"Bark! Bark!" Fenrir barked furiously as he saw Leo running ahead of him. Although he used all the viable power on his limbs, it was still impossible to catch up with the figure. Instead, the distance between them only increased after Fenrir stumbled against a few rocks.

After a few seconds, they both reached the finishing line, with Leo emerging victorious for the first time.

"I won" For the first time after the incident, a genuine smile formed on Leo's face before he fell to the ground, exhausted.

"You won earlier than I expected. Not bad," Cale said as he looked at the smiling boy.

'It seems like his anger has finally calmed down a bit. I think this is the best moment to push his Qi training further,' Cale thought.

"It's nothing special, I just won against a wolf," Leo casually sat in the lotus position, but before he could start absorbing the white energy, Cale stopped him by saying, "Stop Leo, I'll tell you how to use the white energy today."

"Huh, I thought I was already using it? I've gotten so much stronger and faster," Leo muttered in confusion.

"You're wrong, Leo. As you already know, the energy you absorbed is called Qi. By pushing it into your body, your body will be cleansed of all impurities. Therefore, strengthening it" Cale explained, causing Leo to prick up his ears seriously.

"However, general strengthening is only a small part of Qi's true potential. Since you've been exerting it in for a few days already, you must have felt this tingling inside you, like something wants to come out, right?"

"Hm," Leo nodded in response since it was indeed true. Albeit faintly, but Leo did feel something within him.

"It's called True Qi. That's the actual energy that has decided to stay inside of you and something that you can use anytime you want. You just need to command it to move to a certain part of your body." Cale finished his explanation.

'Command it?' Leo closed his eyes for a moment. Almost immediately, he felt the tingling in his body and, without binding it, moved it towards his palm.

'Impossible,' Cale inwardly cursed as he felt the Qi in Leo's body sway slightly. In the entire five days that he had been training this little monster, he had become more and more shocked.

'Is he really just a simple child?' Cale wondered. At the current rate, this boy would only need a few more days to reach the rank of an early disciple. A feat that would be hard for even the most talented individuals to achieve. Unlike divine powers, which could be awakened by everyone and hardly depended on the genes, Qi cultivation was entirely based on talent.

'Maybe it's because of his emoti--'

Bang!

A sudden shaking of the ground forced Cale out of his thoughts as he immediately tilted his head forth. Leo stood on the spot with a deafening smile on his face. Several cracks scattered under his feet, explaining the reason behind the loud bang.

"You're really making progress," Cale said, trying to sound as natural as possible. Cale didn't want to boost Leo's confidence too much, since he was still at the beginning of his cultivation journey.

"That power...that's what I need" The corners of Leo's mouth twitched up wickedly.

'Should I really continue teaching him?'

That was the only thought that awoke in Cale's mind after seeing the evil smile on Leo's face. Initially, Cale wanted to make this boy a member of his army and use him as one of his pawns in the war against others. However, with the current state of affairs, it would be extremely difficult to control such a person later on. In the end, the two of them might even meet on two different sides.

'No... I shouldn't worry about something like this. He might have an incredible talent, but I have this screen and those light spheres. Even after hundreds of years, he wouldn't have the strength to stand against me,' Cale reassured himself. In the end, even those heaven-defying talents and noble families would fall to their knees before Cale. Hence, someone like Leo would only be one of the figures that would help him achieve his final goal.

"That's enough for today, we need to move on," Cale said.

"We've been walking for three days now, and we still haven't made it out of this forest. Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Leo asked while retracting his hand back, "Why are we even going to this kingdom? Didn't you say we were going to focus on making me stronger?"

"Leo, what's the fastest way to get stronger?" voiced Cale, ignoring the questions Leo had asked.

"Um...train...hardly?" Leo muttered, pausing sometimes to consider his words.

"No, the fastest way to cultivate is to use rare materials to aid you, and that's the reason we're going to the Kingdom," Cale explained, before the atmosphere around him changed imperceptibly, turning slightly mischievous, "Besides, I've got some personal business to take care of in the Kingdom."

"Whatever, old man. You know better," Leo sighed before turning his back to the warrior, no longer interested in talking to him.

'Old man?' Cale's hand formed into a fist after hearing the boy's words. Seeing Leo disregard him and walk away broke the last straw in Cale's mind.

"Fenrir, since you didn't win the race today, you're probably feeling extremely hungry right now, right?" Cale asked with an inner smile.

"Nnnn?" Fenrir immediately stood up after hearing Cale's words while wagging his tail.

"I'll give you a snack if you..." Cale began to whisper in Fenrir's ear, who listened earnestly as his hair stood up in excitement.

-

Standing by the placid pond, Leo glanced around the perimeter, his gaze once again filled with hatred. As he trained, forcing that energy into his body, Leo tried to suppress his true emotions deep within his soul since it was easier to train without any useless thoughts.

"Friends...rest assured...I will destroy that futile Kingdom" Leo said with his eyes closed, enjoying the sparse breeze that hit his face.

Chomp!

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in one of his buns, sending a shiver down his body. With a shocked expression, Leo looked at the attacker, and after seeing a little wolf biting his teeth further into his skin, he yelled, "What the hell are you doing Fenrir!! Go away!!!"

Leo tried to push the little beast away, but the pain only agitated further. Unwittingly, Leo took a step back as the ground disappeared beneath him. With nothing to support them, they both fell into the lake, landing awkwardly face forward.

'That worked better than I thought it would,' Cale smiled inwardly as he watched the teenager disappear into the dirty water.