*A bit less than 5 months later*

A young man sat in the oak-brown forest of the wilderness. The aged trees had creaking branches, revealing one’s presence to deadly predators if not careful. The morning stars were shining like silver snowflakes, illuminating the man.

His brown hair had grown to his chest, showing the mighty passage of time. Even though the hair was long and not cut, it didn’t seem messy at all.

His young and tender face had matured, with a slightly more angular jaw than before. Yet when he opened his eyes, they were the same as the always had been. Deep and profound, cold like a pond.

His body was no longer the one of a boy. Dense lean muscles covered him his whole body. He was similar to old man sam. Like a sword which could be unsheathed at any time. Only well, if the scrawny figure was disregarded.

That’s right, it was philip

He took his hand towards his head, covering his eyes from the rays of the sun. It was daytime and the wilderness was as it always was, quiet.

“The newcomer’s competition should be in a couple of days now, I need to return. I wonder if lukas is fully recuperated as well as being ready for the competition. The preliminaries starts soon.” he silently mused for himself.

*Swoosh*

Karyl and Daryl, two twin brothers from class 1E stood guard at the entrance. Standing guard yielded them 2 glory points per ten hours. Extremely boring but worthwhile.

They were commoners without techniques, they had to earn enough glory points so that they could go study techniques in the library. But sadly, weren't strong enough to hunt beasts or do other jobs which yielded more glory points.

“So, do you think we’ll even make it past the preliminary rounds daryl?” Karyl asked in a slightly dejected manner to the daryl beside him.

“Of course not Karyl… I know it’s hard to… but we really need to accept the facts, we are new to the world of cultivation, we haven’t even gotten ourselves a technique yet!” Daryl answered also very dejected.

“But I mean, It’s not like we’re in a hurry.” Daryl tried to cheer up his brother.

“Yeah, but maybe we can learn something by watching. I mean, some of the newcomers are really strong.” Daryl said with eyes showing of a glint of excitement.

“Yeah I know. Hey dude, did you hear about that guy called philip?” Karyl asked his brother also very enthusiastically.

“Yes of course! Everyone has. Rumors said he defeated that jake guy with one punch. Just one punch!” Daryl exclaimed with burning passion, “I hope one day I also will be able to defeat my opponents with one punch. It would be amazing.” he continued.

“Aaah, come on brother stop dreaming” Karyl said laughingly giving his brother a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Suddenly Daryl pointed with his left hand, “Hey dude, look! Someone is coming.”

Karyl turned around and looked to where his brother pointed.

As the silhouette from far away came closer, Karyl and Daryl took vigilant postures.

They were after all, hired as guards and had to do their duty.

They looked at him. He seemed to be in their age yet he radiated some sorts of aura presence they hadn’t experienced by someone as young. It was the aura of a cultivator.

Daryl and Karyl looked at each other, Daryl giving a slight nod towards daryl.

“Friend. Are you a student of the academy” The brother on the left, Daryl, asked the stranger.

The stranger replied indifferently with a short sentence, “I am.”

Daryl took a deep breath and said, “Per regulations of the school, what grade are you in and what’s your name?”

The stranger replied in the same voice, indifferently, “Philip, class 1D”

*Swoosh*

The stranger disappeared like a gust of wind through the entrance into the academy leaving Karyl and Daryl dumfounded.

Both brothers looked towards each other. Daryl asked Karyl, “Brother, you know who that was right?

Karyl replied with a wide smile plastered upon his face.

A couple of seconds after they both said at the same time, “Awwwwesomeeee*

After Philip had entered the academy he headed towards his and Lucas room.

As he walked through the opened the door and walked in, a familiar voice was sounded, “Yo, is it you philip?”

Philip sarcastically replied to the question, “No, it's spöket laban.

Lucas came out and gave him a hug. He never expected Lucas to have such friendly feelings towards him. Maybe it was because Philip had gotten revenge for him earlier. After all, saving someone's life is usually regarded as a friendly act.

“Are you ready for the tournament phil? You ought to be pretty strong in this batch of student. After all, you defeated jake” Lukas asked. He hadn’t changed a lot under these past months.

If he had to point out one thing it had to be his smile had gotten even wider. Though it was impossible unless he trained in some devil smile technique. He decided to ask old sam later. Of course, only as a joke.

He had truly experienced hell when he cracked some jokes when they were training. He still sometimes felt as though his arm still ached from that goddamn cane. That goddamn cane, it looked like an ordinary wooden cane. Yet it was harder than steel.