The two sat side by side on the floor, each with a pill in their hands.

  “How long will it take for us to absorb all of it?” Will asks the dwarf.

  “Hard ta say. These pills were made from a cultivation treasure that does best for the lower third of the lower realm. For someone like me? I’d be done in a minute or two. Those above me would be a few seconds. For you two? Depends a lot on yer natural talents. How much Qi yer bodies can naturally absorb from the air and inta yer bodies, how fast yer body is naturally able ta circulate and absorb that energy, how much you can hold inside ya as you continue to cultivate and process all of it. All of that comes inta play.”

  “Soo, a ball park then?”

  “A ball what?”

  Dang expressions.

  “An estimation. Your best guess.”

  “Why didn’tcha say that then?” The dwarf shook his head with a smile on his face. “Seeing as the two of ya are still only in the second realm, and maybe only half way at that, I would say roughly an hour.”

  “And, for reference, if I were to cultivate for two hours every day in average levels of naturally forming Qi, how much will I be cultivating after going through the treasure?”

  “Hmm.” The dwarf rubbed his beard covered chin again, thinking. “Just two hours? Probably a month’s worth. Give or take.”

  Will eye’s popped and his mouth dropped open.

  “A month’s?! That’s so much Qi!”

  The dwarf quirked an eyebrow at him.

  “The lass is right. Yer are a country bumpkin.”

  He frowned.

  “I’m not that bad.”

  Alea started to laugh. She was trying to hold it in, her hands on her sides as she tried to stifle the laughter. Some of her curly black hair fell in front of her face as she tried to control her reaction. It came out sounding like she was giggling uncontrollably. Which was such an odd experience seeing as how Will had rarely seen Alea giggle.

  “And the pout on his face after you said it just makes it funnier!” She said, as she stopped holding back and let herself laugh out loud.

  “Alright alright. I get it.” He started to laugh lightly himself, not being able to stop himself from finding the whole thing funny either.

  The two of them settled down, calming their minds and getting serious. They controlled their breathing and then swallowed the pills.

  Will worked his throat muscles, doing his best to get the pill down and almost choking in the process.

  He waited a few seconds, focusing on his breathing. A couple seconds more go by and he starts to worry.

  Did we get a dud or…

  Qi explodes inside of him. A raging storm seeming to just appear out of no where near his core.

  The shock causes him to lose his breathing technique, and he can feel that he lost a little bit of the Qi he would have otherwise been able to cultivate had he not.

  He quickly regains the rhythm of his breathing technique and starts cultivating. This time, instead of drawing from the atmosphere around him, he draws from the hurricane of energy inside of himself.

  It wasn’t dangerous. He didn’t feel like the energies would rip him apart if he wasn’t careful. In fact, he felt like they would simply dissipate if he didn’t actively cultivate. Although that may take a while.

  All the same the storm of energy was powerful, and he wasn’t used to cultivating such a dense amount. Not even Amos’s forest came close to this level on concentration.

  After a few seconds of interacting with the intense amount of energy, he feels like he’s getting a handle on it. Definitely different, he thinks to himself, but not something he’s not able to get used to.

  As he starts to really find his rhythm he begins to cultivate in earnest. He does what he always does, and starts to draw into himself as much Qi as he can into his channels. He uses the breathing technique his master taught him and pulls the energy in, circulating it in the sequence and pattern his master showed him on that drawn diagram.

  When he cultivates from the area around him, he feels like he’s able to pull it through every inch of skin on himself; whether it’s exposed to the air or not. This time he feels like his entire insides, every inch of surface area inside of him, is actively pulling in the Qi from the pill.

  He loses his sense of time as he focuses fully on the rampant storm of energy.

  Before he knows it he finds himself finished, the treasure’s Qi fully cultivated.

  He feels invigorated and smiles widely at how much farther he has progressed. It’s not a massive leap, but he absolutely feels stronger than he did when he started. He would say, if he absolutely had to put a number to it, maybe ten percent stronger?

  His core feels slightly larger, his efficiency at circulating Qi slightly better.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  He opens his eyes and looks over at Alea. She has a look of calm concentration on her face.

  Hm. Didn’t think I’d finish first.

  He looks up and finds the dwarf staring at him, his eye brows scrunched in confusion and his arms crossed.

  “You shouldn’t stop part way through lad. Keep going before you loose some of the treasure’s Qi.”

  “No need. I’m all finished.”

  The dwarf frowns back at him. “What do ya mean yer finished?”

  “What? Did I finish a couple minutes fast?” Will shrugs. “I’m used to cultivating in what I’m told is pretty decently concentrated areas of Qi. Maybe I just got used to absorbing large quantities of it.”

  Will doesn’t think much of it. Master Amos had never said anything one way or the other about how fast Will cultivates, so he doesn’t think there’s any real problem or issue.

  “Lad…it’s only been fifteen minutes. There’s no way yer done already.”

  “Fifteen? That can’t be right. Maybe my pill wasn’t as strong as Alea’s?”

  “Ay..it’s possible.” The dwarfs says skeptically, obviously not convinced. “The alchemist I went ta is one’a the better ones I know. Burnin near the best. I’m not so sure the pill was faulty.”

  Will just looks back at the dwarf. He didn’t say anything more though, his mind busy working through how the boy could have possibly cultivated the entire thing so fast.

  The implications alone…

  The dwarf thinks to himself as he wonders if Will really did what he said he did.

  Will just internally shrugs to himself. He has so much to worry about that honestly this was the least of his concerns. This was a mystery best solved another day.

