Like every day, Ying came to his usual spot this morning and was met with a familiar view. The tall trees slowly danced to the wind, cute small birds flew around, and the handsome youth in black and white robes read a new book about alchemy.
Without as much as stopping Ying asked straightforwardly.
"Hey. What's the plan for today?"
It had been a few days since their first meeting, and Ying had started following Aaran's lead without even realizing it.
Aaran answered without looking at the new arrival.
"I wouldn't think you would come here this early of your own accord. Not to mention, you had your last exam just yesterday, and tomorrow starts the school tournament. Didn't you want to get some rest?"
Ying scratched his head awkwardly while grinning. Although he came here every day, he also complained a lot because he was beaten every day. But it was worth it. His progress with Aaran was at least twice what he could do alone!
Aaran moved his gaze to Ying and stood up.
"Well, no matter; if you are already here, let's cultivate today without sparing. You need to be in your peak form for tomorrow. I will come watch if you can get to the top eight." Said Aaran, smiling kindly.
At the start, Ying was disappointed that he couldn't be beat—cough—cough that they wouldn't spar. But his motivation was renewed when he heard that Aaran would come to watch him. He will definitely get to the top eight!
...
In the evening, Aaran returned to his room and found Sheela already waiting for him. In the past few days, he had taken some time off his busy schedule to adapt the technique for her and promised to give it to her today. It was called Erebus Legacy and was the peak creation of his old friend, Erebus. Although he could adapt it only to the Derivation Stage, it was enough for now as Sheela had to change her foundation with it slowly.
'Well, would you look at that? It's the first time I've seen her so excited.'
Before she could say anything, Aaran said swiftly
"I will give it to you in a second. Let me take off my clothes first."
Sheela nodded eagerly and waited.
Aaran returned to the living room and sat across from her at the table, where a cup of warm tea had already been prepared.
"Here, It's suitable to cultivate up to the Watering seed realm. But you, my lady, must start from the beginning to fix your foundations."
Sheela gave him a weird look before focusing on the small booklet her young master gave her. She wasn't entirely used to his sometimes odd wording, but it wasn't uncommon nowadays. And now she had something more important to focus on.
After reading it briefly, Sheela was stunned. Although she wasn't a rare genius like her young master, she wasn't average either! But after reading it two more times, she could understand at most third, and she wasn't even certain of it!
"Uh, young master, did you really create it?"
'Well, technically, I just adjusted the most basic things, but explaining Erebus's existence would be too bothersome, and it's not like I have anything more than basic knowledge about him anyway.'
"Sort of, but that doesn't matter. Its technique fits you perfectly and is much better than your previous one. Is there anything wrong?"
Seeing that Aaran wasn't planning on explaining, Sheela dropped the matter.
"Not really, but I can understand just about a third, I think?"
'Ah, that's where that question came from. Even though it's adjusted to cultivation in this world, the foundation is still from different one.'
"Don't worry; I will guide you so there won't be any mishaps."
Seeing that her young master understood the technique well and could guide her relieved Sheela.
"Just come to cultivate with me when u have time or ask questions after I'm back; both work." After dealing with his maid's problem, Aaran returned to his studies, and Sheela immediately started deepening her understanding of the technique to cultivate as soon as possible.
...
A few days later, Ying managed to get to the top eight, and as promised, Aaran went to watch his fights.
Sitting in the stands at the arena where the top eight will be resolved, Aaran was surrounded by hundreds of people. The senior school has its tournament in the middle of its third year, and as it's bigger and more significant, it can't be organized with the rest.
Aaran got bored after observing his surroundings for a few seconds as even the stars of today's event weren't there yet.
'From what I heard, even though everyone in the top eight is a genius, no one is nearly as interesting as Ying. And because he's still fourteen, he doesn't have a high chance of winning. At least this will be a good lesson for him.'
...
After a few minutes, two girls and six men, with one elder, came under the arena. After talking for a while between themselves, the elder took a small box from his pocket. He then opened it and let every participant choose a small wooden plate from within. Soon, everything was set up, and everyone except that elder and two youths moved away from the stage.
Aaran wasn't interested in these fights at all.
'Both are using swords, but no one has any real skills. In junior school, they focus on teaching cultivation and helping them find correct majors for themselves so they know what to do in senior school, so it makes sense that they wouldn't have too much experience. I guess the past traumatized the older generation so their desire for peace slowed down the progress of the younger ones. But wasn't it too tragic?'
Seeing fights like these, Aaran had to change his previous opinion about Ying's winning chances.
'Maybe Ying can win after all. Although we only sparred for a few days, his progress was passable.'
After the third fight ended, the crowd, including a few younger teachers, was already hyped up.
Finally, it was Ying's time to shine. Entering the arena, he positioned himself opposite his opponent, a huge, bulky man with an even bigger greatsword.
After the fist and palm salute, the fight started. Ying was using gauntlets as his primary weapon, so he focused on dodging at the start. But quickly, he discovered how much easier it was compared to his sparring in the last few days.
Realizing that, Ying changed strategy and closed towards his enemy, sending a flurry of attacks. Surprised by the sudden change, his opponent was forced to change to defensive.
Bam
Ugh!
Bam
Although his opponent managed to block it, Ying wasn't disappointed. He wasn't planning to finish the fight with it in the first place, so he continued his onslaught. After a few more exchanges, Ying decided it was close enough. He threw a feint punch from the right side, and when his adversary tried to block it in an even more awkward way because of the distance, Ying changed his attack, and like a slippery snake, he struck his opponent's throat.
Unlike Aaran, who could control his strength, it was Ying's first time attacking like that, and thus, he used his full force. When Ying won his first match, he felt incredible and immediately looked for Aaran. Still, before finding him, Ying panicked as he realized he could potentially injure or even kill his opponent due to his lack of control over his power.
Soon, he saw that a medic was already near his opponent, so he could breathe out with relief.
Witnessing what happened in the arena, Aaran was slightly amused.
'Did he pick it up from me? It looks like our first spar left more of an impression on him than I thought. But I need to teach him some basics so he won't go around killing people by mistake; after all, if not because he almost missed his last strike, it would be death for his opponent.'
After that thought, Aaran frowned.
'Wait. Why I don't care about the almost death of a fifteen-year-old? Sheela tried to imprint some moral values on me, but it seems she failed. It would be understandable if I had memories from my past, but it's pure knowledge, so her hard work should be more impactful.'
After sighing about the annoyance of the lack of information, Aaran relaxed his body on the chair and focused on finding an answer. He ignored the next matches as Ying would take a few minutes to come again.
The following matches were as dull as the previous ones. Ying's next opponent was a tall girl who used the sword. Although she used her ability, which granted her higher speed, with Ying's fighting talent and the little practice he had, it wasn't even nearly enough to win against him, and in a few moments, the match was decided.
It was an elimination tournament type, so Ying was already in the finals after his second win.
When Ying went to the arena again, his opponent was a short girl with brown eyes and a cute, plump face. Unlike the other participants, who had their own fashion, she wore the same basic school training suit as Ying.
After they performed the martial salute, the match began!