsters. Our journey to the Royal Capital may consist of some dangers and we need to have some combat experience. I have some basic combat training so I can fight with the monster and you can support me with your healing and spells. I think we have a high chance of success. What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­.you are right. Let¡¯s do that.¡±


    We sit there and chat for some time about our future and then head towards the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. It is located at the centre of Upper District and it is our first time visiting there. Xaviers City is shaped in the shape of a circle and the Upper and Lower Districts are separated by an inner wall. We passed through the Upper District gates and moved towards the centre. Soon, we locate a huge building with a symbol of sword and shield on it. It was a dome shaped building and was giving out a heroic aura.


    This must be the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, going by that symbol. We entered the building and I was impressed with the rich decorations inside the building. There was a reception area with 5 counters and every counter had a long line of people waiting. All the people here were dressed in leather armours and were carrying some weapons. I even spotted a few elfs and beastmen among the adventurers. We joined the cue for the 2<sup>nd</sup> counter which looked the shortest and waited patiently. An hour later, our turn finally came and a beautiful young woman greeted us with a smile. ¡°Welcome. How may I help you?¡±


    ¡°We are here to register as Adventurers.¡± I replied. She nodded and gave us two sheets of paper asking us to fill it up and we did. We left the ability section empty since anonymity was allowed here. We were then given two blue cards with our basic information and rank on it. The ranking system here goes from F- SSS and our adventurer rank does not depend on our cultivation level, rather it depends upon how many missions we complete and their difficulty. The difficulty of mission are also divided from F-SSS and F-rank adventurer can take any mission ranging from F to A. The S class missions and above can only be taken by S class or above ranked adventurers.


    Normally, all the F-rank adventurers are non-cultivators with combat oriented abilities or cultivators with Body Enhancement Stages. We thank the receptionist and make our way outside. Mid-way, a tall bulky guy walks in front of us with a mocking grin and the moment his eyes land on Sylvia, they become full of lust and greed.


    ¡°Hey, hey, what are you newbies doing here? Do you think being an adventurer is a child¡¯s play or something? As your senior, I think I¡¯ll have to teach you the reality of life. But I can spare you and maybe give you some pointers if this lady here decided to spend some quality time with me, what do you say?¡± He says with a face full of disdain directed towards me.


    How dare this guy eye my Sylvia? He is courting death. I looked around and realized that nobody is paying attention like it¡¯s a normal thing for this to happen. Fine asshole, it¡¯s your fault you messed with me. From his aura, I can see is in Middle Body Enhancement Stage and without using [Holy Spear], I think it will be a bit difficult to defeat him. But I can weaken him by taking away his ability. I used [Ability Devour] on him and took away his ability.


    [Brute] acquired


    [Brute (Tier-4)] ¨C Triples the base strength of the user.


    Hmm¡­¡­not a bad ability I guess. This means I have weakened him to 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of his strength and I am 3 times stronger. Maybe I have a chance now.


    ¡°No thanks¡± I say and try walking around the guy with Sylvia.


    ¡°Hehe¡­where do you think you are going little boy?¡± he says and stretches his hands towards Sylvia. Ohh¡­.he has done it now. I pull Sylvia away and muster up all my strength to punch that guy in the face. Due to the suddenness of my actions, he is caught offguard and receives the full brunt of my punch squarely on his face. I hear a loud *crack* and his body flies and crashes to the nearby table. Wow, I think I broke his nose. A few people look in our direction but most just ignore the ruckus. I shake my hand and feel a bit pain in my hands but otherwise I am fine. Hmm¡­.this [Brute] ability will be useful to me at this stage I guess.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Sylvia asks worriedly, pulling my sleeve. I nod and we walked out of the guild.


    ¡°Hey, would you like to come to my house? My parents were asking a lot about you.¡± I ask Sylvia. She blushes and after some thinking nods her head. We head towards my home and reach there in 30 minutes. I knock on the door and after a few second Mom opens it. She is surprised to find Sylvia with me but then she notices us holding hands, which we completely forgot about, gives me a mischievous smile.


    ¡°My, my, Arthur you didn¡¯t tell me that I should be expecting a daughter-in-law so soon?¡± she says. Sylvia¡¯s face turns beet red and she looks down while I just scratch my nose awkwardly. There was no point hiding it from Mom now that the cat is out of the bag so I didn¡¯t deny it.


    ¡°*cough* Mom, this is Sylvia Roseheart. Sylvia, this is my Mom.¡± I say and try to change the awkward atmosphere.


    ¡°Hello Auntie¡± Sylvia says meekly.


    ¡°Hahaha, I have heard a lot about you Sylvia. Come in, I was just done with cooking lunch. Let¡¯s eat together.¡± Mom says and we walk in. Amy comes running upto me and noticing Sylvia, points to her and asks ¡°Who is she big brother?¡±


    ¡°She is Sylvia, your new big sister¡± I say happily. She stares at Sylvia with stars in her eyes ¡°Wow big sister, you are so pretty¡±. Sylvia laughs at her remark and pats her head saying ¡°Thank you Amy. I think you are very pretty too.¡± Amy giggles and both of them become friends quite quickly. We then have lunch with Mom and Sylvia talking non-stop about everything and anything, most of which revolved around my childhood antics. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have brought Sylvia here afterall. We finish our lunch and Mom says ¡°Arthur, go and drop Sylvia off in her home. Her parents must be quite worried. Thank you Sylvia for coming here today, we enjoyed a lot in your company.¡±


    ¡°No Aunty¡­it was my pleasure to come here. Thank you for taking such good care of me¡± Sylvia replies hastily.


    ¡°Nonsense, we are family now, so call me Mom ohk?¡± Mom says with fake anger on her face. Sylvia blushes and looks in my direction. I just shrug my shoulder and look away like it has nothing to do with me.


    ¡°Mom¡­¡± Sylvia finally gives in and says in weak voice. Mom nods happily and we bid our farewell.


    As soon we came outside, Sylvia pinched me hard and glared at me. ¡°What?¡± I ask. ¡°You know what. Hmph¡­I am not talking to you¡± she says and stops holding my hand. Then for the rest of the way, I do nothing but coax her with apologies and some sneak kisses and finally she gives in just before we reach her house. I bade her farewell and walk back towards my house. Mid-way, I notice that the there were a lot of people moving towards the Upper District suddenly, so I pulled someone aside and asked ¡°Excuse me brother, but an you tell me why so many people are moving to the Upper District so suddenly? There was nothing special happening there this morning.¡±


    ¡°Ohh¡­.you don¡¯t know brother? City Lord¡¯s daughter has just returned yesterday from the Royal Academy and awakened to a tier-6 ability this morning. In order to celebrate this event, City Lord has organised a Tournament where anyone below the Foundation stage can participate and it is rumoured that whoever wins the Tournament will be awarded with five Bone Cleansing pills. The registration has already begun and the preliminary round will start tomorrow.¡± He replied and walked away.


