Niva realized something as she walked toward the male residence area: since they hadn't spoken again after they went their separate ways to find their housing, she had no idea where Dino lived.

She stopped in her tracks to think her conundrum through. What’s the chance a random male disciple knew where Dino lived, and how would she even describe him? Tall and light-skinned didn't say much – there were enough of them on Cella, among other races.

However, salvation arrived in the form of a person.

“Excuse me!” Niva said as she ran up to Dino’s roommate.

The boy turned around, his long hair traveling in a perfect crescent as he did so. “Lady Niva, greetings. How can I assist you on this lovely evening?”

“I don’t remember giving you my name?” Niva asked, after admiring the Hotu clan descendant's Cellian Standard. His pronunciation was perfect, and his cadence flowed naturally like the forming of waves in the ocean, thereby making his speech pleasant on the ears.

“Your fame precedes you, I’m afraid. Everyone knows of the disciple that finished Elder Yonyue’s introductory lesson first.”

That might be something to look out for, Niva thought.

“I’m certain”–Niva’s face must have shown her inner dialogue–”you will benefit more than you will suffer from it.”

“I hope so, too,” Niva said, ready to change the subject. ”You never gave me your name, right?” She hoped to Luneil that she didn’t simply forget.

"Ah, I apologize, a silly mistake from myself. Yuta Hotu, at your service." Yuta made a half-bow that caused his capacious paunch to shake a little, and Niva made sure not to betray her thoughts this time as she inwardly chuckled.

“Niva Asturias,” Niva said extending a hand.

Taking her hand, Yuta did a double-take before a smile covered his face. “I apologize if this is intrusive, but are you perhaps the daughter of Adrian, The Azure Expanse?”

Can’t hide it forever, I suppose. She didn't like to relate herself to her father's title because her family –a word too great for them– abused his status to increase the pressure on her. Regardless of that, she curtsied. Her father was her life, and she was proud to be his daughter. “His one and only child.”

Luneil reigning in the sky, the youth’s pale skin gave him an ethereal aura as his smile turned ghostly. “Wonderful, I’ve heard many a story about his abilities, so I look forward to seeing what you are capable of.”

Niva shifted in place. Not only did his statement remind her of her family, but she somehow sensed an eerie undertone to his words; they carried the hint of hidden meaning, but she had no idea what it could be.

”Now,” Yuta said, his eerie tone disappearing completely. ”Even though I do not mind having an extended conversation with a lady such as yourself, I imagine you approached me for a reason?”

She snapped out of her slight daze. “Ah, yes. Have you seen Dino recently? I wanted to speak with him.”

Yuta placed his hand over his heart and stepped backward. "I had hope, but should've known better. There's no way you would be searching for me”–he released a dramatic cry–“Oh, father, how it hurts to be a side-character in someone else’s story.”

Elevating her eyebrows, a slight smile adorned her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean–“

“No, do not say it,” Yuta said, waving Niva away, his hair bouncing up and down. ”That only makes it worse.”

Straightening, Yuta mimicked wiping away a tear. “I saw the object of your desire a few hours ago when he spoke of exploring the yellow zone of the forest.”

“What?!” Niva exclaimed. Why in Luneil’s name would he try to explore the forest so soon?

“My reaction, exactly. I told him not to act rashly and tried to persuade him, but my words fell on deaf ears. He mentioned something about wanting to get a leg up on someone.”

Niva could guess who that someone was. So, she had enough information for now.

“Thank you. Do you perhaps know which direction he went in?”

“I do not. Before you leave, however, has anyone already offered you an invitation to a group? I already spoke to Dino about this as well but forming groups early on is greatly advised since we'll have a test run at the frontlines in our third year.”

During her first two weeks, Niva had admittedly not had many social interactions, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do. As a result, she welcomed the invites. “I did receive one, yes.”

“May I ask the name of this person?” Yuta asked while twisting his hair. Even his finger movement looked graceful.

