Walking up the stairs to his room, Luke was feeling quite good about himself. A few hours have passed since his friendly chat with Xiao Yun and Xiao Lingxi, and he considers at least he made a good impression on them.

Part of it came from his reasonable conversation skills, but another part came in the form of a small blue ghost girl.

'Honestly Spooky, this curse is basically a cheat! And you also came up with pretty good topics to lead the talk. But...why did you even decide to get this curse in the first place? That mansion wasn't the friendliest of places. And for that matter how can this even be considered a 'curse.'" Luke had to ask since the more feats Spooky perform, the more he got confused about her.

In his world, most supernatural enthusiasts lacked the courage to ever go in her mansion, and the ones who do are never to get seen again. Presumably, he assumed they got killed. It was shady in his mind, and this so-called curse seemed more like a superpower in retrospect.

'Um, there's a lot more to this curse than what it seems. But you, you can't control anything about it now. And I'm limited on my abilities with it. For the rest, uh... I'll tell you about it some other time.' Spooky told Luke, being very tight-lipped on this subject.

And towards the end of the response, she seemed a bit melancholy at the end. Perhaps it was because of the connection she has with his soul, or he still holds some sort of gratitude for her, but Luke didn't feel right hearing that sad, somber tone.

Despite all recent events fresh in his head, it just didn't sit right with him, so he frankly said,

'I can tell you don't want to talk about it, you don't really know me, nor do you have a reason to trust me. That's why if we're going to be together for the long run, I would like it for us to get to know each other better. Would that be alright with you?'

'O-oh, ok, let's just, hey! We've arrived.' Spooky, hearing Luke's sincere and honest tone, felt a bit warm from it. It caught her by surprise, but with her far more experienced mind than Luke, she was confirming that it was because of their soul connection.

Though looking pass the soul connection, she honestly couldn't admit she didn't dislike such feelings.

Luke had arrived in front of his room, but even he could tell, Spooky somewhat indirect confirmation of wanting to form a better relationship with each other. Smiling a bit, Luke knocked on the dead informing his cousin,

"It's me, Andy." After a few seconds, he heard a clicking sound and let himself in the room. Inside the room, Luke was remarking how truly similar it was to an affordable motel.

The design leaned more of an ancient one, but there was two comfy bed and another room that lead to a washing area. It was ideally suited for anyone that needed a goodnight rest.

On one of the beds, he spotted his cousin leaning back on it with her eyes close. Though she had turned her head when he came it and opening her eyes, she threw him the keys telling him.

"Lock the door. So how did your talk with those Xiao guys go?"

Doing as she asks and locking the door, Luke went to bed, resting on top of it while telling her,

"Pretty well, all things considered. Mainly because of Spooky, I was able to lead throughout the chat. What about you did you only just took a nap up here?"

"That and I spoke with Yurei about...some things. But besides that, are you sure we can work with those two? You should be the clearest on a smiling snake." Andrea asked and, towards the end, made Luke remember, uncomfortable memories that didn't need to get recalled now.

Shaking his head, he responded to her with,

"Trust me; those two have gentle natures. So far from this universe, while everything about the structure and cultivation is different, and the people vary vastly compared to what is normally seen, important characters are left with their original personality intact. But that God might've even changed something about that, so for now, let's be wearily cautious."

Luke hypothesizes as he still couldn't understand God's intention of making the universe this way. Looking at this verse so far and how people acted, it was akin to a more medieval sword and magic Japanese light novel but with a massive splash of Xianxia.

Though that Kungyun guy will forever be a mystery to him as he just doesn't fit no matter the genre.

"Alright then, at least they will be helpful as effective weapons for all those Nascent or whatever beasts. But now there is an important issue we need to discuss, after this, I can tell you're planning on those two inviting us back to their clan. So what's even is our goal? I couldn't care less about achieving some true god status, but I also have no intention of dying or wasting this life for mediocrity again." Andrea brought a big point that gotten both cousins to think.