    A Tournament? Bone Cleansing pill? Pills are divided into 12 tiers and a bone cleansing pill is a tier-1 pill. It is a very popular pill as it cleanses the bone and if someone takes it before Body Enhancement Stage, then they will advance fairly quick once they start cultivating. Even for a Body Enhancement Stage cultivator, it helps them breakthrough minor bottlenecks and is strongly coveted. Hmm¡­.If I can get my hands on those pills, it¡¯ll be a huge boost to me and Sylvia. Alright, let¡¯s participate in this tournament. I am fairly confident that I can defeat a Middle-Body Enhancement Stage practitioner with ease thanks to [Brute] and hold my fort against a Top-Body Enhancement one. Maybe if I am lucky, I¡¯ll be able to acquire some nice abilities as well.


    I joined others and moved towards the Upper District. The registrations were taking place in front of the Martial Arena, where I suppose the Tournament will take place. Martial Arena is a large colosseum like structure with huge open ground at the centre. There are 4 small stages shaped like a square, with a stage in each corner & a huge stage at the centre of the square. There were a lot of people turning up for registration and after standing in line for 3 hours, I registered successful and got a number ¨C 999. Heh¡­..what a number. I did not tally there any longer and went straight back home.

 The Tournament

    The next day, I arrived in front of the Martial Arena and found it to be already filled to the brim with all kinds of people. On the VIP section, I could see the City Lord sitting there with his personnel guard but I couldn¡¯t find his daughter. Wait a sec, if that guy is the City Lord, he must have a pretty nice ability right? I mean I have heard that he is a peak-Foundation Stage practitioner. Also, I have a feeling that his personnel guard is stronger than him, even though he looks pretty weak. All the participants were scattered around the ground in the centre and there was a bit of time remaining before the preliminary round begins. I moved towards the VIP section to stand since I wanted the City Lord and his guard to be in my ability¡¯s range. After making sure the distance between us was less than 100 metres, I activated [Ability Devour] on City Lord and then his guard.


    [Minor Battle Sense] acquired


    [Minor Reflect] acquired


    [Minor Battle Sense (Tier-4)] ¨C Lets the user see the flaws in the target¡¯s movements. It also highlights the target¡¯s weak points.


    [Minor Reflect (Tier-4)] ¨C Lets the user reflect 20% of the opponent¡¯s force back to the opponent. Applies to only physical moves.


    Haha¡­not bad. These two abilities will help me immensely in this tournament. Along with my [Holy Heal], I have a very high chance to win now. I have noticed that a lot of abilities have ¡®Minor¡¯ written in front of them, which could only mean that a ¡®Major¡¯ one also exists and maybe even a higher one too. I should check this out in the public library.


    Suddenly, a booming voice is heard all over the Martial Arena.


    ¡°Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to Martial Arena. Our City Lord has organised a Tournament celebrating the Awakening of our young miss to a tier-6 ability. Without any further ado, let us begin with the Tournament. We will first begin with the preliminary round. 500 participants will fight in each of the 4 smaller stages until there are only 10 standing in each stage. Before we begin, I think I should announce the prizes first. The second runners up will receive 1 Bone Cleansing Pill, the runners up will receive 2 Bone Cleansing Pills and the champion will receive 5 Bone Cleansing Pills.¡±


    As soon as he finished, all the participants along with the audience gave a deafening cheer. These awards were indeed quite generous. I think the guy who announced this must have some kind of voice amplification ability, otherwise how can his voice be so loud?


    ¡°Alright, all the participants having token number from 1-500 jump onto the first stage, participants having 500-1000, jump on to the 2<sup>nd</sup> stage, so on and so forth. Let¡¯s begin the preliminary round Ladies and Gentlemen.¡±


    So, I gotta go to the second stage. I made my way there and jumped up. There were already a lot of people up here and most were rugged looking men with myriad of weapons. There were only a handful of females and I only saw 5 youths of my age.


    ¡°Ohk, looks like our participants are ready. Let¡¯s begin the preliminary round then. 3¡­¡­¡­.2¡­¡­¡­..1¡­¡­¡­.Fight¡±


    As soon as he said fight, everybody jumped on each other. I could see a lot of people forming groups and eliminating the weaker participants. There was this one female, a beastmen of panther lineage, who was sweeping the floor with a large broadsword. There was another youth of my age standing at the other end of the Arena and surprisingly only a handful of people were attacking him every now and then, even when he looked so weak. Does he have some kind of presence erasing ability? Suddenly, I feel a thick killing intent and I ducked. A longsword passed where my head was and I saw a man with a huge scar on his face standing behind me. He raised his sword to attack again, but before he could, I elbowed him in his stomach and punched his chin, making him unconscious. A few more people attacked me, but thanks to [Battle Sense], I could easily see their flaws and dealt with them easily. Plus nobody seemed to be in peak Body Enhancement Stage so far which made things easier for me. By now, only 50 or so participants were left on the stage and everybody was eyeing each other and thinking whom to choose as their opponent. Taking me as a weak opponent since I was young, 5 guys pounced on me. I chuckled and dodged 4 sword strikes and took the 5<sup>th</sup> one which was a punch, head-on. The punch looked quite heavy, so I angled my hand in a 45 degree angle and used [Reflect]. Most of his force got dissipated due to my move and I could handle the remaining with ease. I heard a *crack* sound and I knew [Reflect] worked. That guy started screaming holding his hand, so I ignored him and moved onto the remaining 4 guys. They were charging at me simultaneously, but unfortunately there were not skilled and I could see hundreds of flaws in their moves. I easily side-stepped their attack and kicked a guy on his stomach. I ducked an attack coming from a guy from behind and punched his face. The remaining two came together at me, but from opposite sides. I chuckled and avoided the first strike. The second strike was just an inch away from me when I hit the hilt of the sword, changing its direction and it easily passed above my head directly to the neck of the first guy. The second guy was shocked and I used this opportunity to kick his balls and punch his face. Hmm¡­.all out. I looked around and saw only 9 people standing in the stage, so that means we are done with this round. That beastmen lady and that presence erasing youth had also qualified. After a few minutes, the announcer¡¯s voice was heard.


