"No! Something must be wrong! Marvin wouldn't leave me, he wouldn't!"
Still, tears were now streaming down Aron's face.
Even if it was just a simulation, Aron didn't want to accept the fact that Marvin, the person that had cared for him more than even his own father, would leave him just because his talent was poor.
Before Aron had a chance to stabilize his emotions, the simulation continued and he was drawn back to the text.
[With the letter from Marvin, you begin to cry. Your tears continue to fall until you fall asleep.]
[When you wake up in the morning, an attendant is there to fetch you for another day of training.]
[Despite not wanting to go, wishing to instead stay in your room and cry. The attendant eventually convinces you. They threatened you by saying that the martial instructor would not be happy if you missed the second day. Despite feeling forced, you still got out of bed and went to training.]
[For the next three weeks, as more and more children began to detect the Essence of the world, you were still struggling to even get started. To make it worse, several children with Major Cores have already reached the 1st layer of Essence Refinement.]
[Finally, after the fourth week, you become the last of the children to finally detect Essence. Because all children have reached this benchmark, the instructor begins to hand out low White level cultivation techniques. Of the techniques that the instructor hands out, most children begin to practice the offensive techniques. You, however, feel drawn to movement techniques.]
[For the next few weeks, along with your normal cultivation towards Essence Refinement, you also begin to practice the movement technique you received: Butterfly Evasive Movement.]
[Within two weeks, you enter the First Step of the technique to the shock of all the other children. The instructor, seeing that you have talent in movement technique, begins to put more effort in guiding your practice of Techniques.]
[At the end of the third week, Julia Perch, your half-sister with dual attributes, also reached the First Step.]
At this, the Aron in reality, who had just barely regained control of his tears, felt his eyes bulge.
In the cultivation world there are eight levels of techniques: White, Black, Purple, Gold, and Human, Earth, Sky, Heaven. Each level is split into low, middle, upper, and peak.
The first four levels are the only levels of techniques available to low realm cultivators. For someone like Aron, low and middle White techniques are the only techniques he can practice until he reaches the first layer of Essence Refinement.
What made Aron so shocked, though, was the fact that he in the simulation had reached the First Step of mastery within just two weeks. Such an event was incredibly impressive, especially considering that the most talented of the group, Julia, took a full three weeks to reach that level.
Aron had learned through his lessons that Core level and comprehension level are largely connected to each other. So it had to be said that his talent, even if it was just a Minor talent, seemed to be doing some heavy lifting.
[At the end of the fourth week, more and more of your half-siblings have entered the first step of their offensive techniques.]
[As the first month of daily training was coming to an end, the instructor announced that there would be a sparring competition in a few days. The reward for the competition was a peak White technique of the winners choice.]
[Hearing that you would have to fight against the other children, you began to panic. At this point, even if you had reached the First Step, you wouldn't stand a chance against the children that had reached the first layer of Essence Refinement.]
[Feeling this way, you began to practice the Butterfly Evasive technique even harder. Normally, you would stop after an hour and rest. Now, however, you are stressed by the upcoming tournament and practice for six hours straight.]
[In the sixth hour, you have a sudden realization and your speed accelerates. You feel that you reached the Minor Achievement of mastery. On your last step, you pass out.]
Standing up, Aron jumped into the air. Joy filled his face.
First Step in two weeks. Minor Achievement in four weeks. Even if he couldn't reach the first layer of Essence Refinement, he should be able to hold his ground in the tournament.
Aron understood that this was just a simulation. He understood that it wasn't actually happening. But he couldn't help but cheer for the him that seemed to be facing adversity after adversity.
"This talent won't help me forever, so it's good that I am making the most out of it right away."
[Hours passed after you fainted in the training yard. By the time you woke up the sun was rising again. You thought you were alone in the courtyard, but get startled as the instructor starts to talk to you.]
[The instructor tells you that your dedication is impressive, but that, at your age, rest is just as important. He tells you that you shouldn't expect too much from the tournament. He turns and walks away.]
[You feel slightly dejected, but know that you have a better chance now that you have reached Minor Achievement mastery. You decide to continue to practice in order to consolidate your comprehension of the technique.]
[Hours pass by as you take turns practicing and resting. Soon the tournament begins.]
[Your first few matchups are against other children that haven't yet reached the first layer of Essence Refinement. Because of that, you decide not to expose your mastery of your movement technique and fight with just the First Step mastery.]
[Still, even while limiting yourself, you are able to win your fights.]
[Eventually, after several victories, you are matched against your older half-brother, Zeke. He has reached the First Step mastery and has stepped into the realm of Essence Refinement. He suggests that you surrender to avoid hurting yourself.]
[You are grateful for his thoughtfulness, but decline in the wish to learn during the fight.]
