Felicia's Arrival

It was about 11:30 when Jason put down his phone and started dressing up for his meeting. He was very meticulous about choosing the right look and packing his bags for the meeting.

One could say that he was very excited but also nervous about how his day would go but he calmed down by taking his signature deep breath.

By 11:45 am, he was ready and checking to make sure he didn't miss anything at all. Mentally checking all he needed and making sure that everything was ready, he zipped up his gym bag and carried it on his left shoulder to head out the room.

He left his room and made his way to the hotel lobby to await Felicia's arrival.

Even though he gave her his room number and didn't need to be at the lobby to wait for her, he wanted to show respect to her and make someone that was doing him a favour wait for him.

After settling in the lobby, he checked his watch and noticed that there was still time. He looked around a bit and decided to go chat with the receptionist after noticing that she wasn't busy dealing with customers.

His greeting was met with a smile from her as she remembered him from before so their talk was friendly.

There was no tourist interview session like before but they were talking like normal friends this time. About their experiences as travelers and even the receptionist shared some stories about her university life.

They were all public stuff and nothing too private was shared as they weren't that familiar with each other.

The atmosphere in the lobby was peaceful even with the hustle and bustle of the day, of people walking in and out constantly. It had a kind of natural feeling to it as everything was going according to the natural order.

This continued for a few minutes until the atmosphere had a faintly noticeable change. The natural order had been disturbed.

Everything and everyone came to a stand-still. Conversations weren't continuing and workers weren't concentrating on their work anymore. All the focus in the lobby had been concentrated in one location and that's where everyone's head inexplicably turned.

Even if you were talking with your back facing the source of the disturbance, you would have an urge to turn around. That's what happened to a lot of people in the lobby.

Jason noticed this change and was surprised and curious about the source of the change. He then turned his head and looked in the direction of the entrance of the hotel.

Then he took one look and noticed why everything around had been stopped completely. Athena had descended to the mortal world.[1]

At the entrance, he saw Felicia walking into the lobby accompanied by the light of the sun. She looked amazing like a goddess; a goddess of war.

Jason was stunned at her appearance. She had a graceful shine to her that attracted attention from all around her. It was almost like she was born to be the center of attention.

He took a minute to compose himself before walking towards her with a smile on his face to offer his greetings.

"Good day miss Felicia, you look stunning this afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to come out personally." Jason offered his compliments first before proceeding to greet her.

They exchanged greetings back and forth for a few minutes. Felicia had a very beautiful smile on her face as she exchanged light talk with him.

For most guys around, Felicia's smile was very very destructive. Everyone was captivated by her and found it difficult to focus on any other task. They subconsciously had the urge to talk to her and promise her a lot of things.

Jason too was slightly affected by her aura and beauty but he got out of it really quickly. Since he started cultivating, he has had better control over his entire being; body, emotions, and mind. Even though his control wasn't perfect, he can still manage to keep his emotions in check better than before.

If it was the old Jason. he would probably be thinking up a storm in his mind about how beautiful Felicia was and how lucky he was to be talking to her. He'd never have the confidence to talk to someone like her for too long.

Now, although he isn't a completely changed man, he's at least showing visible improvement to his temperament which would prove to be very important for his future adventures.

Both Jason and Felicia didn't spend too long talking in the lobby and went straight out of the hotel and into Felicia's car. The driver of the car came out to open the back door for both of them before getting into the car and driving off.

While in the car, Jason tried to ask a few questions regarding the person he was going to meet and the test he was supposed to take.

"The master, what style of martial arts does he teach, how many days in a week does he teach, and what's his personality like."

"Well, you'll find out the name of his martial arts in person. He doesn't advertise it so people don't come up with their own bias on it based on name alone. He teaches every day of the week so he would expect to see all his students every day except for special circumstances like injury or family issues. And he's a rather interesting and steady old man. He cares about each and every one of his students but he's still rational about it. He would still expect to see the best result possible from the amount of care he gives so you would do well not to disappoint him if you become his student."

Felicia answered his question without missing a beat or hesitating to think about the answer. Everything she said almost seemed like she was well prepared and expected that kind of question. After answering, she no longer looked at Jason but instead turned her head to the side and looked out the window.

Jason also silently retreated into his thoughts. His first opinion was on the person's personality. He was expecting an authoritative or a zen kind of personality, either of those would fit the image he had in his mind but apparently he had watched too many movies.

He did not expect a kind of down-to-earth student loving expert to be the one to teach him. He thought he would have to put up with some eccentrics as experts were known to pull. At least according to the movies and books that he has read. It took away a little bit of the excitement he had for meeting him but he would connect more with the master with this personality so he didn't think too deep into it.

His second opinion was on the master's age. Usually, experts that actively taught their discipline every day would be middle-aged men in their mid to late forties. The fact that a 31-year-old Felicia could call him an old man would mean that he was at least a decade or so older than his forties.

As a young man and especially as a cultivator, Jason did not think that an old man with little to no energy would be able to teach him enough to satisfy him and he really frowned on that possibility.

At most, Jason thought that the man would show up and only lecture a bit and demonstrate a few moves before letting maybe a legacy disciple take over and teach the rest of the class. As he thought to that point, it didn't really sit right with him. He didn't want to be taught any half baked move by anyone that's not an expert.

He was finishing up his thoughts when he concluded that there seemed to be quite a few demerits and bad points to learning from the old man. He wanted to immediately turn back and search for someone else online but because he was already on the way with Felicia, he couldn't be disrespectful by doing that.

He calmed down and relaxed his whole body visibly while putting his focus into enjoying the view out the window of the car. He had turned from being an expectant young martial artist to being a tourist. His expectations of the trip had dropped really low so all he wanted to do was look a few times, talk a little, practice, and then leave.

As he was enjoying the view, he noticed that there were fewer and fewer buildings to be seen. It seemed like the dojo was on the outskirts of the city if not completely out of it. From then, it took an hour for them to reach the dojo or so he was told.

The car pulled over by the forest and there was no building in sight for miles. By the side of the car, there was a small sign that said 'welcome to The Temple (rifugio)' yet there was nothing but trees right after it.

If Jason came on his own, he would probably think that it was a prank played by the locals or something to get tourists to explore the forest or at least get them curious about it.

Both Jason and Felicia disembarked from the car together. Felicia left instructions for the driver to do in the city and when to pick her up. Following that, the car drove away. While all that was happening, Jason was still looking at his surroundings with confusion in his eyes. It was only when Felicia talked to him that he focused on her once more.

"Let's go, we have a bit of walking to do and try not to get lost as the forest is really dense. We have about 30 minutes of walking to do so prepare yourself ask what you need to ask now." Felicia told him while staring into the forest.

Jason opened his mouth a few times but didn't really know what to ask. He couldn't ask any of the obvious questions as all that would be answered after walking into the forest. Asking about the dangers of the forest would seem stupid as there was clearly a pathway in front of them and Felicia was familiar with the place.

So he just shut his mouth and shook his head, indicating that he had no questions to ask and that he was ready to move on.

"Alright then let's go." Felicia simply said before walking into the forest following the pathway.

Jason stood for a bit and observed his surrounding. He took in the image of all the trees and even the color of the dirt around him before walking into the forest following Felicia.

It didn't take long for both their images to disappear amidst the tall trees. It was almost like they had been swallowed by the forest as they went step by step into it.