Despite there is hope, the news was too tremendous for Tommy.

Cultivation has always been a dry and repetitive process. To take in energy from their surroundings and to refine it into one’s own, then repeat that countless times.

The amount of ambient Heavenly Energy that one can draw largely depends on how developed one’s Ki Centre is, and it is locked by one’s cultivation stage. If the amount Tommy could absorb at Entry B rank could be compared to a river that draws water from a lake, then once he dropped below F rank, he would be like a shallow ditch trying to direct water from the rain.

Just the tediousness for him to retrain once is torturous, but he has to do it repeatedly.

Besides, while his friends all rush ahead in cultivation stage, he will be the only one left behind.

He bit his lower lip unconsciously until blood flowed freely down his chin, and still, he did not notice. His only thought is to remain by his brothers’ side, and other than that his mind is utterly blank.

Facing his dejected figure, the boys found themselves entirely helpless. At this time, even with the princess’ soul healer ability, it would be difficult to pacify him.

Though he knows logically that there is no way he could have pre-emptively stopped the tragedy from happening, his heart is still filled with regrets.

“If only, I had not left my bed this morning. Or, if I had stayed together with Kairos instead of participating in the paired battle.”

People are strange creatures. When facing a tragedy that one cannot accept, even knowing that things had already happened, they will search their memories for something to put their blame on.

But, no matter what, he did not impute the cause of his sufferings on his Contract Beast. Through their soul bond, he knew his white kitten’s unholy savagery came from its bloodline inheritance. What had happened was not its fault, after all, it was an uncontrollable wave of rage for both tamer and creature.

He took a deep breath, his chest rising sharply, then he let out all the wind from his lungs. Tommy had made a decision. The relationship these blood brothers have is more important than anything else, even his own life. To risk that bond because he couldn’t fight shoulder to shoulder with them was worse than outright killing him.

“I will train!” he nearly shouted, “No matter how difficult it is, even if I have to crush my own body to do so, I won't stop until I catch up! So... guys, please wait for me.”

The four of them gave him unsightly smiles through gritted teeth, but they bore their tears till the end.

He is their Assault and their Rear Guard. The one who always stood in front of them facing the most dangerous enemies. Now he has to give up his role, no longer able to walk beside them on the battlefield.

Tommy took out his student badge, and his Snowdrifts’ token and push them towards Kairos, “I can no longer hold them.”

“Right now, I would only become your baggage.”

Kairos wordlessly took the emblems without trying to persuade his friend. Instead, he said, “I will hold on to them for you. There’s no doubt your training will be harsh. But at the end of it, as long as you’re alive, then it’s enough.

You will surely come back fast and much stronger than before.

Train. Train till you incur internal injuries. Train till you have only a single breathe left, only then your wounds could be reopened and have a chance to reforge your body.

And, when you return, I will pass these back.”

He did not mince any word at all. It was going to be hell, and despite his bravery, Tommy’s face paled.

Then, Kairos looked at the rest with a grand smile on his face, and added, “But, don’t worry, we will join you whenever we can.”

The other three wanted to faint at once.

“T… th…e… the captain is really a monster! No, no, he is much worse… I… Oh my god, how did I became his friend? I’m really too unfortunate!”

Tommy burst out laughing, causing the culprit – their captain – to join in with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Surprisingly, the archer, the saboteur, and the vice-captain resigned to their fates rather quickly. Instead of feeling that terrifying helplessness to stand aside and watch Tommy go through hell alone, joining him would instead be better.

“Let’s go back to the dorm first. I have some things to share with you guys.”

The students are free to return through the gateway since class had ended. In a sombre mood, the five of them walked back to their dorm with not a single word that passed their lips.

Kairos kept an assuring smile on his face, every time he looked at Tommy.

When they reached his room, he instructed everyone to enter into the Crystal Valve. The boys activated their tokens without a second word and flew into an unassuming crystal ball sitting on Kairos' shelf.

There, they will be hidden from sight and their conversation will be kept private.

When they blinked their eyes, they had already arrived. Like before, the place was filled with spirit grass that caused the air to be heavy with Heavenly Energies.

They know that hidden beneath their feet there is an intricate and strangely beautiful Stratagem, though, without cutting off the grass, it would be impossible to see the darken soil that was splashed beast blood.

However, the moment they start cultivating in this place, the benefits of the array will show. It dramatically increases the amount of ambient Heavenly Energies they can draw and furthermore improve its refinement speed into Ki.

They know that this place would play a vital role in helping Tommy, but something had changed since the last time they’ve entered.

The crystal in the middle of the stratagem had become larger.

“Did that thing change sizes?”

"Looks like it."

"What's the difference?"

"It's prettier now?"

"No, stupid Jim, I’ve been upgrading this place. After studying on Earth and Time runes, I’ve found a way to pool all the energy to one point and improved the intensity of the Heavenly Energies. It caused the formation heart crystal to grow and to cultivate close to it will increase the speed by ten times! Although there is only enough space for one person, for now, the area will slowly expand as the crystal continues to take in more energies.

Moreover, once it matures, the speed wouldn’t only be this much.”

Tommy’s eyes immediately shone. In that case, it wouldn’t be long before he can catch up with his friends.

“And additionally, Aisa had brought back another item you can use.”

