17 Farewell...

Deep within the Great Wildlands Forest in the Divine Sun Province, Azmond was seen staring off into the distance with a large smile on his face as the Princess of the AquaRing Kingdom was gazing at him with a look of longing.

"Azmond? What of what I said made you so happy, if I may ask?" Aqua asked with a lovely smile on her small, beautiful face.

"Oh? I was just thinking of the potential strong enemies I could be fighting right now," he replied honestly.

"Did you not hear the part where I said that their strongest person, their King, was at the very peak of the Gold Core Realm, if not half a step in the Nascent Soul Realm?"

A puzzled look appeared on Aqua's face as she asked Azmond a question that would usually fill one with apprehension.

But contrary to her expectations, he turned his eyes in her direction before he replied, "Oh, I did! In fact, that is what excited me the most!"

"...I see..." Aqua mumbled with a cute, surprised look on her face.

....

"!!" Azmond suddenly remembered something important, so he asked, "What are the cultivation realms in this world, Aqua? I never learned of anything after the Golden Core Realm."

His voice echoed out with an anticipatory look as his voice increased a few levels in excitement when he thought of the future realms he would achieve sooner or later.

"Oh? I thought you would've already known about something as basic as that, considering the high combat power you displayed in that fight earlier..." She muttered with a slightly shocked expression.

Aqua had assumed that he had already had a clear grasp on the cultivation realms of Asterion, but apparently she was mistaken.

'Wait, I was so absorbed in my own emotions earlier that I forgot about the obvious fact shown right in front of me...' She thought to herself while her eyes observed the young-looking appearance of Azmond.

'He looks to be around twelve years old, so how was he able to swat around those Core Formation Realm scumbags with one slap?? something that even my Core Formation Realm Guards were unable to accomplish...' Aqua thought with a baffled expression.

She pondered over the matter for a second before curiosity consumed her as she turned her dazzling blue eyes up and asked, "What realm are you currently in, Azmond?"

A small smile appeared on Azmond's face as he replied, "I'm in the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm."

"The what??" Aqua questioned with a look of astonishment.

'What is a Quantum Qi Condensation Realm?' She asked herself as her beautiful blue eyes stared at Azmond expecting him to follow up with a serious answer.

'Oh Yeah... I forgot that the Quantum Qi Condensation realm is not something that everybody in this world goes through...' He thought with an awkward smile.

'Hmm... I will just tell her that I'm in the Qi condensation realm then. I don't want her to think I'm a nut job or something weird like that.'

An uncomfortable look appeared on Azmond's face as he thought about how he should go about responding.

After a few milliseconds of contemplation, he said, "That was just a fancy way of saying the Qi condensation realm, haha~"

Azmond saved himself by passing it off as a joke.

"..." It was a ploy that Aqua didn't believe one bit, but decided to let it go for now and ask a more pressing question.

"How old are you, Azmond...?"

Her melodic voice was followed by a nervous look emerging on her face, as she was hoping with all her heart that he wasn't secretly an old monster who changed into the form of a young boy just to play around with her heart.

.....

Meanwhile, as Aqua was patiently waiting with trepidation, Azmond was thinking, 'How old am I, huh? I can't exactly tell her that I haven't even turned two years old yet. So, what should I do?'

He thought over how he should respond for a moment before he thought, 'I look around twelve so I will just go with that for now.'

And he went with just that, as he replied, "I'll be turning thirteen years old this year."

"Twelve years old?!?" Aqua blurted out.

"Twelve years old, and yet you can already beat multiple cultivators in the Core Formation Realm while still in the Qi condensation realm?!? How does that make any sense??" She shouted with a look of disbelief.

However, deep down... she was ecstatic to hear that Azmond was so close to her age...

......

"It just does," he began.

"I mean, I'm living proof of it, am I not? This should be pretty normal in this world, right?" Azmond ended with an incredulous look.

He had on a look that said he felt everything he said sounded completely normal. It's not like he revealed that he was actually a 2-year-old in a 12-year-old's body, so all should be fine, right??

If one looked at it from a certain perspective, then they could assume that Azmond had been cultivating for eleven months and spent every waking second cultivating up to the Qi Condensation Realm.

That was of course, excluding the fact that his combat power was utterly absurd...

....

"I see... Is it normal?" Aqua asked herself with an almost convinced look.

"Yep, yep, It's the most normal thing around... I guarantee it!" Azmond spoke with a kind smile on his face.

It was almost like he was a devil whispering in an innocent lamb's ears...

