Kairos and his father Vouno sat down before a tiny wooden table with only an old candle for a pathetic amount of light.

The boy told him everything that had happened during the exam.

The Orc King’s return, him becoming the commander of the red team, Calculus – heir of a high-ranking noble family – trying to assassinate him, and even the unbelievable appearance of the immortal Old Ye.

There was nothing that he left out.

Amongst the things that Vouno heard, it was what happened when Kairos decided to save Alucard’s team that had haunted the boy to date. It was a difficult decision to make.

He risked his entire team just to rush to the aid of another, and though he saved five young nobles, he lost three of his own men; Sieg, Luk, and Xiu Xiu.

His father was not surprised by such a turn of event knowing the temperament of his boy. There was no way Kairos would’ve done nothing knowing that people’s lives were on the line.

Not only him, but it was also the same for the others in his group. As commoners who lived in difficult conditions, which of them had not hoped for aid when danger approached?

The weak and the poor knows that sometimes only way they could survive was to rush to each other’s aid at the swiftest speed. As such, they were all prepared for the worse when rushing the enemy, and Kairos knew that. But it still took Vouno a lot of effort to help him lessen the guilt he felt.

They were unlike those that would choose to use others as a distraction and run away themselves, like what Calculus did.

Nor did he did it to earn favour by helping the young nobles or even for self-gratification. Kairos realised that it was his Dao that led him down this path. It was a simple choice of doing the right thing. An action without any reasons other than it was correct.

Considering the risks they took, it was a great victory to preserve the lives of so many, and Vouno was immensely proud of him.

His father was not surprised by all by how things turned out. Instead, his surprise is by how his boy was capable enough to do this.

“You little rascal, were you hiding what you can do in the past? You were always standing behind your friends back in the past and running around with them. I’m your dad, and yet you’ve kept me in the dark all these while! HAHAHAHA”

A brilliant smile could be seen on Vouno’s face as he smacked Kairos hard on his back. Anyone here at this moment would be able to see the raw joy he had.

…..

After the death of his wife, Kairos is the only one she had left behind for him.

It is a sudden illness that struck her and brought her away, and for a poor couple like them, they could not afford those fancy things called mementoes. In their house, there is not a single personal article to remember her with.

Even Saint Empire’s culture to at least keep a drawn picture, the only portrait he had of her, had already been worn down by time and is no longer recognisable.

Of course, it is not often that the picture faded away so easily but only because the materials he could afford to draw the portrait is on a ridiculously cheap canvas with ink that he had mixed himself. It is quite impressive how poor they managed to become.

Their family actually had a small pig farm that was passed down from their grandparents, but this business had somehow failed in the end.

After his wife left, this boy has always been the pride of his life. His appearance and even his every action are so alike his late wife that they have become gentle reminders of the best years of his life.

…..

Looking at the pride on his father’s face, Kairos smiled contently before taking out the old tome. The old leather book of the Origin manuscript.

It is the answer to everything that happened during the training grounds. He quickly explained how his overall abilities had risen from practising the martial arts inscribed on the tome. And as before, when he talked about the selfless cultivation, he kept to himself how he had connected to the very Earth and the heavens itself.

There were significant improvements that thoroughly shook Vouno.

Kairos’ mental capacity increased exceedingly, he now absorbs heavenly energies easily as though he held command over them, and he even entered the legendary Heavenly Path Marital Way.

Besides these changes that immensely increased his potential, he also developed a couple of incredible abilities after learning the way to manipulate his life energy; to sense one’s surroundings with Soul Perception, temporarily increase combat prowess with Origin Infusion, and to aid healing on others by transferring Origin Energy.

Furthermore, when Kairos learned to cultivate the different elements, he discovered a strand of pure elemental energy that appeared within his body looking like a dragon and resides in his Dantian.

When he revealed this to his father, even Vouno who did not graduate from Saint Cadets academy knew it is a peculiar thing.

