Waking up after a few hours of rest, Darcel's eyes snapped open to a glossy black wooden ceiling. Immediately the first thing Darcel could sense, feel, and smell was an enchanting sweet fragrance.

A fragrance that he was all too familiar with. Along with this sweet smell, the incomparably soft feeling of a girl's body snuggled into his chest also took over Darcel's senses.

Of course, this girl could be none other than Aniela. And as unfamiliar it was for Darcel to admit, this was one of the warmest and comfortable sleep he could remember ever having.

Her warm body temperature, soft snores, and how she cuddled into his body all brought about a rare feeling for him—the feeling of pure joy.

Looking down at Aniela, Darcel saw on her cute face was a content satisfy smile. Thinking about their position Darcel began to wonder how they got here.

Considering just yesterday, before they went to bed, Aniela was the one who brought up the issue of sharing a bed.

Darcel witnesses a more bashful embarrassed side of the girl that night.

Before she could overcomplicate things, Darcel simply said they could just split the bed in half or something since there's no way he'll sleep on the floor.

Aniela, also not wanting to be too troublesome, bashfully agreed to share the bed. Though she did try to threaten Darcel about doing anything weird to her in their sleep.

Unfortunately for her, that threat held no impact on Darcel since her face had a big bright blush. Plus, her tone was nearly too shy and cutesy to sound intimidating.

And it seems like whether willingly or in her sleep, she still sought him out no matter what. Cracking a small smirk to the sleeping beauty, Darcel just shook his head and began to think about their big day.

Closing his eyes, Darcel focused for a second until, 'Good, just like I expected. I've broken through, and Aniela should have too…'

Indeed, during their practice last night and slowly cultivating, the duo achieved a perfect breakthrough to the sixth layer of the Qi foundation Realm!

In all honesty, Darcel guessed they could've breakthrough further, but that would only cause more problems and raise questions.

'Better get started early.'

Darcel made up his mind, and with a small pat to Aniela's head, he tried to get up. But he soon found out it was a bit difficult since Aniela was tightly clutching his chest.

Shrugging his shoulders, Darcel just decided to wake up, Aniela. This girl could surprisingly be a heavy sleeper sometimes.

In an attempt to wake her up, Darcel began fully stroking Aniela's gorgeous white hair. Doing so caused an immediate reaction as she softly cooed into his chest, making Darcel raise an eyebrow.

"When you're up, just get up already. We got plenty of things to do today."

"Muuu, you're a useless romantic! Yesterday I was giving you the shy close friend vibes, and this morning was supposed to be an awkward but intimate moment! Our bond should've subtly changed after yesterday, but you failed on both parts, hmph!"

Aniela's big deep black eyes matched with Darcel's unfazed ones. Her face in her adorable pout mode, but it couldn't affect Darcel much.

"Right... I'm glad to see your enthusiasm just never run dry. Airhead, you already know we have a strong bond. Still, we can dive more into our relationship when we get to a more stable environment. After all, you still remember our promise back in the Parasol Organization, right?"

While Darcel seems like the type of person to be oblivious on the social aspect, he wasn't socially inept at all. He was always just rather blunt and cynical, finding great amusement in sometimes pushing people buttons.

But towards Aniela's feelings, he at least had the respect and care to correctly handle them. He as well could somewhat recognize his own feelings.

All Darcel figured they needed was time.

Even now, just by them naturally being so close without feeling much awkwardness or embarrassment already spoke to Darcel.

Although Aniela still felt her heartbeat up more as she leaned in on Darcel.

"Hehehe~, how could I ever forget it? Mah, I guess you pass my tests though nothing bad would've happened if you've failed anyways~." Aniela said in a sensual teasing voice.

She also understood there was a time and place for everything.

But the thought of seeing a rise out of Darcel was too tempting to her. It was just a mere shame for her that Darcel is far too strange for any kind of normal reactions.

Though she could relent with the fact, Darcel's hand and body still provided her that much-needed warmth and comfort.

Getting up from his chest, Aniela exaggeratedly stretched her arms while asking, "Assuming, just like you, I've also made it to the sixth layer. So what should be our first agenda for today?"

Sitting up like Aniela, Darcel said, "Starting off, I'll continue practicing my new abilities. By the time we get tested, I'll have everything prepared. You should work on your telekinesis. It'll be helpful when taking the others down."

"Let's not take too long with this. We already had plenty of time last night. Say in about an hour, or so we'll start making moves?" Aniela said while lighting her hand up in a white glow.

Darcel nodded, similarly igniting his hand in a black glow. Just after a bit more time, they'll be ready to leave and start their new path in life…

….

Back in the vast dome-like room from yesterday, Darcel and Aniela were glancing all around for Elder Lian. Even on bright early mornings of the day, this place was still massively crowded just like yesterday.

Thankfully, Elder Lian didn't like to change spots. He was near the building entrance, observing and noting the servants, seeing as well if any of them gets out of line.

With their target in sight, the duo moved past everyone else and walked straight towards Elder Lian.

"You two...what, is it?" Immediately Elder Lian could sense the duo pairs of eyes on him. And as the two got near him, Elder Lian couldn't help but be surprised.

Somehow this pair of brats managed to achieve a breakthrough in one night! From his senses of the duo's quality of Qi, he could tell Aniela broke through to the fifth layer just recently when she first arrived at their clan.