  …

  The next few days went by quickly. Will and Alea spend their time cultivating and meditating on both their elements and the role of Qi in the universe.

  Will decided to keep to himself the issue with the pill. He didn’t want Alea to get upset that there was a chance that he got a faulty pill, so instead he kept it to himself and decided to tell her another time when they had less on their plates.

  Eventually, after the week was up and Alea was back to full health, their host met them in Alea’s room while they were enjoying some food and talking about their next steps.

  “It took a few days longer than I imagined it would. Had ta be a little circumspect about my information gathering. But I managed ta figure out where you two should head ta next.”

  The two companions looked at each other. Both determined to face the next part of their journey and eager to hear what the dwarf had learned.

  “The world is a big place. There are thousands of sects out there and a lot of em are the best at different things depending on what the two of you are looking fer. But seeing as how you two need to get mr. Green off yer backs, yer going to want the strongest.”

  They both nodded along as he talked. All of it making sense so far to them.

  “Now there’s more than one kind of strength. Some of these groups have powerful political pull. Some even with enough to keep Belial at bay. Others are glorified mercenaries; similar to what Belial’s own faction does. But, if ye don’t mind me puttin’ in my two cents, I’d say you just want to stick to the strongest in pure combat power.”

  Taleya nodded. “That’s what we were thinking as well. I know a few of the bigger political players, and I trust them less to use us as pawns as the more martial sects.”

  “I figured you might lass, and yer probably right.” The dwarf answered. “So, that leaves one question. How far are you willing ta travel?”

  “What do you mean?” Asks Will.

  “As I said, the world’s a big place. You’re in the south western part of the continent. To get to the far north you’d need months of travel.”

  “I don’t want to go too far. We have no idea where our masters went to ground at to heal.” Will shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t even know how far master Taleya sent us in the first place!”

  “Well let’s see if I can help with that.” Said the dwarf. “Where were you when she teleported you?”

  “We were in the city of Dunham.” Said Alea.

  “Hmm. A fair distance then. I can’t tell ya how far she sent you ta get here, nor can I tell ya how far we will send you when we teleport you out of here.”

  “Well thanks for clearing that up.” Will says.

  “But!” The dwarf says enthusiastically. “If you want to stay somewhat close, I can tell ya how far you’ll be from the sect I have in mind fer you two after we teleport you out of here. Which will be about a month’s walk, give er’ take how fast you two travel. The sect will be about also about a month to a month an’a’half’s travel from Dunham in a different direction. Again, depending on how fast you two move.”

  The two young fighters looked at each other, both seeing agreement in each others faces.

  “Sounds good to us.” Will says.

  “What sect is it?” Alea asks.

  “The Azure Dragon Sect.”

  Alea uncrosses her arms and braces one of her hands against the table she was standing next to.

  “What?! Are you insane? Not only do I seriously doubt they would accept us even if we did pass the entrance exam, we’d have to survive the entrance exam first!”

  Will looks back and forth between the incredulous Alea and the dwarf with a self satisfied smirk across his bearded face.

  “You wanted the strongest didn’t ya? They’re the strongest. Well, they’re among the strongest. There are a few around the world that are their level but they’re the closest ones to us by a fair margin. Also, from what I’ve heard, they’re also the least involved in politics.”

  “Anyone want to fill me in here? Alea, why are you freaking out?”

  Alea has her hand to her face, rubbing her eyes in exasperation.

  “The Azure Dragon Sect is a sect renowned for its fighters. They say its patriarch really was an Azure Dragon. Enough generations went by and it became known for having fighters known for their power and fierceness in battle. A fair majority of them are battle crazed.”

  “Is that a problem for us trying to join?”

  “It’s not that, it’s the level of ability they have set for their sect. I’m confident in my abilities, but the Azure Dragon Sect…”

  She looks speculative for a moment as she seems to consider the dwarf’s plan.

  “Master has mentioned them before.” She looks back toward the dwarf. “You really think we have a chance?”

  The dwarf nods to her firmly.

  Alea looks back at Will. “They train to the exclusion of almost all else, and because of that their standards are incredibly high, like I said. But..the dwarf is right. They care little for politics. They don’t really need to. Pure strength solves a lot of issues. I don’t know if it’s the right choice but..they would be the best sect to join.”

  “You mentioned something about an entrance exam though?” Will asks.

  “That’s the crux of it. I’ve heard some horror stories about their entrance exam. It changes every year so there’s no preparing for it. It has gotten so dangerous at times that people have died.” Alea looks back to the dwarf, a concerned expression on her face. “I’m grateful for your high opinion of us, but my master told me about this sect. They’re-“

  “Lass.” He cuts her off. “I don’t think you two have a fair gauge of yer strength. Yer only in the Spirit Realm. Also, the test is different depending on which realm of power yer in.”

  Alea’s eye’s widened.

  “My master never told me that.”

  The dwarf shrugs. “Not many people know.”

  “Which means we have a chance..” She says. Realization and hope lighting up in her eyes.

  Will nods.

  “I say we do it.” Will says. “It sounds like it’s our best option. Besides, Belial is a massive threat, we need to respond with a bold move. And this sounds like we can make that move while getting stronger at the same time.”

  “That’s the spirit!” The dwarf says.

  ”Just one problem though.” Will says. “When’s this entrance exam? Alea said it’s yearly? We’ll have a problem if we have to try to hide till it comes up.”

  “Spot a luck there. Taking accounta travel time, ya should get there with a week to spare before this year’s exam.”

  Will looks over to Alea. She has a smile tugging at her full lips and a fierce gleam to her green eyes.

  “Ok, I’m in.”