Chapter 5

We had been training for a month, and everyone had Cultivated to the peak of basic Cultivation. My classmates had been strengthening their magic too, but I had nothing to do with that. Gramps also told us what the stages of the Holy Path were. It started with the Basic Human Body, with twelve layers to its cultivation in which you strengthen and establish a foundation for your body. After the sixth layer, you can also reinforce your bones and flesh using magic. After The Human Body Stage, you can move on to the nine layers of the Light Endorsement Stage, God's Disciple, and finally, Immortal. After achieving complete mastery of Immortal, you can transcend, but no one has accomplished that feat in the Human Realm in over ten thousand years.

"Hey, Zeph! Are you daydreaming again?" A voice called from behind me. I turned around to see that it was Emilia. She sat down beside me, and I felt a tingle.

"Well, I was just thinking about what Gramps had said about cultivation. I really wanna try hard to exceed his expectations." I explained.

Emilia giggled. "Y'know, sometimes you act like an old man." Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head. I screamed at the intensity of the pain, but before I could react, it was gone.

"Zephyr!" Emilia cried out in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yea… I guess." I barely got my words out.

"What? Is the loser trying to gain attention by pretending to have a headache?" Another voice called out to me. It was Jonas. Ever since he and Lucas had gotten used to this world, they had picked on me just like they used to in school. They hated me because I was friends with Emilia, whom they both were head over heels for.

"Looks like it to me. He wants Emilia to care for him as much as she can." Lucas smirked.

"Shut up, you two. I would never do such a thing, you believe me, right, Emilia?" I asked.

"Of course, those two are idiots; don't mind them, Zeph." Emilia smiled. I felt a tiny bit of comfort, which I had never felt since I arrived here. Lucas summoned a wolf. He could control Warrior Grade Beasts now, which was one Grade Higher than the weakest, Minion Grade.

"If you don't wanna die, kneel!" Lucas thundered.

"Hey, Lucas. Calm down, will ya?" Jonas whispered. "We don't wanna get Elder Arthur mad at us." Lucas pushed Jonas and charged at me with his summon. I dodged his first strike and punched the wolf, it winced in pain, and I charged at Lucas. As my fist was about to connect with his face, gramps appeared out of nowhere and caught my fist. He then proceeded to beat the absolute crap out of me for the next thirty minutes. Emilia tried protesting, but he didn't listen. After he stopped hitting me, he healed me and yelled at me for a long time.

"Why would you try to punch him in the face? I thought I was precise with my words that fighting without permission was prohibited in XianXu Sect." Gramps thundered.

"I'm sorry, gramps. I promise that it will never happen again." I promised. I didn't want to tell him about his summon because he would never believe me and because I ain't no snitch.

"It better not, or I won't leave you with minor bruises," Gramps warned. I said goodbye and walked over to my room. When I reached, I saw Emilia standing in front of the door.

"Emilia, what're you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I felt terrible that you got punished for something you didn't do, so I brought over food I made."

"Wow!! Really?!" I yelled. I asked her to come inside and eat with me, but she said she had something to do and only came here to give me the food. Well, more for me, I guess.

The next day, Gramps started teaching us how to cultivate through the Holy Path. He told us what to do again. Lucas was the one to go. First, it took him ten minutes, and when he came back, he had a white aura surrounding him.

"You have succeeded. What God did you make the contract with?" Gramps asked.

"Artemis." He replied. I thought so. Since Artemis is the goddess of all wild animals, it'd be natural for him to form a contract with her.

Mr. Andino was next. He formed a contract with Hephaestus. Emilia formed an agreement with Boreas. Jonas did it with Pan, and Zoe did it with Notus. Then came my turn. I wondered which God I would get; hopefully, I get Zeus. I closed my eyes.