An trained his spiritual awareness on Sol’s condition and monitored it with vigilance. Ever since the girl first told him about the cultivation method altering itself, he was rather hesitant to allow her to continue. Despite that, he knew the Lady was rather unique and thus let her continue.

He paid careful attention to the girl as she neared the limit of her soul. He could tell she was close and so knocked on the wall of the carriage. “Take camp for the night. We’ll continue in the morning.”, he ordered the driver and then returned his attention to the meditating girl.

The carriage came to a standstill and the clatter of pots and gear whispered through the carriage door. An distracted himself and alighted the carriage. He waved his hand and the carriage was enveloped by both his spiritual awareness and a series of runes that muted sound.

He then left a few words with the Knights before leaving the side of the road. His footsteps carried him into the shallow areas of the forest until he found an area he considered suitable. Raw magic collected near his hand before An pressed his palm to the ground.

Subtle rumbles scared a few birds from the nearby trees however there was nothing else to alert the surroundings. The rumbles continued for a few minutes until An withdrew his hand covered in sweat. His pallid face was scrunched up as if disappointed in himself.

“This plane is so troublesome. Such a simple matter consumes so much magic. It’s no wonder this plane is dead.”, he complained to no one in particular. An shook his body and a shimmer ran across his skin ejecting the moisture and dirt from it.

His spiritual awareness examined the results of his efforts and he was rather pleased. He soon returned to the camp and called out Duke Reviarra. The first few words that dropped from his mouth left the Duke flustered.

“I need to spend the night with Sol. Keep the Knights here until we return.”

“Wai… Wait! Wait! Wait!” Duke Reviarra quickly halted An with a firm grip on his shoulder. There was a smoldering gaze leaking from the man and it drove a chill down An’s spine. Had it been any stronger, An might have thought this old man caused the sensation he felt earlier.

“She’s underaged. It’s too early for her!”

An pried the Duke’s hand from his shoulder while responding. “It’s never too early. This is a good chance to show her a new world. Who else is going to teach her?”, he asked with a rather helpless appearance. Duke Reviarra wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Was he the strange one? No, he couldn’t be. It was this kid that’s strange.

“Her mother can teach her. You don’t need to teach her yourself. This Duke won’t allow it!”, the Duke nearly yelled in rage. An was rather clueless what the Duke was going on about. “You and I both know Duchess Reviarra can’t teach her this. You certainly can’t either. Who else is more qualified than me? What are you unsatisfied with?”

“What…I…No… No! That doesn’t matter! This Duke won’t allow it. If you want this Duke’s daughter, you will go through the appropriate measures and court her normally! This Duke has already allowed you two enough leeway! This Duke can ignore the rumors and impropriety, but this Duke cannot allow his daughter to be wronged like this!”

An could nearly swear he saw flames congealing from the Duke’s reddened eyes. Rather, he suddenly understood what the Duke was going on about and started laughing. “Duke Reviarra, you’re misunderstanding. Who in their right mind would want to lay that demon? I’m taking the Lady to finish her first step in cultivating. In order to prevent mishaps, I’m taking her to an isolated area. Hahaha!”

He couldn’t stop laughing. Only his master was insane enough to bed a woman like Sol. Unlike the Duke, An could see through Sol’s disguise. Prim and proper on the surface, sure. Dig past that facade though and you’re left with a cold and calculating woman with a penchant for revenge and grudges.

He wanted to bed that woman? What a joke. He continued to laugh to himself while walking away from the Duke unaware that the man was infuriated at him for another reason now. Then again, it was unlikely An would care even if he knew.

After reaching the carriage, An dismissed his protections and immediately felt a burst of magic from inside. His laughter halted and he nearly tore the door from its hinge after slinging it open. Sol was unconscious on the seat sweating heavily.

All blood seemed to have drained from her face and her brows were furrowed as if she were in extreme pain. “Shit!” An took the girl in his arms and flickered from view. He raced through the forest edge and slid to a stop in front of a small artificial hill.

