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

"Azmond? What of what I said made you so happy, if I may ask?" Aqua asked Azmond 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." Azmond 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?" Aqua asked Azmond with a puzzled look.

"Oh, I did! That is what excited me the most!" Azmond replied with a large grin on his face and his hands clenched tightly.

"Oh... I see" Aqua responded with a surprised look on her face.

Azmond suddenly remembered something important that he was going to ask.

"What are the cultivation realms in this world, Aqua? I never learned of anything after the Golden Core Realm." Azmond asked 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 your high combat power shown in that fight earlier..." Aqua asked with a shocked look.

'Wait... I was so completely lost in my own world earlier that I forgot about the obvious fact shown right in front of me. Azmond looks to be around a 12-year-old boy, 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 to herself with a confused face.

"What realm are you currently in, Azmond?" Aqua asked with curiosity and a bit of kindness in her eyes.

"I am in the Quantum Qi Condensation Realm." Azmond replied with a small smile.

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

'What is a Quantum Qi Condensation Realm?' Aqua thought to herself as her beautiful blue eyes stared at Azmond, expecting a serious answer.

'Oh Yeah... I forgot that the Quantum Qi Condensation realm is not something that everybody in this world goes through, hmm... I will just tell her that I am in the Qi condensation realm then. I don't want her to think I am a nut job or something weird like that.' Azmond thought to himself.

"That was just a fancy way of saying the Qi condensation realm, haha." Azmond saved himself by passing it off as a joke.

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?..." Aqua asked with a nervous look on her face. She was hoping with all her heart that Azmond wasn't secretly an old monster who changed into the form of a young boy just to play with her heart.

'Hmm. How old am I, huh? I can't exactly tell her that I haven't even turned 2 years old yet. So what should I do? I look around 12, so I will just go with that for now.' Azmond thought to himself.

"I will be turning 13 years old this year." Azmond replied to Aqua with not a bit of truth. 

"12 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??" Aqua shouted with a look of disbelief, but deep down, she was ecstatic to hear that Azmond was close to her age.

"Hmm... it just does? I mean, I am living proof of it, am I not? This should be pretty normal in this world, right?" Azmond spoke with an incredulous look.

A look that said he felt everything he said sounded completely normal. it's not like he revealed that he's actually a 2-year-old in a 12-year-old's body, so all should be fine, right?? He didn't understand Aqua's overreaction.

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

"Yep, yep, it is the most normal thing around. I guarantee it." Azmond spoke with a kind smile on his face towards the princess, like a devil whispering in an innocent lamb's ears.

"Wait just a second! You're lying to me!" Aqua yelled back to Azmond with a look that said she wouldn't fall for his tricks so easily.

"Tsk." Azmond clicked his tongue at his failure to convince the princess with his bullcrap.

"Look at my face." Azmond spoke to the princess with a kind smile as he pointed his index finger toward his face.

"Does this look like the face of a liar?" Aqua took one look at the face of Azmond 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.

"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 responded with a very logical statement.

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

Aqua almost fell for it, but she remembered something that disproved Azmond's statement.

"But I am at the peak of the Qi 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 Azmond with a cute, knowing look.

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

"Huh?" Aqua asked with an even more confused face.

"I said you guys were weak, so maybe you should just get stronger," Azmond responded with a serious look.

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.

"Anyways, since I answered all of your questions, it is only fair that you answer all of my questions, isn't it?" Azmond asked Aqua, with a solemn face, to change the subject.

"Fine, I guess so, though I won't be letting this matter go that easily." Aqua replied with a pouting chipmunk look on her cute face.

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!" Azmond said with a teasing voice. 

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, though, 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~?" Azmond spoke with a gentle smile on his face as he scanned over Aqua's face, looking for a reaction. 

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 as he teased the princess a bit and started to back away from her.

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 Azmond knew that about her.

It even made a small, giddy grin appear on her beautiful face. That was until Azmond started to back away from her.

"But I am still going to need you to tell me about those realms now." Azmond said with a teasing smile on his divine features.

Aqua was glad that he backed away, but she was also slightly... Disappointed? Women are complicated beings to understand.

"The realms of Asterion, in order from 1st to last, go like this..." Aqua responded with her disappointed look still showing through her serious-like facade.

"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 is divided into 4 minor realms as well, with those minor realms being The |Early, Middle, Late, And Peak| stages." Aqua responded with a cute pout as she was expecting something in return for getting all those words out in one go.

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.

"I see... Thank you again, Aqua... Though I should really be going on my way now that I have all the information I need." Azmond said this to Aqua with a genuine look of gratitude and a small, gentle smile on his handsome face. 

The once joyful Aqua became devastated when she heard what Azmond 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 Azmond with tears falling from her eyes. 

Her long, beautiful hair covered her lowered face as she spoke the last part while biting her lips down hard, as blood began to drizzle down her perfect red lips.

"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." Azmond spoke to the still-crying Aqua with a kind and gentle smile on his attractive face.

He suddenly appeared next to her and leaned down to pat her on the head.

"I don't understand... Can't I just follow you then?" Aqua asked Azmond, who was still petting her, with an expectant look on her tearful face.

"You can not." Azmond soon crushed her expectations with his words.

"Why?..." Asked the still-crying and confused Aqua.

"Because my path is a long and dangerous one, and you are not strong enough to walk alongside me on it, and more importantly, I am not strong enough to guarantee anyone else's safety on this path of mine. I am too weak." Azmond spoke with a disappointed look.

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.

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 is 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, but deep down, she knew—she knew—that what Azmond 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 be next to Azmond. 

".....I understand..." Aqua responded with a devastated look.

"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 spoke with a teary voice.

"This talisman will allow me to know when you are close to the Royal Capital of AquaRing, so don't lose it, ok?" Aqua asked with a sad look on her cute face as she forced a smile and said her next words with a resolute face.

"I will not stay this far behind you forever, Azmond... 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." Aqua spoke with a lovely smile on her now determined face.

"I see... I look forward to the day when that happens." Azmond spoke with an unusually jovial smile on his face 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 you stay safe and sound on your way back home, and don't worry, I left enough of it along with some of my body's essence. Even your average Early Golden Cultivator won't be able to harm a hair on your head, so stay safe until next 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 we meet...'

Aquas thought to herself as she felt the protection insurance that Azmond left behind for her entered 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 Azmond disappeared.

She then 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." Her melancholic voice echoed out.

one last time with a loving and... obsessed?- Smile on her face before speeding up and disappearing into the distance as well.