In the midst of darkness, numerous stars flickers in a riveting way, glistening away the gloomy night, akin to filling up the sky with countless gemstones, bathing in splendor, truly a breathtaking scenery, but surprisingly it's early in the morning.

Somewhere, on a mountain cliff near the river bank, there's a makeshift wooden platform scribbled with ambitious words that looked worn down due to the passage of time, someone is sitting on it, along with it a rough sound of breathing can be heard.

A youth with average looks but well proportioned, short black hair with a hint of brown, medium skin tone and black eyes that are like starless night. It was Arin.

He's sitting upright and leaning towards the sky diligently practicing a cultivation method called

Guidance of the Stars | a [B] grade cultivation method.

Everything are graded, namely ( E / C / B / A / S / SS / SSS ), [E] being the weakest and [SSS] the known strongest grade.

[ | Guidance of the Stars | - use the power of stars to gather a force known as [Energy], converting its energy into [Internal Force]. through this method one can achieve great heights like the stars in the night.

Efficiency: 10-25% (depending on the amount of stars present)

Type: Heavenly Energy

Variant: Star Energy

Alignment: Neutral

Race requirements: None ]

[IF] is the bases for [Level], the highest level recorded in the continent of [ Gaia ] is from [Ursus], a level 250 Beastkin.

'Sigh... Sure enough it's still too hard for me to break into level 2.' Arin inwardly lampooned. It's been 4 years now since his 10th birthday but he still couldn't make any significant progress in his cultivation level.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

Just as he was about to continue his practice, loud consecutive explosions were heard. Arin's physique is above average among his peers, especially his hearing is exceptional. He knew exactly where it came from.

Arin abruptly stood up from his seat and quickly rushed to the scene, however there's quite a distance away between the explosion and his position, if he decides to take the usual route, it would still take him at least 6 minutes to arrive at his fastest.

Arin took a deep breath, closing his eyes, he bent his knees in crouching position, placing his arms on each thigh. still taking in air into his lungs, he suddenly pounced forward! Explosive strength spiraled around his legs as small cracks appeared on the ground he was previously in. While suspended in air he opened his eyes and a face of regret surfaced.

'I shouldn't have made a hasty and irrational decision!!' he internally screamed. 'But this time it might be an important situation.' consoling himself, trying to justify his foolish actions. He gritted his teeth and faced downward, he aligned his body and dove into the lake. He prayed to all of the gods and almighty existences to aid his drop. As if the prayers were heard, strong gale passed against his fall, Arin felt a mix emotions of nervousness and excitement, he can't make up whether to laugh or cry.

In the end he managed to land with minor injury and to top it off, instead of freezing coldness he was embraced with warmth. He truly felt that he was blessed by the heavens, after he had risen, Arin saw a [Kapros] (a creature similar to a boar but twice the size) was taking a piss, elation was evident in the creature's face. 'No wonder it was warm.' mockingly laughing towards himself. 'Blessed by heavens my ass.' Arin lampooned as he bellowed and thrusted his fist into the poor creature's balls instantly knocking it out. At least I won't have to hunt for our dinner tonight. He lifted the Boar thrice his size with great ease and rushed off to his destination.

Arin paled when he arrived.

A two-story building embedded in a mountain ridge, it look like a medieval fortress with obvious patches and holes, was once again blown to smithereens.

Leon can be seen at the center, with his smug face, smiling from ear-to-ear and arms raised wide in magnificence. He has a bluish-white hair, pristine white skin tone and bright blue eyes, his pupil is glowing with a mysterious hue, it feels like it can see through everything and anything, nothing can be hidden when you meet his gaze, your strengths and weaknesses will be instantly revealed. He's standing tall with a height that is considered average in the [ Gaia ] continent.

Arin's face went from white to blue then red, his veins bulge as he can no longer contain his anger.

he walked towards Leon, his height is a head and half shorter than Leon's. With a menacing smile, he grabbed one of Leon's shoulder to prevent him from potentially escaping.

"Leon how many times have I told you to stop inventing hazards inside of our house?!" Arin pointed his index finger towards Leon's forehead but it was kinda hard to reach, so he lifted his heels up to appear taller. "This is our home, not a testing ground!" Arin's silava spew onto Leon's chest, some managed to extend up to his chin. "Do you love sleeping on the grass that much?! Then allow this big brother to fulfill your dreams." Arin was winding up his fist, getting ready to decimate his friend.

