Morcai chuckled as he gestured with his wine glass, "Feel free to beat him if you deem it necessary, but I can assure you, he has more talent than anyone else attending your academy."

Kveld shifted his gaze over to Morcai. "I understand he's your son, but just from looking at him I can see that he's clearly 15 years old and only at the 4th Stage of the Common Realm. Ninety percent of the students we accept, even the ones we have to accept, are at least at the peak of the Common Realm. How can you sit there and tell me he's the most talented student? No offense, but I've observed over the years that parents can be blind to a fault in regards to their children, especially the powerful parents. The more powerful, the more blind." Kveld spoke his mind freely, because he simply did not fear any repercussions for his statements. Not only because he was several realms above Morcai in cultivation, but also because they had had professional dealings in the past and had a certain rapport established already.

Morcai snorted and set his wine glass down on the side table next to his chair. "Do I look like one of those blathering idiots who bases his opinions on sentimentality? I can assure you I am quite serious in the estimation of his talent. Let me be clear. I did not say he was the most powerful. That is obvious. I said he was the most talented. You of all people should know the importance of balance between the body and Ki. Seifr has a considerably above average musculature." At this point, he glanced at Seifr and addressed him, "Yes, I've paid attention to your cultivation speed, and I've seen the questions in your eyes. The above normal burn rate is completely normal for you. Once your body reaches the initial threshold, the Spiritual Energy accumulation should stabilize." He glanced back over at Kveld. "Does that answer your question?"

"It's a start. Obviously you're correct about the balance, but I shall withhold my personal judgment until I have seen the evidence of this and his work ethic. Work ethic, in my eyes, is absolutely part of one's talent." Kveld turned to Seifr and addressed him directly for the first time. "I am the Headmaster of The Misty Realm Academy. From henceforth you shall address me as Master. We are very, very strict in our methods for bringing out the best in all of our students, but we are only very strict in etiquette. As you most likely know, the majority of our students are of noble blood. Proper etiquette and a clear chain of command are necessary at all times to keep many of these, and other rich children, in their proper place as disciples. I am the master, and I shall place instructors over you. They shall be addressed as Instructor until further notice. Do you understand what I have said so far?"

"Yes, Master," Seifr quickly responded. He was slightly overwhelmed by the suddenness of how serious it became, but the rules outlined to him so far were fairly straightforward and simple.

"As I said earlier, I am the Headmaster. I am not your personal mentor. You may have the opportunity to study directly under me in the future, but it is not guaranteed. That is a privilege that one must earn. That being said, the purpose of me personally coming here today is two-fold. One: giving face to your father, and two: giving you your first official lesson as a show of good faith to my friend. Many of the other noble children receive this treatment, so don't let it go to your head." Kveld stood up and walked up to Seifr who had not moved since entering the office.

Kveld walked around Seifr and inspected him like one would cattle or a piece of meat. He reached out and grabbed Seifr's arms, shoulders, thighs, and calfs. He pushed against his chest and back.

"Yes, I can see that your body is indeed sturdy. But you still have a long, uphill road ahead of you in terms of accumulation. As your first lesson, I shall expand on what your father and I were talking about in terms of balance. This is especially important information for you, as it seems to apply to you even more so than the average cultivator." Kveld stopped inspecting Seifr and went back to his seat.

"I'm going to assume that you know the basics?" Kveld raised an eyebrow at Seifr. The boy nodded his head. "Good. I shall expand on your foundational understanding. The First Path, the Mortal Path, is what we call cultivators in the first 4 realms: Common, Mortal, Elementary, and Nascent. In the Mortal Path, the cultivator is just starting out on the road to power, and ultimately, if one is extremely talented and lucky, immortality. Many cultivators, especially those in the Second Path, the Cultivator Path, only focus on Spiritual Energy accumulation. This is because eventually, the accumulation of Spiritual Energy provides far more power to the cultivator than the body alone possibly could. This is not true on the Mortal Path. Indeed a balance between the two is required for one to transcend the Mortal Path and enter the Cultivator Path. If one is not in perfect harmony between the body and spirit, one could expect to never surpass the first true bottleneck from the 10th Stage Nascent Realm to the 1st Stage Spirit Realm."

Seifr stood there and considered the words that his new Master was speaking. On a subconscious level, he had always understood these initial points, but he had never quite put them into these simple words. This was also the first time he had heard any kind of clue as to how to succeed beyond the Nascent Realm to the Spirit Realm.

"Consider this: The Spiritual Energy that you are accumulating into your body refines your muscles. Your muscles can only handle so much refinement before they reach a point where there can be no improvement. If your muscles cannot receive any more refinement, then the new Spiritual Energy cannot be burned off and compressed in your meridians. The only solution to this is to expand your muscle base. Now if this is true, how come all of the cultivators you see on the Cultivator Path aren't hulking monstrosities of muscle?"