Niva thought about it. From what she had seen, Anith and Yuta were on bad terms. Mentioning Anith's name may end up biting her later…"Anith Chiru." But lying wasn’t worth it.

His finger stopped moving immediately. And hearing the name of his nemesis caused him to explode in fury as a scowl adorned his face. “Rats are quick to find any form of sustenance. I will give them that. However, let me warn you against him and his clan: they are snakes in the grass and quick to shove the blame on someone else when things go wrong. If I were you, I would think twice about allying with him.”

Okay, bad terms was too light an expression as they absolutely hated each other, and Yuta positively seethed as he spoke. “I appreciate your warning.” She made a mental note to ask the other disciples about the situation, although she did take his words with a grain of salt.

Yuta curtly responded with a gruff murmur signaling that his mood had turned bad. "Good luck on your search, and do not forget my offer still stands."

Before he turned away, Niva asked Yuta where he and Dino lived, after which she made her way home. Finding Dino in the forest at night was nigh impossible and dangerous. So, she would try tomorrow.

Niva stood together with Tia in the garden in the early morning.

Holding Niva’s leg up, Tia threw her backward. Placing her hands on the ground, Niva rolled, thereby breaking her fall. A smile covered her face as she landed on all fours and looked Tia in the eyes.

“I’m surprised,” Tia said, her tone still sounded angry, but she had calmed down considerably compared to yesterday. “You learn quite quickly.”

"What can I say"–Niva pounded on her chest–"I'm blessed."

“You had to go there, didn’t you? Fine, I’ll knock you down a peg. You will thank me later.”

“Your offense sucks,” Tia said. She reached the desired effect because Niva's mood immediately worsened.

They had done some sparring, and the damn nomad repeatedly beat her up, even though Tia only used the moves they learned in training.

“You’re simply too timid,” Tia said, shrugging. “You have to learn how to make use of openings when you see them. Until you do, you’ll be a sorry fighter at best.”

“Imagine this,” Tia said. ”You’re fighting a powerful spirit beast with your group. If your teammates can’t create openings consistently, then you have to make great use of every window of opportunity you get. Otherwise, you'll all end up dead.”

Niva frowned, unable to refute Tia’s words.

“No one will want you in their team for long if you stay back the entire time and aren’t willing to enter the fray at the slightest opportunity. Also–”

Niva threw her hands in the air. “Okay, I get it. You’ve hurt me enough, woman. Leave me be.”

Tia released a victorious snort. “Just keep that in mind. By the way, I know you only asked me to prepare you for today’s examination, but you’ll be weapon sparring with me whenever I have time for you, which is every morning and evening. Courtesy of Mr. Doofus, who got me suspended for two weeks.”

Niva felt sorry for Tia. The one time Niva skipped Physical Cultivation, Dino immediately started a fight with her roommate, which got both of them suspended for two weeks (they should’ve gotten expelled, but Elder Kiri had mercy on them).

Moreover, in the wake of their fight, groups had started to form among the students. Tia wasn’t the only nomad in the sect, and neither was Dino the only Border City resident with hate for nomads.

“Sounds fine to me,” Niva said. ”But why?”

“Remember your promise to me?”

“That I would help you find a cultivation site?” As far as she remembered, she only made one promise to Tia.

“Exactly. You didn’t receive extensive martial arts training, right?”

Niva shook her head. For the last two years, her father had her train with a weapon a few hours a day. It took way longer than two years to get used to a weapon, though, so calling it extensive would be a lie.

“Then how are you planning to help me find a site when the weakest spirit beasts in the forest can murder you?”

Great point, Niva thought as she opened and closed her mouth in quick succession. “I suppose I can’t?”

“You can’t. That's why you'll sparring with me whenever you have free time and don’t even think of skipping me. I’ll forcefully drag you back here.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something, though?” Niva asked, “The Elder hasn’t given us permission to use weapons yet.”

“During his lessons, no. However, we can do what we want outside his classes.” Tia put her hands on her hips and gave Niva a quizzical look. “I figured we could start our training session after today’s lecture ends. In the evening.”

