Princess Ling frowned, a rare expression of genuine surprise crossing her face. Cairen straightened in his chair, on alert.
Soone had approached without him sensing it.
Ling opened the door. Outside stood an old man. His clothes were simple, a common tunic such as many cultivators wore. He also leaned slightly on a wooden staff.
His face was wrinkled, and he looked frail, like a common civilian without any cultivation. But... his eyes shone with a lucidity that seed to pierce through both of them in the room.
Behind him, peeking with curiosity, was a little girl with wide, curious eyes, clutching the hem of his tunic.
The princess recovered her composure.
"What do you wish?" she asked calmly.
The old man ignored her completely. His bright gaze passed over her and fixed directly on Cairen, seated on the other side of the table.
"Oh." the old man suddenly uttered, his soft voice carrying the weight of age.
"I thought one of my old companions was here, I felt a soul force expanding excessively and ca to greet it..." the old man said with a small smile on his face.
"But to think such a soul belongs to a child like you. Sothing truly has surprised after all these years..."
Cairen felt a chill. The old man was there because of him. Because of his soul force, which he had simply been using fully and randomly without hiding it at all.
He stood up instinctively, showing cautious respect, and bowed his head slightly.
"May I know who you are, sir?" Cairen asked.
"Just a traveler." the old man replied with a vague wave of his hand.
"I am only taking my granddaughter to see the wonders of this world." he said, his eyes passing to the little girl and then resting again on Cairen with a certain intensity.
"Boy, with a soul force like yours... you should take part in the Admission Test of the War Academy. You would benefit enormously instead of wasting ti in this place. And to be frank, they have been desperate for a talent like yours in the last few years."
The old man then shifted his gaze to Ling, who watched the scene with the sa impassive expression.
"Princess Ling. I see you have not changed at all. Well, your beastly talent is also more than enough to pass. I advise you to follow the young man to the test three months from now."
Before either of them could respond or ask questions, the old man turned away.
"A good night to you both. Enjoy the view."
And then, holding his granddaughter’s hand, he simply left, descending the stairs without making a single sound.
The silence in the private room grew montarily heavy.
Cairen was the first to break it.
"Do you know that old man?"
Ling closed the door slowly. Her face was thoughtful.
"I have seen him. Several tis, over the years, he always appears suddenly. He shows up, gives so enigmatic advice to or my father, and then vanishes. No one knows his na or his true origin. Not even his intent in doing so."
"But my father treats him with respect he grants to almost no one."
Cairen absorbed the information. That old man was truly strange, he could not see anything at all nor sense him with his spiritual sense. Even the little girl seed not to exist before him, if not for his eyes seeing her.
"And the War Academy?" Cairen asked, with a spark of interest impossible to hide.
Ling turned to him, and for the first ti, he saw sothing resembling shared ambition in her eyes.
"The Kingdom of Rhyne..." she began to explain from the start.
"It is one of the thirty kingdoms that make up a vast territory of the continent. And that territory is ruled, ultimately, by the War Academy. A neutral force whose very director is in the Realm of Spiritual Fusion."
She paused so Cairen could fully understand.
"The Academy is where all the geniuses, all the monsters, and the talented from the thirty kingdoms gather and compete."
"It is like a cauldron of ambition and power. Those who manage to catch the eyes of the academy’s scouts are recruited."
"They gain access to the best resources, the rarest techniques, and the best masters across a wide span of the continent."
"But it is not a matter of effort, effort alone is not enough. To enter the Academy... one must possess a talent so special, so unique, that they deem it worth nurturing."
Cairen felt a smile form on his lips as he listened. An academy.
The concept was strangely familiar, an echo of his past life he rembered. A place where knowledge and wealth were concentrated in his forr world.
The place he had once wanted, dread of being in.
Now, in this place, instead of wealth, it was about cultivating talent, about strength, and nothing else. Which he definitely had in this new life.
He needed to take a look at this place. Cairen judged in his mind.
"And you will go?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Obviously. This is the perfect place for . A place where only the strong survive. And I will be above them, with absolute certainty." she said with an ambition greater than anything Cairen had ever witnessed. Ling’s voice grew slightly hoarse in the middle of her speech, while her silver eyes glowed golden for an instant.
Her bloodline seed to resonate with her desire to stand above others.
But it was only for a mont.
"I had already planned to take you along. But... I wasn’t sure if you could pass. The standards are brutal. They demand candidates be at least in the initial stage of the Qi Liberation Realm."
"In three months, reaching that realm would be an impossible feat for you."
She paused dramatically, her silver eyes gleaming.
"But now... with a soul strong enough to draw even that old man’s attention and to make my father reconsider his entire approach..."
"Cairen, I believe when they learn of you, they will beg for you to enter." she concluded, certain of her words.
Their gazes t across the table. It seed a tension had ford. Not romantically.
But both had recognized they sought the sa thing. Mutual talent and the recognition of two predators who glimpsed a future of unknown power.
’Show them the strength of the Fallen. Right?’
’I believe in that place, it is possible!’ Cairen thought, eager for it.
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