"Was it Ren?" Frenir's voice came, coming up to Aerthus just as he was putting away his communication crystal. They were thousands of kilometers away from the Sect, on a training journey.

  "Yes." He nodded, turning towards the charming-looking young adult before him who had just finished his meditation. "She had some news to report."

  "Did something happen?" He asked, standing up and patting his butt, sensing it in his Master's voice.

  From the outside, Frenir looked like a fit young adult, wearing his hair in a topknot, donning his uniform in a prim and proper way, exuding an elegant air. Only his Master and his senior sister knew that, inside, he was still a child, loving being spoiled and running off to py anytime he could. The discrepancy came from the effects of his special ability. As he cultivated, time sped up for him, separating him from the surrounding world and its stable space-time, while for him, it compressed years of progress into months.

  "Nothing you should worry about. More importantly, did you work it out?"

  "Yes!" He answered excitedly, and then his aura started to vibrate and expand around him. "The Lighthouse blinks every second day." Frenir smiled as his body turned hazy and slowly disappeared.

  When he reappeared, he was hundreds of meters away, and it only took him a second or two to do so. He was waving and grinning before, only to disappear and reappear beside Aerthus once again, who just smiled proudly.

  "How long can you use it?"

  "At least... hm... Fifteen minutes." He moaned as he expined it to his Master. "It is still weird to move in a different time frame than the rest of the world… makes my skin crawl... The colors disappear, and the sounds become creepy and slow, like from a horror story!"

  Aerthus listened intently and with a smile, as only Frenir could come up with something like this. Even though it was he who guided the young boy along. Frenir got the idea from when Aerthus taught him about star formations when they were out and resting for the night. His idea came from 'The Lighthouse,' a cluster of stars that Aerthus and Lily named, forming a tower-like picture. If watched carefully, at the top sat a bright, twinkling star that only showed up every second night, going invisible for the next one. This was what gave Frenir the idea to use his affinity in a... new way.

  When he consciously utilized his affinity, activating it by will, the world turned bck and white for him, slowing everything, separating Frenir from reality itself and pcing the boy outside of time, essentially. This way, he could move at normal speed, while to others, it would seem like teleportation. Yet if he wanted to interact with the world, he needed to reenter the normal flow of time... So he had to force his affinity's on-and-off ability to have a buffer zone in the middle. That was not the most ideal in battle.

  This is why he came up with the idea of, in his mind, preprogramming his energy, making it act like The Lighthouse. When activating his affinity, it would switch on and off by itself every two or three minutes for about the next fifteen minutes, giving him the ability to take advantage of moving 'fast' and to attack or defend when he 'reappeared in reality.

  "Good job!" Aerthus patted his shoulders, as he spoke, "Now you need to work on it, expand its function and timeframe, shrinking down the buffers when you appear and disappear."

  "Will do, Master! Fufufu, this is going to surprise senior sister. I can't wait to finally beat her!"

  "Ahaha, don't be overconfident yet." He chuckled, warning him, "When you reappear, you give out fluctuations and clear indications of where you are going to do so. Someone stronger and sharper could pick up on it and counter you before you even know. That is also how Demigods fight, you know."

  "Oh… I did not know that…" He said, already thinking about a stage he was so far away from.

  "No worries, we are going to hone it so it goes seamlessly. This is still great, Frenir; others could not prepare for something like this. If you act decisively, they are toast before having a chance to adapt."

  His encouraging words greatly lifted the boy's spirits, and he was ready to continue training, forgetting to ask anymore about what was happening back at the Sect. While he was immersed in his training, other disciples were just as fired up as he was, back home.

  .............

  "Guys, guys!" one of the outer disciples stormed into his dormitory room, almost falling over on his own feet, panting heavily.

  "What? Someone stole your missions again, Lupar?" one of his friends ughed as Lupar was known to visit the Mission Hall every day, looking for new tasks to complete, often getting into squabbles with others if they took up some he also had his eyes on.

  "No! Well, yes! But who cares?" He yelled, stumbling over his own words.

