The summer sun was at its peak in the sky. Rays of sunlight fell down on the courtyard. There were colorful petals of flowers there as well as a small pond where some koi fish swam around.
Under the shed, a young man was sitting down on a cushion.
He wore a plain white robe and in front of him was a table which had papers, brush and ink. His eyes were focused and his hands were following a smooth rhythm as he made strokes on the paper.
A few moments later his hands paused slightly.
His originally focused eyes became dazed. In a trance, he saw many scenes of his past deeds and various events from a higher view. A lot of mistakes that he should have noticed in the past or should have at least pondered about appeared in his mind steadily and along with it came the solutions and answers to them.
When the sun above had set enough to shine on him from the horizon he snapped back from that state. A pleasant smile appeared on his handsome face.
"A profound realization… So this is how it feels."
Xar muttered while reminiscing the sudden insight he encountered earlier. It has been over a month since he broke through Grandmaster Realm. He finally had a profound realization which is necessary for stepping on to the Middle Stage of this realm.
There are a total hundred realizations one needs to experience before being considered having reached that stage. Xar's existential foundation is very robust and because of this the difficulty for advancement is higher than other Grandmasters.
Xar looked at the half-finished calligraphy on the table.
He doesn't know why but today he had a whim to sit down for a second and practice calligraphy skill again. His past schedule was all about practicing to progress further in evolution.
Many years ago, he dabbled in some skills for recreational purposes when he felt his life becoming monotonous because of the rigid schedule he made for himself.
Calligraphy was one of them. Maybe because he is a natural genius so after a short period of practice even this skill was elevated to a realm where he could compete with those who dedicated many years of their life in this art.
"It's too slow. It takes over a month for a realization to occur naturally and the later realizations will only lengthen the time further. Is there any way to speed this up?"
He pondered about a solution to this.
If any other Grandmasters had heard about his dissatisfaction for having one realization in one month then they would definitely beat him up to vent their anger. For others it takes decades or even centuries to catch that fleeting chance of realization while here he is actually disdainful for being able to progress further after a month since his breakthrough.
Xar had consulted with Saint Luskey before. According to him, only by watching those under the river of time could one have realizations about themselves, a being who recently leaped above the river. Each realization will increase the strength, comprehension and application of their path's rule by one percent so by the time one has reached the Middle Stage the difference in strength between an Initial Stage and a Middle Stage Grandmaster has formed an incredible gap.
Xar has taken the path of illusion so the rule he comprehends is space rule.
"Forget it, just stay holed up in this secret realm. The time difference of a hundred should be more than enough to completely help me achieve the Middle Stage before five years in the Cosmic Sea."
Finding no shortcuts or any way to speed up he calmed down and decided to just let time take its course.
He had previously set a time limit for himself. Breakthrough the Middle Stage within five years in Cosmic Sea's time. Now he could make a general estimation because of this initial one realization in a month. Given his talent the lengthening of time shouldn't be too long so he surmised that the time limit of five years can now be considered sufficient.
Xar suddenly looked at the gate of the courtyard, a visitor had arrived. He got up from the cushion and waved his hand. All the clutter on the table was stored away in the storage bag. Only a handful of people were qualified to meet him in this Azure Planet.
After ringing the doorbell, the girl stood quietly with a basket in her hand. Xar greeted her with a smile, "Good afternoon, Esmeria. Please come in."
He invited her in and looked at the basket in her hand curiously. He naturally could use his extrasensory perception to check inside but that will be rude. There's no reason for such rash behavior towards a fellow noble.
Esmeria also smiled as she replied, "A very good afternoon. I hope I am not bothering you."
"Of course not. I just had some small success in my practice so I am in a good mood. It just so happens that you visited at this time."
Xar led her to the living room as he replied with a chuckle. He was indeed in a good mood.
"Haha, then we should do something to celebrate. Look, I made some pastries and wanted to share some to get a review of the taste. How about it?"
Esmeria sat down on the couch and opened the basket to reveal the pastries she made. The pastries looked very delicious just from the visual.
He was somewhat surprised that she bothered spending time baking something. In his impression, prodigies like her would spend her time either practicing in seclusion or on her way to do something related to her practice. There's no interest in anything that couldn't assist in the journey of evolution.
"Well, they look delicious! I didn't expect that you could bake pastries."
"Actually, I formed the prototype of the rule crystal and met the conditions for breakthrough just this morning. Let's say that I was also in a good mood."
Esmeria smiled like a flower in bloom. Xar looked at her smile in a daze. What a beauty, this thought appeared in his mind as he hurriedly congratulated her.
All clansmen of Five Founding Families are born with handsome faces and beautiful looks but there's something about Esmeria's smile just now that made him appreciate her beauty a bit more.
Xar placed some plates on the table after he came back from the kitchen. She served the pastries and the two ate and chatted. The scene looked very harmonious.
"The path of beast taming. Hmm, the rule you should comprehend from now on is the one your natal beast companion has the most affinity with, right?"
