Starlight Life Of The Sage

Cara looked inwards to her own cultivation. She cycled mana through her body and felt it flow through every part of her, through her skin, her muscles, her bones, and her heart. A tremendous power surged just below the surface.

Cara could feel the first Crack in her Core filling with mana. Every time she cycled her Jade-Dragon Technique her power amplified further, her cultivation churned harder. Her smooth skin became glossed and more perfect in design. She cut an impressive figure as a young woman, and it irked her. She still couldn't foresee a way to change her gender back, at least not with the abilities she had on hand. She could only focus on getting stronger, instead.

It wouldn't be long before she could attempt at forming the second Crack, but she didn't want to take that step yet.

Every crack she formed would limit her lifespan. Cara wasn't certain how long it would take to train up her Weapon Cultivation, but she feared cutting her own time short. If she let her Paths get too far out of sync then she would have a hard time balancing them in the end.

To walk the Paths the furthest, one needed to walk all of their respective paths at the same pace for the best results. If she ran down her Outer Cultivation Path, she'd have a hard time seeing the way forward for the others… Just like Arc did with his own Weapon Cultivation.

Cara both admired and felt pity for her strongest disciple.

To walk down a single path would limit oneself in the end, no matter how powerful they became in the meantime.

Balance was the most important thing. Cara knew that better than anyone.

-

Zara returned to find her teacher cultivating diligently. She couldn't articulate her own feelings at their current situation. Her teacher never knew her real personality, her intense d.e.s.i.r.e to protect her loved ones, her loving and caring nature…

Zara shook her thoughts free before they went too far down a tangent. She recognized that, if her teacher couldn't even see through *her* personality (despite her being rather open with it and Gen trying to warn everyone all the time), then her teacher surely wouldn't be able to see through the other disciples… Let alone through the intentions of any traitor among them.

Zara was certain. There *was* a traitor among the Twelve. Her teacher wasn't taking the situation seriously enough.

Zara shook her head and, while watching her teacher's cultivation, was reminded just how powerful the mana of this world was for Outer Cultivation. She remembered her teacher's words from before, too:"I just need to get really, really strong in this world before going back home."

It sounded stupid, even childish, but Zara started to see the wisdom in it. Couldn't she, herself, just train her Outer Cultivation in this strange mana-rich environment until not even Arc would be able to stop her? Then, wouldn't all of her sibling disciples need to rely on *her* strength for protection? Perhaps she could even reform the traitor...

Zara saw the light for the first time. Protecting and caring for her teacher wasn't the ultimate goal; it was only the first step. Zara could see her own path open up, a path where she could become the strongest of all the disciples; a path where Aria, Arc, and Tuku would become *her* little siblings. *She* would become the Big Sister!

It didn't matter the world one lived in, strength was all that mattered. With power she could grasp everything she ever wanted in life.

Zara smiled and sat down, driving her own cultivation further. The two women spent the better part of the afternoon reinforcing their realms.

-

"Are you certain?" A young man asked. He was dressed in a red robe and wore the insignia of Twin Birds. He was the 9th Prince of the Eastern Empire, the land of Wings.

His older brother died under attack from a beast in the forest just outside of the Tin City, and now the responsibility for running the Auction House fell on his shoulders. Unfortunately, the 9th Prince had other things on his mind.

"That's right, my Lord," said a kneeling man, a knight in the Houtian Rungs. "An informant told us they are set up in an inn right in our Wide District."

"Good, good," murmured the Prince under his breath. "That girl, according to Thane, was stronger than him. That makes her a Broken Soul Knight. Someone that young…"

"Should we send some men to surround the inn?" Asked the kneeling knight.

"No. I'm going to go get a few of the elders at the Auction House instead. I want to bring this up to them. You lot wouldn't be able to do anything to that woman if she's as strong as I fear. She embarrassed me earlier, but that doesn't mean I can lose my cool again," the Prince started pacing as he put a hand to his chin. "If she's that strong while being so young, it means she must have some fierce background. We need to be careful about drawing her ire. Had I known earlier, I wouldn't have snapped at her."

The Prince thought about the girl in the patchwork robes and his lips curved into an upwards arc. "That girl, if she wasn't wearing such ugly clothes, would be rather beautiful too…"

The first thought the Prince had was of the Four Families of Tin. The girl had features that matched one of them... Rather than petty revenge, the Prince thought to abuse the newfound 'prodigy' in another way.

-

Inside the Dixon Family estate, the strongest of the Four Families, an old man sipped on a glass of fine wine. He had long white hair that tapered off his face in thick locks and a bulbous nose. Despite looking to be quite advanced in age, his body shimmered with powerful muscles.

"You're telling me," said the old man, "That you think the Stonelights lost daughter, this Cara, has a master from beyond the Northlands?"

A teal-robed mage kneeled to the side and nodded his head. "That's right, sir. The men from the Empire, the ones searching for the fate of their 7th Prince, had a measuring device that read back an overflow error."

"They willingly shared that information?"

"Of course not," replied the teal mage with a sly grin. "I possess the best information gathering spells in the entire Zeitgar Family guard."

"Young Stalsen," said the old man with a genuine smile, his teeth shining like diamonds in his mouth, "From now on you are no longer a Spy for the Zeitgars, but instead a Spy for the Dixons. Welcome to the family."

Stalsen, the teal-robed mage, bowed so low his forehead touched the stone floor. "Thank you, Sir Dixon."

"Is that all you had to report to me?"

"No, Sir. I had a guard placed on each of the entrances to the city since this happened. I just got a report a few hours ago. The girl and her master are in the city and, according to a different source, are staying at an inn in the Wide District."

The old man rubbed his chin. "Do the Stonelights know about this?" He asked.

"No sir. I thought to report to you, instead."

"What an outstanding move, young Stalsen. We can get the girl before them, maybe marry her off to a man of the Dixon house…"

The door to the antechamber opened; a messenger burst in.

"Important letter for the Dixon head!" The messenger cried. He collapsed on his face out of breath, having run a long ways to deliver the letter.

"You dare interrupt…" The old man started to yell but cut himself off when he noticed the insignia sealed in wax on the letter, an insignia of two birds crossing in flight.

"Bring it here, quick, and get out!" The old man's voice thundered in the small room. The messenger wasted little time before vanishing.

The old man opened the letter and frowned. He kept reading and, after a moment, his frown turned into a scowl.

"The f.u.c.k.i.n.g Empire's new brat!" He bellowed. After a moment of thought he turned to his brand new spy. "Stalsen, I'm going to write a letter. I want you to deliver it to that Cara girl and her teacher. We'll do it fast. News about the girl is spreading."

"Your wish is my command, Sir!" Stalsen replied.

The wheels of fate turned in the Tin City.