Aurelie thought of cultivation in terms of the EXP bar in Pokémon games. You needed to gather EXP (a.k.a. Spirit Power) to go to the next level. That was why people who had just stepped into a stage were generally weaker than those who had been at that stage for some time. It wasn’t a huge gap, but in a close battle, it was often the deciding factor. Then, at the bottlenecks, you needed to defeat a monster, and only then could you advance to the next level.

Just now, Aurelie had defeated her ‘monster’ and finally advanced to the fourth stage of the Master Realm. Stretching, she enjoyed the feeling of strength surging within her, and then settled back into her cultivation pose. Usually, she would relax and test out her strength after a breakthrough, but she couldn’t do that now. They were on a mountain, so she couldn’t do anything for fear of drawing attention to their little camp. On top of that, there were people in this camp who she didn’t want knowing that she’d broken through. So she didn’t celebrate, and continued to quietly cultivate.

~~~~~~~

The next morning, they packed up their camp, quickly ate a simple breakfast, and then set off again. The atmosphere was tense. Gallo was afraid of the Spirit Beasts, Aurelie was cautious of the humans, Farn was refusing to look at Aurelie, Cailysi was still sulking over the results of the previous night’s argument, Planos was thinking about some issues with his cultivation, and Mrs. Dreslin was worrying about the fact that the atmosphere was so tense.

Around noon, though, the atmosphere was enveloped by excitement. This was because they met a group of townsmen along the way who told them that someone had caught sight of a Spirit Fruit in the forest that covered most of the mountain. Spirit Fruits, Aurelie deduced from the conversation and the excitement, were fruits that contained Spirit Energy within them. When a human ate them, that human would gain that Spirit Energy on top of their own. It was highly sought after, and there were mercenaries and cultivators flocking to the mountain to find it.

After considering things for a while, Mrs. Dreslin turned around and addressed her current students and (hopefully) her students-to-be.

“This is a great opportunity for you to test your skills. I will talk to the school to have someone else come pick up the remaining student candidates. We will remain here, and you will hunt for the Spirit Fruit. You may join a group, or work independently. Go.”

Hearing this, the eyes of all five lit up. This was the first time Farn, Aurelie, and Gallo had even heard of a nearby Spirit Fruit. Cailysi and Planos were also quite ambitious. The Seven Heavens Academy had Spirit Fruits; however neither of them were important enough to the school to obtain them. This wouldn’t be their first time obtaining a Spirit Fruit, but it was still a rare chance.

As such, all five of them quickly took off their bags and left them in the teacher’s care, gathering only the essential water skins and food. Then they took off.

Aurelie was the first one to get ready and run off. Being the paranoid person she was, she’d already kept enough food and water to last her for one week in her Storage Ring. So she didn’t need to remove materials from her bag.

“Wait, Aurelie!” Planos called after her, right before she was about to re-enter the forest. Aurelie turned impatiently.

Planos smiled. “Would you like to work together with me?” he asked.

“Nope. I want to see how well I do by myself. Bye!” Aurelie replied almost immediately, turning back and running into the trees.

However, when she entered the forest, she made a few strange movements. Instead of going straight in, she nimbly climbed a tree, and then positioned herself to watch over the makeshift camp. She watched for a while, until the others set off.

Taking note of where Planos was headed, Aurelie followed Farn. At the same time, a combat knife dropped into her hands, and a cold glint ran through her eyes.

To those who attempted to kill her, she would show no mercy.