Mara put down the tea pot after filling their cups with fragrant tea. They were sitting at the living room table. Mara and Jade on one side, Namoru Ogabu on the other. He was still dressed the same and still wore the same calm smile on his face.

“Again, I would like to thank you for your hospitality, and for allowing me to speak to you without prior notice. My sect has a great interest in miss Jade’s future development.”

“It is our honor to host a guest from such a prominent Sect in our humble home. But as much as I appreciate your sect’s interest and are happy for my daughter’s future prospects. I must wonder about your quick approach to us. Barely any time has passed since the ceremony was concluded.”

“I understand your concerns and they are not completely unfounded. There are three reasons why I am here today.” He turned towards Jade addressing her directly. “They are your concept, your potential and your involvement with the events at the ceremony.”

A cold shiver ran down Jade’s back. She tried her best to not let her nervousness show, but she doubted she had any great success with it. Her mother on the other hand looked cold as ice. She stayed calm and nodded reassuringly to Jade.

“Before I elaborate on these points, I would like to reassure you that you are not in any trouble at all. There was a reason why all the credit was put on the general’s son. To understand these implications and connections we first need to address the other two points.”

“Your Concept and your potential. The growth Concept is not a rare Concept, but what many people do not know about it is that it has a special property if you have a certain level of potential. A high potential growth concept has the ability to affect the cultivator’s cultivation growth. Which means that they can reach higher levels of cultivation in an incredibly short amount of time.”

Jade was sweating now. Although she was relieved that they did not seem to know her real Concept, this wasn’t any better. She doubted that she could truly reproduce all the effects of the growth concept. Even more so for such a special kind of application.

“Another piece of information that is not known to the public that the classifications we use for potential are not exact measures of your potential. There is a true number associated with your potential, but only the vague amount is really tested during the awakening. Depending on how high you scale on this metric the crystal assigns you one of the four levels. None, low, average, and high. But there is no level above high which means that even two people classified as a high potential can differ wildly in talent. One of the reasons I came here today is to make another measurement of your potential.”

“Does that mean that my potential could be even higher? Or can it also mean that I am actually less talented than we thought? And if so, what will this new number say about my entrance into a sect?”

“All valid questions. The higher your score the better you chances of becoming a member of the sect you want to join. But even if your number is at the minimum of the high potential scale, you would still be a sought-after disciple. The reason why I noticed you was, as I said, the demon incident. I am aware that you helped Mr. Dawnbringer. His Father, the general, arranged for his son to claim the victory on my behest.”

He pulled a small plastic card out of his storage ring and handed it to Mara and Jade.

“I am not only a recruiter for the Holy Lotus sect, but also an investigator sent by the empire to investigate certain demonic activities in this city. And I believe that people like you were the intended target of that attack. Whoever is behind this is after talented young people.”

“Are you saying that there are more demons in the city and that they are after me?” Jade stood up and started pacing behind the table. She feared that they might come after her, because she helped in stopping that demon. “What are you planning to do about this? Is it even safe in the city?”

“Jade, calm down. Even if there are more demonic beings in town, there is nothing you need or even should do about this.” Mara gently took Jade’s arm and guided her back into the chair.

“Mr. Ogabu do you have a reason to frighten my daughter needlessly.” She gave him a cold stare.

“I apologize for causing you such distress. But It is why I am here, investigating the incident which brought me to Jade’s awakening file. She seemed like a promising prospect for my sect, and she was even affiliated with a subsidiary sect of ours. Not only to speak of her potential, she even awakened with skills.”

Jade was still stuck on the people behind the demons trying to find talented awakened. She had this uneasy feeling that it was not the last time she would see these demons.

“Do you know who is behind the demon attack? I saw the person; they were wearing a hood and were talking to Ethan and the officer. Then he turned the officer into a demon. I couldn’t see his face, but he looked more like a boy than a girl.”

Namoru nodded and gave Jade a small smile. “I have already talked with Ethan; he gave me a better description. Sadly, we have yet to identify the man. He does not appear to be registered with the empire.”

“If you say that they are after young talents, do you mean they want to recruit or kill them?” Jade looked Namoru in the eyes looking for any signs of emotion.

Namoru kept up his smile. Betraying no emotion at all he responded to Jade question: “We do not believe the attack at the ceremony had either of these purposes. I think it was a probing attack to see how alert we are and to flush out any of those young talents.”

Mara gave Jade a worried look and question further: “Do you mean that Jade might now be on their list of potential targets? Is this the real reason why you chose her for your sect?”

Jade paled at that thought were they going to find her again and try to kill or kidnap her. Things became a lot more dire all of a sudden. She needed to become stronger and get some actual combat training.

“Yes, that is one of the reasons why I am here. But it is not the main reason why I want to recruit Jade. I came here to offer Jade provisionary membership in the Holy Lotus sect under the assumption that she will attend White Tiger Academy. On successful graduation of the academy, she will become and official member of the sect.”

“Do I get any protection or training in this deal? Because I don’t want to be a sitting duck for those demonic cultivators. I want to become strong enough to defend myself, if not fight back.” Jade had made up her mind on the spot. This man was her best chance to an actual high-level education and top of the line combat training.

“Of course, I am glad that you asked. I was only going to bring this up once you accepted, but I was planning on organizing extra lessons for you in this time. I was actually intending on teaching you some things myself. My duties unfortunately prevent me from playing a big role in your education, but I at least planned on tutoring you on martial arts in the evenings. There will be other tutors prepared for cultivation and general studies.”

“Perfect, I accept. When do I start?” Jade was filled with excitement and determination to better herself and take her future in her own hands.

“It will still take some time until I have made the right arrangements. Meanwhile there will be a training facility made available for you in the Dawn Lotus Sect. But before all that I still want to determine your true potential.”

Mr. Ogabu took out a head size crystal that was faceted so many times that it almost looked round. He set it on the table and proceeded to assemble a mana device around the gem.

“This is an advanced measuring crystal; it will let us determine the concrete number of your potential. These are much more accurate than the ones used during the awakening.”

“Okay, what do I need to do to get measured?” Jade queried.

“You just need to place your hand on the crystal in this opening here.” He pointed to a circular opening in the peripheral device structure that still gave access to the crystal itself.

Jade placed her hand inside and Namoru started to manipulate the device to start the measuring process. Slowly the device started to hum and emit ever brighter light. The hum kept increasing in frequency and the light grew in intensity. Everything escalated rapidly. The device started to shrill loudly and the light became so intense that it blinded everyone around it.

There was a loud crack and wave of mana that made Jade dizzy. When she slowly blinked the spots in her eyes away, she could make out the burned and broken device. Inside she could see the splintered crystal. Looking up from the device she saw a shocked recruiter who started to smile wildly.

“Now miss Jade that was surprising. “Would you perhaps consider to personally accept me as your master?”