Not Good For Business

"Huff..."

"Huff..."

"Huff..."

Deeply immersed in practice, Spark controlled his breathing with habitual ease. A river of Mana gushed through his meridians, strengthening and circulating through the vesselveins over and over again.

He didn't know how much time was passing by.

Like a fetus, bathing in the warm darkness of being unborn, Spark indulged in the same pleasure of disassociation.

Spark was cresting a stair leading into a deep mist, the higher he reached, the thicker and misleading its path.

Spark's eyes fluttered and slowly opened.

"A wall... or a bottleneck was it? It's not much longer."

Stretching his arms, he propped himself up and gazed through the windows of his study.

The sky was painted grey, and looking up, there were swarms of black birds dotting the dreary clouds over Monsoon City.

"The weather changed again."

"Quite willful... First sun, then hail and now it's rain? Tsk..."

Spark sighed.

"It's a bit bad for business."

Heaving a deep breath, Spark left the study and entered the living room where almost everybody living in the mansion already gathered.

On the table an opulent dinner lay prepared, while Joey , Robert and Milo exchanging witty-sounding statements about Cultivation practices.

Lately, Cultivation has been going quite smoothly for everybody, kids and adults alike. A steady and sound stream of income has been acquired, erasing most worries of resource origin.

With Terry's fortunate encounter a couple years back, any worries about Circulation Methods have also been quenched.

Without any benchmark to measure the Cloud Circulation Method's performance, Spark guessed it to be the mediocre sort.

It wasn't bad, but in the same breath, it was definitely not groundbreaking either. Still, without any other options, everybody appreciated it as the most valuable asset of the Outskirt Mansion.

Spark greeted and glanced at the kids scattered around the room, thinking about the progress of their Cultivation.

As of now, the Outskirt troupe had settled down for weeks, residing in Silver Hawk's boisterous mansion located in one of the fancier boroughs of Monsoon City.

And due to the cultivational habits Spark and Joey introduced to the mansion, some of the residents have succeeded in their breakthrough!

Surprisingly Lily, Heel and Berenya had success fully reached the treshold of Lower Body Foundation, whereas Borza had already reached the Middle Stage of Body Foundation.

The rest weren't far behind either, as the Cultivational practice shaped their physical foundation, and prepared them to take the first step into Cultivatordom.

Many of the Outskirtlers, including the adults, were just weeks away from reaching Body Foundation.

And on the forefront, there was Joey who had reached the third stage of the Qi Realm with his Fire Element.

Both Cultivation and Insight into his Element has led him to such a progression in Cultivation Stage. Joey had started to metamorphose into a Cultivator with high affinity and aptitude, especially for his own Element.

Then there were Milo and Bilo, the gangster-twins from the dirty parts of the Outskirts.

...Well, looking at them now, there was hardly any resemblence to their old identity. Milo was neatly dressed in a blue suit, and was in talk with Robert, Spark's father, and Joey.

Their relationships visibly eased and turned amicable.

Milo's expression and attitude betrayed nothing of his past, instead he exuded an air of professionalism and deep pride for his circumstance.

Although his Cultivation Realm was kept stuck in the Lower Stage of Body Foundation, his shrewdness remained, especially latching onto expertise in business matters, as he observed Spark and discussed business with him a manifold of times.

There was a certain glint of reverence hidden deep within his eyes, one heavily connected with the newfound respect for the employer he worked for in the last couple of weeks.

It had been busy weeks, but in his unspoken opinion, they were weeks of bliss, meaning and responsibility. Milo's expectations had been far surpassed with this gamble of a lifetime.

Milo caught sight of Spark glancing in his direction and turned his head to show a friendly and earnest smile.

Spark's mouth twisted in a slight upward curve, and his eyes swept over the room to find Bilo standing a bit further from Robert and Milo in a straight pose.

This fellow had lost weight, and sharp definitions began to show on his face and body ever since he had reached the Middle Stage of Body Foundation. Bilo had no talent in negotiation, but if it came to physical progress, a different kind of talent started to slowly bloom.

Bilo's eyes met with Spark's and the stars in his eyes could not be hidden. This former fat and unwilling fellow almost lost posture, as a docile and happy smile formed from the stoic disposition he had a second ago!

'Hah... Bilo has acclimated quite well to the situation, too... Not bad.'

