Lucia’s officially a chosen of the sect. As one of her companions, I was given the choice to stay by her side as a servant or becoming a disciple of the sect. This choice required absolutely zero thought. Of course, I became a disciple of the sect! And I was promoted right away to core disciple because of my relationship with Lucia. The wife of the sect leader volunteered to become my master, so it’s safe to say I have a pretty stable backing. If the sect leader is similar to an emperor, then his wife is the empress. Compared to a duke, an empress has a higher status. Thus, I should have more face in the Immortal Continent than I did back at home. The only problem is Lucia didn’t really like my parting, but I tried to act as reluctant as possible so her anger would shift onto my new master instead of me. It should be fine since my master’s an earth-realm expert. …Right?

Currently, I’m attending the sect’s cultural exchange with my master. If I had to describe it in a single word…, then it’d be hectic. Apparently, in Kong County, there’s over a thousand sects. A lot of them are as large as the Shadow Devil Sect, but the disciples of those sects aren’t as gifted. It really makes me wonder how big the Immortal Continent is exactly. Over a thousand sects with a million people each. That’s already a billion people. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that only one out of ten people will have the qualifications to join a sect, which means there’s nine billion regular people, adding up to a total of ten billion. And that’s in Kong County alone! King Province is made up of ten counties, each of them the same size as Kong County. That’s a hundred billion people! There was a food shortage in some parts of the heaven and earth plane, and we only had a population of two million. I can’t even imagine how difficult it’d be to create residences for a hundred billion people let alone feed them all.

But I digress. The cultural exchange is basically a giant male-organ-measuring contest between all of the sects, and it’s currently hosted by the Shadow Devil Sect. It happens once every three months because the sects really like competing or something. My master says it encourages growth due to rivalry. Right now, I’m watching a bunch of middle-aged men play with fireballs. That’s right, the same kind of fireball created by a first-circle spell. And everyone’s amazed. I don’t understand.

“Aren’t you interested?” My master was the grandmother of Soft Moonlight, but she didn’t sound old at all. If she hid her face behind a veil, anyone would think she was still a young woman if they heard her voice. “It’s not every day you can see alchemists flaunt their techniques.”

“But didn’t you say the cultural exchange lasted for three months? And that it’d be set up again in another location after the three months were over? If I followed it around, I could see these alchemists flaunt their techniques every day, but that’s not the point. Even a child can do what they’re doing.” I was playing with fire since I was eight; my father didn’t really approve though. All these so-called alchemists are doing is adjusting the temperature of the flames in their hand.

“Really?” My master raised her eyebrows. “Is it that simple? Only one out of ten thousand people are born with a flame essence.”

“Fireball.” A ball of fire hovered above my palms. What else were those alchemists doing? Increasing the temperature? All I have to do is layer on another fireball. “Fireball. Fireball. Fireball. Fireball. Fireball.” There, now my flames are hotter than all of those alchemists’ out there combined.

“You…, have a fire essence?” My master looked around. Was she making sure no one else was watching? But what’s this fire essence she keeps talking about?

“I don’t think so?”

“But you can control flames! You have to have a fire essence to convert qi to fire.”

Really…? “What other essences are there?” Like if I were to change these flames into ice by casting Frost Ball, would she say I had an ice essence. I don’t think this is anything impressive honestly. “Frost Ball.”

“Ice essence!”

“Earthen spike…?”

“Earth essence!”

“Gust.”

“Wind essence!”

“Lightning Bolt.”

“Thunder essence!”

Hmm? Shouldn’t that be lightning essence? Thunder’s the sound that accompanies lightning, you know? Well, whatever. “Chaos Orb.”

“Origin essence!” My master’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as she covered her mouth with both her hands. But it was too late because everyone else heard. And they were all staring at me. Even the people who hadn’t heard were staring at me because of herd mentality. Once they saw other people staring, they had to stare as well.

“She has origin essence!”

No. I have mana. And any magician in the pocket realm could do this with enough mana.

“If we dissect her, we could each have a little bit of her to study!”

Oi! What the hell!? Is this what I get for showing off? Save me, Lucia! Wait. Lucia’s not here. “M-Master.”

“Ahem!” My master climbed to her feet while radiating off qi. She was imposing, but I don’t think she’s as threatening as Lucia. Lucia’s qi has a bloodthirst mixed inside of it. My master’s is gentler even though it’s thicker. “Which one of you has designs on my, Bright Moonlight’s, personal disciple?”

All the alchemists, elders, and perverts who had their designs on me backed off under my master’s glare. When everyone averted their gaze, my master turned to me and swallowed. “Can I have a portion of your liver to study? Just one tiny portion and I’ll heal you right away!”

…I think I’m in more danger here than I was with Lucia. Is this what people mean when they say the grass is always greener on the other side? I miss Lucia already and it hasn’t even been a day since we separated. What is wrong with me? If Lucia were here, she’d have done much more than just threatening. Those people who coveted me would be robbed.

“You Greedy Poison Sect bastards tried to poison me! Prepare to pay with your life or all your life belongings!”

Like that. Exactly like … that. Lucia?