Chapter 13

This entire situation made Timothy feel as if he ate something that he should not have and ended up creating some type of illusion with his mind, however, as he continued to walk as to not alert any unwanted attention of anyone nearby the artifact continued to have a conversation with him in a way trying to understand Timothy and his goals and what he wanted to accomplish moving forward so that the artifact could help guide him properly and to reassure him of anything he was still questioning concerning his capabilities and how he should proceed.

"So from what I have learned, Mist City has an empire run school that has rather low requirements in order to join but there are also organizations within the city that could offer more resources and other incentives to join their ranks instead. The issue is, if I were to join those other organizations, I would potentially have a much lower foundation to build off of since the empire run school directly works alongside the Imperial Family."

"In the short term, joining those organizations would seem logical, but even if this Imperial Family of the empire we are currently in was considered incredibly weak, there is no reason to not pursue gaining their trust and support over time but right now all you have is your potential since there are many nine and ten year old children who could easily take you on in a spar and this is something we must change. It will be a slow process, but nothing ever comes easy."

Hearing that the artifact also thought that long term planning wise, joining the public school potentially gave Timothy more future prospects made him pleased. Timothy may have lived a previous life and learned many things, but in his previous life he barely reached fifty years of age while a Rank 1 warrior had the life expectancy of one hundred and fifty years old. This meant that although many of his experiences were extreme compared to those who could be older, it was still a good idea to listen to the artifact's opinions on simple decision making type things so that he could verify that his choices were the correct ones.

"From the information I have gathered throughout my life, I have learned that the majority of commoners who have a passable level of talent tend to join the public academies since the requirements to enter were considered to be very minimal which was always in accordance with the region that the academy was situated in. The reason why so many commoners over the many years that these academies were put into place try to join if it is their last choice to earn an education beyond their family, is because if they are able to at the very least reach Rank 2 of a warrior or a mage, they could join the military and would receive a pension depending on which rank they have achieved within the military as well as time served according to their lifespan."

"Since this is the case, commoners with mediocre talent would rather first try to become as strong as they could before entering into the military since it would allow them to receive better opportunities and would limit the amount of risk to their lives while serving. Still, according to what others have said, those with just enough talent to enter into other local organizations would rather at times do that if those individuals are commoners because in order to compete, every organization had to offer more to even the lowest of members compared to the Imperial Family in order to remain competitive and able to continue their overall growth."

Hearing his explanation, the artifact came to a single conclusion. "Then this actually leans in your favor because if you are able to outshine your fellow students within these academies, it will be possible for you to build a foundation for your future family. By joining and showing your allegiance to the Imperial Family at the start of your cultivation journey, it is possible for you to serve under an important member or even be bestowed a nobility title which you could then use throughout the empire regardless of how common said titles are."

Timothy after listening to the artifact could not help but to smile because it was common knowledge that the emperor himself treated his personal followers and those who served directly under him with complete respect which in turn made everyone who were in such roles revere the emperor even more so while feeling grateful for the opportunity. The thought of being part of the royal guard responsible for looking after the emperor made Timothy's heartbeat faster since it was required to reach at the very least Rank 7 as a cultivator on any path just to apply for a position like that.

"Ah, perfect. I was waiting to see something like this. Quickly, go to that large pile of rocks and fill up this sack!" After another day went by, Timothy was just passing by a large pile of rocks and the artifact who left him alone finally spoke to him again as a simple but sturdy looking sack appeared out of thin air in front of Timothy. "Do not even think about using some of the space in me to use as your own personal storage, but for now, I have a challenge for your training which is officially starting now."

"The training is quite simple so do not feel as if your world is about to shatter because this is the very beginning and things are only going to get harder from here. You are to not accept any offers concerning hitchhiking with other individuals you come across and you are forbidden from putting down the sack once you fill it up completely and start carrying it. Once you reach Mist City, I will tell you when you can finally put the sack with the rocks inside my space."

"So what I have learned about you today, is that you are able to store things, is there anything else you would like to bring to my attention?" As he finished filling up the sack with rocks, Timothy couldn't help but to tease the artifact that was now playing the role as a master to him since there was no way it could survive training such as this if it were a human given the way the artifact continued to speak.

"Only time will tell my apprentice so you had better get moving because according to the map, it will take one week of nonstop traveling from this point to reach Mist City and you are already showing signs of being unable to ration the food and water you have in your storage ring. If you delay long enough, you will most certainly die before even seeing the city in the distance so get moving!"