Trouble as always

Lyla's day wasn't going well. She had been assigned this dumb duty for some months now.

Having slacked off on some of the work her master had given her, she was experiencing the punishment for it, which was to contribute to the sect.

Over these past months, no suitable candidate had been coming her way. She needed at least 20 candidates with at least 65 percent and above in spiritual roots formation.

And even that was turning out to be a pain.

Even after so many days, she still hadn't completed it halfway. With a sigh, her eyes darted toward the entrance of the pavilion.

There were still cultivators going inside and awakening the roots, some with nervous smiles on their faces while some with unfound confidence.

Just as she was slacking off, a person came near her. Standing just ahead of her face.

'Ah, it is another one of those kids.'

After staring at her for a moment, the kid extended his hand toward her.

'No greetings? Kids these days are weird!'

Grabbing a hold of his hand, Lyla sent her spiritual energy inside Ruel's body, which caused him to feel a minor, electrifying sensation.

Her spiritual energy moved and navigated through his body, mapping his whole body out, taking note of anything that could be unique and out of the ordinary. Finding nothing out of the blue, the energy reached the aperture.

'Dual affinity?? Another waste!' she thought while pitying her condition for some more months.

But what she saw next left her shocked.

'Huh!!'

"87 PERCENT SPIRITUAL ROOTS FORMATION!!" her voice resounded everywhere and as soon as she said it, several eyes landed on her and Ruel.

When she noticed several people staring at her, then only did she realize the severity of the situation.

But the situation was just that shocking for her. Of the thousands of people she had administered to this date, none of them had above 80 percent formation!

Putting a hand on her mouth, she heard a voice with a tinge of annoyance near her.

Ruel said in a tired tone, "Are you dumb? Screaming my information like that, why don't you just go and say my name as well.."

He was really annoyed as well as tired now. Everyone knew about his formation rate and, within moments, it will spread around the sect. It was just a matter of time before trouble found its way to him.

Ruel thought, 'This is why I dislike it. Every time there is someone weird enough to say it out loud.'

It was compulsory to show the sect your talents. If Ruel tried to hide it, then getting resources would be harder and harder.

But this didn't mean he had to tell the whole truth to them.

He still hid one thing from them…

It was that his spiritual roots had mutated, meaning the elements he would use would be far greater in power than normal ones.

Mutations were always good for an element, even if the outcome was undesirable. They were always a boon. But for Ruel, it was still below his fully-fledged lightning elemental or earth elemental roots.

The spiritual roots in his aperture were indeed mutated, but it had dual affinities, meaning it was a jack of both elements but a master of none.

"Ah, I am so sorry!" said Lyla while standing up and doing a 90-degree bow as an apology.

"Nevermind" With a stiff tone, Ruel turned around, leaving through the still-forming crowd. He didn't want to experience any of this and what better way was there other than leaving?

Without looking back, his legs moved, and with great speed, he went towards Sia.

They had discussed where to meet before the awakening. Navigating through the crowd, Ruel checked the surrounding plaza, and he found her in a shop. Drinking and munching down on some delicacies.

Her head turned toward him when she felt his gaze land on her. With a soft smile on her face, she moved towards Ruel, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"How did it go?" she whispered while passing through ppl while guiding Ruel.

She knew how tiring it was for a person to awaken and to give him the rest he needed. She was bringing him to his quarters.

"It went well..." Said Ruel, explaining everything to her but still hiding the fact about mutated roots and the Demon Lord.

He didn't want to spill the secrets of his regression and anything related to it.

Suddenly, Sia stopped, looking at Ruel with a proud gaze. "You have done great!" she said in a cheery tone.

Her hand ruffled through his hair while she took out a plaque from her pocket. "Here, you have this as a gift from me"

"You are doing so well, far better than me…" she said while taking out a plaque from the pocket of her robe.

"This will get you some better martial arts." Putting the porcelain plaque in his hand, she disappeared before Ruel could say anything.

"I will come back to see you later~," Her body shook in the air and she disappeared, leaving a dumbfounded Ruel.

Sia knew her brother wouldn't take any gifts from her. He was that mature for his age, he wouldn't even burden her since their parents died while battling the demons.

With seemingly no inheritance to take support from, only she and her brother knew how they had survived those days.

At that time, Ruel wasn't even a cultivator, while Sia herself was inside the sect, under closed-door training. She couldn't go outside, nor could anyone outside come inside.

With seemingly no way to communicate, Ruel had survived outside all on his own. The sect provided a place for non-cultivator family members to stay on the sect grounds.

But there was a problem with it. The environment outside was that bad and lawless. No one interfered in the outside matters, no one had time for it. In a world where every day could be your last day, these minor problems didn't affect people.

It was just an unwritten rule to let mortals handle their own problems, and because of it, Ruel was tempered at a young age, seeing some of the vilest as well as the most beautiful sides of humanity.

To not give her sister another thing to worry about, he solved his problems on his own, never asking for anything even in the direst of times, be it now or in the future.

Sia knew this, and that's why she left as soon as she could. After what she had seen today, her talent was worse than her brother's, so why not give him more opportunities?

Looking at his hand, Ruel sighed.

He really needed it, but couldn't ever ask for it from her in the past.

The thing Sia had handed him was her contribution points. They could only be earned by doing missions in the sect.

With enough contribution points, even many of the rarest things in the world could be bought, but earning them was as hard as the things they could buy.

But Sia had forgotten one thing: he had saved the people in the twilight forest all while killing the Baleful creeper.

This earned him many contribution points.

Putting the plaque inside his pocket, he thought of giving it back to her the next time they met.

For now, Ruel had to see his quarters and rest.