What was their goal? At first, they moved out of that cave simply not to get stuck, but what was their underlying motivation. Luke thought back on everything to his limited first life full of lukewarm dullness. He was mindlessly going day by day, barely surviving as it was his body instinct.

And only during supernatural related events could he feel more interested and dedicated to something although he couldn't precisely relate it to happiness. Comparing this to the short time he has on this reality, he can admit he had been in awe and wonder more times than he ever had been on his world.

Further thinking upon it, he also could admit the concept of living in a place where actual power legends exist, and all kinds of exotic beasts roam the world, gave forth to some form of anticipation. It leads his train of thinking to one thought that he could never actively pursue in his last life; experiencing new things.

"Maybe we don't really need a goal at all? I mean, look how far we could live in our last life. We barely scrape by and ultimately fell under the average joe department of life. But what always did gave us a rush even if you try to deny it was the supernatural. And look, now that we're in this endless universe, let's experience all that we can in it! Didn't you feel cloud nine when breaking through? Wasn't it fantastical to walk through that vibrant forest? Didn't your blood pump when squaring off against that bear? Like that God said, we can find happiness here! Through good times and bad times, we can finally live our life to the fullest and experience everything we can! We have no limits now!" Luke passionately finished off as he even got himself pumped up when talking.

Yes! It was time for them to take their life in their own hands, finally! Who cares about God's plan?!

Andrea had finally felt something burn in her heart; a will actually to try and live out her desires!

"Alright, alright, Luke. I'll admit you certainly got me excited. While I can't lose this skepticism, I can say I want to see what this universe has to offer. My blood tingle when fighting, my mind wonder observing the vibrant forest and ancient town, I do want to see it all! Though on that front, I can tell power is essential when walking around here, and we're going to have to work hard to get it. Are you ready for that?"

"Haven't we worked hard all our last life to scrape by? I'm prepared to do it again if it means we can actually enjoy ourselves in the long run." Luke determinedly said as he was far more clearer on what strength means in this world.

Even in medieval fantasy magic settings, strength means a lot, and it comes in all kinds of forms. But the most significant way of it all is personal strength!

'So if you mean that, I think we can breakthrough again.' Spooky had suddenly spoken up in Luke's mind.

'From his and your words, let's advance again then.' Yurei calmly stated in Andrea's mind.

When both of the cousins was igniting a passion for living inside them, the ghost girls notice the essence of energy inside their body was becoming more frantic. It was all getting poured into their fifth Profound entrance, and the ghost girls saw it as a perfect time to advance again.

That and they as well felt something stir in their minds as they connected with Luke and Andrea's passion.

"Ah! I feel it too, it's like my body is on adrenaline! Let's do it, Spooky. Andrea, I'm sure Yurei said the same thing about advancing, right?" Luke said as he got into a cross-legged position. Looking over he notices Andrea copied his style in sitting and she said with a smirk,

"No need to tell us twice. I'm not even hungry anymore because of this process."

Like last time Spooky made it possible for Luke to sense and absorb essence energy by harmonizing with his soul. Now that she could, she would typically rest inside Luke's enormous soul that he was unaware of having.

And when cultivating, she would inject her senses together with Luke, allowing for a fast cultivation speed! Luke felt a mass rush of essence energy pour into one spot in his veins that was a like black hole for it. The process was smooth and easy for the two and after a few minutes,

'Ka-Cha!'

Glass breaking sounded in Luke as his fifth Profound entrance was open! It was akin to a large hole in his veins, and once again, Luke felt his body energized and become refreshed.

Opening his eyes, he cracked his neck and looked towards Andrea, who had also finish advancing to the fifth level of the Elementary realm.

"So since we're most likely going there after we're done here. Where do those Xiao guys come from anyway?" Andrea asked now more curious about their origins and what kind of lifestyle they live.