Seifr pondered this question for a moment before he tried at a guess that seemed as if it might be the obvious answer. "If there is a requirement for balance needed for advancement, then that could mean that there is a balance in the way the methods are achieved. If that is the case, then is it that the muscles also undergo compression?"

Kveld looked over at Morcai who had a pleased look on his face. "Yes, that is absolutely correct. The answer is that I, and every other cultivator of and around my level, are hulking monstrosities of muscles. We've just compressed them into a normal semblance of the human appearance. The fact that your stockiness is so pronounced means one of two things: Either your muscles are naturally compressed to a degree of almost a realm higher than your cultivation level, or your muscle structure is different than the average human. We might never know.

"Continuing on. The Philosophy of Balance can be found in many things: Light and Darkness, Hot and Cold, Good and Evil, just to name a few. If the dichotomy of the human spirit can be described by the Philosophy of Balance in terms of Good and Evil on such a broad scale as societies as a whole waging war, all the way down to each individual person and aspect of that person making personal decisions, it can be seen how important balance is to the cultivator. With a powerful body and spirit, one must have a serene and calm mind. With an increased longevity, one must sacrifice blood and sweat. With immortality comes a disdain for life. This may sound harsh, but if you have lived for a thousand years and all of your friends and relatives have passed away, you would understand. The dichotomy of man doesn't end here; there are many more examples. I leave that to you to find for yourself and your instructors to guide you.

"This is your first lesson, and your first steps to Enlightenment of the Paths. It is a long road ahead of you, but tread firmly." Kveld stopped his instruction and looked to Morcai. "Thank you for the wine. I shall take my leave now. Have your son report to the academy first thing in the morning." Kveld gave a nod of the head to Morcai. It would not be proper for a man of his cultivation to bow to a Nascent Realm merchant, no matter his political or economic ties. Morcai clearly understood this and stood to shake his hand and return the gesture by personally escorting him out of the manor.

Seifr remained in the office and waited for his father to conclude the business at hand. As he looked around the room he noticed that it had not changed at all in the past two months. As far as he could recall, the only thing that ever changed about the room was which pile of papers his father had on the desk.

It was a typical office with comfy chairs for guests, a desk, and full bookshelves full of who knew what writings and records. The only thing that seemed out of place was the monstrously large, full body mirror set up to the side of the desk. Seifr knew his father was not a vain man, and he could never recall him adjusting his appearance or even looking in a mirror. It's unimportant. Interesting, but unimportant.

Morcai soon returned from seeing Kveld out. He poured himself some more wine and then sat back down in the chair and studied Seifr. The silence in the room dragged on for a few minutes, and was finally broken after Seifr started to fidget.

"So what do you think about my decision?" Morcai asked his son.

"Even though I'm honored at the opportunity to attend such a prestigious school, I'm not entirely sure about the underlying reasons behind such a decision. I understand that one of the pillars of gaining respect and building a reputation is personal, physical power, but we're merchants." Seifr answered.

"Hah, I'm so much more than a merchant," Morcai scoffed at the notion that he was a simple merchant. "One day you will see the truth of things. But do some critical thinking about what's going to happen."

"I'm going to enter a school for cultivation and learn from talented and knowledgeable instructors."

"Go on," Morcai prodded.

"I'll be surrounded by those of noble birth and other rich individuals." Seifr put his hand to his chin and stroked it with his fingers in contemplation. "I'll be able to make many contacts in my age group that could potentially turn out to be important allies in the future."

"Networking is only a part of what you're going there to learn, aside from cultivating, which is obvious. No, the real reason is for you to observe and learn about the nobles themselves. I want you to learn who they are deep down. I want you to observe their actions and analyze them and see if you could make better decisions. This will be very important for your profession one day. If you make some friends and allies, so be it, but that's not what you are to focus on. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Seifr replied. It seemed obvious now that his father had spelled it out to him. If he was going to manage a huge entity like the Kyian Trading House, then he needed to be a ruler in a sense. He had to rule is own mini kingdom of business, and he had to do it better than even the nobles.

"You have a lot to think about, and you've been on your feet all day. We'll eat dinner shortly, and then you can retire to your room to do some cultivation and relaxation. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow." Morcai ended the conversation.

Seifr was not particularly tired, one of the benefits of cultivating and having a sturdy musculature he supposed, but he did agree with his father on thinking about this new path he was about to tread. And considering he still had yet to reach the initial threshold to balance which his father spoke of, he could use all the extra cultivation he could get. He was excited at the prospect that he would now be able to focus on his cultivation.