Chapter Three

Three days passed in a blink of an eye. Arnin and Nekaia were getting ready to head to the lessons given by the scholar. Ashia and Florian dressed them up in training attire. Arnin had a grey robe that tightly stuck to his body. Nekaia had a blue robe that similarly stuck to her small body. These clothes did not look new, rather they seemed kind of work out. This caused the parents to be slightly embarrassed when facing their kids, but with their financial situation, it was the best they could do.

Arnin and Nekaia didn't really mind that their clothes were worn out. Nekaia instead was very excited for the lessons and so she ignored everything else. Arnin on the other hand already knew of the situation so he did not complain about what he did and did not wear. Both kids quickly left the house after giving their parents a small hug.

"Arnin, do you think we will be able to become warriors? Our talent was unknown, so I am worried we won't be able to cultivate." While walking, Nekaia was pouting and complaining to Arnin about their unknown talent. Arnin just smiled towards her. He already knew that both of their talents were insanely high. The mysterious identification object was just not able to calculate the degree of their talent. Nekaia, who noticed that Arnin's smile, stopped pouting and happily grabbed onto his arm. She decided that she would just try her best and hope that nothing would go wrong.

Both children reached an open area inside the woods. The trees surrounded them like giants but still allowed some light to get through. When they saw the open field, they were astonished because of the number of children present. There were dozens of children of different ages. Some were five like them, but there were even children between the ages of six and seven. Everyone was huddled in the front area of the field, waiting for an announcement. Some parents were nearby, making sure that their kids would not make trouble.

Suddenly, an old man with grey hair walked forward. He had a small grey beard and a mole on his right cheek. His clothes looked new and expensive. On his waist, there was a golden medallion with a 'CS' symbol. This symbol meant, 'City Scholar', meaning a scholar from a city. He walked and stopped three meters away from everyone else.

"Today, all of you children have come for my lessons. The fees will be paid on my right. After you are done, enter the open area and continue standing in a straight line!" The old man who seemed humble on the outside was actually very greedy. Arnin noticed a glimmer in his eyes when the subject of fees were brought up.

Everyone quickly did what they were told and paid their fees. Arnin was given money by his parents for both him and his little sister. He was given a total of two silver by his parents for their fees. Money in Afloria was quite simple, one-hundred copper equaled one silver, while one-hundred silver equaled one gold. His father made an approximate amount of five silver a month. Their food expenses took the majority of that money, leaving very little for anything else. Arnin's father had reduced the amount of food just to pay their lesson fees. This was a great blow to their financial situation, however, their parents never complained. This further motivated Arnin to not waste the money his parents had to put in.

Everything went smoothly with the fees, and so Arnin stood in the line with Nekaia. After everyone was done paying to the old man, that old man walked in front and started a personal inspection.

"This miss and I will be checking all of your physiques before we begin. I want the boys on the left and the girls on the right!" After shouting the instructions, all the kids got into lines. There was loud chatter everywhere, but the old man and the miss continued their inspections. Sometimes they nodded and other times they shook their heads. When the old man got to Arnin, he started to press on different parts of the body to see how sturdy it was. As a five-year-old, the old man did not expect Arnin to have a ridiculous physique, but he was surprised to find that Arnin was a little more muscular than all of the children. His physique was by far the best he had seen in a five-year-old. The old man took a deep glance at Arnin and gave a satisfied nod, then continued his inspection.

Arnin did not feel surprised that his physique was good, as a past Demon Lord he knew how to keep his body in shape. After the inspections were complete, the old man had all the children undergo some physical training. It wasn't strenuous, rather it was just to get the body warmed up for cultivation. The kids jogged, stretched and did some stationary training. Half an hour passed, and the children were extremely tired. Their sweat poured down like a waterfall while their panting sounded like a vicious beast ready to eat its prey. The old man didn't flinch once when he saw this, he only gave a slight nod before calling everyone over. He then started his first real lesson.

"Now that your bodies are all tired and heated up, we can begin our first cultivation lesson. For this lesson, I am going to help you locate your orb." Every child became excited. They had never seen their special orbs, and now that they had the chance, how they not be excited? They all sat down in a cross-legged position just like the old man had said. Everyone was following his instructions step by step except one person, Arnin. He had already found his orb years ago, so he found this lesson to be unnecessary. He sat down beside Nekaia and tried to help her in any way he could, however, if her talent was similar to his, then she didn't need much help.

Just as he was thinking about this, his sister opened her eyes. She seemed to be happy as her eyes were glimmering brightly. It seemed that she had found her orb very quickly. The old man who was walking around and helping others noticed Arnin's idleness and Nekaia's weird expressions. He assumed that they didn't know what to do so he walked towards them.