  "Huh?" Almost everyone present looked at him now, more and more curious about what was going on. It was weird, coming from the outer disciples' most prominent contribution point hoarder and certified loan shark, to not care about it.

  "There is an announcement! Junior Sect Head is going to host a competition! Submitted B-Tier spells are going to be graded, and the top 50 get rewards! The top 10 get special rewards from the judges, and the top 5 get rewards from her, personally!"

  "Huh. Interesting. But… Why does this affect us?" one of the older disciples asked, as most here were between the ages of 14 and 18, Lupar himself being only 16.

  "Yeah, most of us are still at the beginning of cultivation; can't even make our own spells!" another ughed.

  "And competition like this is going to be dominated by the Inner Disciples anyway," one of the girls sighed.

  "No, no, no… You see… the announcement says that if your idea is good enough and the technique can be developed, you are also eligible to participate. In other words, they accept not just already usable skills but those that are only theories, too!"

  At first, it was quiet, but after everyone's brain processed the information, they erupted into a frenzy, scrambling to either check for themselves or rush to sign up. Most of the outer disciples attended Isha's weekly open lectures, which not only expined how cultivation worked but also broke down spells, fights, and battles between cultivators, giving a window into how cultivation really worked.

  No wonder that after years of detailed breakdowns, a lot of disciples had ideas about how they would design their own spells based on their awakened affinity. Everyone here went through Aerthus's test, their dreams still vivid in their memories... Since then, many disciples have been obsessed with replicating the feelings and spells they used there. Using what they learned about energy, energy points, and how it flows through their bodies, some succeeded, already advancing into the ranks of the Inner Disciples.

  Soon, the dorm room, where usually 10 other disciples stayed, was empty, leaving behind only one soul, a young girl, who sat on her bed, looking uninterested. She was unbothered by the commotion, legs crossed, remaining on her own, reading a book, slowly flipping through its pages. Her light-green eyes fshed for a moment. Closing the book, she tucked her wavy, long, light-brown hair behind her ear and looked around the empty room, shaking her head.

  "Why hurry?" She whispered, standing up and fixing her uniform before walking out in a completely different direction from her roommates. Even as the dormitory slowly started to buzz, as more and more disciples learned about the news, she just left the building and went towards the garden. She worked there, earning contribution points that she always spent on audio recordings of Ren's lectures to the Inner Disciples. They were never cheap, but since she started doing it, she had already reached the 2nd stage of body refinement and was ready to advance to the 3rd at any time.

  When the Sect Opening occurred, she was only an orphan living in the Qun kingdom. It wasn't the first time that she remained alone, as she was found as a baby, crying in a trash bin, bloody, and her umbilical cord still attached to her. Luckily for her, she was found in time and then taken care of by a poor couple. Even if they couldn't afford it, they couldn't leave a newborn baby to die... They couldn't bring themselves to do it. Sadly, three years before the selection had happened, they passed away after a cold winter, leaving her alone once again. She was only left with one of their gifts, a wooden bracelet with her name, Ariana, carved into it. Living as a poor citizen and then an orphan made her naturally cautious, and she only acted when she felt assured that everything would go smoothly.

  One of her only impulsive actions in her 15 years of life happened when she was only 9, and the transparent bridges appeared. She stepped onto one, traversing through a magical dream. It was weird, as she was a powerful cultivator in the dream, shrouded in darkness, wearing it as a dress, yet it wasn't a fearful or saddening experience. At least, at first… She walked around the world, drawing in others' negative, dark thoughts or experiences, controlling them as she wished. This way, she was ridding them of misfortune and giving them a good life that she couldn't have. Yet when her enemies came, and her friends in the dream were threatened, she fought… releasing all that darkness right onto them.

  Since then, whenever she thought back to the way she dealt with her enemies, it sent shivers down her spine. The darkness around her came alive; hellish creatures climbed out of her 'dress,' tentacles, sickle-like arms, and demons stretching out from the abyss. Nightmarish horrors with multiple jaws and bloodshot eyes swarmed her opponents, tearing not just their bodies apart but even their souls, consuming them like snacks, crunching, munching, and slurping them up.