    ¡°Ohho....those were some nice fights. I can see that we already have our winner of the preliminary round. After a break of one hour, we¡¯ll move on to the next round. Two participants will be chosen at random from the 40 present here, who will come up to the large stage at the centre and fight. There will be 20 matches in this round. The winners will then proceed to the next round. All the best participants.¡±


    I sat down and closed my eyes. Most of the participants did the same. An hour passed quickly and the first round started. Surprisingly, the beastmen lady was called on for the first round and her opponent was a bald man with dual swords. The result was as expected, the bald man was thrown out of the stage in less than 2 minutes. In the 9<sup>th</sup> match, that presence erasing youth got eliminated. His ability was not much useful so I ignored him. It was the 15<sup>th</sup> match when my number got called. I went upto the large stage and my opponent was a tall man with a spear. He was emitting a heroic and dominating aura, quite worthy of wielding a spear. He was wearing normal leather armour and from his disposition, I knew he was an experienced fighter. Our match started and both of us ran towards each other. He was faster than me and moved his spear towards my head. I ducked and tried kicking his legs. He side-stepped my kick and swept his spear in an arc. Through [Battle Sense], I saw a flaw in his move and bend my body as the spear passed above my neck just a cm away. We fought like that for a few more minutes until he got impatient and his spear started glowing. He probably has an ability which enhances his attack for a while and as expected, he swept his spear towards my heart. He was quite proficient with his move, but there was a single flaw. I kicked his spear just 3 inch away from its base, which was the weak point of his weapon, and the direction of his attack changed. Due to the momentum of the attack, he couldn¡¯t react in time and I punched him in his head very hard. He fell down and before he got a chance to get up, I kicked him in the head again. He fainted right away and I won.


    That was a nice experience. Without my [Battle Sense], it would have been impossible to win this match. I don¡¯t want to use Holy spear since elemental type abilities are mostly above tie-5 and I don¡¯t want to garner much attention for now. I moved back to my spot and the next match started. In an hour, all the matches were over and we moved on to the next round. There were 10 matches in this round and my number was called in the 3<sup>rd</sup> match. My opponent was a thin and frail looking man, but he was quite skilled with his daggers. Plus, he was avoiding my blows like he knew when I was going to attack. But his offense was nowhere near enough to be a threat to me and this match became a match of attrition. At the end, my stamina won out and taking advantage of his exhaustion, I did a spin kick to his head and he fainted. I was interested in how he could guess my moves before I made them. Is this his ability? I didn¡¯t waste any time and before I went down, I used [Ability Devour] on him.


    [Minor Foresight] acquired


    [Minor Foresight] ¨C Gives the user the ability to sense his opponent¡¯s moves before they are made. Only works when the target¡¯s level is not very high in comparison to the user.


    So that¡¯s why. This is a useful ability. I wonder how powerful its upgraded version is. The rest of the matches proceeded as usual, but something unexpected happened in the 10<sup>th</sup> match. It was between the beastmen lady and a black clothed girl. This girl was covered from head to toe and only her green eyes were visible from a small opening. She was a very talented dual wielder and had won all of her matches using her dual short swords. But as soon as the 10<sup>th</sup> match started, she disappeared from her position and appeared right behind the beastmen lady, with a sword at her neck. The match was over just like that. What was that? Teleportation? Nah¡­.all the teleportation abilities are tier-7 or above ones and a tier-7 ability user just can¡¯t pop out of nowhere. Then the only possibility is that it¡¯s a speed type ability and quite a fast one I must say. I am totally going to get that ability, but not right now since they are outside of my ability¡¯s range. The beastmen lady was quite depressed and luckily passed by the place where I was sitting to head outside the arena. She was quite strong, so maybe she has a nice ability too? So I used [Ability Devour] on her.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    [Warrior] acquired


    [Warrior (Tier-5)] ¨C Gives you the ability to become proficient with any one weapon very quickly and doubles all your base stats.


    Oho¡­she has a tier-5 ability. That¡¯s quite rare and it looks like a very nice ability too. I don¡¯t think that lady was an ordinary beastmen. Going by the description of this ability, all of my stats like strength, speed, stamina, everything has been doubled. Plus, the first part of the description explains why that beastmen lady was so proficient in her broadsword. Well, I don¡¯t have any weapons as of right now so I¡¯ll leave that part for later. One thing I noticed about [Ability Devour] is that it lets me activate multiple abilities at the same time which is quite convenient.


    Now that all the 10 matches were over, there were only 5 final participants left. Me, that black clothed girl, a red haired dude carrying a halberd, a blue haired girl wearing a veil with a whip and finally a blonde handsome man with a sword. The Announcer then declared that one of us will be given a free ticket to the semi-finals through a lottery and the rest of the 4 will fight. Then a guy carrying a bowl having 5 folded papers went to each one of us and told us to pick one but not to open it. The Announcer then declared number 5 to be the lucky winner and when I opened my paper, it was number 5. Since when was my luck so good?


    The Announcer then asked me to stand outside the arena and declared number 3 to fight number 4. Number 3 turned out to be that red-haired guy and number 4 was the blonde handsome man. They went onto centre of the stage and the fight started. The red-haired guy was gaining the upper hand with his halberd while the blonde guy was defending with all his might. Just when everyone though the blonde guy will fall off the stage, the blonde guy produced a shield of fire out of nowhere and dealt a decisive blow to the red-haired guy. The blonde guy then went for the final blow, but suddenly the red-haired guy¡¯s spear started crackling with electricity and both of them collided head-on. In the end, since the red-haired guy was injured, he was defeated and the blonde guy won with a narrow margin. Their abilities were not bad, but I had decided to only take powerful abilities, so I didn¡¯t bother to get their abilities.


    The next battle was much interesting. The blue haired girl vs the black cloth girl. Judging by their figures, both of them should be quite the beauties and since they were hiding their faces, that only added to their mysteriousness. As soon as the match started, the blue haired girl erected a blue shield around her which gave the black clothed girl no time to sneak up on her. The shield was pretty tough and the blue-haired girl used her whip repeatedly to keep the black-clothed girl at bay. Unfortunately, the shield was not invincible and after many strikes, it cracked and broke apart. Despite the blue-haired girl trying her best to restrict the black clothed girl, the match still ended with a sword on the neck of the blue-clothes girl and the black clothed girl winning with her speed.


