Starlight Life Of The Sage

"This pill," the Auctioneer's voice split the venue, stopping the rampant gossip and discussions, "Is one of our Main Three Events!"

All eyes turned towards the stage. Everyone there knew the rumors about a Perfect Soul Knight technique. They looked at the pill bottle on the display. A few members of the crowd tilted their heads to the side, and confusion ran rampant like a plague.

Many wanted to ask, "How is a pill even comparable to the Main Event of a Perfect Soul Knight technique?"

No one did ask, though. There were too many high profile people in the Auction House. Any slip of the tongue could end up offending someone who should not be offended at all costs. A deafening stillness washed over the crowd, and they waited for the Auctioneer to continue.

"I see some confused faces out there, hehe," the Auctioneer giggled, "Well let me tell you, this pill is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece provided by a Master Alchemist!"

A small murmur came from the crowd. A few people started to whisper again. Bolts of mana, Voice Techniques in their raw form, ripped through the air like lightning. The mention of a 'Master Alchemist' was enough to start a frenzy in and of itself.

There were only three known Master Alchemists in the Tin City, and not one of them would put a pill up for auction without bragging about it and turning their nose up to the general populace.

"This pill has rather miraculous effects," continued the Auctioneer. "You see, the alchemist who brought it actually brought two of them, so we could test out the effects."

Those words silenced the murmurs from earlier. The mana in the air froze, left hanging like a painting on a wall. Many people leaned forward in their seats.

Zara snickered from her balcony. She looked down on the overall atmosphere and, then, she looked behind her at the pile of goods she won through her bidding. She wanted to dress her teacher up in several of them right away, but she knew better than to interrupt her teacher's Weapon Refining.

She decided to get her entertainment by watching the ants scurry around the sugar cube she tossed to them, instead. Her c.h.e.s.t swelled as she took a deep breath and relished in the feeling of superiority… She was slowly getting addicted to it. She wanted nothing more than to get stronger, strong enough that she could look down on all of her sibling disciples.

For now, she decided to take what she could get. Her eyes glanced over to the tent set up next to her and her smile turned more profound, deeper, and a bit creepy.

-

Cara was in the middle of the most harrowing part of her Weapon Refinement. She finished all the individual parts, but now she needed to combine them without leaving weaknesses in the structure of the weapon.

Sweat formed along her brow as she brought the meat of the blade and combined it with the edge, using her mana to fuse the two together alongside the powers of the Refining Furnace.

Mana twisted into knots in the air and started to tie itself down. The elements of Fire, Air, and Earth were woven into a weave, and time seemed to stop.

Everything coalesced in that moment and Cara poured out her heart and soul into the weapon. She called upon her Earth Spirit to assist, and her Mana surged.

Cara, so deep in her focus, never noticed that by channeling all that energy, her own cultivation was nearing perfection. The First Crack on her core filled in more and more, until it reached the very top and the energy had nowhere left to go.

Cara's eyes shot wide open. She felt a terrible pressure on her vessel and she knew she messed up her calculations. She thought she'd be able to finish the weapon first before she broke through to the second Crack…

She did hundreds of mathematical calculations in her head over the next two seconds and, in that moment, she found her mistake.

Without an internal cultivation method her mental acuity still wasn't up to par, nowhere near her past limits. Her eyes bugged out further and she started to panic. She was in the middle of her refinement. If she broke through now she'd definitely ruin her weapon… But if she held off her breakthrough she would cause internal injury.

Cara only had a few seconds to make her decision on how to proceed. She looked at her nearly finished weapon and then down at her own body. She could feel the second Crack on her core starting to crown.

"FFfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuck me!" She roared as she grabbed the half-complete weapon and sat down in a lotus position.

"I'll do both!" Her voice roared out. She decided not to choose either option. She refused the false dichotomy and picked the hidden third choice.

Cara chose the way of thorns. She chose to go where there was no path, just like she did so many times in the past, and she sought to carve her own way forward.

"I wasn't called The First Paragon for nothing!" Her voice blasted through the folded space of the tent like a bomb.

-

"This pill will, in just a few seconds after consumption, turn an ordinary person into a full fledged knight," said the Auctioneer.

Everything went silent. Everyone's breaths were hitched, caught in their throats. The words they just heard were so surreal they couldn't be sure if they hallucinated them or not.

Several members of the Four Families present almost jumped from their seats as they thought of their talentless children, the ones they often sent away in foster homes in the villages of Southern Tin.

No one said a word. No one could find a single word to say.

A loud noise broke the silence. The door to the front entrance was kicked open by a massive force and a gust of wind blew several papers down between the aisles and seats.

A man stood in the doorway, a thick mana roiling off of him in the shape of dragons. He had platinum hair, a wide nose, and sharp eyes. His head almost hit the doorway on his way in because of how tall he was, most of his height coming from his long legs. He wore tight silken pants that showed off a rather obnoxious bulge, and his shirt had the sleeves ripped off, revealing his sculpted, sinewy arms.

The City Lord of Tin arrived.

"Now, that is a pill I would rather like to have," he said, his voice low and rough, like the rumblings of an old motorcycle engine.

The City Lord's accent was strange, different from every other one Zara had heard since she came to this new world. She rather liked it. She also liked him, because his appearance reminded her of Gen during his rebellious phase. Of course, Gen was a lot shorter, but they had the same sense of style and fashion.

Zara sensed three Paths she recognized alongside a new one she didn't from the City Lord. The New one was something she felt like she had sensed before. It wasn't the Mage Path, and it wasn't the Spirit Contractor Path either.

The power felt familiar in a strange way. It took her a few moments to realize that her Teacher possessed a similar (but much weaker) aura. If this aura wasn't the Spirit Contract or the Mage Path though, then what was it? Zara just couldn't quite put her finger on it…