Stepping through the small cave entrance, An invoked a few runes to provide light to the small adobe. He laid Sol onto the softened dirt and started inspecting her girl’s soul in detail. At a glance, it was obvious to An that Sol started the refinement step herself.

As it was her first time, Sol was unaware of the process to actually refine her soul. All she understood was the basics described to her before she entered meditation. An couldn’t help but curse in his mind repeatedly over Sol’s stupid decision.

They made a deal for the girl to top off her soul and allow him to guide her through the first refinement. If she failed, it’d be the same as committing suicide. Despite his anger at her, there was more worry than anything else.

The process already started and Sol’s soul was a mess. Because she started in a nonstandard way, An could only watch helplessly. He was afraid to interfere and break whatever state Sol was in. Rather than provide the girl with an unexpected interference, he’d rather watch over her and let her flounder through it herself.

“Girl, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, then know you’ve started the refining process. This one can’t help you through it anymore. However you triggered this, you need to push through to the end. If you stop half way, you’ll die.”

Surprisingly, Sol could, in fact, hear An. Initially, Sol never wanted to kick off the refinement process. There was no need to tempt fate when she had An beside her as a guide. Despite that, she was too distracted analyzing her cultivation model when the process kicked off by itself.

Sol only felt her body lose its strength before she collapsed with a fever. Her body temperature instantly spiked and her spiritual awareness drew inside herself like a turtle. She had an uncanny view of her soul and instantly noticed segments of it ignited with a silver flame.

The magic she painstakingly collected was being consumed by that flame and it gradually spread across the rest of her soul. Once An’s words entered her ears, Sol was somewhat at a loss. Push to the end? How? She didn’t even know how the process kicked off to start with.

Without a guide or knowledge on how to proceed, Sol fell back to the one thing she knew. Within her mind, she called up The Unchained Queen Beast cultivation method and started cycling it with all her might. Pain spread across her body as if mirroring the flames consuming her soul.

Trails of silver fire reached around her soul and dug in wherever it touched. The searing pain failed to distract Sol though as she cycled the method more and more. Refusing to let the pain consume her, Sol pressed on with sheer will power and started using her spiritual awareness to apply pressure to her soul wherever it was ignited.

Like pressure to a wound, the pain lessened each time. Although she couldn’t understand if it was actually helping or not, the momentary dampening of pain was enough for Sol to continue the action. Each burst of pain was followed by her spiritual awareness pressing against the soul.

Sol felt as if she were plugging holes in a burning boat, however she no longer cared if it was helping or not. The pain was no longer something she could withstand. The momentary relief lured her into repeating her actions.

Layer upon layer and section by section of her soul was ignited by the silver flames then quickly patched up with her spiritual awareness. The tit for tat continued for what felt like hours until Sol noticed the flames were slowing down.

She was exhausted. Her soul felt empty and there was a sense of exhaustion that extended beyond her body. The flames soon flickered once more before extinguishing. Sol patted the last area and before she could even think, her mind went blank.

An watched the girl’s inner struggle from the side the entire time. Initially, he was terrified because the refinement started without the girl doing anything. As soon as he saw the magic cycle in her system from the cultivation method, he felt a little better.

Despite that, the situation only grew worse. The cycling magic carried the refinement process to other areas of her soul and the girl seemed to ignore it. It was only after Sol applied pressure to the first area that An let out a breath of relief.

Even if the girl didn’t understand what she was doing, at least she managed to start the refinement process. An smiled as the process continued and soon completed. He could tell the girl blacked out, however there was a sense of pride that welled up inside him as well for some reason.

After blacking out, Sol was unaware of her surroundings, however An watched with a bright smile as the surrounding magic rushed towards the girl with an unnatural strength. The process continued for nearly an hour until the flow slowed down. Sol finally completed her first refinement.