It felt as though the whole of Valor City watched Ryu casually stroll out of the Mercenary Guild. His cold gaze swept over the destroyed guild-front, a sneer coating his features. Considering the throbbing of his pupils, there were definitely several big-name characters eyeing him currently with not a single clue that his Third Perspective had already sniffed them all out.

Ryu directly walked the streets of the Circle of Elites, leaving along the main road and through the large gates. His back disappeared into the distant dense forest and all traces of him completely vanished.

Within the central mansion of Valor City, known as Valor Manor, a bronzed skinned man sat in a well decorated maroon office, facing a large glass expanse that looked out over the city. This man was none other than City Lord Valor, and considering the oppressive aura that seemed to multiply gravity several times over, he wasn’t in the best of moods.

He had half a mind to swoop down from his perch and bend Ryu over his knee. Did this child never receive a spanking in his youth? How could he be so brazen?

This obviously wasn’t what pissed the City Lord off. In fact, he quite liked Ryu’s actions. They reminded him of a younger him who was far less of a coward. If the youthful Saladin Valor saw his older self now, he’d probably spit on the ground and curse him to the high heavens. But… the older Saladin Valor had too much to lose. Maybe this was a rite of passage that happened to everyone… Or maybe that was just an excuse he told to make himself feel better.

By Valor City law, those cloaked figures should be executed. Their actions led to the deaths of dozens of innocent individuals. Yet, this pathetic older self of his actually had the fleeting thought of capturing Ryu instead. He was so disgusted by his own thoughts that he nearly vomited.

He knew he would be blamed for what happened today. Ryu’s actions blatantly slapped the faces of those cloaked figures. His inaction would be seen as taking a side by those shameless bastards despite the fact he had allowed them to do as they pleased as well.

Saladin closed his eyes. His rich brown beard suddenly graying in an instant. In a war between Kings, it was the commoners that suffered the most.

**

When Ryu returned to his ice cave within Awoken Moon Sect territory, he collapsed into a bloody heap. All of the pent-up rage and adrenaline that had kept him standing seemed to dissipate, causing Ailsa to rush into her full form to tend to him, unshed tears in her eyes.

Since the enemies of the Awoken Moon Sect hadn’t dared to finish them off in all this time and constantly chose to use roundabout methods, Ryu felt that this was actually the safest place despite everyone being aware that he was their Throne. And, maybe, considering he stealthily entered the Sect, no one would think that he’d come here to begin with.

Ailsa worked tirelessly. Now that her intimacy with Ryu had deepened by a stage, she could remain in her true form for half an hour a day and use her Cultus Martial Art more effectively.

Natural energy formed an organic formation.

Ailsa’s healing abilities worked differently that those of Ficia Faeries. The reason she couldn’t heal Ryu in battle was because she needed preparation time and a stable environment.

Cultus Faeries were more in tune with the Natural Order than even other Faeries. It allowed them a great understand of the natural flow of energy which was where their knowledge of nurturing stemmed from.

The Cultus Martial Arts took control of the natural flow of energy, using them to promote a myriad of results. Currently, Ailsa could only use it to provide a great boost to healing and recovery, but there were many other applications she would have to wait for Ryu to grow stronger to execute.

Still, right now, she wanted nothing more than to heal Ryu.

**

Weeks ticked by before Ryu was finally able to stay awake under his own power. Ryu had experienced what it felt like to sustain injuries from those a higher grade of strength than before. Objectively speaking, this injury was even worse than the ones he sustained being chased by Leopold. It was clear from this that Ailsa’s healing abilities were truly top notch.

In fact, from his understanding, Ailsa was actually heavily handicapped. Not just by his own strength, but also because of their current environment.

The Cultus Martial Art required a balance of energy. This required both the yin and yang of every major element to reach a delicate equilibrium. Because the Awoken Moon Sect was so heavily yin and water, it was difficult for Ailsa to form the necessary balance here. A less extreme area would have definitely been more effective. But, there was nothing they could do about this being the safest place.

Seeing the small Ailsa slumbering on his chest, Ryu felt an inexplicable warmth despite the cold environment. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t find it silly that Ailsa was doing so much for him simply because Fate chose him as her Life Partner, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t growing on him. It was impossible to push away someone whose actions were so sincere.

A slight pain took hold of Ryu’s back as he slowly pushed himself up, cupping Ailsa’s small body in his hand so as not to wake her up. It seemed he wasn’t fully healed yet, but that couldn’t be helped.

He laid the sleeping Ailsa on his thigh as he entered a State of Meditation. After adjusting himself, his gaze landed on the black ring on his finger.

‘I just have to refine this treasure…’ Ryu remember the Steward’s words. The test to become a Star Mercenary was refining this ring. If he couldn’t do so quickly enough, the ring would self-destruct. The difficulty was directly decided by the cultivation of the one attempting, with the lowest threshold being for Spiritual Severing Realm experts. Meaning, despite the fact Ryu was a Realm lower, the difficulty wouldn’t decrease any further.

But, Ryu wasn’t worried. Refining a treasure could be done in two ways. One was with Qi and the other with Spiritual Qi. When Ryu took the spatial rings of the elders of the Natural Order Sect, they had been protected with Spiritual Qi, same with the Glove of Order. This was because refining a treasure with one’s Qi Realm made it more difficult to establish a connection than if done with one’s Mental Realm.

Still, in maybe an interesting bit of irony, Ryu didn’t choose to use his far more talented Qi Realm. He would be given the One Star test, but his Mental Realm was on the level of a Two Star!

Without hesitating, Ryu’s Spiritual Qi poured out like a sea of lightning. In the next instant, a whole new world was opened within his mind.