Niva cupped her chin. She still had to search for Dino. However, did she want to miss a free training session to do so? Not to mention that he could still be in the forest, and if that was the case, should she even look for him at all?

Entering zones above dark green before you reached sufficient cultivation was moronic. Spirit beasts were naturally stronger than humans and in general, a mid-Gron spirit beast would beat a peak-Gron disciple, sometimes even a threshold early-Skin. Continuing this, a recently awakened spirit beast surpassed a mid-realm one disciple. Meaning, as Tia said, that a random spirit beast of the forest would beat her handily.

Because of this, there was no realistic way for her to explore the forest by herself…then why not ask someone for help? Niva thought before she realized she knew no one. Not socializing was really showing its drawbacks, hard.

“You still there?” Tia interrupted her thinking.

“Sorry. Did you say something?” Niva said as she jumped in place.

“No, I simply watched you stare into space like an idiot for about ten seconds.”

Niva puckered her lips. That was one of her bad habits. When she thought of things deeply, she often stood still and stared in front of her.

“Can you give me a minute? I’m considering my schedule really quick.”

Tia nodded and entered the lotus position.

Mimicking her roommate, Niva resumed her inner dialogue. She was at an impasse. Asking Tia for help was no use; Dino entered the forest because of her to start with. Furthermore, Dino being in the forest by himself could bring Tia to some ideas.

Important to realize was that the elders would only expel disciples that they caught in the act of violence. They wouldn’t go out of their way to figure out who did what to whom, for they simply didn’t care that much.

Back to the problem at hand, who more could she ask? Anith and Yuta were the only two options, but would the two of them enter the deeper parts of the forest so early just to help her find Dino?

Dino meant nothing to Anith, so risking his life to find Dino was the height of stupidity. That left Yuta. Indeed, he was Dino’s roommate, but she didn’t think he’d be willing to risk his life. Moreover, even if was willing to do so, Niva loathed actually taking him or anyone else up on their offer. This wasn't their problem.

Thus, she concluded something that she found surprisingly tough to accept. She wouldn't search for Dino if he was still in the forest. It carried too high of a risk.

“Alright. I’m free after this,” Niva said.

“Took you long enough," Tia said, motioning for them to continue cultivating. "We'll have to ask Elder Kiri for training weapons, and by 'we' I mean you since I'm suspended.”

Murmuring in agreement, Niva closed her eyes and focused her attention on her inner world.

Her dantian lit up in her mind with the ball of energy resembling a bonfire in the dark. To increase her physical cultivation, she required the use of her dantian, but as it was now, it wasn’t ready yet. She had filled her dantian with what the sect called pure essence. But the name was misleading like with many other things the sect named.

Essence found outside of cultivation sites generally did not carry an affinity or concept, but it did carry the remnants of affinities and concepts. It just didn't have enough of them to transform into the relevant essence type. Therefore, after forming the dantian, one had to grind down the essence inside it, causing their dantian to compress and upgrading the quality of the pure essence inside it.

Luckily, the sect manual contained a simple method for this. To start, Niva took hold of the essence in her dantian. Next, by forming a horizontal line down the middle of her essence, she created a divide. Finally, and this was the most important step, she literally rubbed the two sides together. As a result, her essence ground down to a purer form.

The method was simple, but it required a lot of time. She would need to rotate the essence inside her dantian numerous times and repeat the process to ensure she didn't miss any of it. Niva guessed she needed another three sessions of twenty minutes like this before she could start infusing her body with the essence inside her dantian.

“Don’t forget the weapons,” Tia said as Niva got up to make herself ready for PC.

“What weapon did you say you used, again?”

Tia's instructions reminded her that her sole training partner wouldn't be available for sparring during Elder Kiri's lesson, which elicited a tired sigh from Niva. As everyone formed groups in the wake of recent events, she’d need to put in two times the amount of effort to find new sparring partners.

Time for a cold approach, Niva thought as she slapped her cheeks with both hands.