And Darcel seemed to be in the same case. While Elder Lian couldn't tell how long recently could be, he was positive they were in the fifth layer for at least two months.

This type of speed was certainly noteworthy since it would take the average cultivator several months or even close to a year to breakthrough.

While all this is all hypothesis on his part, Elder Lian was sure to take note of these two odd brats more.

Just, only if he knew the truth of their actual breakthrough...

"We come with a request to become a combat servant, Elder Lian." Aniela politely asked while swaying a bit of charm in her words. Out of the two, it was the clearest who held the most extroverted appeal.

"Hoh? So you finally decided since he is here. Alright then, just stay put while I get your tester." Taking out a glossy black ring, Elder Lian poured a bit of his energy into it.

And when he was expecting to wait a bit, his ring had sparked up immediately! Information from the ring flowed directly into his brain, causing him to raise his eyebrow a bit.

"Looks like you kids already have quite a good start. Anne will soon be joining us since she'll be your tester." Elder Lian's words caused Aniela to gain a teasing smile as she looked over to Darcel.

"That was quite the fast response, hm? Even as you're right, I think you do have some natural charm Darcy~."

"Or, we're just very easy and useful to use airhead. And I'm more willing to put my bets on my reasoning."

"I guess we'll just have to see if your cynicism can top my intuition!" Aniela overdramatically proclaimed, getting Darcel to roll his eyes while she sweetly giggled.

Seeing the two interact, Elder Lian once again had to remark on these two underlying confidence since they can so easily talk without worrying about the upcoming test.

After only a few minutes of waiting and talking, the entrance had suddenly opened. At the door, various eyes had to look over to who it was and held reverence for the two that appeared.

There was the cute good looking Anne who had slight anticipation on her face. And next to her was a young good looking boy.

This boy was amazingly tall for his age, standing at a towering six feet. He wore an open button black jacket showing off his lean, ripped muscles and wore tight black plants.

Moreover, his face was the one that exuded a high amount of pride and confidence.

Promptly their eyes had ignored the respected looks given to them and matched with Elder Lian's, who was off to the door's right side.

"Anne, Young Anim. Didn't think you kids would show up so quickly." Elder Lian correctly addressed them.

"Well, Anne was far more curious about her testing of combat servants...are these the one?" Anim spoke up first while observing Darcel and Aniela.

Their eyes crossed one another and did neither side back down from each other. Cracking a small smile, Anim leaked a tiny bit of his unfathomable aura to see how ready they were.

And much to his surprise, the duo was unfazed despite getting solely targeted by his far more powerful aura!

"Yea, they're Darcel and Aniela. At first glance, they may not seem like much, but these two have some good prowess." Anne explained, and unlike Anim, was more surprised at the duo level right now.

Anne could barely sense it, but she could still tell that these two were in the fifth layer of the Qi Foundation realm.

And while she wasn't like Elder Lian with his more accurate Spirit Sense, Anne still had to note how they could achieve a breakthrough overnight.

"Since she's here. Shall we get going then? Nothing will get done from some morning small talk." Darcel crudely said with an unchanging expression.

Of course, he and Aniela felt Anim unfathomable aura and didn't take all too kindly to the sudden pressure increase. Towards people like this, it was useless to mince words.

"Ah, I'm also quite pumped up to go like him. Doing it early truly puts your skills to test!" For Darcel being so crude, Aniela immediately followed up with her bright, chipper energy.

She, like Darcel, disliked this sudden pressure, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Moreover, it's not like they'll ever see this boy again after today.

"Oh? These are some good seedlings, Anne. They'll probably do great for today." It was like magic when Aniela opened her mouth, Anim, and even the other three felt more inclined to listen to her.

Aniela was akin to this attractable enigma that you wouldn't mind getting close to.

And seeing Anim eyes flashed and his words, Aniela calmed her soul since it went perfectly.

"If you're so eager, then follow me!" Anne told the two, also influenced by Aniela strange but enchanting charm…

….

Deep in the Necropolis woods, seven youths were carefully walking through this massively vast and expansive area. All of them had their tension on high alert, just in case of the unexpected.

Still, this didn't stop Darcel and Aniela from making the march to the first step of their plans.

Throughout this whole time, Aniela poured her radiant energy into chatting it up with Anne while Darcel closely followed behind them. And seamlessly for her, did Aniela get Anne to enjoy talking with her.

Currently, the test Aniela and Darcel was on was to travel to a specific landmark in the woods and compare themselves with inborn members of the clans.

They would make the comparison by the way they'll deal with the higher tier of Spirit Monsters inhabiting the landmark.

Anne would get to see just what useful skills these two could bring to the table compared to other Clansmen.

Although right now,

"Seriously? You never once played any of these advanced mages games? I know even for orphans they're granted the chance to play."

"Sadly, I just never was granted the opportunity. But even then! My handmade games do sound fun when you want to pass the time, right?"

"Truly, your mind is mysterious." Anne was engaged in this light, enjoyable talk with Aniela. Even with such little and random discussions like this, Anne was surprisingly enjoying it.

In their power-hungry world, Aniela was like a different kind of air that is pleasant to breathe in.

Alas for her, Darcel's eyes secretly glowed in Darkness.

'This should be far enough...now it's time for stage two…'