    If I have to win, I need to do something about her speed. I can just steal her ability, but I had decided to only steal from others when they want to kill me or my friends. Normally, I¡¯ll just copy their abilities and leave them with theirs. I guess I¡¯ll have to acquire her ability before the next match. As soon as their match was over, this round was finished and the announcer declared the next match will be decided by lottery again. This time I deliberately stood near the back-clothed girl and activated my [Ability Devour] on her.


    [Flash] acquired


    [Flash (Tier-6)] ¨C Gives the user the ability to boost his/her speed upto 4 times. Speed can be further increased by consumption of User¡¯s energy.


    What the¡­¡­.a tier-6 ability? In our city? Wait a sec¡­..is she the daughter of City Lord? Because that is the only person I know who has a tier-6 ability and I don¡¯t believe our city is famous enough to house a tier-6 ability user without the public knowing anything about it. And this ability¡­¡­is very powerful, increasing my base speed upto 4 times.


    The result of lottery were announced and this time the black clothed girl got lucky and I had to fight the blonde guy. He appeared to be I middle Body Enhancement Stage, nothing I couldn¡¯t handle. We went onto the stage and the fight started. My base speed was already high thanks to [Warrior], so I easily defeated that fellow.


    ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen, we have our best two participants here for the final match. Whoever wins will become the champion of today¡¯s tournament. On the left side of the stage, we have Flash and on the right side we have Devourer. Let the match begin¡±


    Heh¡­.both of us gave our ability¡¯s name as our alias. The match began and she disappeared from her place again. But this time, thanks to my [Minor Foresight], I could sense where she will come from and managed to avoid her attack. Her eyes clearly showed surprise but she didn¡¯t stop her attacks. She was continuously attacking me with high speed and I had no choice but to double my base speed using [Flash] to continuously dodge her attacks. This went on for more than 5 minutes and I could see her building fatigue. Even though [Flash] increases your speed exponentially, it does not provide you with unlimited stamina. She had clearly exhausted most of the stamina while I still had more than half of mine. That was my strategy from the start, to use her own speed against her. Perhaps realizing this situation, she slowed down her speed and we started fighting with the same speed. But she didn¡¯t have convenient abilities like [Minor Foresight] and [Battle Sense], so I was easily dodging her attacks and kept attacking her weak points. I decided to end this fight, so I played feint and acted like I was gonna kick her legs. She jumped up and that¡¯s when I made a grab for her neck. She was in the air and had no way to dodge my move, but somehow managed to save herself from a hair¡¯s breadth. Unfortunately, that was not true for the clothes covering her face and instead of grabbing her neck, I snatched on to the cloth covering her face and it got torn apart.


    What came out of it really shocked me. I mean, Sylvia was a really divine beauty, but this girl was beautiful in a more seductive way. She had jet black hair with green eyes, scarlet red seductive lips and was pouting in a way that made my blood boil. Combined with her large bust and sexy body, she was totally as dangerous as a succubus. Living with Sylvia, I had gotten pretty acquainted with divine beauties so I calmed down pretty quick, but the audience was still gawking at her. The City Lord had stood up and I could see he was furious. So this girl was really his daughter and judging by his mood, she took part in this tournament without his permission.


    ¡°Look what you have done. Now Dad will scold me hard and it is all your fault¡± black clothed girl said with a pout and folded her arms, which lifted up her chest even more and made her look even sexier.


    ¡°Hey miss, it¡¯s not my fault that you took part in this competition without your father¡¯s permission. Now if you don¡¯t mind, let¡¯s finish this match¡± I said and dashed towards her. Her sexy behaviour disappeared and she took a serious pose too. I knew very well from the beginning that she was using her charm to distract me mid-fight and deal a decisive blow but I am no fool. Living with Sylvia has pretty much made me immune to beauties. I mean, sure I can appreciate them but I won¡¯t let it affect my heart, especially during battle. She abandoned her twin swords and took out a black dagger from her clothes. Looking at the aura of that dagger, I could say it¡¯s an enchanted weapon. An enchanted weapon is a weapon which has been made with expensive and rare materials and is divided into 12 tiers. An enchanted weapon is quite costly since they can only be made by enchanters or people with enchanting abilities, who are quite rare. She uses the full speed of [Flash] and plunges the dagger straight towards my throat. I had already predicted she¡¯ll do something like that with [Minor Foresight], but the dagger was quite fast and it¡¯ll be difficult to avoid getting hit. So I moved my body a little but to the right and in the nick of time jumped up. The dagger penetrated deep into my shoulders but I managed to land a heavy kick in her stomach with all my strength, which by the addition of [Brute] and [Warrior] is 5 times my base strength and made her fly straight out of the stage. I sit down on the stage panting and tear a piece of my clothes to bandage my wound. [Holy Scion of Light] had increased the natural healing ability of my body so a little bit of bleeding is no problem for me. If I leave this wound as it is, within one hour it will be completely healed even if I do not use [Holy Heal], which I didn¡¯t wanted to use right now as it produces a very eye catching glow when used. The black clothed girl stood up and wiped the blood coming out of her mouth. She gave me one last look before walking towards her father¡¯s seat. The City Lord seeing his daughter is not heavily injured sighed and sat back.


    ¡°And that was an amazing fight Ladies and Gentlemen and finally, we have our champion of the tournament, the Devourer.¡± The announcer screamed and the whole audience cheered. A medic came upto the stage and helped take care of my wounds. As per the instructions- I, the black clothed girl and the blonde guy stood at the centre of the stage where the City Lord gave us our awards and I finally received my pills.


    ¡°That was a very nice performance young man. And thank you for going easy on my daughter. She has a very rebellious attitude, just like her mother hahahah¡± he said to me before we dispersed. The black clothed girl blushed and ran away with a ¡®humph¡¯. Hehe¡­..she is quite cute when she is not fighting. I took my pills and walked out of the arena. I could feel that someone was tailing me thanks to my heightened senses because of [Minor Foresight], so instead of going home, I went out of the city towards the forest. Reaching the point where I normally meet Sylvia, I turned around and said ¡°Come out. I know you are following me since I left the Arena¡±.

 Lily

    From a tree, the same black clothed girl came out.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked and stayed vigilant. ¡°Chill out, I am not here to fight or anything. I gotta say, you senses are quite sharp. Actually, I wanted to ask you a question.¡± She said and stood in front of me. ¡°Ask away¡± I replied.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t act so cold towards a lady. Well¡­.my question is, how are you so strong? You are not a student of the Royal Academy but judging by your strength, your ability gotta be a tier-6 or higher one. Who are you exactly?¡± she asked and I could sense the doubt in her voice.


