As the light of dawn shined across Ellaris city, a young man performed a variety of strange poses and exercises inside of a small training hall. His body seemed to flow like water as he changed from one position into the next.
The morning light shined on the young man's body through the large open doors of the hall.
The young man was clearly inexperienced as occasionally when he performed the exercises he would stiffen, a frown appearing on his face.
Having been practicing these movements for some time the young man stood topless, sweating heavily as his body twitched and shivered from the strain.
Finally, he collapsed.
Laying on the floor, Casmir breathed heavily as he tried to calm his heart rate down.
Casmir normally wouldn't train this early in the morning however he couldn't sleep properly because of his apprehension towards meeting Master Bluefire again later today.
With nothing to do he decided to train his body and hone his Qi flow control.
Casmir had become quite well versed in performing the basic exercises for Qi flow, however there were still places that felt uncomfortable to him. This was natural, after all the basic exercises were designed to be used by a variety of different races under the beast path of cultivation, human's actually had a high compatibility with them compared to other race's.
Younger Cultivator's were typically left to refine their own forms of exercises, the ability to adapt ones skill to one's purpose was an important skill to develop in cultivators.
After resting for a time, Casmir returned to his house, grabbed some food from the kitchen and came to the living room to eat it.
As he entered the living room, Casmir noticed Hiraka was here already.
"Ah, Casmir. You're up a bit early today aren't you?" He asked noticing Casmir arrival.
Hiraka was part of the City Guardship however his position was higher up compared to his younger brothers, Hiraka was an external Guard Captain. His job was to help maintain order in the outer northern section of Ellaris city, occasionally he would help clear out or survey the territory to the north of Ellaris city, which occasionally becomes inhabited by dangerous ferocious beast.
For the last few months Hiraka has been part of the morning security shift, which is why he has gotten up so early..
"Oh, morning Hiraka. Yeah I couldn't get much sleep last night." Casmir replied casually.
Hiraka nodded, he continued reading a few Qi chips while combing his thick mane.
Hiraka suddenly recalled something, "Ah yes. Just to let you know, I'll probably need to head out for a few weeks soon. With the growing restlessness of the ferocious beasts, the Guardship will likely send us out to cull some of them."
Casmir frowned but nodded, "Do you know how bad it is yet?"
Hiraka didn't seemed concerned by it, he held up a Qi chip saying "It's not that bad, they always make it sound worse than it is on these damn things. From our previous surveys we estimate only a dozen Grade 3 ferocious beasts and a few hundred Grade 2."
As a Grade 3 Qi Warrior himself, Hiraka could fight off a Grade 3 ferocious beast and that was only if he was on his own. Whenever a culling takes place, dozens of guard captains and hundreds of normal guards, at least Grade 2 Qi Warrior's, join forces.
There will also be a Grade 4 Qi warriors who oversee the culling force.
Casmir knew this but even so, he was still slightly concerned.
Noticing Casmir concern, Hiraka laughed "Haha, Don't worry Casmir. We barely lose one guard a year to culling's and a guard captain like me hasn't died in over 20 years."
Casmir nodded after thinking about it, "Yeah I'm sure you're right..."
Soon enough Hiraka left and after Casmir rested his body for a few more hours, he was back to top condition ready to meet Master Bluefire.
======
There were a lot less people at the university today, this was because most classes were taught during the week, the only reason Casmir was here on a weekend was because of his special 'class' with Master Bluefire.
As Casmir walked towards Bluefire's refinery he felt very nervous, he still hadn't decided how to explain his confrontation with Arthur to Master Bluefire.
Casmir eventually found himself standing outside of Master Bluefire refinery, he was reluctant to knock on the door but before he had time to think about it, Master Bluefire called him in.
"Come in, don't take forever." An impatient cold voice called out from inside the cottage.
Casmir quickly opened the door and made his way inside.
The room he entered was very large, however there was barely any room to move about. The room was cluttered with books and boxes, there were even odd metal devices scattered about on tables and in chairs.
Casmir couldn't help but relate the irresponsible Master Bluefire to this cluttered mess of a room.
As he searched the room trying to find Master Bluefire, his attention was drawn to a thick metal door with multiple indentations on it. The door appeared to have been impacted from the other side by various objects as if they wanted to escape through it.
As Casmir approached the door a loud clank sound propagated from it, the Metal was unlocked and was swung open.
It opened to reveal a beautiful slender lady wearing a vibrant blue dress, her Elemental aura appeared to be a bright blue full of life, yet her face maintained a cold stare and her brow's were furrowed as she looked at Casmir.
Casmir was noticeably shocked by her appearance, he did however sneak a glimpse at the room behind this lady.
She seemed to have walked out of a volcanic cave full of smouldering rocks, the walls were burnt black and the floor was cracked with dim red light shining through the cracks.
Master Bluefire looked at Casmir with curiosity, she spoke in the tone of a Queen delegating to her subordinate's, coldly and commanding.
"Sit down over there, we have a lot to talk about." She said pointing towards a few tattered empty chairs.
After hearing her voice, Casmir understood that this was Master Bluefire. He followed her instruction and sat down but he also managed to summon the courage to make a few curious glances at her.
Her form was very appealing to the eyes however Casmir would never dare to say that, he was simply interested in why she had changed her form.
Master Bluefire noticed his glances, explaining "This is my normal form, the form you saw the other day was one I use when refining or for combative purposes."
Casmir nodded in understanding.
He then attempted to ask her something only to be interrupted half way.
"What are we.."
"You are here to be my student. You will listen to everything I say and follow all of my instructions, there will be no questions until I have finished speaking. Is that understood?" She said coldly.
Casmir sank into his chair slightly as he nodded.
Bluefire smiled as if she enjoyed seeing Casmir's reaction.
"Now, first off. Why did you beat up your fellow student?" Bluefire said with an inquisitive smile.
Casmir felt unnerved by Master Bluefire's attitude, never the less he attempted to explain himself.
"Arthur was someone I accidently encountered, I witnessed him in a... compromising situation, he.."
Casmir explained the situation in detail the Master Bluefire, awkwardly tiptoeing around the subject of the Golden Flower House. There wasn't much point in hiding what happened to Master Bluefire, just from the fact she was aware of what happened meant she had someone look over him.
As Casmir finished, Master Bluefire frowned.
"You're an idiot." She said in a demeaning way.