Damon inhaled deeply, as he took firm steps, one by one; white smoke drifted upwards from muscles all over his body.

‘I feel hot and with each step I take, I can feel my muscles compressing and becoming firm. My bones are shrinking and growing tougher too. This feels...INCREDIBLE!‘

＼(^▽^ )ノ

The old turtle smiled as he clarified in Damon's head, ‘But of course, I can't take all the credit, youngster. you couldn’t have done it with just my help. Your mind must have had perfect control over your body too.’

Damon suddenly twisted his head around; this way and that. Always looking somewhere far away. After some time, Damon’s face became a mix between crying and smiling, “I can see things a little more clearly.”

(˃̣̣̥ w ˂̣̣̥)

“Wonderful! Absolutely brilliant! I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such an entrance into the cultivation realm before.” An old fat granny made her way towards Damon, followed by the middle-aged couple.

“The stubborn steel board behind me is my son Brinham King and the stuck-up female behind me is my daughter in law Malina King. The middle-aged couple had a weird face as they acknowledged Damon.

“Congratulation on officially stepping into the world of cultivation. Your talent is excellent. No. I’m not flattering you. I admit I’ve never seen such a grand entrance before. An entrance lacking the recognition of the Heavens, lacking the blessings of our Ancestors, Yet a Grand entrance none the less. Even my wise and experienced heart cannot stop itself from expecting good things from you.”

“Thank you, Granny. In fact, I, thank all of you from the Martial clan for saving me and my sister. I promise, I’ll follow whatever granny says and do my best to achieve great things.” Damon cupped his hands and bowed as a sign of respect; following the actions of respect the female warrior who saved him had demonstrated.

The Granny’s old eyes twinkled as she smiled in satisfaction.

“Good! The young ones from the human world still know how to pay respect to your elders. You are shaping up to be quite the gentleman. So, what is this rumor I hear, about you snatching my granddaughter’s panties?”

“Ahh I-I…”

“Ha Ha! You don’t need to worry! (Addressing the old turtle) I’ve read that a guide can be pretty mischievous. I suppose that’s true. Ha Ha! And as for my granddaughter, I’ve never seen her so flustered before. Come noon or twilight, her ice face never melts, in fact I’ve never seen her so ruffled, Of course the cause may be that no one ever dares to tease her. You can play with her if you want. Otherwise, I worry she might turn out to be a stuck-up snob like her mother.”

The middle-aged woman bristled as she complained, “Mother!”

Damon maintained his silence only acknowledging granny with a smile.

“Brinham dear, bring him to TERESA and then let him see his sister. No one should be kept unaware of their family member's well being for too long. Goodbye Damon. Remember what you promised.”

Damon followed after the middle-aged couple to a place named the ‘Brain’ of Martial clan.

Damon arrived in a large Hall. Early morning light filtered in through the large pane of glass window, to the right; between strong pillars holding viewing decks for the floors above. Only the younger generation between age 12 to 15 were attending. Some have a relaxed demeanor, some radiate youthful exuberance and expectation, while others are more self-absorbed.

The light throwing the elegant frame on the glass window onto the carpet below, led up to a semi-dome made of spotless white stone.

Brinham King stepped forward as he said, “I request a meeting with TERESA.”

The semi-circular dome disappeared as a holographic image of sky above a bed of clouds appeared. A tall woman dressed in royal clothes appeared in front of them. She asked in a pleasant and sweet voice, “Leader of Martial clan, Brinham king. Your wish is my command.”

“We rescued an orphan from the restricted area. Kindly include him into the registry and produce a patch for him.”

“Step forward, little one.”

Damon stepped in front of her as he stared at her in fascination.

'This is a hologram! I’ve only seen them in movies before. These ‘cultivators’ are not only physically strong but are also technologically more advanced! No wonder some of them showed contempt towards my human origins.'

The hologram cupped Damon’s cheek, as she stared into his eyes. Damon felt small tingling sensation from being touched. Very soon he closed his eyes as he moaned, feeling a warm and teasing sensation spreading on his scalp.

The Brinham king placed his hand on the wife’s

back. “I went through the ancient records. It mentions our ancestors; those who first arrived and those who choose to cultivate or practise magic. They were all helped by a guide in their struggle to become stronger.”

Malina King kept a watchful eye on Damon as she asked curiously, “Then where are they? Why don’t I or anyone else have this ‘guide’ to help us?”

“That’s where it gets interesting. According to the records, as more and more of the later generations dabbled in magic or cultivation, we were slowly stripped of our human side. So, the only similarity we share with humans is the shape of our body and some emotions. Other than that, we are cultivators through and through.”

Malina looked at her husband. “Is that where you sneaked off to? Leaving your wife unattended?”

Brinham steps closer to his wife, his 6’2” easily towering over her figure, “About that, no one’s expecting us to work today. I was hoping, I could make up to my lovely wife the entire day, in our bed chambers.”

Damon’s voice floated from the front, “Can I tell TERESA everything?”

“No need to worry, TERESA will be your personal A.I. She’ll assist you in every way possible. TERESA is also bounded by the privacy code, so she cannot divulge your affairs without your express permission. Of course, everything will become much easier now that you have your patch.” said Malina, as she used this interruption to escape answering her husband.

At this time, Maggie and Kaori entered with another beautiful girl. She had wavy blue hair, dainty features and light pink lips. She almost reached Damon’s height easily towering over her 2 friends. The red eyed Boy followed after them, surrounded by young boys a bit older then Damon.

