5 Aptitude Test (1)

'Talk? I don't remember reading Creed being close to Yuria in the novel. Perhaps she caught something from my reaction earlier?'

While contemplating, I let out a confused expression to mask my wariness.

"Oh, don't worry! I'm not going to do something strange."

'Good grief, what an ominous thing to say.'

I held back a sigh and scrutinized the aura around her.

'Damn, to think she can already emit her Qi to Depth.'

Qi: Realm of Depth is said to be the gate between the mortals and geniuses. It was the third out of the eight established Realms. First Realm, known as Accumulation, the first step to cultivation. The Second, Condensation, transforming the body to half adepts. The third, Depth, the Realm of full-fledge adepts. It was a well-known fact that it would take an average person to breakthrough over a decade. While the talented ones, five years. But for geniuses, three years. 'Yet, she managed to breakthrough from the second to third Realm in just a year!? What kind of monster is she?'

I looked at her with a strange expression, seemingly reading my mind in advance. She casually dismissed my curiosity.

"Ah, I got lucky and managed to breakthrough from training!"

'Got lucky, my ass. If those so-called Heavenly Geniuses heard you, they might call you a fraud.'

I retorted inside and finally asked her purpose.

"Kuhum! It's about the Aptitude Test. Creed, I'm sorry but, can you not attend?"

I was confused by the unexpected request, but she casually strode past me and didn't explain any further. As if she knows that I won't be able to attend.

'Sigh, now this is troubling. Perhaps she's aware of my condition?'

I looked back in her direction with a detached expression.

'No, probably because of Creed's talent?'

I shooked my head and decided to return to my room.

*Click*

After making sure that the door is locked, I approached the small cabinet beside the bed and opened the first drawer to fetched a scripture.

It was a worn-out-looking scripture filled with strange patterns from Unknown Civilization.

"Sigh, I didn't expect to use it this early."

Scripture of Transcendence, a long time ago, a dweller from the void descended to the Empire of ArchAxis, which is known as the Ireshia Empire today. A certain wise man said that without them, cultivating Qi would be a dream among dreams. Yes, they imparted the people of ArchAxis, with techniques that could annihilate thousands of monsters and might that rivals the prestige of the dragons. That is what the author in the novel said.

'This thing better work.'

I tore the Scripture apart like what the Main Character did in the novel. Soon, the strange pattern in the Scripture flew to my glabella. It was a bizarre experience, profound insights, in-depth knowledge of Qi manipulation, elegant yet fierce forms of sword dance, each of them slowly tore my tangled perspective about cultivation. It was a whole new world, the world where geniuses clash tirelessly.

"Hah, amazing. It was better than I expected."

I inadvertently smiled after feeling the changes toward my comprehension and body.

It took massive resources to solve my problem regarding Qi and Magia. Failure after failure, I crossed my fingers and went for the dangerous but guaranteed method. Yes, I went to sneak out of the house to explore a specific tomb, the Garden of ArchAxis.

As for the details, at the center of the Garden Maze resides a solitary twig. That humble-looking twig is one of the keys to unlock the magica mechanism. As for the second key, it's the blood of Noblesse. It was relatively easy to get. I only need to bleed myself for a bit.

After all the hassle, I poured the blood at the twig after that was a grand spectacle. Countless pillars of light rose amidst the sky of peaceful night to gradually converged around the twig. Slowly, the twig transformed into a small box. As for the content, yes, it is the Scripture of Transcendence.

So far, it was smooth sailing.

"Now, it's time to escape."

Because the real danger begins after acquiring the Scripture, the peaceful Garden Maze turned into a maze of nightmares. Countless demons, monsters, and traps. I had a lot of close calls through escaping. Thankfully, I read the novel and prepared a lot for the trip. The whole ordeal lasted for one day. As for returning, it was pretty lackluster compared to the previous event. They just ignored my sudden disappearance as if it's something trivial.

'Should I say careless? No, It's probably because of competition for the seat.'

It's something that the residents came to adapt as they continued to work and live at the Household of Lumeria. 'If it's the house of this cold family, disappearing for one day or even for the rest of my life isn't weird, the history of Lumeria Household is rich of people who left and covered their disappearance with death.'

"Forget it. I better train myself."

Training myself isn't just because of the Scripture. It was also to protect myself.

'Thankfully, someone is kind enough to give me a pretext to train like this.' I meaningly fully laughed as I recall the heckler at the dining room. It was one of the henchmen of my seventh sibling, Kasam.

''Hmm, before I leave this house, I better return the favor.''

I shooked my head and wryly smiled.

'I guess I'm a bit twisted myself.'