After he said that line, the two were left behind. Not because he was moving too fast, but because the siblings were shocked by his suggestion.
Ryan was the first to consider accepting it.
"Should we?" he proposed to his sister.
Shui's cultivation wasn't that far from theirs, so he shouldn't be able to help them much in that department, but learning his skills would definitely be enough for them to get stronger. Remembering the countless times she had felt useless, along with the bright glow in Ryan's eyes as he looked at her, Lily formed her determination.
When he suggested to train them, it wasn't completely out of the kindness of his heart. Though Shui did feel like the siblings were worth helping, it was also because he realised how much of a bother it was to harvest mutated flora and dismantle carcasses. His purpose in becoming a worker was to gain fighting experience, so though learning how to dismantle was okay, he didn't want to waste his time with such mundane tasks. He might have acted very mature, but the laziness and selfishness of a child were still very much a part of him.
In the four days before he went back to Cyrus, Shui studied more about poisons just in case and also read about the different species of evolved beasts. Shui knew that he couldn't rely on pure strength to defeat his enemies so he had to have the knowledge to overcome the gap.
The four days passed quickly and Shui returned to Cyrus in the same attire as last time. When he entered the Workers' Association building, he quickly spotted Lily and Ryan.
"So, your answer?"
"Please train us." both siblings said while bowing to him.
"Okay, you can relax while I wait for that guy to get here."
"Hmm? Ah, should we take a task in the meantime?"
"No, we'll be hunting freely today."
His reply caused the siblings to draw a sharp breath but they didn't object. They were prepared.
They didn't have to wait long before Rut appeared. Even though he lost the rest of his team, he was still in the early Soul Realm so he could make enough money to live with. It must be noted that none of this money was through extortion since he didn't want to run into another iron plate like Shui. Despite this, he seemed like a deranged homeless person when he entered the building, and everyone thought so as well. If it wasn't for his height and aura, most surely wouldn't have recognized him.
After parting from Shui last time, he went to an alchemist who said he wasn't poisoned. At that point he felt relieved and his fury towards Shui increased, but he didn't rashly go looking for trouble, he waited until the third day to verify. On that day, as soon as he woke up, he thought he was being strangled so he killed the one on top of him by crushing their head. However when he looked at the bloodied silhouette beside him, he remembered that he had slept with a prostitute and her arm was simply on his chest.
He pitied the prostitute, but that wasn't enough to shake him. It was when he stepped out of the room, and felt as if every single person was targeting his life and many of them were too strong for him to fight against.
'What did I do to deserve this?'
'Why are they chasing me?'
'I don't want to die!'
And so he spent the day running without rest, in an attempt to escape these horrors. Though he wanted to kill everyone in sight to make himself feel better, he knew he was but an ant in Cyrus. When he realised it was the next day, he rushed to the Workers' Association even though it wasn't noon yet to see if the antidote could help him.
While panically looking left and right as if followed by a terrifying enemy, Rut walked Shui. Without speaking to him, Shui took out two white pills and threw them to Rut, who immediately gobbled them and calmed down.
"I'll leave the next batch with these two. Surely I don't need to tell you what'll happen if you threaten them, right?"
Without his previous unruliness, Rut meekly nodded. Everyone watching this scene was completely surprised and looked at Shui in awe. Many of them had only thought he was weird, but now he had their respect. After this, Shui would receive several invitations to join different teams, but he accepted none. He had no reason to get himself tied down like that and risk exposing himself.
Shui and the siblings then went towards to the gate. Once the three of them made it out the gate, Shui asked a question.
"Both of you cultivate a neutral cultivation method, right?"
"Uh, yes, how did you know?" Lily responded.
Just like there were many cultivation methods with specific attributes like wind or ice, there were also cultivation methods without attributes, these were called neutral cultivation methods. In exchange for not enhancing an attribute, it put no restraint on what spell or art the cultivator could learn. In a sense it was similar to a breathing method, but it could be used for cultivation realms above Mortal Realm.
"I just do. It's incomplete isn't it."
"Yeah, that's right."
Lily looked a bit upset when she mentioned that the method was incomplete but Shui didn't mind it.
"Well, it should be fine for the meantime, so we don't have to worry about that."
After getting confirmation, Shui continued towards the forest with the two behind him. When the forest was in sight, he stopped and turned to them.
"Okay, we'll stay here."
"Yes, but weren't we going to hunt?"
Lily seemed confused as to why Shui stopped outside of the forest when evolved beasts didn't usually stay out on the field.
"Before I have you get experience, I need to get a good idea of your skills. Ryan,"
Shui threw a simple longsword to Ryan who caught it as if it was a baby. After catching the sword, Ryan looked up at Shui with anticipation.
"Use that for now until you make enough money to buy one for yourself. And Lily, do you have any preferences?"
"Uh no, I've never really used a weapon."
"Hmm, how about this?"
Since Lily didn't have a weapon in mind, Shui came up with one based off her aura. What he took out of his satchel was a blue bow with a quiver of arrows. Both were artifacts which he had made himself but didn't put on auction since they were only of normal special-rank. The arrows had to be replenished but the bow could substitute arrows with nature energy if the user was proficient enough. Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads when they saw him pull it out from the bag that was obviously not big enough, but they didn't ask and Shui didn't think to tell them.
"Is, it okay to lend me this?"
"Would I give it to you if it wasn't?"
After handing the bow and arrows to Lily, Shui returned his focus to Ryan.
"Come at me. I want to see how good you are."
With one hand behind his back and the other by his side, Shui faced Ryan.
"Ah, shouldn't you use your sword as well?" Ryan asked timidly.
On the few occasions they spoke when they first met, Ryan wasn't this shy, but after seeing Shui's skills he became even more reserved for some reason that Shui didn't understand.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like you'll be able to wound me."
Normally, that would be enough to upset anyone, but instead of showing anger Ryan had a solemn expression and put both hands on the sword in front of him.