Chapter 19. Future Pride.

In fact, we shouldn't worry so much about the past. It's no longer important who we were, where we come from, or who our parents were. All of that is in the past and will remain there. Now we are all novices, and our sect is a family consisting of brothers and sisters. We are on the path to immortality, a great future awaits us, and we should only look forward, not dwelling on the past... or on the dreams of others," Eyron spoke, adding the last couple of words after a moment of reflection.

"I didn't expect to hear such wise words from you, it's too an abstruse speech for me, but it sounds beautiful. Without looking back at the past. I like that," Fara said, savoring every word.

"I read a lot of books in my childhood, so I picked up a few smart thoughts from ancient writers," the giant Eyron shyly confessed, feeling embarrassed by Fara's intense attention.

By this point in the conversation, all the food had been completely eaten, and there was no reason to continue the discussion further.

"I suggest we conclude our lunch today on these wise words from Eyron. It was very interesting to get to know you all better. And now I'm sure that we all need to return to cultivation and preparations for the competition, as it will begin in just a few days. After that, we'll have plenty of chances to gather together again, have lunch, chat, and if any of us are lucky enough to achieve good results, even celebrate," Balron summarized the meeting.

After everyone agreed to get together sometime later and brief farewell, novices, not wasting any time, went about their business.

As Rand walked along the road home, he reflected on what he had seen and heard today. "Weed behaves and reasons nothing like a typical ten-year-old boy from the slums of the city. Moreover, he must have huge gaps in his memory, but they're hardly noticeable in his behavior. This could mean that he's actually a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, having lost his body in battle and, out of despair, inhabited the body of the boy he came across. That would explain a lot. From partial memory loss, which often occurs when changing bodies, to his overly mature and thoughtful behavior, and even to some extent, it would explain his inexplicable persuasion ability. For old men who have reached such heights in cultivation, it's not unusual to have various specific techniques with strange effects. But such a transference always leaves significant traces on the body, which are incredibly difficult to hide, and elder Minos or even Byron would surely have noticed it, and in that case, the sect would not have allowed the old monster to join the group of young novices. But I can`t completely rule out this option.

Another possibility is that he is a demon sent to the sect, disguised with the help of some technique or treasure. But while being a demon could still be hidden somehow, a high stage of cultivation is practically impossible to hide. So, if Weed is a demon, he must be no stronger than a mortal himself, but at the same time have a powerful patron, although for demons, the term 'lord' is more accurate, who helped him disguise himself.

These are the main possibilities of who he could be, but unfortunately, for now, it's all just theories on shaky ground, and further speculation about his origin won't yield any reliable results without additional information. At the moment, it's better to focus on the threat he may pose about which something is known. So it's worth thinking about his revealed ability a bit more… Even though it's not very strong and can only slightly push decisions in Weed's favor, even in this form, it can have a very destructive effect. But I'm sure it has many limitations, besides its weak influence. For example, why did deacon Gerhard continue to scold Weed nonstop for his terrible performance in martial arts? If Weed could influence him, he would surely have 'asked' him to stop or at least reduce the flow of criticism directed against him. Most likely, he simply cannot, at least for now, influence people with much higher cultivation than his. And that's quite logical; abilities that can ignore the difference in cultivation, especially such a large one, are just a legend. Probably, he can only influence mortals and with difficulty, cultivators of lower levels of the Qi Condensation stage. Also, why didn't he want to 'befriend' everyone immediately? Because he can't or because he's afraid the sect might notice something like that? This also needs to be thought about..."

Deep in calculations about pressing problems, Rand approached his home. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough information, and he could only make assumptions of varying degrees of accuracy. Such uncertainty greatly annoyed the former prince, who always tried to keep everything under his control.

Entering his home, Rand sighed deeply and thought to himself, "I need to set aside these thoughts for now and focus on training. I know too little. As for using a trump card to get rid of Weed once and for all, I'll think about it later."

After clearing his mind of all these unnecessary thoughts for the moment, Rand was finally able to return to practicing the Bronze Body technique. Once again, he retrieved from his ring and laid out on the floor the noticeably diminished bronze ingots, then lay down on them and began the required Qi circulation. And thus, Rand spent hour after hour in such practice, and then day after day.

Every morning, Rand attended classes, and after them he returned to his training. He limited his time for sleep and other necessary activities for his body to a minimum.