"Ah, well interestingly enough Xiao Lingxi originates from a town name Floating Cloud City while Xiao Yun was originally born in that city but got taken away from there. It's a long story, but he got taken as a baby to a place called the Illusory Demon Realm. We probably won't make it to the Demon Realm for some time, but for the Floating Cloud City, we would be going to the Xiao clan if they take us back. And from the differences so far, the Xiao clan would be a good starting point for our journey, they should have some good stuff being a clan and all." Luke explained, and Andrea nodded. She laid back down closing her eyes stating,

"I see, looks fairly promising then. I need my beauty sleep for tomorrow; you should probably try resting too." Lying down as well, Luke was preparing to sleep, but first, he still had one more thing to say to Spooky. Because of his new mindset and motivation, he called to Spooky with,

'I'm looking forward to our journey, Spooky.' The inclusion of Luke telling her this made Spooky a bit happy, as he started to recognize her as apart of the team.

'I-I'm looking forward too...'

….

Bright and early in the morning, Luke and Andrea was sitting around where they first met with the Xiao's talking waiting for them to come. Both felt brand new after last night's discussion and was now anticipating going to the mountain.

There weren't many as adventures crowing around in the inn compared to use, and Luke presumed they all went out to the mountain already.

"So you're telling me at high levels we could soar through the sky like birds and shit out nukes from our hands? No wonder at least in the original version of those novels, these people are far crueler. Hell, anyone in our first-world people would dominate it if they get their hands on that kind of power." Andrea stated in wonder. These great magical feats fascinated her, and the lore behind this power was intriguing as Luke list off whatever he could remember from those novels.

"No kidding, I'm glad this universe isn't one to one with theirs. Who knows what would've happened, especially given we have such little prowess."

"Ah! Luke, Andrea, you're already-Ah?!" The cheerful Xiao Lingxi called out to them but got shocked once her senses picked on their auras.

"Didn't expect to see you two so-Ah?!" Xiao Yun was similarly shocked once his senses picked up on the cousins.

The reason for their shock is that they had suddenly advanced to the fifth level of Elementary Spirit Condensation! Just yesterday, despite how small their senses was in the Nascent Origin realm, they could sense the two had just broken through to the fourth level because of the disorder density of the essence energy gather in their fourth Profound entrance.

And yet out of nowhere, they only needed one night to advance again?!

From their knowledge, not even top tier geniuses could achieve such a feat! They needed at least another month to reach the next level. Added on to this was the fact already in the Elementary realm, they have this extraordinary Spirit Sense!

"H-How did you two made another breakthrough already?!" Xiao Lingxi asked as they near the cousins.

"Hm? Oh, this? Well, it was pretty recent since we first enter the Elementary Spirit Condensation realm, but for every level, we always could achieve something as quick as this. What's wrong?" Luke told a half lie as he guessed their speed in cultivation would've astounded the two.

His goal for this whole trip was to build himself and Andrea up as geniuses so they would have an easy time accepting them. And his results were beyond expected as Luke and Andrea wasn't keyed in on crucial detail.

Which is there was no official age limit on when one could enter the Elementary Spirit Condensation realm. With the right bloodlines and talent, one can start from either three years old or even twenty years old!

And going by the cousin's appearance for this new world, they looked younger, not much older than the average sixteen-year-old. Furthermore, here, the norm for people entering the Elementary realm was usually fourteen to fifteen.

From Luke's words, the Xiao's got led to believe both cousins were just late bloomers, and despite being late, it already seems they have a talent for cultivation!

"N-no, nothing wrong. It's just for even clans geniuses they would need time to comprehend essence energy and open up their Profound entrances. But for you two, it just comes so naturally..."

Comprehend the essence energy? Luke was confused on that front since the guide he got didn't detail anything like that. But he chalked it up to Spooky being able to skip the comprehension part for a quick breakthrough.

"Well, don't mind us even with this speed, even a peak level Elementary beast can piss on our corpse easily. So ready to go?" Andrea crudely said while standing up, getting the two Xiao's to take their mind off from the cousins' shocking speed.

"Right while we may have this, you two will be the true heroes in collecting these herbs. We're ready when you are." Luke stood while smiling, and Xiao Lingxi looked at him, making a decision in her mind, giving him a cute smile back.

"Right! We're ready today we're bound to gain great profits!"