  "I need to understand myself before taking a step forward… if not, who knows what I may become or what I unleash to the world…" she muttered to herself as she immersed herself in her memory, watching her own hand overp with the one in her dream.

  When she stepped off the bridge, she was dizzy and scared and didn't know if she would break down crying or just let her pee flow freely. Being only 9 years old, it was a miracle she didn't break down there and then. Yet the experience stayed with her. As she had no cultivation whatsoever back then, she was still accepted. She spent the next few years with other young children who could now call the Sect their home. They were taking regur courses, teaching them the basics: reading, math, and everything they would need in life ter.

  As the years passed, even though she was reserved and rarely interacted with others, she was never bullied or completely left out of group activities, and she found a new family in the Sect. Soon, others awakened their affinity as they got older, and when she turned 13, hers had woken up too. From that moment, when she heard Isha's words, who told her that her affinity was darkness, she knew what she had dreamt could become reality.

  And that's why she was one of those who advanced slowly. It was not because she had a lower aptitude or talent that she only reached the 2nd stage; it was because he refused to take the next step until she understood everything about herself and her new powers.

  "Oh? Ariana? You are early; the sun is still up!" Rem ughed, flying up to her as she arrived at the garden.

  "Elder Rem." She cupped her hands, bowing with a calm expression.

  "Elder? Nooo, I'm not one!" The little fairy ughed happily. "I'm just good with pnts. But you are a great help, tending to the flowers that bloom in the night… not many wish to help me out with that!" She sighed, shaking her head.

  "I feel more at ease when the sun is down," Ariana answered honestly, as since her affinity awakened, she had found herself drawn to the dark. The sun became a bit annoying, making her feel weaker. "And it's quiet at night; I like strolling through the flowers and herbs; it is calming."

  "Calming?" Rem tilted her head. "But you always look calm."

  "Am I?" She raised her eyebrows a little, but she found it impossible, but it was hard to see herself from an outside perspective. But why would Rem lie about it? "Maybe I am," she sighed, not really knowing what to say.

  "Oh, yes, yes! Tonight, you need to be extra careful!"

  "Why?" She asked, a bit surprised as her heartbeat sped up.

  "Ah… Big Sis's pet was spanked today because she ate one of her finished artifacts…" Rem murmured with a weird smile, "When she is unhappy, she usually tries to sneak in and eat some of the herbs. I always keep a stash of them at the side, just for her, but Elder Dermitos asked for a big batch yesterday… I have no spares to give her!" Rem expined, looking a bit nervous, "She didn't appear all day, and I couldn't talk to her... So my guess is she will come at night, find her snacks missing, and she won't be happy... Don't worry, you don't need to stop her; if you see her, just crush this!" She gave her a small, green jade coin before Ariana could panic. "This is going to alert Big Sis!"

  "Directly alerting the… Junior Sect Head?" Ariana gulped, and her young face remained calm on the outside, but inside, her heart beat so quickly it sounded like a war drum.

  "Uhum!" Rem nodded happily. "She can't keep an eye on Kyu every moment, as now she works in the Artifact Department, that is why she sent out a lot of these, ehehe… But don't worry, Kyu is really friendly, just a bit dumb… A fluffy dumb-dumb, but she is nice if you get to know her!"

  "I'll… keep my eyes open..." she nodded, not exactly... firmly.

  "Thank you!" Rem ughed, giving her a white, root-like pnt, only 5cm long, recently dug out, still smelling like fresh grass and earth after a rainy day.

  "This?" Ariana blinked, surprised, as she immediately recognized it as one of the ingredients in the energy-recovery pill's recipe.

  "A little thank you! You can exchange it for a lot of points." Rem winked at her. "You can borrow a new record of Big Sis's lecture then!"

  "I… I can't…" She stuttered as this was not something an outer disciple would have access to.

  "You can! I decide the rewards and punishments here." Rem ughed, flying around her happily, leaving behind sparkling, sweet-smelling dust clouds. "You are always punctual and hard-working." She gave a friendly kiss on her face before waving and flying off, leaving a stunned Ariana there with little tears sparkling at the corner of her eyes.