The blazing summer sun shines on a young boy as his sword stabs into a wild beast. The aura of the 5th stage of the foundation establishment realm erupts from his body as he swings his sword to behead the beast. He then digs a small thumb-sized crystal from the heart of the beast.
"Congratulations on your breakthrough young master", a voice came behind him and handed him a towel. He took it and wiped the sweat on his forehead and sheathed his sword.
"Lets have this beast for dinner", the young boy said as he made his way back to the cave in the mountain that had been his home for the past few months.
"Young master, a package came for you today while you were training. Its from the patriarch", the servant said as he brought out a small black box from his sleeve and handed it to the boy.
The boy whose name was Adrian Thorne collected it and stared at the box that had his family's insignia on it. What surprised him was that such boxes could only be opened with the blood of the member of the main family. If any other person tries to open the box, the runes engraved in it would automatically make it explode.
Adrian who was a bit surprised at the sudden package took out a small dagger from his waist pricked his finger. A drop of blood dripped on the box and he opened it to find a note and a pendant. The star-shaped blood-red pendant looked beautiful as it sparkled in the sunlight. Even the boy who has seen his fair share of jewelry could not help but be amazed at its brilliance. under the necklace was a small note that read only one sentence, "Do not tell a soul about the pendant".
This shocked him because he recognized the handwriting as his fathers', the patriarch of the Thorne family, Atlas Thorne. He wondered what was so special about the necklace that no one could know about it. He tried infusing his qi into it but found out that it wouldn't flow into the pendant.
After staring at it for a couple more minutes, he tried to put it in his storage ring but found out that it wouldn't enter. This surprised him because only items of a higher quality than the storage ring or were very strange couldn't enter it. He stared at the pendant a few more times again before putting it around his neck and hiding it within his robes.
He called the servant who was carrying the already butchered beast and asked him when the package arrived. The servant told him that the box was given to him by a black robed man and he was told to give it to the young master as soon as he returned. This was somewhat surprising as the only ones who wore black robes in the Thorne family were his father's personal guards who were deathly loyal to the patriarch.
He dismissed the servant who went back to his work of preparing the meat for dinner. Adrian was in deep thought and tried to figure out the meaning of this weird pendant but he just couldn't figure it out. However, judging from the importance his father placed on it, he knew it was no ordinary pendant.
He decided to go home and ask his father about it. Perhaps it was a life saving treasure or it could help with his cultivation. Either way, he would know when he reached home and asked his father.
Adrian was naturally a genius. Ever since he started his cultivation journey at the age of ten, he had always surpassed his peers and even those older than him. However, this was expected of him. As the heir to the Thorne family, he had always been held to a higher standard than others. It would have been weird if he couldn't even surpass those in his age range.
He was able to channel his qi and reach the qi condensation realm in just six months. In comparison, an ordinary person can only achieve this after two years of training. Then, he reached the peak of the qi condensation realm when he was just thirteen years old. Three months later, he finally crossed the threshold into the foundation establishment realm.
And now at fifteen years old, he had was already at the fifth level of the foundation establishment realm. Perhaps only the other heirs of the twelve great families could match his cultivation speed.
Even so, his father expected him to be better and made him train harder. That was why he sent him to the misty mountains a few months ago and forbade him from returning until he had achieved a qualitative stage.
Anyway, this was five months ago and now that he decided to return home, he was filled with endless anticipation. These past few months were extremely hard for him. His spent his days killing wild beasts and when he returned to his cave in the evening, he still had to cultivate. It was only late at night could he fall asleep. Even then, it was on a stone bed.
The thought of returning to his soft, fluffy bed filled him with endless anticipation. As Adrian got lost in thought, the servant came and served his meal. He looked at it and sighed. He had truly suffered. But all of that would end tomorrow. Thinking of this made him feel better as he started to eat his food.
After he was done, he told the servant that they were leaving the mountains tomorrow and to prepare himself. The servant was mildly surprised but still did as he was told. Adrian went back to his room to cultivate and was soon immersed in it. Part of the reason why he was able to break through so quickly was also because of his hard work and consistency.
Even if he was going home tomorrow, he would still put all his effort into his cultivation. After cultivating for a few hours, he decided to go to sleep filled with endless anticipation for the next day.
Adrian woke up early as usual and started his morning practice. He decided to take it easy since they had a long journey ahead of them. The misty mountains were quite a considerable distance from the House of Thorne and it was more than a few days' journey.
The misty mountains were called that because the peaks were covered in clouds and mists all year round. This made them look enchanting and ethereal. But don't be fooled by its beauty, these mountains were extremely dangerous. Even in the outer regions where Adrian stayed, there were beasts at the golden core formation stage.
One had to be extremely careful in order not to lose one's life here. Adrian and his servant made their way down the mountains cautiously and only left the mountains by nightfall.