Chapter 1 Apollo

"All right, so that should be 26 Gold Coins. Do come again." The teller nodded towards the young man before him. Accepting the money the young man smiled before walking out of the Myriad Gold Pavilion.

'Seems like my trip to the Evergreen Forest yesterday was worth it.' He thought to himself as he weighed his pouch of gold in his hand. This young man was Apollo, and he was 18 years old this year.

Currently he was living here in this city called Pentaarch, where he had lived until the age of 5. Around that time his father had moved him and his mother to a small village called Greenhaven.

By the time he turned 10 years old, his mother fell gravely ill and died merely a few weeks after. His father was never the same after that incident. Alas he still trudged on, and provided well for his son.

Unfortunately around the time Apollo turned 16 a similar fate befell his father, Chen, who's heart failed due to overfatigue.

Staring at the pouch in hand, Apollo found his thoughts drifting to that time. 'Finally I've gained a real foothold here in Pentaarch.' Apollo thought before entering a small house.

This was the place he had called home for the past 2 years. It was a relatively small house, but considering its location within Pentaarch it was a rather expensive piece of property.

Entering his room, Apollo lifted his bed up and pulled out a tile. Underneath there was another pouch filled with gold coins. This along with the pouch he held at the moment were the totality of his savings.

Pouring the gold coins out of the pouch, Apollo counted them all. '74, plus the 26 I just earned, that's exactly the 100 Gold Coins I need.' He thought excitedly before placing all the coins back into one pouch.

100 Gold Coins was a lot of money for anyone living within Pentaarch. To put it into perspective the average family earned about a Gold Coin a year. Not to mention that the very house Apollo lived in cost nearly 80 Gold Coins.

'Fortunately father had some property leftover from the time he was a merchant, otherwise I'd have nowhere near as much money with rent and all.' Apollo thought to himself before leaving his house.

The young man then walked down the main road heading towards the center of the city. Here the true hegemons of the city resided, people Apollo couldn't dare to offend.

After about 10 minutes, he arrived before a tall majestic tower. This was Mystic Heaven Tower, the foremost merchants in Pentaarch. Upon seeing the tower he couldn't help but be in awe of its magnitude, even though he had already visited the place a multitude of times.

Upon entering, he was immediately greeted by a saleswoman. "How may I help you sir?" She asked, giving a welcoming smile to Apollo. "I'd like to purchase a Spirit Stone if that's all right." He replied, to which she nodded.

She then led Apollo towards a counter and pulled out a small white, crystalline stone. It was about 5 centimeters long, and gave off weak fluctuations of Qi.

Seeing this Apollo's eyes immediately lit up. "That will be 100 Gold Coins sir." The woman smiled. He then gave her his pouch of gold coins, and once she was finished counting she handed him the stone.

Accepting the stone, he then carefully tucked it away in his inner pocket before exiting the tower. 'With this I can truly become someone important here in Pentaarch.' 

"MAKE WAY!"

A roar came from down the street. Immediately the people parted as a carriage shot by. The word "Azure" inscribed on its side. 'As usual the 4 Clans are being unruly.' Apollo thought in annoyance before continuing on his journey.

Soon he had made it back to his house. Barely able to contain his excitement. The young man immediately shut his door before entering a small side room.

This was his meditation room. Void of distractions, and the perfect place for him to cultivate.

Reaching into his inner pocket, rather than the Spirit Stone Apollo pulled out a small manual. Its title was "Flaming Lotus Cultivation Technique" it Apollo's cultivation technique, and was handed down to him by his father when he turned 12.

'Cultivators start by gathering Qi in their dantian, and then expanding and compressing this Qi a multitude of times. This whole process is called Qi Gathering, and currently I am in the 3rd Layer.' He went over all the information he knew in his head.

'The first 3 Layers, represent an expanding phase. While the 4th Layer is also commonly called the first compression, this is the first major hurdle of the Qi Gathering Realm and where most cultivators stop. Fortunately I cultivate a Top Grade Mortal technique and in combination with this spirit stone I have confidence in getting past it.'

The "Flaming Lotus Cultivation Technique" being Top Grade was one of the best cultivation techniques in Pentaarch City. To this day Apollo didn't understand how his father obtained it and it was also his most well guarded secret. This was because compared to Inferior and Great Grade, a Top Grade technique was truly a cheat code.

"It took me a year to enter the 1st Layer, another two to enter the 2nd Layer, and finally another two to enter the 3rd. But due to the power of saving, and my increased familiarity with cultivation I shall reach the 4th Layer in merely a year." He laughed before opening up the manual.

After reconfirming all the information once again. Apollo placed the manual back securely into his inner pocket before retrieving the Spirit Stone. He then placed it under his tongue.

As he stabilised his breathing, the Qi within the Spirit Stone immediately erupted before being finely controlled by Apollo and entering his meridians in a consistent stream.

The Qi cycled through according to the Flaming Lotus technique, and soon the white colour of the Qi faded as it took on a bright red hue. Once the Qi was pure red, Apollo directed it towards his dantian where it converged with the sphere of red Qi.

This process continued for hours on end, as the sphere within his dantian grew larger and larger, until it finally reached the limits of his capacity. Immediately, the circulation of Qi within his meridians shifted.

Rather then refining the pure white Qi of the Spirit Stone, Apollo rather directed it, slamming it into his dantian at great speeds.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

These continuous hits caused his dantian to tremble and press against his Qi, causing a great pressure within it. After about 3 hours, the pressure had built up to such an extent where it immediately pushed all his Qi together condensing it into a significantly denser form.

His Qi which could have previously been described to be as large as a watermelon was now as small as an orange. While smaller it was now significantly more powerful, and was the mark of the 4th Layer.