Aqua looked at that expression he was making and was almost fooled, but she was able to snap out of it at the last instant as she shouted, "Wait just a second! You're lying to me!" 

"Tsk." He clicked his tongue at his failure of convincing the princess.

Azmond was about to give it up and just leave the area and play a father's disappearing act, but before he did, he thought he ought to try one more thing as he said, "Look at my face."

A kind compelling look appeared on his chiseled features as he spoke to Aqua with an index finger pointed towards his face.

"Does this look like the face of a liar?"

"..." Aqua took one look at his face and completely lost her train of thought as she got sucked into those sapphire-like eyes of his.

"I suppose not..." Aqua responded with a slight blush on her face as she quickly averted her eyes away from Azmond.

However, her slight embarrassment didn't mean that she was done with him yet, as she said, "But that still doesn't explain how you were able to do all those things at your age and cultivation level."

Aqua wasn't willing to let this go that easily, as she asked a very logical question.

"Potatoe Pototoe, those green piggies were just too weak. Anybody could've taken them out just as easily me if they were strong enough," Azmond replied with a straight face.

"..." She almost fell for it, but she remembered something that disproved his statement.

"But I'm at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, and my guards were in the Core Formation and Foundation Establishment realms, and even all of us combined couldn't hold a candle to those goblin mercenaries. How do you explain that??" Aqua asked with a cute, knowing look on her face.

"That's because you guys were all weak... isn't that obvious?" Azmond responded with a face that wondered if this girl wasn't the brightest person around.

"Huh?" Aqua questioned with an even more confused expression.

"I said you guys were weak, so maybe you should just get stronger," he repeated with a serious voice.

"..." Some of the things this man said aggravated the princess a little, but when she saw that handsome face of his, she forgot all about her grievances.

When Azmond saw that enamored stare she was giving him, he knew that he was close to fooling her, so he struck preemptively and said, "Anyways, since I answered all of your questions, it's only fair that you answer all of my questions, isn't it?"

"..." Aqua snapped out of her reverie before she mumbled, "Fine, I guess so... though I won't be letting this matter go that easily!" She added with a pouting chipmunk look on her cute face.

Nonetheless, regardless of her feelings, she fell for his topic change, hook, line, and sinker!

"Sure, sure! You can ask me all the meaningless questions you have on your mind later!" He responded with a teasing smile.

"Y-You..." The princess chipmunk's cheeks got even cuter as she stomped her right foot on the ground in an adorable way and turned her head to the side.

A slight blush appeared on her face soon after as she turned her head back toward Azmond, only to see him not even a few inches away from her face.

"So... what are the cultivation realms in this world, Aqua~?" He asked with a gentle smile.

He scanned over Aqua's face, looking for a reaction, which he got without even trying as the princess hurriedly backed away and spoke the next words with a small, meek voice:

"...Stay back... You are too close... I am a princess of the AquaRing kingdom... I can only have close physical contact with my future husband," she said with a deep blush on her cheeks.

"Oh~? A princess, huh? I didn't realize I was in the presence of royalty," Azmond responded with a sly grin on his face.

"!!" That was when Aqua realized that she accidentally let something that she should've kept a secret slip, but for some reason, she didn't quite mind that he knew that about her background. It even made a small, giddy grin appear on her beautiful face.

At least, that was the case until Azmond started to back away from her.

"But I am still going to need you to tell me about those realms now," he added with a teasing smile.

"..." Aqua was glad that he backed away, but she was also slightly... Disappointed?

Women were complicated beings to understand.

.....

Nonetheless, in spite of her disappointment, she said, "The realms of Asterion in order from first to last, go like this..."

She went on to narrate that the Realms of Asterion went in order, starting with Body Refinement --> Qi Condensation --> Foundation Establishment --> Core Formation --> Golden Core --> Nascent Soul --> Soul Transformation --> Void Refining --> Unity Form Synthesis --> Transcending Tribulation --> Mahayana, and every Major Realm was divided into four minor realms as well, with those minor realms being The |Early, Middle, Late, And Peak| stages.

Not all of the realms were split up into Early, Middle, Late, and Peak; however, the vast majority of them were.

.....

The Divine Devil Arts 1st and 2nd sections only ever mentioned the realms up to Golden Core, so Azmond honestly had no clue of what lay beyond those realms, but now he finally had a clue of how much farther he had to go to reach the peak of the world of Asterion.

.....

Aqua finished her oration with a cute pout, as she was expecting something in return for getting all those words out in one go.

