Douglas stared at Kiron with a shocked expression in his eyes, “But… You’re only of the 2nd rank! They guy who broke my legs is at the 6th rank of the Profound Practitioner Realm!” Douglas immediately saw that Kiron was only at the 2nd rank.

Kiron laughed, “Don’t you worry about that! Just trust me!” As Kiron said that, he picked Douglas up “Don’t lose your grip now!” Kiron said with a smile on his face. Douglas couldn’t understand why Kiron would say that, he’s only at the 2nd rank.

Kiron jumped to where Robin was standing. Douglas who was barely holding on to Kiron, was shocked out of his mind. Someone at the 2nd rank of the Profound Practitioner Realm was able to jump 20 meters with a person on his back? Impossible! Robin couldn’t help but laugh after seeing the shocked expression on Douglas’s face.

It was still bright outside, the sun was shining down on the forest.

“Hey Douglas, what’s it like in a sect?” Kiron asked with a curious voice. “A sect? It’s like a family! Everyone treats each other like brothers and sisters, there are rarely any conflicts within a sect, and when there are they will be resolved quickly.” Douglas continued, “But sects don’t get along with other sects for some reason. Whenever two different sects meets up, there will always be some fights breaking out.”

Robin had a hint of amazement in his eyes, “How long have you been in the Burning Phoenix Sect?” Robin who had always been dreaming about entering a sect finally got the chance to ask some questions about what it was like to be in a sect.

“I was born and raised in the Burning Phoenix Sect, since my father is an elder there. But I didn’t start training until I became 6 years old.” Douglas looked towards the sky, “But recently our sect has weakened… The kingdom asked every sect to send some of its members to their base near the borders. The Kingdom of Tranos might go to war with the Kingdom of Iostaria… But our sect members were killed by the Kingdom of Iostaria, so our sect is now weaker than what it was.”

A war between Tranos and Iostaria? This obviously shocked Robin and Kiron. They had never heard of any war between the two kingdoms, “Wait slow down! A war between Tranos and Iostaria might happen? Why?”

Douglas looked at Robin with a hint of regret on his face, “It’s supposed to be a secret, but the kingdom’s are fighting over the Divine Tower!” Douglas continued, “The Divine Tower is a tower built by the immortal gods from the higher realms, it’s said to contain heavenly treasures within! That’s all I know about the Divine Tower.”

Immortal gods? The divine beings who exist in the higher realms? Kiron had read about them, but had always imagined they were just some work of fiction.

“I’ve also heard some rumors, but I’m not sure if these are true. I’ve heard that there are 13 keys, one for each person to enter.” Douglas continued, “But then again, these are just rumors. If any of this information spreads to the other kingdoms, then we might be looking at another big war between the kingdoms!”

Kiron stopped up for a moment, “Hey Douglas, are you in a rush to return to the city?” Kiron turned his head, he recognized this place. It was the place where they had previously found the squirrel, meaning that the Silver Wolves’ cave should be nearby.

Kiron wasn’t the only one who had noticed this, Robin noticed the small cave where they had found the squirrel.

“In a rush? No, as long as I return today, everything will be fine!” Douglas really wanted to go home, but he felt that it would be rude to ask them to walk him back to the city first. When you’re given a hand, don’t take the arm.

Kiron smiled, “Great! Let’s go find those Silver Wolves!” as he spoke he started walking.

… Tale and laughter could be heard from the 3 boys as they walked towards the Silver Wolves’ cave… “We’re here!” Kiron said as he was pointing towards the cave.

Kiron put Douglas down on the ground, “Hey Douglas, do you mind if I borrow your short sword?” Kiron didn’t want to go hunting with his small iron knife.

Douglas took the short sword out of its sheath and handed it over to Kiron.

“Thanks!” Kiron took the short sword from Douglas’s hand.

He started walking towards the cave, hoping that it wouldn’t be empty. He thought back to the moment when he had first encountered the pack of Silver Wolves… He was so scared back then, but now… Now he has strength! He has more confidence, more courage. He’s confident that if he were to meet the pack of Silver Wolves again, he would be able to kill them all!

He stood next to the cave entrance, peeking inside.

One, two… Seventeen! Seventeen Silver Wolves were gathered inside the cave. “None of those Silver Wolves are higher than the 5th rank! Let’s kill them all!”

As Kiron spoke, he charged inside the cave with Robin by his side. The Silver Wolves saw Kiron charging at them, they instantly got up.

Kiron slashed his short sword, killing a rank 4 Silver Wolf with just one strike. “Amazing! He is clearly at the 2nd rank of the Profound Practitioner Realm, so how can he be that strong?” Douglas had picked up a stick and walked towards the cave. He could see everything that was happening clearly with his own eyes.

Behind Kiron there was another Silver Wolf of the 4th rank. The Silver Wolf pounced itself towards Kiron, ready to slash his neck off. “KIRON! Behind you!” Douglas shouted with all the air in his lungs.

But, it was too late. The Silver Wolf’s claws had already connected with Kiron’s neck. “What... What is this?” Douglas saw the scene with his own eyes, the Silver Wolf had clearly connected with his neck, but its claws was only able to leave a small scratch on Kiron’s skin, a small drop of blood appeared from the scratch on his neck. It felt like he had been bitten by a mosquito, no pain whatsoever.

Kiron turned around and kicked the Silver Wolf in its head, exploding it… The other Silver Wolves saw the scene, and they immediately started running towards the exit, but to their surprise, Robin was already standing there.

*Grrrr*

The Silver Wolves were starting to panic. In their small moment of hesitation, Kiron had already killed 3 of them. There was now 9 Silver Wolves remaining, 2 of them being at the 5th rank, 1 of them at the 4th rank and the rest being at 2nd or 3rd rank.

Robin exploded forth, swinging his sword at the Silver Wolf of the 4th rank. He wasn’t able to kill them as fast as Kiron could, but he was still able to kill them without much effort. Kiron and Robin killed the rest of the Silver Wolves.

…

7 Mid Ranked Cores and 12 Low Ranked Cores!

“Seems like coming out here wasn’t such a bad idea after all.” Robin had a wide grin on his face. He remembered how he had to convince Kiron to come along.

Kiron looked at the cores, “I’ll take 3 Mid Ranked Cores and 6 Low Ranked Cores, then you’ll take the rest, okay?” As Kiron said that, he put the cores into his bag. “That won’t do. You did most of the work, so you should take the extra Mid Ranked Core.” Robin said with a self-deprecating laugh.

… Robin and Kiron started arguing about why the other should receive the last Mid Ranked Core.

“Okay, how about this, we give the extra Mid Ranked Core to Douglas. He had a core, but it was stolen from him.” Kiron continued, “Besides, he was kind enough to lend me his short sword!”

Robin nodded in agreement, even though there was no point for them to hand the Mid Ranked Core over to Douglas, it would still be the right thing to do. Both Kiron and Robin believed that you should help a follower cultivator whenever you have the chance to do so!

Kiron took the last Mid Ranked Core and handed it over to Douglas together with the short sword he borrowed from him, “I can’t possibly take this, I didn’t do anything!” Douglas didn’t want to be a person who receives things from others without giving anything back. “You already let me borrow your short sword, which I used to kill the Silver Wolves! You should take this!”

Douglas hesitated for a while before finally nodding his head in agreement.

“Anyways, we should go back to the city! I want to reach the 3rd rank before the tournament begins!” As Kiron said that he helped Douglas up, giving him a shoulder to lean on while walking back to the city.