Official Start
A few days have passed since he talking to Minvera about the tournament and Shira Yao.
The placement week officially ended yesterday and the official start of the semester awaits Sun.
Since then, Sun tried to search for information regarding the Yao girl he met.
The file Minerva gave him didn't reveal much information to him so he tried to use other methods to gather of more.
It sure feels strange to him, that he's working so hard on this case. He doesn't know anything about her, the black guy defeated him easily and he doesn't have access to the inner circle of the noble family.
"Access to the noble families... WAIT! I got one way."
Sun thought about asking Edward to help him on this. Edward is from the Howson family. Their family is one of the renowned families in Esperia. They have connections to very strong and big families. Asking Edward to help him should not be a problem.
He just needed some information about the Yao family.
...
Today is cultivation day, so Sun could stay in the house or go to the training facility.
Sun asked Edward but didn't say a word about Shira Yao. He only asked about some information on the Yao family for a little research.
Even though Edward found the way Sun asked a little it suspicious, he still agreed on it.
"A banquet of the noble family will be held in three months from now in the evening in the capital. There will be most likely someone of the Yao family there. You can come with me and observe them if you want. The banquet may not be what you're specifically searching on, but I wouldn't hurt to go and check on them.", Edward said.
"I'm a commoner, how can I dare to go there? On step inside and I'll be torn to pieces by the security guard thinking that I'm a bulgar...", Sun laughed wryly.
"Come on, you're my good brother. My guests are always welcome despite low standing, they will still be respected.", he said confidently.
"If that's the case then I should not worry about offending the families since I have the backbone of the Howson family.", Sun thought and agreed to come tomorrow evening.
"Wait, but I don't have a suit."
Sun is from a commoner family with very less money since the exchange rate of US Dollar to Erz is not in favor of the humans.
"That is something you needn't worry about. I'll give you one of my old ones to wear. ", he said.
"Okay. Then thank you for helping me out. I won't disturb your cultivation anymore.", Sun said and walked to his room to cultivate.
...
Once Sun closed his eyes, his spiritual body materialized and entered his cultivation realm.
But the Cultivation Realm seemed to have changed somehow after Sylvaresta entered his body.
There weren't any monsters like before, only some temples on some high mountains could be seen.
"Where did the monsters go? Isn't this my cultivation realm?", Sun thought.
*Dong*
*Dong*
The sound of heaving drums echoed through the mountains.
"Is there somebody?", Sun thought.
He decided to climb up the highest mountain since the sound seemed to come from that direction.
He tried to summon his Lucifer form, but it didn't work. He tried summoning Sylvie, that was to no avail.
"What is happening?", Sun thought.
*Dong*
The drums sounded once again, but this time, it was louder than before.
Sun tried to dispell his spiritual body, but it didn't work either.
Sun figured that he needed to climb up in order to find out what was happening.
He started to climb the big mountain.
At first, it seemed easy, but after four hours, he was still climbing.
It seemed like an everlasting road, where the ending could not be reached.
"What the ****?! What is this place?", Sun cursed in the thoughts.
Since he could neither get out or summon his Soul Origins, he decided to just continue climbing.
He was lucky that the passive of Lucifers Soul is working, otherwise, he would have already fallen down.
"The physical enhancement. It seemed there is still a connection somewhere, but I can't activate or find it. ", Sun thought.
"There is only the road in front of me! I'll get to the **** end of it and find out what is happening to me!", he thought.
After that, he climbed and climbed, for days, weeks and months. The days seemed to have passed quickly, but one day, he managed to get to the top.
There was a temple right in front of him and as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead, he noticed some muscles on his arm.
Then, he checked his body.
"Woh, a six-pack.", he thought.
Sun's body has changed after the climb. His muscles have gotten much stronger than before and he felt a little breakthrough to the Intermediate Rank.
"Just a little bit more...", he thought.
*Dong*
*Dong*
The drums disrupted his thoughts and a blast of wind came from the temple and Sun got nearly blown away.
"Such force! Even after strengthening my body, it is still not good.", he thought.
"Hoho. What do we have here? A little boy actually managed to climb up my mountain?", an old man with a long beard almost reaching his stomach opened the doors of the temple and came out.
"Are you the one who is binding my Soul to this place?", Sun asked directly.
"So what if I am the person?", the old man shamelessly answered.
"Do you know how much time I wasted on the climbing? I missed out so many things in real life to just meet an old geezer up here?", Sun said.
"Old geezer? Hey, watch your mouth!", the man said.
"What am I doing here anyway?", Sun asked.
"Hoho, little one. You were chosen by the heavens to train here.", he answered.
"Train here? I don't see any facilities or resources here? Are you scamming me?", Sun said loudly.
The temple was not very big and looked a bit dilapidated. The black wood used on the temple already lost about 30% of its original color and there were cracks in the walls.
"If I was chosen by the heaven, then how could I've ended up here?", Sun asked.
"Ha, ignorant boy. You still live up to the illusions of 'Heaven is a great place with lots of gold and beautiful girls'. Let me tell you: It's WRONG!", the old man said.
"Ah, tell me how I can go back.", Sun said.
"After completing the training of the Nine Heaven Arts.", the old man answered.
"What? Martial Arts or what?", Sun asked.
"Yes, and you will train her for two years.", the old man said.
"Two years? Are you kidding me? And what's going to happen to my body?", Sun asked.
His body is still defenseless since his spiritual form is here in this strange place and can't return.
"Don't worry about that. It is preserved by heaven.", the old man said in a casual tone.
"Can I get out of here faster?", Sun asked the old geezer.
"Of course, if you can beat me.", he said.
"Then", Sun said and ran towards the old man.
...
*Bang*
"Ouch", Sun got punched in the stomach and few a few meters behind.
"Ha, kid! Your martial arts are still too immature. You still got long ways to walk... But you can attack me anytime, I will take on your challenge!", the old man said.
"Hmph, I need to get stronger and beat the **** out of this old geezer. Two years are too long for me!", Sun thought.