New System, New Future Disciple

Pain.

That was the first thing that Castella noticed when she woke up. Or more specifically, the absence of the excruciating pain she was in earlier. She remembered everything. The attack of the bandits, his masterful combat technique killing so many of them. And she remembered the cowardly dagger that killed him.

She let some small tears escape at the pure sense of loss. Not just of her master but of the people she had spoken and joked with in the caravan for all those weeks. It was monstrous that people could commit such acts. Castella can still hear the words of her former master still ringing in her head. The cultivation world is as cruel as it is beautiful, he had said. In this moment she could not appreciate its beauty as much as she mourned its cruelty.

Castella took a while to centre herself before she analysed her situation. Her wounds had miraculously disappeared and someone had taken her into some sort of cave. Nothing of hers had been stolen; she felt slightly violated that someone had taken off her robe, even if she intellectually knew it was to treat her wounds.

"But who would just leave without a note after doing this?" She muttered aloud.

The second she did however, words appeared in front of her face, some impossible sorcery or technique as her hand could not touch the words, nor did turning around fade them.

[Mysterious Master's Missions!]

She looked at the title of the text and felt scared and bewildered simultaneously before reading the contents.

[You have been rescued by a powerful and mysterious master! They have decided to grant you missions to gain strength and experience to be worthy of becoming this master's disciple!]

She blinked. And blinked again.

"The heavens smile upon this tortured soul." She said, looking up to the sky as she muttered these words.

Some bigshot expert had decided to save her? She couldn't remember much from before she fell unconscious but it made some sense at least. All that mattered really was that her life was saved and she had a path to strength that she knew her former master would tell her to take with both hands! Centring herself, she read the next part.

[You have been given your first mission by this mysterious master! Kill twenty White Horror Rabbits. Mission reward will be a Nine Sun Qi Tidalwave pill.]

What a terrifying existence! She had never even heard of such a pill before and her former master knew quite a few alchemists! Castella had been forced to sit through countless boring tirades about the troubles of alchemy when shadowing her former master. Thinking about him still brought up tears, the emotion too raw to properly handle.

She brushed the dust and dirt off her top and skirt before covering herself in her robe.

"Whoever you are mysterious expert, thank you for giving me a new chance." Castella said.

She waited a while for a response. However none came.

"I don't know what I was expecting but some bigshot probably doesn't have time to listen to me. Probably saved me on a whim or accident." She huffed dejected.

She had no way of knowing that Kalum simply could not hear her of course. Or even who Kalum was.

Castella made her way out of hiding and began to look for White Horror Rabbits. If she could complete this quest it would enable her to get a reward and even slightly impress the bigshot!

Finding the things was not tricky, the forest was littered with them. However, her limited skills in hunting resulted in her first encounter being an ambush. An ambush not performed by her.

Shielding her face with her left arm as the White Horror Rabbit jumped out of the bush she brought down her mace on the creature, injuring it but not finishing it off in one go as she hoped. Her arm was already scratched and in pain from her first encounter!

New words greeted her vision.

[Mission progress: White Horror Rabbits killed 1/20]

Castella sighed as she braced herself for battling more cute, but evil, rabbits.

It took her nine hours to kill all twenty. After she killed ten the rest of the White Horror Rabbits avoided her like the plague, smelling their brethren's blood on her. It took hours for her to catch and kill those stupid Demon Beasts!

It took a further two hours to track down each one she killed and extract their cores, something she only remembered to do after killing the fifteenth.

What did please her however, is the notification that popped up, and the very real pill that appeared in her hand.

[You have completed your first mission from the Mysterious Master! You have gained a Nine Sun Qi Tidalwave pill.]

She giggled slightly at the sheer hilarity and absurdity of this situation. She had been given some sort of mythical pill for killing mere low realm Demon Beasts while her master toiled for weeks to inscribe runes for alchemists to make enough spirit stones for the both of them to cultivate well.

It did not take long for Castella to reach the cave again. She had discarded her robe in the forest as it took far too much damage and was completely in tatters. This left her with the unusual choice of outfit she preferred to wear. A knee length black pleated skirt and a long sleeve black top, simple and elegant. She had overheard her aunt joking about flashing people before and winning because of it. Although she doubted these claims it didn't change the fact that she used it as an excuse to her former master to wear this outfit rather than some terrible rags.

Castella sat down cross legged in the cave and popped the pill into her mouth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained after all. She was sure this mysterious master had her best interests in mind.

Flavour burst into her mouth the second she closed her lips. She would have obsessed more over the flavour if the next thing hadn't been even more amazing. Her body received a massive amount of Fire Qi, the very same that she had been cultivating in her cultivation technique. It wasn't just a rush of power though, her mind gained enlightenment and she instinctively knew what to do.

She easily broke through to the next realm. Then the one after that. And then again. She had formed a massive whirlpool of flames around her as the entire forest was drained completely of all Qi, killing every single plant and animal that lived there and turning their carcasses into dust that flew away in the wind.

After an hour the effect stopped and her progress reached a climax.

She knew instinctively that she had reached the 1st rank of the Core Creation Realm.

She was in awe at the power of such a pill. How powerful must her saviour be to give something like this to a possible disciple?! He must be one of the trust powerhouses of the world.

"I don't know who you are, Master! But I will prove myself worthy of your generosity and teachings!" She yelled out into the air while laughing uncontrollably, her eyes shining with devotion.