    I chuckled ¡°If you want me to answer, you¡¯ll have to promise me that you won¡¯t tell anyone. Plus, you need to teach me how to use swords. Deal?¡± I could use this chance to learn swordsmanship. If I am going to choose a weapon, it¡¯ll be a sword because my first ability [Sword of Emperor] has aroused my interest in swords.


    She shows a surprised emotion for a second but smiles and nods.


    ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s quite simple actually. I am a citizen of this very city and the reason I am strong as you say, is because my ability gives me quite the boost in a hand-to-hand combat. As for the tier of my ability, you¡¯ll found out one day.¡± I say with a wink.


    ¡°Damn. Doesn¡¯t this make me on the losing side of the deal? But since I had promised you, I¡¯ll keep this a secret and teach you swords for 2 months. How much you can gain from that depends on your talent¡± she replies.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine by me. I¡¯ll be leaving with my friend to the Royal Capital in 2 months anyways so it¡¯s a good deal. And don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t get out of this deal empty handed. My ability lets me see the weak points of my opponents so I could help you improve your fighting skills. Oh, by the way, I am Arthur. Nice to meet you¡± I say and extend my hands. She shakes my hand ¡°Nice to meet you too Arthur. I am Lily and I¡¯ll gladly accept your offer¡±. We discussed a bit about our schedule and decided to meet here every morning and practice till lunch. We bade farewell and I walked towards my home. Lily hun? She is quite the interesting girl. I wonder how I¡¯ll reveal this to Sylvia.


    The next day, I decided to wait for Sylvia in front of her house so I could inform her about my new arrangement. After a few minutes, she came out and was surprised to see me standing there waiting for her. I held her hands and pulled her away from her house without giving her a chance to say anything. What I failed to notice is a middle-aged woman watching us from a window of her house smiling.


    ¡°Hey Arthur, what are you doing here?¡± Sylvia asked while we were walking towards the city gate.


    ¡°I missed you so much that I couldn¡¯t control myself and came to fetch you¡± I joked and she punch me.


    ¡°Ohk, ohk, the thing is, did you hear about the tournament of yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Dad said it was to celebrate City Lord¡¯s daughter awakening to a tier-6 ability and the awards were quite good.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. The thing is, I kind of won the tournament and the award was 5 Bone Cleansing Pills. I will give you 2 and I¡¯ll take two. We¡¯ll keep the last for future uses.¡± I said and gave her a pouch. There were 2 Bone Cleansing pills inside it. She eyed me for a second, but said nothing and accepted them. We had already accepted the fact that whatever we own belongs to both of us so she didn¡¯t try to deny me.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to take such risks. What if you had gotten hurt?¡± she asked and stopped walking. I kissed her hands and replied ¡°We are cultivators Sylvia, a little bit of pain can¡¯t scare me. These pills are important for a good foundation and at the end I did win didn¡¯t I?¡± She nodded her head and we continued walking.


    ¡°By the way, there is something you should know. During the finals, my opponent was the City Lord¡¯s daughter in disguise and after defeating her, we made a deal that I¡¯ll tell her my identity and help her improve her fighting style and in turn she will keep my identity a secret and teach me how to use swords. Do you want to join our training sessions?¡±


    Suddenly she stopped walking again, and I could feel a murderous aura around her. I had cold sweat on my back and turned around to see a pretty scary looking Sylvia, even though she was smiling.


    ¡°So you made a deal with another girl to spend time together, without even telling me?¡± she asks and I could swear I saw an image of a Shura behind her.


    ¡°Hey¡­i..its not what you think it is. I had¡­.tr¡­training in my mind¡­..¡± my voice was shaking and god knows what was wrong with me. I try to speak more but Sylvia¡¯s finger sealed my lips. Then all of a sudden, she started laughing. ¡°Hahaha¡­.Arthur, you should have seen your face. Relax, I was just joking. I am well aware that you will be great figure in the future and will have many maidens following you. Just know that the position of first wife belongs to me ohk?¡± she said and specially emphasized on the last part of her sentence.


    What the hell? Well, the concept of polygamy did exist and was normally seen among powerful practitioners or nobles. Only the strong had the right to do whatever they pleased and have as many wives they wished. But since my dad had only one wife, I didn¡¯t know what to feel about polygamy. Oh well, no point thinking about that now. We¡¯ll see when the time comes.


    I hug Sylvia and whisper in her ears ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t know what I feel about polygamy but know that you are the person I love the most in this world. You know me inside out since we have been together since kids and as promised, I¡¯ll protect you for the rest of my lives. The only reason I am hell bent on gaining strength is because I want to be strong enough to protect you. You are the most important person in my life Sylvia.¡±


    I know she was crying by the wetness I felt on my shoulders but I didn¡¯t let her go and continued to hug her. There were not many people around here so it was fine. After a few minutes, she calmed down and whispered ¡°Let go, people are watching.¡± I let her go and held her hands ¡°Let them watch. You are mine anyways.¡± I reply and seal her lips. This time she doesn¡¯t resist and returns the kiss. We separate and find a few people looking at us with a smirk. With a red face, we quickly dash out of the area.


    ¡°You idiot, I told you people were watching¡± Sylvia said, but I could see she was very happy.


    ¡°Haha¡­.but you totally enjoyed it¡±


    ¡°Hmph¡­..go away¡±


    Bickering and laughing, we reach our meeting point with Lily. I could see a blue-clothed girl with jet-black hair and green eyes with two swords and a dagger in her waist standing there. She quickly noticed me but narrowed her eyes at Sylvia. She then noticed us holdings and I could see a disappointed expression flicker across her eyes for a second. Is my mind playing tricks or is she really sad knowing I have a girlfriend? It can¡¯t be possible that she had started to like me in a single encounter? Must be the former I guess.


    We reached there and both the girls started eyeing each other carefully with me standing there awkwardly. Then suddenly, as if both of them came to tacit understanding started walking away signalling me to remain where I am. They went quite far away I couldn¡¯t hear or see anything. After 5 minutes, both of them came out holding hands and eyeing me like a wolf eyes its prey. What the hell? What kind of earth-shattering discussion can bring about such huge changes? And why am I getting shivers down my spine all of a sudden?