During the lessons, Rand hardly learned anything new, and nothing particularly noteworthy happened. All classes were dedicated to training the "Dancing Dragon" martial art. Rand was never paired with Lucius again; apparently, the deacon feared that another such battle might be too much for Lucius's ego to handle. Over the next few days, many managed to reach the Qi Condensation stage. Eyron and Balron were among them. After reaching the first stage, their gifts truly began to blossom. Eyron grew even taller; now his height exceeded two meters, and his strength was so great that few could stand against him. In training, he was mostly pitted against Rand, who defeated him through evasion and a better understanding of martial arts. As for Balron, although he reached the first stage almost at the last minute, a day before the competition, the amount of Qi in his body was no less than Lucius, who was already halfway to the second stage. The only anomaly was that on the second day after their lunch meeting, Weed unexpectedly showed significant improvements in the practice of the "Dancing Dragon" martial art, but he still had a long way to go before becoming the best in the group.

And so, on the last night before the competition, after many sleepless nights and intense training sessions, Rand managed to achieve the first level in the Bronze Body technique.

"Aaaah!" echoed through the house a roar full of both joy and pain. Rand jumped up from what were a couple of days ago recognizable as bronze ingots, now resembling thin sheets of the alloy. His skin immediately began to peel off, revealing another layer underneath. He felt like a snake shedding its skin. So, he immediately began to peel off the unnecessary layer. And when he finished, he was left with only new, shimmering skin of a pleasant bronze color. After examining his renewed self in the mirror, Rand pulled out his knife and tried to plunge it into his leg with all his might.

"Clang."

The sound of impact was more like the clashing of metal against metal than iron against human flesh. And unable to withstand the force put into the blow, the old, well-made knife shattered into multiple pieces.

"Excellent, I barely felt that stab, there is no question of any pain or scratch," Rand thought as he examined the result. He then conducted several more tests, studying his new state, and in the end, concluded, "As written in the technique, my skin has become like bronze, but it has not lost its elasticity. In combination with the increased concentration of Qi in the body, this gives me durability significantly exceeding the limits of the alloy."

For the next several hours of the night, Rand was not idle, content with his success. Instead, he continued to work on something beneficial. Unfortunately, he couldn't continue training in the Bronze Body technique for now, as he didn't have the means to heat the bronze to several hundred degrees, and there was very little left of it. To start training the second level, he would have to buy some more bronze somewhere and then find a place to heat it. And to solve these problems, he would need time, which he didn't have. So he reasoned that it was best to postpone this for later. And now, Rand decided to return to cultivating the Mythical Blood method, although he couldn't cut himself due to the lack of a blade suitable in strength and sharpness, so he wasn`t able achieve the maximum effect, but such cultivation still brought tangible benefits. One of his teachers once said, "Every minute of cultivation is important; miss it, and the lost time won't come back." And another teacher constantly told him, "If you don't know what to do, go cultivate," steadfastly following these pieces of advice brought Rand nothing but benefit in life and largely helped him become one of the strongest in his generation.

And Rand spent the rest of the time before the start of the competition cultivating, and when dawn came, he got up and set off to the stadium, where all the action was supposed to take place. At the entrance in front of the stadium, he was greeted by deacon Gerhard and several other novices from Rand's group. Over the next few minutes, all the missing ones came up. And when the whole group of fifty-one people stood before their teacher, Gerhard, he spoke:

— Before we go in, I'd like to say a few words to you. I do not supervise the competition in any way, as there is a possibility that I am not impartial towards you, although this is not the case. I'll just be an observer. You will find out the conditions, as well as the rewards, already there, on the spot. But I can say one thing, they are worth your full effort in the fight for them.

If you do not perform in the best way, then you should not despair too much, such competitions are the norm for our sect and they take place quite regularly. There will also be several significant figures in the observers with me, and if you show your best side and you are lucky, then there is a chance that they will take you as a personal disciple. I think I've said enough to make you understand everything that you need. And now go ahead, the future pride of the Fire Dragon Sect, show what you are capable of!

"Well, let's see what this "future pride" of the Fire Dragon sect really is capable of in actual combat, and not on giveaways during training. The past "future pride" did not impress me when I was a child," and with this thought not too kind to others, Rand entered the stadium.