As he spoke, each of the kids hung on his every word. For many of them, he was the first saint they'd ever seen, and even if they had seen others, it wasn't very often. Saints were exceedingly rare.

  "The hing we're going to do is the tale. Now I know each of you has already dohis, but our test is a little more ih," Mathias said as he nded in the tre of the mountaintop, calmly projeg his voito the ears of each of them. "Martial Uncle Aiden, if you please."

  As he said that, the children watched in awe as a tall, dark-skinned man walked through the air as if the air beh his feet was solid.

  Ace immediately activated his [Observation], only to be left dumbfounded by his discovery.

  'He has no mageforce either?' Ace discovered rather shogly. 'He's just an ordinairy peak ninth rank warrior?!'

  Seeing him walk through the air, Ace assumed that, like Mathias, he too was a saint, and like the other powerhouses present, he too owerful mage and warrior, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

  The more Ace studied the man in the sky, the more shocked he became.

  'Is he…

  I didn't know impose could be used like that.' Ace thought to himself as he noticed Aiden using impose to press the spader his feet until it was essentially a solid he could walk on. 'Just who is this man?'

  Sensing Ace's [Observation], Aiden gnced lightly at the boy, fshing a telling smile, making him realise he'd just been caught.

  Ace already khat his [Observation] could be sensed by those with a stronger spirit than his own after a discussion with Wukong. It was why he hadn't used it to take a closer look at the two instructors earlier, but Aiden's ability to walk on the sky was simply too mesmerising.

  Still, Ace simply dispersed his haki and pretended nothing had happened.

  "This is my martial uncle, Aiden Rohault – you think of him as a guest elder of the Pavilion," Mathias expined as Aiden took his position by Mathias' side. "Momentarily, I'll call you up one by one, and when Martial Us his hand on your head, he'll el some of his spiritual esseo you, allowing him to accurately determine ye, cultivation, spiritual essence, and affinities.

  First up, Kannal Meiron."

  Kannal, who still seemed pretty exhausted from his earlier climb, slowly walked to the tre. His nerves were obvious for all to see. After all, he was in front of what he thought to be towerful saints.

  "It's alright, we don't bite," Mathias said smilingly, hoping to put his ease.

  As soon as Kannal was in front of them, Aiden calmly put his palm on the boy's forehead before almost immediately announg the results. "Kannal Meiron:

  Age – Seven

  Warrior Cultivation – Late Rank one

  Mage Cultivation – Not Applicable

  Spiritual Essence: 24x above average – Rare

  Elemental Affinity: Wind – Exceptional"

  All Aew about Kannal's talent was what Venerin had said, but he had to admit, Venerin wasn't lying. He truly was very talented.

  up was the cold dark-haired boy Ace had passed on the climb. Like before, Aiden wasted no time in announg the results. "Osiris Leyran:

  Age – Nine

  Warrior Cultivation – Early Rank Two

  Mage Cultivation – Late Rank One

  Spiritual Essence: 29x above average – Rare

  Elemental Affinity: Darkness – Exceptional"

  'This really is the gathering pce of the elites.' Ace sighed to himself as he watched the boy return to his position as indifferent as ever.

  One by one, each child was called up, and each result was more impressive tha. What really caught Ace by surprise, though, was Killian's results.

  "Killian:

  Age – Nine

  Warrior Cultivation – Early Rank Two

  Mage Cultivation – Mid-Rank One

  Spiritual Essence: 45x above average – Rare

  Elemental Affinities:

  Earth – Exceptional

  Lightning – High

  Edict of Destru – Exceptional."

  Over the st half a year or so, Killian had trained his socks off, and it clearly showed. Not only had he made breakthroughs as both a warrior and a mage, but his spiritual essence had also increased substantially, going from 41 to 45x above average, but what surprised him wasn't the improvements but the results for his elemental affinities.

  Whether it was the children or the adults, everyone looked at Killian in shock.

  "Edict of Destru? What's that?" Ace asked, turning to Wukong, who also raised an eyebrow at the boy.

  "As you know, there are seven profound ws, but aside from them, there are still the fher ws referred to as the four edicts," Wukong expined slowly. "Life, Death, Fate and, of course, Destru."

  "How do they pare to the ordinairy elements?" Ace asked curiously.

  "There's no definitive differen raw power between them and the seven ws, but individuals with an affinity to any of the four edicts are far rarer, making their abilities a lot more mysterious," Wukong answered when the ers of his mouth crept up slightly. "Looks like first brother won't be able to sit still this time."

  "Huh, what do you mean?" Ace asked, not following Wukong's meaning.

  "Killian, how would you like to be my disciple?" Mathias asked in anticipation.

  His question catg most of those present by surprise, Killian included.

  "Ahh, excuse my excitement. I was getting ahead of myself," Mathias said apologetically. "You o uand, though rare, having an affinity to any of the four edicts is a double-edged sword. Its rarity makes it hard to ter, but it also makes it harder tress as there aren't many with the affinity to learn from.