Spark had to chuckle, and stepped in the kitchen to fix himself a cold drink.

'I, myself... am just a step shy from entering the Qi Realm. I can feel that it isn't far away... hell, if I wanted I could probably force myself to breakthrough right now!'

He closed his eyes, and shook his head slightly.

'But there is no rush. Let's take it slow and safely.'

'Anyways... all the experiments have not yielded any tangible results... The last two Elements just won't reveal themselves...

[Théo Floga's Soulslate]

[Cultivation: Peak Body Foundation[Part-Divine Awakened]]

[Elements: Ice, Sword , ?, ?, Soul]

[Spirit Bond: not acquired]

[Soul Bounds: [Perennial Quill], [Ancient Ghost Slayer]]

[Skills: Foreign Being , The Favored Prospect , Cochlean Implant, Seed of Frost , Altymirs Basic Swordplay , ? , ? , Soul Inspection]

"..."

'I can rule out the basic Elements Wind, Fire, Air, Earth and probably many of the Weapon Types, too.'

'I don't think I'll get any results, continuing like this...'

'And also...'

Spark glanced at the Skill List, which had not changed at all, ever since the last time.

Three growth type skills connected to his Elements, namely Seed of Frost, Altymir's Basic Swordplay and Soul Inspection, as well as the Skills he received with his arrival on Fraal, The Favored Prospect, and Foreign Being.

Foreign Being facilitated the native language and was the reason he had the chance of another life, as well as a connection to the Grand and mysterious Dao.

And the Favored Prospect on the other hand, had less vitally important, but far more practical value.

Spark willed its runes to appear once again.

[The Favored Prospect]

[Category: Gift]

[Rank: Immeasurable]

[The Grand Dao accepts your arrival with open arms, and in exchange for the unavowed knowledge the Being Théo Floga possessed and shared, he in turn receives an equal compensation.]

[Effect: Bilateral Being (Redeemed) , Adored by Fate , Thriving Slayer.]

Bilateral Being was the reason for his divine Awakening with 5 Elements, albeit it was only partly.

[Thriving Slayer]

[Once in a while, the Being Théo Floga is allowed to designate a target for the use of the skill. While fighting the designated target, the user experiences a major increase in strength. If he manages to slay the designated target in the span of his lifetime, he will, without fail, receive a part of the target's blessings, based on the difficulty of the circumstances.]

Thriving Slayer was the only Active Skill of The Favored Prospect, and its cooldown period was not specified, probably heavily linked to the target it is used on, but its effect was unheard of!

'I've researched heavily, but such a Skill simply doesn't exist, at least not in the open!'

Spark showed a small frown.

'There is no way I will ever publicly boast about it, either. This will attract greed like nothing else.'

'But what I'm more concerned about now...'

[Adored By Fate]

[Increases your odds to receive or innovate new Spells and Soul Bounds.]

Spark tapped the counter while reading the one line effect description, an annoyed expression on his face.

'It increases my odds???'

Spark's tapping accelerated and a more pronounced scowl formed.

'How come I haven't received at least a lesser resistance Skills after all the torture in the last couple of weeks!!!'

'Do I have to burn myself to a crisp, damn it?'

"Hahhh..."

Spark sighed and looked out of the window. The dreary clouds were grey as ever, and a light rain tripples from their lusterless fabric. And in between the cold sky, a trace of... black?

SCREEEECH !!!

SCREEEECH !!!

SCREEEECH !!!!!!

Suddenly all notion of placidness distorted, as the sound of a gut-wrenching siren expanded to every corner of Monsoon City.

" MONSOON CITY IS UNDER ATTACK "

" ALL CULTIVATORS GATHER AT MONSOON'S LAIR. I REPEAT. ALL CULTIVATORS GATHER AT MONSOON'S LAIR IMMEDIATELY ! "

" MONSOON CITY IS UNDER ATTACK "

" ALL CULTIVATORS GATHER AT MONSOON'S LAIR. I REPEAT. ALL CULTIVATORS GATHER AT MONSOON'S LAIR IMMEDIATELY ! "

The message repeated over and over with unquenching volume.

Joey, Milo and Bilo ran into the kitchen as soon as the Siren sounded.

Spark could only click his tongue as they fell through the door with heavy expressions.

"I had a feeling the weather wasn't good for business..."

'