"Do you two not understand what to do? Here let me explain once more. Sit cross-" Before he could finish he noticed that Nekaia was not paying attention and Arnin gave him a somewhat mocking smile.

"Old man, my little sister gets it and has already located her orb!" Arnin point2d towards his little sister who was happily sitting there. Since he didn't want much attention to himself he allowed his sister to gain recognition quickly. He knew that his sister would not be in danger with her talent. Although it was frightening, she was still a little girl who may fall during on the road to becoming an expert. In the eyes of others, she would just be a quick learner, however, if others found that he learned how to absorb essence at a much younger age and even self-taught it to himself, than a major problem could happen. Arnin, of course, would not allow his sister to become a failure or fall during her rise.

The old man watched with widened eyes. He had never seen such monstrous talent in his life. He had only just begun the lesson and a little girl completed it instantly. He quickly ran towards the woman who was helping him with the inspection. The woman showed a slight shock on her normal face, but quickly hid it. She quickly came before Nekaia and sized her up. The woman's chocolate eyes scanned Nekaia from top to bottom. She then came down to Nekaia's level and touched her head.

"Little one, what is your name?" The woman wasn't the most beautiful person in the world, but a very mesmerizing voice. It was quiet but lovely. Nekaia wanted to quickly speak, but she was lost for words. She looked towards Arnin, hoping that he would help her. Arnin smiled helplessly and looked at the woman. He inspected her level and noticed that the threads in her body were of the blue color and were much larger and thicker than his. She was on a very high level and since he didn't know the leveling system here, he couldn't exactly tell what level she was on.

"Miss, my little sister's name is Nekaia, Nekaia Foro!" Arnin deeply looked at the woman whose level was much higher than the village elders. He hoped for his sister to help his father and mother financially and let them live better lives. Of course, he would try his best, but he still had his own goals that needed to be achieved. He was not going to discard them anytime soon.

The woman looked at Arnin and nodded. She then looked back at the gorgeous five-year-old. "Would you like to become a disciple of mine? I have been searching for a very long time and you seem to have enough talent to be mine. I won't mistreat you or your family, you can move your family to the city, and they can live comfortably." The woman boldly stated her desires, not beating around the bush in any way. Nekaia sat there blankly, not knowing what to say. She had never expected to be asked such a question and be given such attention. It was only locating the orb in one's body, it shouldn't determine one's talent of strength.

What Nekaia thought was not incorrect, being able to find the orb in one's body quickly should not affect strength. What she didn't know was that being able to locate the orb showed one's talent in mental strength.

Mental strength could be used in a variety of ways, but it was not something that could be trained or learned. What many did not know was that if it took more than five hours to locate the orb, then one had very weak mental strength, making them unable to utilize it. Nekaia, who was able to locate her orb in an extremely short period of time, had very strong mental strength. The woman was looking for a disciple who had this very strong mental strength, which was why she wanted to recruit her as a disciple as quickly as possible.

Nekaia who was about to say something was stopped by Arnin very quickly. Although Arnin approved of this woman's straightforwardness he wasn't stupid enough to let his little sister, who hasn't experienced much and was easy to fool with free candy, make such an important decision.

"Miss whatever your name is, I don't dislike how direct you are, but who are you trying to fool? You know my younger sister would easily convince if you threw out some benefits, but I am not so easily convinced." Arnin spoke slowly, but his tone was a little irritated. Why would he let his little sister be conned in front of him? He had millions of years of experience, so he knew what to do at that time. He could go get his parent's consent, but they would be just as easily fooled with their low experience. He decided to handle this himself and get berated later if need be.

The old man and the woman looked at Arnin with surprise. Who could have imagined that a five-year-old would be so decisive and cunning? They continued to stare at Arnin, and the woman started to feel somewhat awkward. It was true that she was taking advantage of the little girl's lack of experience.

Arnin noticed the atmosphere becoming awkward so he pulled out a blank piece of paper. He scribbled a large number of characters and added a symbol on the bottom right. The piece of paper started to glow with a faint golden-red hue, making it seem attractive yet dangerous. He rolled up the piece of paper and tossed it towards the woman.

The woman silently watched all that was happening without hiding any of the surprises on her face. She only reacted when the scroll was about to hit her face. Her face contorted at the disrespect that was being shown to her, a slight snort was released as she opened up the scroll. She read the scroll as her eyes started to darken and even showed immense signs of shock.

"Little boy, where did you learn to write a contract? Also, what does this symbol here mean, I have never seen anything like this!" The woman threatened Arnin for an answer. Contracts were difficult to make because they required precise control over one's orb. It wasn't something a normal warrior could do, let alone a five-year-old boy.

"It's a soul torture contract. If you sign it and break any of the conditions, your soul will burn for a hundred years, not even death would be an escape during the punishment." The woman and old man became completely silent after hearing Arnin's reply.