    ¡°Arthur, you didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯ll bringing such a pretty girlfriend with you?¡± Lily asks with a mischievous smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be the only one for much longer, so no need to worry Lily¡± Sylvia says and gives her a meaningful eye. Lily blushes and looks away. What the fuck happened in just 5 minutes which made them such good friends in such a short time? Women are scary creatures.


    ¡°*cough* anyways, I am sure you have already introduced yourselves but let me do the honours again. Sylvia, this is Lily, City Lord¡¯s daughter and she¡¯ll be training me with swords. Lily, this is Sylvia, my girlfriend. I hope you don¡¯t mind I brought her with me for our practice session¡±


    ¡®No, no, it¡¯s totally fine. In fact you did a very good thing by bringing her here. I could tell that she has a nice affinity with daggers so I could train her in daggers too.¡± She replies happily. They even talked about their weapon choices in just 5 minutes? Hah¡­forget it. I¡¯ll just treat these two as oddballs and just accept everything.


    ¡°Thanks Lily. Fist let¡¯s start with my swords. Sylvia has an offensive type spell in her ability which deals with long-distance attacks so we need to set up a training plan for her too.¡±


    ¡°I know. Let¡¯s do this. Sylvia, first we¡¯ll deal with your precision as that is very important when dealing with long-range attacks. We¡¯ll set up a training dummy at some distance away, let¡¯s say 50 metres and you¡¯ll have to practice to hit it perfectly. Then we¡¯ll keep increasing the distance until you can make a prefect shot upto 500 metres. After that we¡¯ll increase the number of targets and see how it goes. Sounds good?¡±


    Both I and Sylvia gave a thumps up. Her plan was quite good and will help Sylvia a lot with her [Holy Spear].


    With that, we started our intense training for the next 2 months. Early in the morning, Lily will teach me how to fight with swords while Sylvia trains with her [Holy Spear]. Then we¡¯ll take a break to discuss about our problems and success. After that, I¡¯ll help Lily deal with her flaws and teach Sylvia some hand-to-hand moves at the same time. Then I¡¯ll leave Lily to teach Sylvia how to fight with a dagger and walk deeper into the forest with an excuse of meditating when in reality I practice my own [Holy Spear] in secret. Who knows when I¡¯ll need to use it so better get a good handle at how to use it efficiently. This training will also help me in future when I acquire more long-distance type attack abilities.


    Like this, a month passed and New Year came. Today we had taken a day off to enjoy New Year with our family and I was currently strolling in the market area looking for appropriate gifts for my family and friends. During this one month, my training with swords went very well and Lily was shocked with my unhuman talent with swords. Thanks to [Warrior], I became as proficient as Lily in swords in 3 weeks and for the next two weeks, she taught me some special techniques which she learned in school. I was really grateful to Lily for sharing everything with me and I had realised that I had started to like her. We had spent so much time together and I know she was a really nice girl. Sylvia has been giving many hints recently that she approves of Lily and I should confess to her. I have given a lot of thought to the idea of polygamy and realised that if I can make another girl happy and have the ability to protect her, then why not? I know for a fact that Lily likes me to some extent too and I can¡¯t imagine rejecting her and breaking her heart. So I decided that I¡¯ll accept her and protect her with all my heart. Sylvia had given me subtle hints that New Year will be a nice time to confess my feelings and I think she is right. But first, I¡¯ll need to find a proper gift for her.


    I had amassed some money by doing some F-rank missions. We have yet to hunt a monster otherwise I would have a lot more money but this much should be fine. Suddenly, I spot a small, secluded shop in an alley and with curiosity I entered the shop. There were a variety of items inside the shop and what grabbed my attention was a section of necklace in a corner of the shop. Those necklaces were really beautiful and came in various designs. I spotted a blue-colour necklace which was a perfect gift for my sister. It was a shield shaped necklace with two hearts intertwined together. It perfectly represented my will to shield her from all harms and my love towards her.


    There was also a red coloured necklace whose shape looked like a rose flower and had ¡®Love you always¡¯ written on it. This was a perfect gift for Sylvia. Then there was a green coloured heart shaped necklace which depicted two lovers embracing each other. This is it! My gift for Lily. Strange, how come I got so lucky and ended up with perfect gifts I could ask for? Since the day I had awakened, I could feel that I had become an extremely lucky person. It can¡¯t be [Ability Devour], so is it [Sword of Emperor]? It has such a vague name and it is still locked. I have no idea when I¡¯ll able to use it. Well, whatever. Luck is something everybody desires and I am getting it just like that.


    I purchase those necklace along with a few other things which I liked and decided to give it to my parents. A pair of earrings for mother and a flute for my father. Everything was worth 10 silver and I had enough to pay for it. I was extremely happy and went home in a very good mood. Today was the last day of this year and I had asked Lily to wait for me at 11:30 at our meeting spot. Normally she should be celebrating with her family, but due to some emergency her father was away and she was all alone. So I had invited her to celebrate New Year together. She had no idea that I¡¯ll be going alone and Sylvia will be absent. I had already informed Sylvia about my plan and she was totally cheering me to go for it. She said she considers Lily as her sister and it¡¯ll be perfect if they can become a single family. Hah¡­I am really a lucky bastard to get someone as amazing as Sylvia.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    I arrived home and hid my gifts in my room. I spent the rest of my time reading books. After knowing about my ability, I had borrowed a lot of books from the library to increase my knowledge on the type of abilities present and some unique abilities present out there. Our library neither had any information on my abilities nor did it say anything about Sylvia¡¯s ability. The word ¡®scion¡¯ in her ability gave me a feeling that it is not an ordinary tier-8 ability. Another thing which came to my knowledge is that I had an azure coloured tattoo on the back of my right shoulder, about the size of half of my palm. It was only thanks to Amy who barged into my room while I was changing and spotted it that I came to know about it. It was a spiral shaped tattoo which depicted a world getting swallowed by huge jaws. That¡¯s what Amy described it to me and though it sounds dark, she said it really looked cool. Well, it must be related to my [Ability Devour]. I searched about this phenomenon in the library and came to know that all the abilities of tier-8 or above impart a particular symbol in the body of the user. Thank god my [Ability Devour] doesn¡¯t give me additional symbols even when I absorb tier-8 abilities like Sylvia¡¯s.