"Yeah. The Phoenix I contracted should have strong affinity with fire rule just like others but it turns out that it has a dual affinity of time rule and life rule. I am a bit unsure now."
"Oh my! This is the first time I have heard of such an exception. As one of the four main species of faebeast, Phoenix usually has fire rule affinity. The hybrids could indeed have higher possibility of inheriting a different affinity because of mixed bloodline but your Phoenix even went a step further. I have never heard of such precedents. Is it perhaps a mutated one?"
"This is also my guess. Before, when I used the bloodline abilities of this Phoenix it always appeared the same as other Phoenixes, a lot of fire related abilities but after forming the rule crystal prototype I finally realized its real affinity hidden in the bloodline."
"What to do now? Comprehend the rule modules or consult Saint Rudolph first?"
She had a pondering look after his question and then her eyes became determined as she looked at him, "I will comprehend the rule modules. I don't want to break the contract and raise another one from scratch. There is a lot of bond between us, after all, it has been with me for over a decade."
"One must make their own decisions that are true to their hearts. As long as you don't regret this decision and have a clear conscience in any future difficulties because of it then I am sure you will achieve great success on your evolution journey."
Xar applauded her decision as he spoke from his experience. He also made many decisions in his evolution journey which he firmly believed to be the correct one. Because he can see the Road of Fate he can avoid a lot of doubts and detours but Esmeria obviously doesn't have such conditions so he could only give her encouragement like this.
After chatting for a while, she got up and said goodbye. It was approaching night time and it was somewhat inappropriate for a girl who could only be regarded as a good acquaintance to stay any longer.
Xar saw her off at the front door and couldn't help but recall her smile again. Shaking his head, he closed the door after no longer seeing her in the distance. He recalled the content of Human Evolution Codex, when one comes into contact with cosmic rules in their evolution journey.
Level 1 is centered around the evolution of the body. Level 2 is about the evolution of mind while Level 3 is the evolution of soul. Body, mind and soul, the three prime factors must be evolved up to a certain threshold before being qualified to glimpse the cosmic rules.
At the Final stage of Level 3 the evolver's soul must sublimate to the highest possible point. The indicator of it is that the evolver is able to use one spiritual attack to destroy a planet. After reaching this stage, forming the prototype of rule crystal conforming to their evolution path is the condition for breaking through the Initial Stage of Level 4.
As an interstellar empire, there are way too many planets in the territory of the human race. All planets are of different sizes so in order to generalize the indicator of ultimate soul sublimation point the size of ancestral planet Pangaea is used for reference.
1.39 million Hircil (kilometer) is the vertical size of Pangaea planet and also the destruction indicator for reaching the Final Stage of Level 3.
After forming the prototype of the rule crystal the more one comprehends the cosmic rule the closer it will head towards a complete rule crystal. The closer it gets to completion the higher an evolver's application of cosmic rule becomes and in parallel the greater one's strength increases.
To reach the Middle Stage of Level 4 one needs to comprehend the cosmic rule to a level where the rule crystal prototype has transformed to the complete form by one-third and Late Stage is by reaching up to two-third while the Final Stage is to reach the complete form of rule crystal.
Xar wondered about the progress of the other three. The weakest Esmeria can break through Level 4 after she leaves the secret realm. Now, she has reached the same starting line as the other three who were in the Initial Stage.
Ryonen was very close to reaching one-third of completion before entering while Wuryan and Irilea were far behind as they broke through quite recently. Now that Esmeria would start comprehending rule modules all the four prodigies are in the same level.
Xar couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. It was similar to the feeling that one piece of the puzzle that hasn't been inserted to the puzzle board yet finally fit the small gap which completed the picture of the entire board.
He then remembered about tomorrow's match schedule.
This global competition is three days long. The first day, their party won and reached the quarterfinals. The second day, which was today, the opposite party abstained from the match so they went on to the semi-final without needing to show up in the colosseum. There was no notification that the next match has been given up before the battle so he needs to show up tomorrow.
Just as he was thinking a message came to his ID badge, that metal one which was given after registering the party. "The opponent party gave up and Drifting Cloud secured five out of ten D-rank quotas for the labyrinth automatically."
Xar couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the coincidence. Well, that saves some trouble. He then contacted that commoner asking when they would set off for the labyrinth.
"Lord Umbra, it has been decided by the council that all the adventurers who got the quota will go to the labyrinth after a week. Considering road safety because of the distance from human territory and possible ambush and attacks from traitors and hostile NPCs' many preparations need to be made."
"Please rest assured, this servant will absolutely ensure that five nobles wouldn't be implicated again. There will never be a repeated situation where your esteemed self needs to take action personally."
"Good."
He replied indifferently before hanging up.
The Orc Champion Labyrinth, the council attaches great importance to this trip as the best of the adventurers of this generation would enter it. It wouldn't be wrong to say that all the A-rank who would go there are the seeds of future S-rank while the lower ranks have great potential to reach the highest stage of Azure Planet as long as they are nurtured carefully after this.
Many things are at stake so preparation from all sides is underway.