When Malina bent down to kiss her daughter on the forehead, Damon averted his eyes. Parental affection always turned his emotions to mush and his depression kicked into overdrive. Part of the reason he always preferred to hang around with children his age. Interacting with any adult became difficult for him, always suppressing his desire to gain their affection and recognition.

“Damon!…. right? I heard you failed to enter Qi refining realm on your first try? Although there’s never been anyone who has failed before… I mean not even our house goblin have failed to enter Qi refining realm on their first try. But don’t worry, this must be the unfortunate repercussion of being a human. As long as you follow me obediently and not make a fool of yourself, you would be just fine.”

Damon didn’t open his eyes nor respond. Choosing to just ignore him. He knew the red eyed boy was up to no good. So, why bother being polite?

Facing such indifference from a cultivation trash, Rock frowned as he felt it hard to keep his mood from getting sour. Just when the young boys were about to open their mouths. Maggie called Damon, “Damon, this is my older cousin brother Rock Longbottom. He’s just turned 16 and he’s a genius that is already in the early stage of the bone refining realm. You should take pointers from him. I promise you you’ll enter Qi refining by the end of this week.”

Damon glanced at the green-eyed beauty, standing under the beam of sunlight, made her jade skin glow and lit up her green eyes. She looked even more breath-taking after the routine morning shower. And now that Damon could see a little better, He could appreciate her beauty in all its glory. Damon knew she was being genuine; she probably didn’t know what happened yesterday. A young girl of 13, could never possibly understand the small blade hidden behind those smiling teeth.

Damon let TERESA work on his shoulder as he circulated the Qi in his body. the wind grew turbulent as the room temperature increased sharply. Everyone in the room felt a slight pressure on their body. They felt themselves averting their eyes when Damon looked at them. Maggie was stunned. Her left eyes glowed with a blue floating display as she stared at Damon.

“98 units! You are in the 1st level of Qi refining realm already?!”

“What?! Didn’t they say he was trash? How did he enter 1st realm already? Dammit I’m gonna beat their ass! How did they have the guts to lie to their daddy?!” shouted one of the boys surrounding Rock Longbottom.

Rock frowned but was otherwise unperturbed, so what if Damon managed to cultivate? An ant was still a slightly bigger ant. At Damon’s age Rock was already half a step into the Blood refining realm.

A gentle voice floated from beside Damon, “It's done. Master Damon can use your patch to contact me. TERESA is pleased to be at your service!”

Damon observed the floating symbol on his left shoulder. Fascinated at the blue colored hologram, he allowed his fingers to pass through them. A gentle female voice floated in his mind. “Checking systems…3…2…1. Systems all clear!”

“Generating random module, in process.”

“Initiating HUNMA’s virtual combat interface (Growth).”

Damon blinked as the world transformed around him. Both his eyes lit up in blue floating displays as he looked at the people around him. Small triangles and circles calculated the environment around him as some people had their names and units displayed above their heads.

“Wow! Awesome!” Damon could hardly keep himself stuttering from all the excitement.

‘How did I ever live without this? Wasn’t this how I felt when I brought my first play station?’

Brinham king answered his daughter, “He’s still in 1st level of Qi refining realm. But he has enough Qi to compete against a woman in the same realm.”

“Good that means he’s not the total trash that everyone made me believe. Even if he has lower insect talent, I can take him under my wing, as a follower. Listen Damon, I know our first interaction wasn’t great. But if you want to make something good of yourself; you need me. I’m 16 but already in the 1st level of bone refining realm. As long as you follow me, I can train you on the correct path then.” an irritating voice pierced through air.

Rock still had a nonchalant look on his face. He knew Damon’s only chance at a teacher was someone like him. A genius 16 yrs. old.

‘And as for what will happen after Damon follows him? well…Damon still had to pay for insulting his darling little cousin sister and his rebelling attitude. Anyways, with lower insect talent, Damon could probably only ever hope to reach late-stage blood refining realm in his life. Admittedly there’s dime a dozen of those in his Martial clan. But we all need scapegoats and servants from time to time, don’t we?’

Damon frowned, “Do I need a teacher? I have a guide, don’t I?”

This time it was Malina king who answered, “Guides are only good for helping you with selecting a path that’s best for you and resolving any inner issues you face when cultivating. But a teacher can provide you with martial techniques, introduce you to their talented disciples, guide you on how to procure cultivation necessities, etc. In short, a person can reach their full potential in 10 months with a teacher, rather than 10 years on their own.”

Damon understood that Malina king and Maggie, both wanted him to follow Rock for his own good. But why should he? When he has an even better candidate in front of him?

As he framed everything in his mind, Damon turned and smiled, “Greetings! My name is Damon….Silverhouse. I know I'm late in establishing my cultivation. But I’ve always led a disciplined life and always made an effort to work on my shortcomings. So, as long as you accept me as your disciple, I promise to do my best!”

Following full etiquette, he bowed in front of Malina king.

Damon had his own thoughts when he did this. Understandably Malina was one of the high level authority figure in this clan. Being her disciple meant freedom. How? u may ask? Someone with that much work couldn't possibly pay attention to a 13 yr old like him. He would be free to do as he liked, preferably brushing up his knowledge about this wonderful world and try to make sense of the situation his little sister was in. and plus Malina king was Maggie's birth mother meaning he could see Maggie more often so...win-win!