    By the time I was done reading, it was already time for dinner so I headed towards the dining room. Our family ate dinner happily and I gave everyone their respective gifts and told them to open it after 12 pm. Amy was very impatient, but after some coaxing, she agreed reluctantly to wait. My parents were already aware of my arrangement to spend the New Year outside and didn¡¯t ask me anything. The probably assumed that I¡¯ll spending it with Sylvia. I had absorbed the abilities of my parents and though they were weak, mom¡¯s ability could be useful when my friends or family would be in danger.


    I bade them farewell and made my way towards our meeting point in the forest. When I reached there, Lily was nowhere to be seen so I patiently waited for her. After a few minutes I sensed movement and turned my head, only to be greeted by a breath-taking sight. Lily was dressed in a dark green sleeve-less dress and had left her hair open. The dress perfectly emphasized her figure and made her look exceptionally hot. Her sexy long legs were bare and were reflecting the moonlight, giving me the urge to touch and feel them. She had a slight blush on her face and was fidgeting looking in my direction. I slowly approached her and she was looking down.


    ¡°Lily, you look breathtakingly beautiful in that dress¡± I said. She looked up and stared straight into my eyes. She said nothing but I could see her happiness and a little bit of anticipation and nervousness in her eyes. I held both of her hands and her face turned beet red, but she kept staring in my eyes.


    ¡°Lily, I called you today to tell you something important. I like you, a lot. I don¡¯t know whether it¡¯s at the stage of love since we had known each other for a very short time. But I can tell that for me, you are very special and I don¡¯t want to lose you. I want to protect you and be with you. You are well aware that I already have a girlfriend and I can¡¯t promise that there won¡¯t be any other woman in my life. I have laid my heart open, the rest is upto you.¡±


    By the time I finished, Lily was smiling with teary eyes and shook her head ¡°I like you too Arthur. I am well aware about Sylvia and we have already talked about it before. It is quite normal for a powerful and talented person to have many wives and I am perfectly fine with that as long as I get to be with you and stay happy.¡± She said and hugged me. I hugged her back and whispered ¡°Thank you¡±. We stayed in each other embrace as bright explosions started lighting up the sky, signalling the beginning of New Year. I separated myself from her and took out her gift from my pocket. She smiles and cheerfully accepted it with a ¡®Thank You¡¯.


    She opened up the box and took out the green necklace. She then gave me bashful look and coquettishly asked ¡°Would you help me put this on?¡± I nodded with a smile and took the necklace from her hands. She then turned around her removed the hair covering her nape. Her skin was so smooth and glossy under the moonlight. I gently place the necklace around her and as soon as my fingers touched her skin, she gasped slightly. My heart started beating faster but I controlled myself and carefully intertwined the two ends and locked it. In the end I couldn¡¯t control myself enough and kissed her nape slightly, which got me a sexy moan. I lost my cool and started kissing her neck feverishly. Lily was moaning every now and then but didn¡¯t stop me. My body was urging me to go down but I controlled myself and sealed my lips with hers. Our tongues intertwined and we started sucking each other. We kissed for god knows how long until we were out of breath and separated panting. We both had a silly grin on our face and sat down embracing each other under a nearby tree. The rest of the night was spent with occasional kisses and laughter as we fell asleep hugging each other.


    The next morning, I felt someone poking my face and I opened my sleepy eyes. Sylvia was standing in front of me with a mischievous smile and I realized that I was hugging Lily who was still asleep. I hastily separated myself which woke Lily up and as soon as she saw Sylvia and then our position, she screamed and got away. Both I and Sylvia started laughing watching her reaction and Lily¡¯s face got red with embarrassment.


    ¡°I see, so you two finally got your feelings straight. I am glad, I was getting tired of both of you eying each other and trying to hide your feelings all the time. Arthur, you better take good care of both of us now and you Lily, now that we are a family, you don¡¯t need to hide anything from us and you can share all your problems and joy, ohk?¡± Sylvia said and glared us both. We nodded and she smiled. Hah¡­she sure is enjoying the role of First Wife.


    ¡°*cough* Now that we all are here, let¡¯s begin with our training¡±. And thus our normal training began. Sylvia had almost finished up her precision training and now could fire multiple [Holy Spear] from a distance of 500m perfectly. She had also perfected her dagger proficiency as much as she could and was as proficient as Lily now. Lily had also fixed up almost all of her flaws and her moves were now as smooth as flowing water.


    ¡°Hey girls, I think it¡¯s time we take our first monster hunt mission from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and test out our powers. It can also give us some battle experience. Me and Lily will play offensive while Sylvia will support us from behind with her long-distance attacks and [Holy Heal]. What do you think?¡± I asked them. Both of them agreed and so we made way towards the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. When we entered the guild, we got more eyes full of lust and hate than last time, thanks to the extra addition of Lily. We ignored them and headed towards the mission board. After going through we found an E-rank mission to collect Fire Boar¡¯s horns, a lower tier-1 monster in the Badlands Forest. We could collect as many as we want and will be given 50 silvers each. I tore the paper out of the board and submitted it to the reception, accepting the mission. We also registered ourselves as a party of three.


    Badlands Forests was located a few kms away from the city and Lily said she had visited that place once with her father and knew where we could find Fire Boars. She led us outside northwards and we followed. After a few hours, we reached a gloomy looking Forest, which was our destination.


    After a few minutes of searching under the lead of Lily, we found our first Fire Boar. It was the size of a normal bull and had fire coming out of its nose. It was brownish in colour with a few red lines running over its body. It had a large red horn on its head and its scarlet eyes were looking straight at us with a murderous glint. It mooed angrily and charged straight towards us. Me and Lily charged towards the boar while Sylvia remained where she was and started conjuring holy spears. Just as the boar was going to crash onto us, both of us tripled our speeds and dodged its attack. Due to its momentum it couldn¡¯t turn mid-way and we used that to our advantage and plunged our swords straight through its neck. But unfortunately it didn¡¯t go all the way in and this made the boar more enraged. Suddenly, its upper skin caught fire and the boar charged at us with greater speed. With my foresight, I had already pushed Lily out of the way and managed to dodge the boar by a few centimetres. The fire burned my clothes a bit otherwise I was fine. I quadrupled my speed and slashed my sword at the boar¡¯s legs. It lost its balance and I signalled Sylvia to launch. 5 Holy Spears then penetrated the boar¡¯s neck at the same spot where we had injured it earlier. The boar gave a last cry and slumped down lifeless. I sighed and looked back at my team who were showing me victory signs. These girls¡­¡­.


