'Ting' came a sound from James's watch. His account balance increased by 15 gold. James and Gus walked back to their dorms.

Back inside the room Blake picked up Riley and headed for the infirmary in the facility. Luke watched the entire episode unfold and was in deep thinking.

Luke Astia was the son of the king's younger brother. There was a lot of struggle amongst his siblings for the throne. Luke was born in a family with powerful warriors where each of his sibling was a genius in its own right.

Luke had his own aims as well. He was ambitious and a control freak. He desired people to follow him, admire him. Anomalies like James were a threat to him and he must confront this situation.

The children from noble families in his year followed him, but he wanted more control. He wanted his influence over others as well. Being a royal he had many under his command from a young age.

For him ruling over others was like a second nature. If he wanted to rule over others, he needed either to win their favors or subdue them.

Through this feud with Riley he saw that both James and Gus were stronger than the others. James especially who didn't even use his weapon in the fight. Such cultivators would walk a long road. Having them beside would be of great use.

To have them under his influence through favors would be tough because they won't be harboring good intentions towards them after this feud.

Neither are their side happy with the result. The nobles had to face humiliation today by them. Simply courting James and Gus over now wouldn't be fruitful.

So the only way remained was to subdue them and to subdue them he needed to do it with power. He needed to show them who was the strongest, and later through some rewards gain their favor.

He couldn't act now. He needed to wait, wait for time to do the healing in the relationship. The ranking competition which would take place in 8 months would be the perfect stage to prove it.

Currently he believed that James was an equal match to him, but he was confident in leaving him behind in 8 months.

Belonging to the royal family had its benefits, one of which was the power of bloodline. Bloodline power existed only in families where one of their ancestor was a Sage realm expert.

During the transformation to Sage realm, the core vanishes by melting inside fusing with the body and so does the beast mark.

They fuse with the body giving it extraordinary capabilities, forging a completely new body. Their powers could be passed on to their children. Such special powers are known as Bloodline powers.

These could further be inherited by the next generation as well. There were various types of Bloodline powers. Possessing one, was a huge fortune for a cultivator.

The kingdom was Astia was founded long, long ago by a Sage named Victor Astia. He was the first king and under his rule the kingdom flourished. He had died long ago, but the power of his bloodline still flowed in his descendants.

Luke with his Bloodline power and through sources amongst the senior batches was confident in gaining resources and help to increase his strength by the time the tournament approaches.

He aimed to be the number one amongst his batch. His aim was to have influence amongst some of the most powerful upcoming generation of cultivators, one of the reasons he joined this academy.

He decided to leave the two of them alone and persuade Riley to drop the matter.

James and Gus were now sitting inside a room, discussing the day's events.

" That felt really, really satisfying! The way you beat that Riley into a pulp was amazing! " said Gus.

" Haha, I have to say, I felt really better while punching his face. We even made twice the amount from these bets! "

" Makes me happy that the three idiots came after us. From having ten gold from the mission we now have twenty instead. " said James.

" Let's split it up. We earned a total of twenty seven gold from the mission and bets, which splits to thirteen gold and fifty silvers for both of us. "

" Don't keep the fifteen you won in your bet man, that's your own not mine "

" No way I won't allow it. We are partners bro. " said James.

" Ah k... Then let's do one thing! Let's visit the city today. "

" City? "

" Yeah. I'm tired of this continuous training and we haven't seen the city yet. Instead we are stuck in this cage. "

" Let's go outside today! We can spend a few coins. Like two to three gold won't hurt. Won't buy us much, but it'll be a good change of pace. "

" Hmm...... okay! " replied James as he nodded.

It really was a bit tiring, practicing cultivation all day. They left for the academy gates. Students were allowed to go outside, they just had to leave a record.

After exiting the martial sector gates, they looked around them. It was like they stepped into a different world altogether.

People, many many people around them, walking alongside footpaths. The academy area was as big as James's hometown and there weren't many students.

Seeing around them, they felt like they were in a different world altogether. Honking cars, advertisements on digital boards, smell of food from somewhere.

They couldn't use their hover boards in the city so they took a taxi to the residential sector where all the leisure activities were located. On their journey they looked outside the window to see the skyscrapers and the various people going about their daily lives.

James was fascinated. He knew the road he chose, he won't be seeing such sights often. It was a lonely journey filled with hardships, requiring him to be away from all comforts of life.

Back in Bursberg City, he never paid much attention to his surroundings, but, today he feels appreciation for life.

After they reached their destination, Gus took him to a gaming arcade. Gus had played in this arcade when he came for his entrance exam.

It was a popular arcade in the area stocking everything from video games to pin ball machines. After buying some tickets, they spent the rest of the day enjoying themselves.

They went to a cheap fast food restaurant to have their dinner, simply to enjoy some bad fast food they haven't been able to eat in a while. Wherever they went people looked at them as they wore their academy uniform.

Being a student of Sky Blaze Academy had its own prestige. People would recognize it instantly, some would gasp, some would wave at them.

Gus would occasionally look at some women dressed up in shorts or revealing outfits, which would embarrass James who would suddenly maintain a distance from him.

It was quite amusing seeing a huge grin plastered on Gus's face as he stared around.

They returned soon afterwards and went back to their dorms. James didn't feel like cultivating in the night. He lay on the terrace looking at the stars.

There weren't many that could be seen, city skies were like that. The loneliness of the stars crept in his mind. He felt homesick today, but decided against calling back home.

He didn't want to show weakness to his desires. He knew he walked on a lonely path. Apart from Gus, he didn't have anybody here, but, he could not have as well.

He must endure, he must focus, he must steel his heart from such feelings. He must burn like a bright star in the lonely night if he wanted to achieve his dream.

His dream of being at the top, reaching the peak of power.

The night soon faded and a new day began. James spent the next few months in training. He took on missions, sometimes alone, sometimes with Gus.

Riley and his gang never bothered him again which surprised James but he was contended.

He wanted to make his breakthrough to the mid stages before the tournament. His aim was to reach the end of the band in rankings for more rewards.

With this mind, he constantly practiced his movement technique and sword arts. He took solo hunt missions to gain experience and his mission data ended up with a good record.

For him, rank D missions had become a cakewalk. Early stage Azure realm beast no longer posed a threat to him. He was even able to take on some mid stage Azure beasts.

Recently he felt a surge in his power and felt that he would breakthrough soon. The tournament was also arriving. He decided to pick a mission and left for the mission hall.

Inside the hall the lady behind the counter and gave him a smile as she him walking in.

" You have been very earnest in your performance. The academy has decided to award you by upgrading your rank."

" You now have the option of selecting rank C missions. If you want, you may check the list of missions and choose one. "

James was surprised hearing this. The opportunity felt right on time and he decided to take a look at the list of missions.

From rank C, the hunt missions mainly comprised of mid stage and peak stage Azure realm beasts. After looking at the list he decided to take a risk.

Looking at the lady he said,

" I'd like to accept the mission to hunt the peak stage Azure beast The Fanged Bear. "

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Notes - I was able to write a chapter today, just finished it. My exams starts from Wednesday till Saturday. So I really won't be able to guarantee to be able to write and release a chapter in this period of time. Apart from studying, I am currently also working on the cover art for the novel with the help of a reader who has agreed to draw the cover. Also I am looking into editing, though there aren't many grammatical mistakes in the chapters maybe a comma here or there or a word missed that's all but just to fix any, another reader is helping me with it. We r working on earlier chapters which will be updated after a while with the fixes.

As I've mentioned before my schedule of 1 chap per day will be back up from Sunday which is the 24th. I hope you all understand :) Thank you and Enjoy!