  But seeing as I'm also a mage of the edict of destru, I'm in a unique position to train you in the ways of destru." Mathias eagerly expined.

  Bar Ace, Alissa, and Amira, all the other youths watg, had to forcibly reign in their envy. The idea of being the disciple of a lofty saint was a dream e true for virtually every child in the Yun Pne, so seeing their dream being lived out by another child undoubtedly stung, but Killian turo Ace for help, not knowing what he should do.

  "What are you waiting for?" Ace shouted. "You want to grow stronger faster, don't you? Well, who better to train you than a powerful saint?"

  'That's right!' Killian aowledged as he regained his posure. 'If I want to keep up with Ace, then my best shot is taking this man as my master.'

  "Killias master," Killian said as he k down respectfully.

  "Hahaha, excellent!" Mathias excimed. "You may stand. There's o stand on ceremony around me. After all, a master for a day, a father for life."

  "Father?" Killian subsciously said aloud.

  Kil was born an orphan, so for the first six years of his life, the cept of family was lost on him. It was only after meeting Ace, Milianna, and Lahat he began to uand what the love of a family felt like. So when he heard Mathias' words, it instantly struck a chord within.

  "That's right, haha. But don't worry about it for now. We talk properly ter. Right now, we o carry on with the tests."

  As the people who'd known him for the loime, it wasn't hard for Ace, Lance, and Milianna to uand the thoughts going through his mind as he walked bnkly back towards them.

  "gratutions, Kil!" Ace said sincerely.

  "You deserve it!" Lance added

  "We're so happy for you!" Milianna said as she lovingly rubbed his curly hair.

  "Thank you," Killian softly replied, as a warm smile suffused his thick boed lips.

  At that moment, Killian's heart had never felt so full. It was a feeling he hoped never went away.

  Whilst Killian was embrag the warmth enveloping his heart, Mathias and Aiden carried on with the testing.

  It was then he learnt precisely why it was that the fat youth ted.

  "Julius Holorma:

  Age – 9

  Warrior Cultivation – Not Applicable

  Mage Cultivation – Early Rank Three

  Spiritual Essence: 77x above average – Exceptional

  Elemental Affinities:

  Fire – Exceptional

  Fate – Exceptional"

  Though he had no warrior cultivation, whether it was his exceptional spiritual essence or his affinity to the edict of fate, his results were no less impressive than Killian's.

  "Don't any of you want to e to be your disciple?" Julius asked shamelessly as his beady eyes sed each of the instructors.

  "You be my disciple." Lauriel decred. "If you promise to start training as a warrior as well."

  Hesitation fshed across the boy's perfectly spherical face before a helpless sigh escaped his lips. "Fet it. It's not worth ruining my god-like physique with your silly exercise."

  An amused smile appeared on Ace's face as he watched Julius waddle back to his spot, whistling as though nothing had happened.

  The couple didn't really capture Ace's attention. It wasn't until the sed to st name youth's results were annouhat Ace suddenly perked up.

  "Amira Rohault:

  Age – 8

  Warrior Cultivation – Early Rank Two

  Mage Cultivation – Early Rank Two

  Spiritual Essence: 91x above average – Exceptional

  Elemental Affinities:

  Wind – Exceptional

  Light – Exceptional"

  Her elemental affinities were impressive, but the most shog thing about her was her cultivation and spiritual essence.

  Aside from his own, Amira had the highest spiritual essence of anyone else he'd seen at their age. If that wasn't impressive enough, despite being the same age as him, she was a rank two mage and warrior.

  'It's no wonder she mao catch Wukong's master's eye.' Ace thought to himself as he stared at her as if he were uo take his eyes off her.

  Amira also gnced his way, but only for a sed before sn and turning away, making Ace smile wryly, not realising she looked away to hide her blush.

  "Oii brat. Would you stop fog on your crush and pay attention?!" Wukong teased loud enough for the others to hear.

  "Huh? Oht, my bad!" Ace said hurriedly as his face heated up, realising he hadn't even heard his name called.

  Mathias and Aiden both smirked, seeing the rosiness of Ace's cheeks, uanding it had nothing to do with him running over to them. Still, her said anything. Aiden simply put his hands atop Ace's head exactly as he had with the other children before him, but uh the others, he didn't move it immediately. In fact, as time passed, Aiden's brows furrowed more and more.

  "Is everything alright?" Ace asked, looking up at the man before him.

  Aiden didn't respond immediately, but when he did, he replied with a question directed towards Ace's mother. "Milianna, was it? Do you mind if I perform a quick s of you as well?"

  P.S. Support me oreon listed below to read ahead - Release rate is at least 2x as many chapters every week! XD

  P.atreon./ACoilingDragon: Book 3 - Chapter 8