While there might be rare cases where a practitioner’s internal energy take the shape of a powerful beast or even the form of a rune and appear in one’s Dantian, but there was never was a case where he had heard of anyone’s internal energy becoming sentient.

And it is precisely because the Dragon Ki can think and act with its own will that it tends to treat foreign energies as intruders to its home and tries to subdue them. This has made the ranking up process – something that is supposed to be the most dangerous time for any practitioner - to become something much safer for him.

When his father heard what this cultivation method could do, his mind seemed to fail him.

Just by these abilities alone, would have placed Kairos’ cultivation method among the top even in the realms above, but at this time, they did not know what it means to have the Origin Cultivation Method.

The strange thing is that the technique written in the Origin Manuscript seemed to be created for Kairos, but looking at the tome, it is obvious that it is ancient; probably even predating the Saint Empire.

So when Kairos taught it to his friends, it felt unsuitable and had to alter the cultivation technique. Fortunately, the right way to make those changes will somehow come to him naturally every time.

Afterwards, his son continued to tell him what happened with Xuan Xian and how the Dragon Ki transformed rolling pin, as well as those weapons he sold during the trade fair.

The twelve years old boy had created a sentient weapon thanks to the elemental dragon Ki. It was one that could change the future of warfare.

The creation of such a weapon is remarkable, but Kairos knew the trouble that comes along with it would be just as great. As the captain of Snowdrifts, he had weighed the benefits against the cons and saw the good things that would come by selling such a weapon. Those benefits, including earning money and forging relationships with high nobles, are things that the Snowdrifts sorely require, and urgently so, which was why he decided to take on the risk.

But when Vouno heard all these, he disagreed.

“Boy, you did a foolish thing to submit your engraved weapon for the trade fair, and an even more foolish thing to create a weapon that counters the seal weapon. You will only attract vultures this way.”

“Esteemed father, you are right, yet it is the only opportune way to fund the group. I believe, for now, things should be on a delicate balance for I have not yet picked a side.”

Vouno shook his head once again, “The vultures will cycle for certain, but they will not wait for long.”

Vouno then smiled and looked at his son in the eyes before adding, “However, a young man must seize the day, your father always says that you should focus on creating the future instead of perfecting the present. If you always tarry to avoid risks, you will turn into an old man like me before you know it. Go forward and seize your day son, even if the sky falls, your father will hold it up for you.”

Even if his son is to grow into a mighty practitioner, in his eyes – as a father - Kairos will always be the same little boy he carried in his arms.

“Father, I have some things I want to show you,” said Kairos as he summoned his black gold Swallow and with a plop let it fell onto the table, “this is the refined weapon I did at the trade fair.”

His father picked it up but because he is clueless about runes he quickly placed it back down after taking a glance.

Vouno curiously waited, knowing that there is a purpose for this. Then Kairos pulled out two tiny figures from his pockets and gently dropped them onto the table.

“And…these guys appeared when my refined weapon broke.”

Two adorable tiny dragons that are only as large as one’s thumb sat obediently on the table with wide eyes looking at Vouno.

Unlike Aisa’s appearance, with four powerful limbs and a large pair of wings behind her back, the two looked like snakes with a flaming dorsal sail on its back. The only difference between the two is their colours. One of it is in light blue with a frosty aura about it, and the other is reddish-golden like the colour of a setting sun.

“D….dragons?! Actual dragons?”

The land wyrm that is hiding underground right now may have a draconic bloodline, but it is extremely diluted. However, the forms of the two tiny figures on the table are definitely pure-blood dragons, or perhaps, something superior.

The differences within the dragon descent are huge.

There are many types of dragons, and their decedents come in all shapes and sizes. Those beasts like the wyrms, wyverns and serpents can only be considered as false dragons.

In the Mortal Realms, a pure-blooded, or true dragon, is rarely seen and most of them are found from eggs. In fact, they are largely considered extinct because not a single one had appeared for over a century.