While Kairos was saying this, the tiny dragon heard her name and flew out of his robe pocket. Since the start, the Holy Primordial Dragon had not grown even an inch in size and is still as large as someone feet; Reaching a height of only a person’s ankle.

But regardless how small she is, she opened her mouth and with a ‘phew’, spat out a gigantic bag that was greater than the size of a full-grown Orc.

Although there was some spit on the leather package, a light and refreshing scent washed over all of them, and it caused their stomach to growl with hunger. Although it was kind of gross when they thought about it, they couldn’t help themselves. There was an inherent carve for whatever is inside.

The group didn’t even have the capacity to wonder how such a small body could keep such a huge item before they rushed forward and unwrapped the thing.

Granted that in the back of their minds, they were all thinking if Aisa’s tummy is like a Time-Space container.

They quickly uncovered a giant heap of golden jelly, beautiful to behold and assaulted them with wafts of pleasing scent.

They reached out, wanting to hold it in their hands and shove it into their mouths until Aisa roared.

It was a tiny, squeaky kind of roar, more adorable than frightening, but nevertheless, it snapped them out of their trace.

“W..whoa.. what is this?”

“It is called Ambrosia,” Kairos said with a grin, “If you eat it, you will gain a similar cultivation improvement to consuming the Yggdrasil Fruit. Its difference is, it doesn’t have restorative effects nor could it improve your innate gifts, but instead, no matter how much you eat it, you will still benefit.”

The fruit from the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil, has left remnant energies within their bodies that slowly improve their natural cultivation talents, but it made its consumption a one-off benefit.

On the other hand, the Primordial Dragon said that the Ambrosia was the food of the gods and does not have any side-effects. It will help them strengthen their cultivation and even hasten their path on the Martial Way.

With a better understanding of Dao, one will progress forward in one’s Martial Path and find their overall cultivation speed permanently improved. Unfortunately, it is a horribly difficult process that until now, despite all five of them being on the fast lane called the Heavenly Path – those whose path coincides with the will of the Heavens- their Martial Way had not matured past Peak Mortal’s Way, the first of the five major stages.

Afterwards, they still have to transverse through the Heart’s Way, the Spirit’s Way, the Soul’s Way, and finally the God’s Way. It could be seen, just how difficult it is to gain further enlightenment and revelations in Dao, and how precious this treasure is to them!

Granted, the Ambrosia give the celestials a tiny, negligible amount of benefit each time, and useful only for nurturing their divine strength but not much else.

However, these slight, insignificant improvements are when gods cultivate. For mortals like them, it is an incredible treasure.

The boys looked at Aisa with astonishment, and the tiny dragon giggled in return.

Aisa found it when travelling~ there are lots more!

“There might be a lot more, but only Tommy can eat it,” Kairos quickly stopped them from having thoughts about it.

“Wah! Why boss? That’s unfair!” Jim cried out, in his heart, he reconfirmed that Kairos is a monster.

The Ambrosia jelly smelled like the most fragrant confectionary to his nose, and he could hardly pass it down. Too bad, when facing his captain, at most all he could do is to swallow his saliva.

“Jim, you have enough sweets in your home. And, it’s not like Kairos won’t let you have it in the future,” Edward said, knowing there is a good reason for this.

For one, they are all at Entry B rank, and it is already a far too astounding achievement for their age. What’s more, they have terrible cultivation talents, so as things stand, their cultivation method is already extremely suspicious. If they are to improve by leaps and bounds suddenly, it will cause a massive load of problems for them.

The Snowdrifts is already a group with lots of money and terrible combat strength; at least in the public’s view. If not for Emperor Galahad’s protection, and their noble titles, they would’ve already been taken over by a stronger faction.

If they suddenly appeared to have gained such a tremendous improvement, even the emperor would be unable to stop others from vying to snatch their treasures or secretly kill them as threats. After all, the most valuable geniuses are worthless when dead.

The power of one’s fist is still the ultimate justice in Gaia.

In fact, Kairos had the Ambrosia in his possession for a while now, but it wasn’t the time to show the guys, until now.

“But… but… I never get to eat any candy at home.”

The others laughed and slapped Jim on his back.

“You’ll have your chance.”

They knew that Jim’s sweet tooth came from how he grew up being treated lower than the servants. He could see expensive sweets every day in the Hope mansion, and heck, he had even served them to guests, but he never once ate one.

Kairos ignored Jim’s weak complains, then said to Tommy, “I will have to readjust your cultivation method so that when your wounds tear open during training, you will patch yourself up properly. If you follow my training schedule, you will definitely reach Dharma Constitution, sooner than later.

However, it would be hell on earth.”

Tommy gritted his teeth. He knew Kairos well enough to know that his friend does not exaggerate. Then he gravely nodded, “I’m prepared.”

Hehe, with Aisa’s help Tommy will be back to normal soon! BETTTERRR than normal! After that… let’s play hide and seek, okay? You guys always reject me…

The boys valiantly ignored her death threat and focused on the task at hand. No matter what Tommy will be going through, even hell erupted on earth; it will be braved by all five!

Of course, Tommy’s goal of attaining the Dharma Constitution is all thanks to Aisa’s vast knowledge. It is a powerful physique that is called the epitome of warriors: Gained, not by birth, but by gruelling training of countless hours.

But once achieved, one’s body would be no different from a tempered blade.

At that time, Tommy’s physical strength can no longer be assessed using the usual rankings but judged the same way as a weapon.