The atmosphere was silent and awkward inside residence 69.
6 youths were eating breakfast and only the sounds of forks and knives scraping plates, and chewing could be heard.
Asher and Timo would occasionally glance at each with a knowing look before struggling to stop themselves from laughing while Hassan kept his head down and ate his food. The 3 roommates were eating breakfast in their usual seats at the dining table.
Not far from them was Vasari seated on the couch with Talia and Witney who were greedily gobbling up the food on their plate. Vasari made a basic lunch of eggs, bacon and toast because it would take too long to cook a big breakfast for 6 people.
The girls finished eating their breakfast and headed to school first.
"See you in class."
"Bye, see you later."
Now that the girls were gone, Asher and Timo immediately stood up from their chairs and rushed to the couch where Vasari was seated.
"Vasari, Big brother Vasari, Master Vasari please teach this young one your mighty ways with the opposite gender."
"Master Vasari, this young one is ignorant of the ways of seduction, please teach this useless boy."
Timo and Asher flopped to their knees and put their hands together as they pleaded to Vasari. The corners of his mouth twitched when he heard these boys calling him master.
*Bonk*
*Bonk*
"Stand up my incompetent disciples. Although I would not usually accept untalented disciples, such as yourselves, today I am feeling generous and thus I will teach you the first part of my legendary technique called the Ultimate Harem Art. Listen closely now as I will not be repeating myself.
Ahem...If you spend your time chasing butterflies they'll fly away, but if you spend your time building a beautiful garden...the butterflies will come to you."
Like a wizened old master, Vasari elegantly stood up from the couch and put his hands behind his back as he slowly left the house under the respectful eyes of Asher and Timo.
"Thank you, master!" The two boys kowtowed to their new master 3 times before getting up and following him out of the house.
Hassan who watched everything from the dining table was left speechless.
'What...just happened.'
He shook his head to clear his thoughts before taking everyone's dishes to the kitchen sink before leaving the house and catching up to his idiotic roommates.
-----
Timo: "Seriously though Vasari...Talia too. I could understand Witney moving in but Talia too. That's a bit much no?"
Vasari: "You misunderstand, she only slept over because we were cultivating last night. It's not what you think."
Asher: "Okay, if you say so."
Timo: "Hahaha I can't help but imagine Alex's face if finds out that Talia slept over."
Hassan: "I'm not sure if you guys heard about it already but the sect released some news about an upcoming friendly tournament hosted by us between our core disciples and the core disciples of the Glacier Bay Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect."
Asher: "Really, I haven't checked my ManaPhone yet today. I can't even imagine how strong the Core Haven disciples must be if even those Inner Haven disciples were already so strong."
Timo: "It would be a good opportunity to watch them fight, wait...did you just say the core disciples of the Glacier Bay Sect would be coming here! Oh my lord, this is a dream come true!!"
Vasari: "I'm not interested. If they have the tournament in that loud stadium it would be best if I don't go."
Timo: "What!? Are you serious right now bro? The Glacier Bay Sect is known to have the most beautiful disciples on the continent and the number 1 fairy is also a core disciple at the Glacier Bay Sect so she could be coming along. You have to come with us."
Vasari: "Not interested and what's the point if I can't even see them fighting?"
Timo had no counterargument after Vasari brought up the blind card. It was the ultimate defence card.
-------
Unbearably cold, treacherous terrain and terrifying beasts.
These were just some of the more common words to describe the Nevermelt Ice Plains. On the Westernord Continent, cultivators considered this place a black zone meaning it was to be avoided at all costs.
Only those with a death wish or extremely confident in their abilities would ever traverse this icy desert and because of this, it was the perfect place to build a sect.
The Glacier Bay Sect was built in the Nevermelt Ice Plains near the ocean on the East side of the Westernord.
This sect was founded over 200 000 years ago making it one of the oldest sects on Westernord. It is said to be built by a legendary beast, the Ice Phoenix after its human companion died. It was the human's dream to build a sect and the Ice Phoenix wanted to fulfil its friend's dream even if they were no longer together.
The sect itself was not as large as CloudHaven because, unlike CloudHaven which had both female and male disciples, they only accepted female disciples. CloudHaven also had 'non-disciples' living in the sect meaning more houses needed to be built.
Near the centre of the Glacier Bay Sect was a glorious mansion made entirely of black ice. This black ice was as hard and solid as diamonds and even cultivators would struggle to leave a scratch on it. If one looked at the Glacier Bay Sect from above, one would notice that only the building near the centre of the sect was built using this black ice.
Sitting in a large room with a fireplace on one end and 2 white couches facing each other on either side of the fireplace, 2 women were silently watching the wood burn.
"Sigh…", one of the women laying on the couch sighs while twirling her long black hair with her index finger.
"Is something the matter my lady?" The lady sitting on the couch opposite her asks even though she most likely knew the reason for her sigh filled with longing.
"It's been so long since I last saw him, I wonder what he is doing right now."
"My lady it's only been 4 weeks since we last saw him."
"4 weeks too many. There are probably so many women trying to get into his pants. I should've just kidnapped him at that time."
The older woman looked at the young lady with pity. The young man she was thinking about was likely forced to become a gigolo or got beat up by jealous boys. It's sad but that was the way the cultivation world worked. Unless you had strength or a powerful backing to protect you then you were at the mercy of others.
"And that old hag won't even let me take part in that friendly competition against CloudHaven Sect and Heavenly Sword Sect. Ahhh I just want to see him!"
