12. Sky Summit Representatives

Julien snorted at the comment and turned back to the lake. Seraph thought he saw smirk from the girl but he may just be mistaken.

"Haha, just wait there Abby, I'll catch the biggest fish in the lake."

This guys mental age lagged behind his physical age it seemed but now he knew her name.

[Don't need to know her name to push her down ya' dig.]

Seraph really wished Cal would get out of this phase soon. Seraph turned to Ari and scooted over a little to which she done the same. She then motioned to him like she wanted to tell him a secret. Seraph bent his neck down and heard this.

"If you help me connect to the cool panda I'll give you a kiss, hehe."

Seraph jumped back quickly and said, "No!" She put up two fingers like they were really bargaining.

"It's a variant spirit called The Gardener, you can't connect to it whenever you want."

The young man overheard them and gave his snarky remark. "Ha, even if a commoner gets a variant spirit it's still just a commoner spirit."

Seraph was seriously annoyed by this over the top guy but chose to ignore him. Ari looked like she was about to cry so he tried to comfort her. He rested his hand on her shoulder and summoned The Gardener again to let her feel the aura.

The elder finally looked back at this time and asked, "Can you save the tree?"

Ari jumped out of meditation and looked at him expectingly. Seraph could only smile at her child like demeanor, forgetting he himself was a child, and say, "I have very little qi so it'll take a while, but I should be able to."

"Hm, and if I help?"

"If sir is willing, then yes." Seraph didn't have to ask if the elder was a soul knight, the aura of this elder was stronger than his father's.

Seraph walked up to tree again and summoned The Gardener. The elder placed his hand on Seraph's back and started channeling qi. Julien and Abby both stopped watching their bobber to stare at the tree. New bark grew under the old bark and the needles blossomed. The tree was healing quickly.

Seraph was healing the tree, but he was mostly feeling the qi. Even though he was already at the 4th stage, he hadn't picked up a qi cultivation method. He wanted one that could make use of the qi his soul produced and worked with his totems. His knowledge about qi was limited and he hadn't tricked Cal into giving up any information.

He moved his soul qi to mix with the elders qi to watch the reaction. Surprisingly his unique qi just blended with the elders, there was no reaction. While he was focusing on his own soul space, the tree was going through a major change. Not on the outside, but inside. The elders qi nourished the tree and Seraph's qi seemed to disappear gradually. Just when the process was coming to an end, Seraph's soul shook slightly. A star was forming in his soul space, a process similar to when Artax became his familiar. Seraph was just a step too late in stopping it and and his unique qi started surging through the connection.

No one seemed to notice the change and Seraph just retracted his totem as if nothing had happened. Inside he felt sick. He had a limited number of familiars and now one was taken up by a tree. That's right, the tree had just became his familiar. His Qi somehow let an ordinary tree become his familiar.

Seraph appeared calm on the outside but inside he was freaking out.

"Huh, what an amazing totem spirit. Are you interested in being my apprentice. I am the groundskeeper at Sky Summit Institute and and even if you're only a gardener, there are still many benefits."

The elder smiled and waited on his response.

"Ha, for a commoner this a god sent opportunity for you. Serving us elites should be the culmination of many life's karma for you, haha!"

Not only did he just accidently bond with a tree as a familiar, he had to deal with this a*shole.

Seraph immediately turned down the offer, "I'll have to decline your offer elder, that position bears too much weight for my shoulders."

The elder had to have recognized Seraph if he actually from Sky Summit and to offer him a position of gardener for the school irked Seraph pretty badly.

"Ha, at least you know your place."

"Student Julien, is that any way to speak to someone we are imposing on?" It seemed even the elder had enough.

"Don't you lecture me, my father is the head recruitment administrator. Do you think a mere gardener at the Soul Lord level can speak to me in such a manner" Darian venomously spat.

"Darian! An elder is an elder regardless, don't make an embarrassment of the Institute," the girl Abby yelled back.

It seemed only Abby could reign in on the overbearing young man.

After half an hour of fishing, Abby caught enough fish to feed everyone while Darian sulked back with an empty line.

During that time, Seraph was answering the overly friendly Ari's questions. Seraph found the situation rather amusing and entertained her. When the fish arrived, he showed Ari and Abby how to clean the fish and cook it. Darian turned his nose up at the "commoners labor" and instead sat sulking by the small fire. Seraph enjoyed their company for another half hour before pointing them in the right direction and sending them off. It seemed the elder was playing dumb and after they took a detour following little Ari's demands, they got lost.

He learned a little about them all during that time. The elder, who was the groundskeeper, had come to see Seraph's "Eden". It was another rumor that spread about Seraph. Seraph created a garden with all the beasts he rescued or befriended before. Ari and Abby were close to the elder for some reason he didn't know so that's why they came. It also seemed the rumor of Seraph saving a Dreaming Eagle had gotten out too and Ari wanted to trade 3 kisses for it. It always amazed Seraph how much every one of his actions were such popular gossip.

Julien's father was the representative sent to Agea to meet Seraph and Sarah who everyone had high hopes for. He tagged along to just get the experience. He also had nothing good to say about the crazy 4th young master who even though he had great talent, was not worth the Institute's time. He even started to talk about Sarah in a crude manner but Seraph used a bit of intimidating roar to remind him he was in Ageaen territory.

After waiting 30 minutes after he could no longer feel their presence, he finally walked up to his second familiar. Even after an hour of siphoning his qi, it was still going strong. Cal was awfully quiet during this past hour, so while things were peaceful he thought he'd meditate to see what exactly is going on with his new Familiar.