[A glimmer flashes through Zeke's eyes, but you don't notice. What you do see is a large grin spreading across his face.]
[The battle begins, and you barely struggle at the First Step mastery. Your half-brother's strength at the first layer of Essence Refinement is simply too strong for you to challenge.]
[You continue to try and struggle at the First Step, but keep taking more and more damage. Eventually, you switch to the Minor Achievement mastery to the shock of everyone present. Now it is your speed that Zeke can't catch up to. Because your strength still doesn't match up to his, the match takes a while, but eventually you are able to push him off the stage.]
[Because of the length of the match, your energy has been completely depleted and, as the next match starts, you opt to surrender to Julia. Being the last match, Julia takes the peak White technique.]
[As you walk away from the stage, you miss the look on Zeke's face.]
[Joyfully, you return to your room and fall asleep. You didn't place high enough to win a higher level technique, but you are just happy to have been able to prove yourself.]
[A few hours later you wake up to the sound of knocking at your door.]
[A maid enters with a tray of food. You tell her to place it on the table and thank her. As you walk over to the food, you feel a shiver and turn to look at the maid.]
[You see a flash of silver metal and begin to use the Butterfly Evasive technique. Unfortunately, you reacted too late and the blade still cuts across your face. A large line of blood began to spread as you were cut across your nose and right eye.]
[You don't know what is happening, but know that if you stay any longer you will die. Thinking this far, you turn to run.]
Aron sat up as he read these lines. Everything seemed to be going well since the tournament so why was this happening?
"For the maid to be able to cut me, she must be a cultivator. That should be impossible, the Perch family doesn't let any of the attendants cultivate. She cut me even after I used the Minor Achievement movement technique, too. Not even Zeke could do that, and he was in the Essence Refinement realm.
Does that mean that she is in the middle of the Essence Refinement realm? The fourth or fifth layer? If that's true, I won't be able to escape. Just their normal speed will be enough to keep up with my movement technique. All they have to do is wait for my endurance to deplete."
Aron fell onto his butt. It seemed that the simulation was doomed to end here. Still, he continued to read and soon his eyes widened. He had forgotten the key aspect of his simulation talent.
[As you turned around to run, your speed doubled.]
[Unable to control yourself, you crashed through the window of your room and fell two stories to the ground. Luckily, you were able to jump off the wall. You continued running, your speed twice as fast as usual, as you attempted to escape from the maid that was after your life.]
[You run to the edge of the villa before crawling through a hole in the wall. You stand up and continue running. Eventually, you find yourself deep in the woods. You don't know which way will bring you back to the villa.]
[Still, with your speed still doubled, you decide to continue running. If your speed is still twice what it usually is, then the maid must still be chasing you.]
[You run for what seems to be hours. Only as the sun began to set did your speed come down to normal. Your speed slowed down so abruptly, that you stumbled forward and collided with a large tree. The impact knocked you out.]
[After an hour, you woke up to the feeling of chewing on your ear. Startled, you rolled off to the side and used your movement technique to climb a tree. Looking down, you see a small rodent beast with blood around its mouth.]
[Panicking, you reach up to your ear and feel it missing. The rodent beast didn't expect you to be alive, nor did it expect you to be so fast. Confused, it turned to run away, itself, thinking that you were stronger than you really are.]
[Seeing the beast run, you sigh in relief and collapse onto a branch. Without a weapon, you don't know if you would have been able to win a fight against any kind of beast.]
[Not wanting to fall asleep at night in an unknown environment, you began to cultivate. You find that your progress was faster than in the Perch villa. Thinking about it, you realize that both the pure Essence in the forest, and the fact that there are less people competing for that Essence in a small environment, both mean that you are able to get more Essence, even with a Minor Core.]
[Feeling the Essence flow in, you begin to circulate it faster and faster, and eventually, you feel yourself enter into the first layer of Essence Refinement.]
[You don't know how much stronger you are now, but realize that you must be at least a few times faster when using your movement techniques.]
[Still, even if you have reached the Essence Refinement realm, you don't know how to return to the villa. Deciding to head in the direction of the rising sun, you start to use your movement technique in the hopes of trying to raise the mastery level even further.]
[Several weeks pass by, but you are still in the forest. You would have starved long ago, but your faster speed made it easy to hunt small beasts.]
[That night, it began to rain very hard. You start to look for a cave or shelter, knowing that you could freeze or get sick if exposed to the elements for too long. Soon, you find a small cave.]
[You enter cautiously, hoping that you don't encounter some beast that has made the cave its home. As you enter deeper into the cave, you start to smell something disgusting. Investigating, you soon find the source. A dead body.]
[You go closer to see who the body belongs to. Before you see their face, you notice words written in blood on the cave's floor and walls.]
[Finally you notice that the body belongs to someone you know. The body of your caretaker, Marvin.]