    We then went near the corpse and cut its horn apart. None of us knew how to dismantle a monster¡¯s corpse so we had no choice to leave the corpse as it is. Similarly, we found 10 more boars and defeated them by combining various combat techniques and even managed to kill a boar in 10 seconds. We were getting better and better in our co-ordination as a team and killing boars became very easy. Injuries were no problem to us but next time, maybe we should bring an extra pair of clothes. The girls were fine, but my clothes were torn and burned in some places. By the time lunch came, we had killed 40 boars. We took their horns and made our way back to the Guild. We submitted them and got 20 gold coins. The girls told me to keep the money safe and left. 20 gold coins¡­..I can¡¯t believe I just made them in a single day. My family¡¯s yearly income was just 5 gold coins.


    In this way, we hunted Fire boars for the rest of the week and amassed 330 gold coins by the end of the week. We had become quite skilled in our co-ordination and utilising our powers efficiently.


    The next day, we decided to try a higher difficulty and took the mission to collect the liver of Dark Panther in Bloodhound hills nearby Badlands Forest. This was also an E-rank mission but was more dangerous and payed 10 gold coins per liver. We collected some basic information about this monster and made our way towards the hills. This particular monster was skilled in stealth and was very fast. The only reason we took this mission was because stealth will be useless with my foresight and I don¡¯t believe it¡¯ll be much faster than the maximum speed of [Flash].


    We reached the hills and it was like we entered a dark domain of some sort. The trees here were huge and blocked most of the sunlight which made this place incredibly dark and perfect for stealth. After walking for some time, my foresight alerted me and I signalled the girls to stop. Suddenly I felt a bit of killing intent coming from our back and screamed ¡°Duck!!¡±


    The three of us ducked and a large shadow passed from where our heads were a second later. We looked in front of us and a huge black panther was standing in front of us, eyeing us like we were destined to be its food.


    ¡°Sylvia, stay back and try to climb into one of these tree branches while we distract it. Lily, use your fastest speed and try to keep its focus on you.¡± Both of them nodded and the panther lunged at us. Sylvia jumped back and we side-stepped and dodged its paw. Lily threw her enchanted dagger straight at the panther¡¯s eyes, who managed to dodge it but got a bloody wound beneath its eye. It was enraged and lunged at Lily. Even though the panther was fast, Lily still managed to dodge its attack repeatedly with [Flash]. Sylvia had already climbed atop a tree¡¯s branch and I signalled her to attack right after I say so with two spears. While Lily was engaging the panther, I calmed down and tried to hide my sense as much as possible and carefully approach the panther from behind. I signalled to Sylvia and two holy spears came flying down towards panther. While the panther was busy dodging the holy spears, I ran and slid under it and plunged my sword straight to its heart. I had read in the information provided to us that this monster had a tough skin, so I was well aware that holy spears won¡¯t be able to penetrate it directly but the skin on its belly was comparatively less tough and my plan was to use this to our advantage. The monster collapsed on top of me, dying my whole body red. I crawled out of the corpse and Lily giggled looking at my state. I looked at her with a mischievous eyes and she stopped giggling and shook her head. She tried to run, but before she could, I had already embraced her and kissed her lips. By the time I separated, her body was also dyed red. She glared at me furiously and I shrugged while Sylvia was laughing out loud. We cleaned ourselves using a bit of water but most of our clothes still remained red. Lily had some experience with dismantling by now so she took out the panther¡¯s liver and we helped her the best we could. Since now we had a good grasp of the panther¡¯s weakness, we proceeded similarly and killed 10 more panthers before going back and submitting our proofs. We got 100 gold coins and I was grinning from ear to ear looking at the money.


    For the next three weeks, we only hunted the panther and a monster called shadow wolf which was at the same difficulty as the panther. The only difference was, we had to collect its pelt which was time consuming but the pay was bigger so we didn¡¯t mind the time loss. By the end of the 3 weeks, our total income was 3000 gold coins. We divided it equally and got 1000 gold coins each. We stopped our hunting exercise and decided to spend the remaining few days with our families instead. News was that the sky ship heading towards the Royal Capital will arrive in 3 days and that was our transport. Our continent in size was huge, covering millions of kilometres, therefore travelling by foot was impossible here. That is the reason why sky ships were used to travel large distances. They were not very costly and there were no major risks of encountering danger during the journey. Though the skies had the danger of flying monsters upto tier-3, every ship had a practitioner of Core Formation stage guarding it, which was more than enough to handle them. The major cities around the empire and used space gates to travel. Even though they were incredibly costly, you could travel to your destination instantly using it. The only disadvantage they had was that both the places should have a space gate for it to work.


    Before going back, we decided to buy some new gear and weapons. Lily could use her father¡¯s money to buy anything, but she refused to and said since her friends were buying everything from the money they earned themselves, she¡¯ll do the same. The three of us bought leather armours with decent defence, 2 new short swords made from light steel for Lily, a sword of dark steel for me and a few more accessories. Lily passed her enchanted dagger to Sylvie saying she doesn¡¯t have much use of it and only kept it as it was a gift from her father. Sylvia tried to deny but after a few glares from Lily, she gave in and accepted. After that we bade farewell and decided to meet up in the docking area near the City Lord¡¯s Mansion where the Sky ship lands on the morning of 3<sup>rd</sup> day.


    Two days passed in a blur and it was finally time to bide farewell to my family. I was standing outside our home with my family ready to see me off. Mom and Amy were crying non-stop while Dad was trying his best to remain calm even though his ability didn¡¯t seem to be helping him much.


    ¡°Arthur, take good of yourself. Do not take unnecessary danger and be cautious out there. Take good care of Sylvia and let no harm befall her. All the best for you Entrance Test.¡± Dad said and patted my shoulders. Mom had already lectured me the entire night so she had nothing much to say. She simply hugged me and kissed my temple.


    ¡°Big Brother *sob*, are you leaving us?¡± Amy said with teary eyes.


    ¡°No silly sister, I am just going to a new school. My school is a large distance away from our city so I¡¯ll have to go there. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll visit every 5-6 months. Plus, Amy will be going to her new school in the Royal Capital too and after a few years, you¡¯ll also join my new school. Make sure to study hard and top your class otherwise you may not get permitted to big brother¡¯s new school ohk? Promise me you¡¯ll be a good girl while I am away?¡± I said and kissed her cheeks.


    ¡°Un, Amy will be a good girl for big brother. One day, I¡¯ll come to your school to stay with you brother¡± she replied and I could see a fire burning in her eyes. Little did I know that the next time I see her, she would be one of the legendary Saints.