And, fortunate enough for her, she got just the response she wanted, as Azmond said, "I see... Thank you again, Aqua... Though I really should be going on my way now that I have all the information I need."

A genuine look of gratitude and a small, gentle smile appeared on his face as he spoke with a solemn voice. 

"..." The once joyful Aqua became devastated when she heard what he said, as she put her head down with her hair covering her face.

"Won't you come with me, Azmond? Did I do something wrong...? Do you hate me...?" Aqua asked him with tears falling from her eyes as her long, beautiful hair covered her lowered face as she spoke the last part while biting her lips down hard.

*Drip Drip*

Blood began to drizzle down her perfectly red lips.

"..." Azmond gazed down at such a tear jerking sight as he softly said, "You did nothing wrong, and I don't hate you, silly girl. I just have my own path to follow, just like you have yours..."

A small, gentle smile appeared on his attractive face as he suddenly appeared next to Aqua and leaned down to pat her on the head.

"I don't understand... Can't I just follow you then?" Aqua asked him with an expectant look on her tearful face.

However, Azmond soon crushed her expectations with his words, as he said, "You cannot." 

"Why...?" Aqua asked with teary eyes.

"..." He thought over how he should answer her question without completely breaking her fragile heart.

And it didn't take long before he replied, "It's because my path is a long and dangerous one, and you're not strong enough to walk alongside me on it. But more importantly, it's because I'm not strong enough to guarantee anyone else's safety on this path of mine."

"I am too weak..." He added.

Azmond's words echoed out with a disappointed look on his face—not disappointed in anyone else, but disappointed in himself for not being strong enough.

He got a little cocky after his winning streak, but deep down he knew... he knew that if he met any random Nascent Soul Cultivator who wanted to take his life, then he would have no power to resist, and he refused to put anyone else in harm's way because he wasn't strong enough...

This especially became the case when he heard that the being who put a target on his back was probably the King of the Goblin Kingdom, a being who was suspected of being half a step into the Nascent Soul Realm.

.....

"..." Aqua understood what Azmond was saying, but that didn't mean she liked it.

She wanted to be beside Azmond; she wanted to be closer to him, she wanted to better know him, but deep down she knew...

She knew that what he said was the truth. She wasn't strong enough, and she knew it as well.

The last event with the goblin mercenaries shoved that hard fact right into her psyche, but that didn't change the way she felt about wanting to deepen the connection she felt with Azmond. 

However, regardless of her feelings on the matter, she steeled her nerves and mumbled, "I understand..."

"...But before you go, please take this talisman with you and visit me in the AquaRing Royal Capital if you have time."

Aqua forced the talisman into Azmond's hands as she wiped away her tears and continued speaking with a strained voice:

"This talisman will allow me to know when you are close to the Royal Capital of AquaRing, so don't lose it, ok...?"

A forced smile appeared on Aqua's cute and tear-stained face as her words sounded out.

"I wi-" Azmond couldn't even finish his response as Aqua interrupted him, saying:

"I will not stay this far behind you forever," she began with a resolute expression.

"I will one day walk alongside you on the path you walk, as my path will lead me right back to you. I guarantee it," she ended with a lovely smile plastered on her face.

"I see... I look forward to the day when that happens," Azmond replied with an unusually jovial smile after he heard Aqua's words.

"I will come to visit you in the not-so-distant future, so make sure to leave your doors open for me when I do come by, alright?"

Azmond teased Aqua one last time before he bid her farewell and continued along on his journey, but not before saying one last thing before he left, as he had a gift to give to her as well.

"I will leave a bit of my spiritual Qi with you... so stay safe and sound on your way back home, and don't worry, I left enough of it along with some of my excess soul essence. It's enough that even your average Early Golden Cultivator won't be able to harm a hair on your head," he said.

"Until next time we meet, Aqua."

Azmond's voice resounded across the forest as he slowly started to fade away and disappear into the distance, heading east.

.....

'Till next time we meet...'

Aquas thought to herself as she felt the protection insurance that Azmond left behind for her enter the area around her heart.

"So warm..." Aqua spoke out loud as she put both her hands to her chest in a loving way and looked into the distance where he had vanished.

After a few minutes passed, she turned her head in the direction of her kingdom and started walking back home with thoughts of gaining more strength occupying her mind as a determined look emerged on her beautiful face.

"We will meet again soon, Azmond." She mumbled to herself one last time with a loving and obsessed smile on her face before she disappeared into the distance as well.