Watching the young woman go into a fit of rage, the older woman could only ruefully shake her head, 'I wonder how those youths who admire and look up to the number 1 fairy would react if they saw their goddess kicking her feet and throwing a tantrum like this.'
------
Back in Outer Haven, student residence 69. Vasari, Witney and Talia were sitting in a meditative position with their eyes shut while ample Fire Essence flowed around them.
It had been 2 hours since they crushed the fire essence stone and all three of them did their best to comprehend the characteristics of fire.
As expected, Vasari was the first one to comprehend basic fire Will. Talia and Witney were not too far behind him though. He learnt that Witney's family specialises in fire cultivation techniques and it's the reason she has a few fire essence stones.
Talia had a dragon bloodline so it made sense that she was able to quickly comprehend basic fire Will.
"Which element do you want to do tomorrow?" Witney asked as she used her thumb as a lighter.
"Let's do wind and leave earth for last," Vasari answered as he leaned back on his arms. He didn't think learning a basic Will would be so exhausting but the progress he was making was well worth the effort exerted.
'Don't fall in love with cultivating, fall in love with the progress made from cultivating.'
He repeated that phrase every time after cultivating it to help him remain focused on his goals.
"Talia, it's still quite early, do you want us to walk you home?"
After not having any alone time with Vasari for over a day, Witney's libido was going haywire. She wanted Vasari to pin her down and have his way with her but he couldn't with Talia in the room.
"No...I'll just sleep here tonight." Talia answered and walked to the bed before making herself comfortable under the covers.
Witney wanted to scream and throw her friend out but calmed down when Vasari suddenly picked her up in a princess carry and carried her to the bed.
"You're so cute when you're angry." Witney puffed her cheeks and allowed Vasari to tuck her under the covers.
Once both girls were laying comfortably under the covers, Vasari went and made himself comfortable in between the two beauties.
However, the comfort did not last long as soon enough both girls occupied a portion of his body.
------
"Phew!! Water Will, fire Will, wind Will and now earth Will. Are we now at the peak of the Elemental Manipulation stage?"
"Although we have comprehended a basic Will for the four basic elements, our actual control of the elements is average at best. We shouldn't rush to the next stage just yet."
Vasari said as held the waist of the blonde-haired beauty sitting on his lap and stroked the reddish-brown hair of the girl sitting next to him. One was purring like a cat while the other hummed in satisfaction.
"I'm thinking of asking Miss Covington if there are any areas where I can train. It's been a while since I actually fought."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. Today we are doing another practical mock test. Apparently, it's going to last for 3 days." Talia answered while enjoying Vasari's petting.
"That's perfect then. Let's go to school." Vasari was eager to head to school now. Honestly, he was getting bored of attending school every day. Although he enjoyed sparing and teasing Miss Covington, the theory work was getting monotonous and tedious.
"Just a little longer~"
"No not yet~"
"…sigh, fine."
-----
"Today we are going to a planet called Acrilles. Acrilles is a dwarf planet that our sect owns for training purposes. The planet is overrun by beasts ranging from Infant stage beasts to Adult stage beasts who are equivalent to a peak Mortal Ascension Realm cultivator. You will be sent to this planet and you must survive for 3 days and 3 nights but not only must you survive, you must also kill. You will be rewarded 1 cloud point for every 10 infant stage beasts killed, 1 cloud point for every 1 Adolescent stage beast killed and 5 cloud points for every Adult stage beast killed."
The 35 students in front of Miss Covington all mumbled to each other either in excitement or worry. Noticing this, Miss Covington announced more information that relieved the stress from some of her students.
"The school has also been generous enough to give each of you 3 Rare grade cultivation techniques. We do not normally do this but since this year's students are so talented we decided to award you with these techniques."
Miss Covington waved her hand and bookshelf 2 metres tall and 5 metres long appeared behind her. The bookshelf was filled with books of all shapes and sizes, at just a glance it was possible to see more than 100 books.
"You have 6 hours to choose 3 techniques and memorize the contents inside. There will be no fighting over techniques, if you want a technique that another has taken then you will just have to wait until that person is finished with it."
When she finished what she wanted to say, the students who were from common families or those without techniques rushed over to the bookcase. Those with powerful backing did not need mere Rare grade cultivation techniques as they already had superior techniques but it wouldn't hurt to check if there were any hidden gems among these Rare grade techniques.
While the others were looking for techniques with the coolest names, Vasari stood at the back with his hands clasped behind his back and his trademark confident smile on his face. Although he looked calm on the outside, he was frustrated as hell. He wanted to learn some techniques too but his lack of eyesight made it impossible for him.
As if sensing his plight, Miss Covington appeared next to him like a ghost.
"You must be frustrated."
"Not at all. What makes you think that?"
Miss Covington was amused by his sarcasm, she didn't blame him since she definitely would not be able to keep her cool if she was in his shoes.
"I knew you would feel frustrated so I got these for you." Miss Covington took out 3 pieces of palm-sized jade and put them in Vasari's hands.
"What is it?"
"Information storage Jades. As the name implies, it's a special artefact used to store information. Normally to use these jade you would need to be able to feel and absorb mana but these are specially made for those below the mana body stage like yourself, so all you need to do is absorb all the Qi in the jade and the information will appear in your mind."
Vasari nodded in understanding and followed her instructions. He slowly absorbed all the Qi stored in the jade and similar to the map that Elder Equus showed him of the Cloud Stables, the information stored in the jade popped up in his mind.
"Art of Sun and Moon."