Leon quickly kowtow and yelled "Big bro wait!!" to the top of his lungs and continued "I've finally made it! our ticket to new life!" with sparkly eyes he proudly present his latest invention—but before he could continue, two heavy footsteps with suffocating presence arrived, Anna a trainee of the [ Exalted Clouds ] city guards' second platoon [Vapor] and her mentor Jordan.

Anna with her golden hair that's comparable to the blazing sun, beautifully tanned skin and bright hazel eyes that's more attractive than zircon is approaching Leon and Arin. She is taller than Leon making Arin look like a small child when they're put together.

"hahahahaha." Anna laughed cheerfully while Jordan sighed and shaked his head but smiled slightly 'this pair of troublemakers never fail to surprise me.' Jordan thought in resignation, he can never seem to act strict when he's with the trio, he's like a father pampering his kids.

"This is the 4th time that you've obliterated this place, I'm afraid this can no longer be fixed for free." Jordan said sternly but quickly interjected "without me that is." with a chuckle.

Arin was teary as he quickly hugged Jordan and wiped his fresh snot on Jordan's cloak smearing mucus all over.

Anna quickly grabbed Arin's back collar, lifting him and then with her palm she smacked his head for his disrespectful actions but Jordan dismissed it and laughed. "cloaks are meant for protection from things such as rain, mucus won't be any different." even with the large scar on his left eye, his demeanor gives off security and comfort which moved the Trio's heart.

"Ahem." Jordan coughed dryly because he felt embarrassed from the Trio's heartfelt gazes and changed the subject, however he felt happy inside, he truly feels like a real father to the three orphans.

"What is this life changing thing you were talking about Leon?" Jordan said with interest

—Leon picked up a long cylinder about 50 cm in length and a Diameter of 20 cm.

Jordan's half closed eyes opened wide into full circles with great shock "it... it's.. floating?!" he said with difficulty.

The others didn't fare well either especially Arin, his mouth dropped to sea level, after the initial shock they trembled with excitement clearly eager to learn more.

Leon rubbed his nose and explained "this is what I call a [Floater], we all know that flying ships are common but the operating costs are high, a normal sized 100 passenger commercial flying ship needs 20 [level 10] people and at least a [level 15] captain to operate. But with my invention we can cut that in half, and at the same time double the duration of flight!".

"Where did the explosions come from?" Anna asked after remembering the prior event.

"That... ha.ha.ha.ha." Leon said, sweating profusely.

Seeing the serious atmosphere surrounding the not-so-complete-house, "It was because of this." Leon said and picked up something.

A small round object a size of a 'toddler's fists' emitted a blue transparent glow akin to Lapis lazuli.

"This was supposed to be an [IF Storage Device] to complement the floater. However I recently discovered that when it's in almost full capacity, it becomes highly reactive to air."

he dejectedly explained, sadness evident in Leon's eyes.

But Arin thought differently, His eyes shined brighter than the sun. "We can modify this into throwable explosives using some sort of timed trigger or an explosive arrow tip to safely hunt wild creatures!" Arin exclaimed, eyes so radiant it's blinding.

Leon was shocked by the shamelessness of this bastard. "Big bro why would you steal my ideas? I was just about to reveal it too!" Leon bellowed.

Anna was dumbfounded.

This so called 'Brothers' of hers are just too shameless. Her eyes glowed crimson red and an illusory fiery aura surrounded her, when she was about to knock some senses into these rascals—

"Ahem." Jordan coughed left eye closed. "The military can use some of that 'explosives', it will greatly improve the safety and security. How about this, we will provide with the necessary materials and we will buy in bulk but you will have to sign an agreement that we will be the exclusive buyer. In my name as the captain of [ Exalted Clouds ] city guards, I will insure a just price."

The Trio abruptly turned their heads toward Jordan and confirmed what they just heard, 'Did I hear it correctly?' the three simultaneously thought.

Jordan nodded to affirm their doubtful gazes, then gave off a confident smile.

The trio are at lost for words. 'SHAMELESS' they all sheepishly thought, they never expected Jordan to be the most shameless of them all.

Leon and even Arin paled in comparison to Jordan's shamelessness. 'Didn't he just said that they would only use 'some'? Why would they need us to sign an exclusivity agreement?' Arin and Leon inwardly lampooned.

Seemingly understanding their thoughts "This is for the safety of everyone, this invention has the potential to cause massive destruction, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to wipe out an entire capital given the proper amount." Jordan justified, but excluded the fact that it would only work on [Tier 2] cities and below.