Knock. Knock. Knock.

Haze opened his eyes. He had already been holed up in this room for the past 2 months.

"Come in." Haze replied calmly. He had already fully recovered from the backlash of Lightning Body.

"Excuse me, Young Master." Mystra said as she opened the door and closed it behind her.

Haze put on his clothes and sat with Mystra. She had brought their lunch.

"What realm have you reached?" Haze asked as he ate a mouthful of meat.

"I've reached the Middle Qi Refining realm! Isn't that amazing, Young Master?" Mystra spoke with excitement in her voice. "What about you?"

"The Middle Qi Refining realm." Haze said casually. "I'm about to reach the High Qi Refining realm."

"Impressive!" Mystra was shocked.

'The Lightning Immortal Technique was modeled after my body, it's not that impressive. In fact, it is a little disappointing.' Haze sighed. "We're going to need more than mere Qi Refining realm cultivation to win the Escoile tournament."

"You were serious about that?" Mystra raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. Elder Sister Alexis wants me to win it, so I will wipe out all the opponents." Haze said arrogantly.

"Can you really do it, Young Master?" Mystra looked at Haze with worried eyes.

"…" Haze simply looked at her before smiling slightly. He finished his food and looked at her again. "I'll teach you the 1st skill of the Lightning Immortal Technique, Lightning Body. If you can achieve top 100 in the tournament, I'll teach you the secret skill."

"I'm participating too?!" Mystra spit out the soup she was drinking. Her face quickly paled as she got up to wipe his face. "I'm sorry, Young Master!"

"It's alright." Haze chuckled as he stopped her and took the handkerchief to wipe his own face. After returning it, he turned serious. "Mystra, you aren't my servant anymore. You're my friend, while also being my subordinate. I can afford having a weak servant, but I must prove to people that my subordinates are not weak!"

"Y-Yes, Young Master." Mystra quickly nodded.

"Let's get back to training." Haze nodded with satisfaction. 'If only Rae could've joined us, seems she's diverting more towards Blasius's side. Seems like she only wanted to be a "Falon's woman". Good thing that I got rid of her early.'

The duo went back to cultivation. They spent a week training before someone came for a visit.

Bang!

"Surpr-"

The happy man opened the door with a kick but was interrupted by Mystra's shriek.

"Sorry! Wrong room!" he quickly slammed the door shut.

Haze quickly put on his pants and pulled back the curtains. "What happened?!"

"S-Someone barged in!" Mystra said with a flustered voice.

"Who's the bastard wh-"

It was now Haze's turn to be interrupted as the door was opened again. It was the same man! A man with lean muscle and a tall build glared at Haze with his bright grey eyes. His silver hair bounced from side to side as killing intent radiated off his body.

"What do you two think you're doing in Alexis's room?" the man coldly glared at the pair.

"Who the hell are you?" Haze glared back as he pulled off the curtains and threw them at Mystra.

"Right back at you." the man said nothing as the two simply looked at each other with hostility.

"How do you know my elder sister?" Haze asked after calming down for a second.

"I'm Alexis's fiancée, Matthew Ethos." the man sneered.

"…" Haze took a deep breath.

'This is Matthew Ethos?!' Haze glared with absolute wrath. He forced out a smile as he looked at Matthew. "Elder Sister Alexis is not here, please leave."

"This is my fiancée's cultivation room. What are you doing here with a woman?" Matthew glared.

"The Falon Estate's security and rules are not for you to question." Haze was starting to get angry. He was going to let him off easy since he was Alexis's fiancée. Not mentioning him bursting into someone's cultivation room, he had burst into the room again knowing full well that Mystra was still undressed inside.

"Listen here, boy." Matthew sneered with arrogance. "As her future husband, I have full right to enter and leave as I please."

"Okay. I've had enough." Haze snapped as he grabbed the room key.

He sent Qi into the jade piece attached to the key.

"What's up?" Connor suddenly appeared behind Matthew and scared him to his butt.

"This man has broken into our room and is trying to start a fight with us." Haze pointed at Matthew. 'He's at least a Golden Core cultivator to get Sirius to betroth Alexis to him.'

"Young Master Ethos, I'm willing to let it go since you're new here. If this happens again, you'll be punished according to the Falon Estate's rules." Connor said with a serious tone. He could be lenient with children of the Falon clan, but outsiders had no right to act arrogantly in the Estate.

"I have permission to choose whatever room I wish." Matthew threw over a jade slip with a seal on it. "I want this one!"

'Shit…' Haze realized that things were going south when he recognized Sirius's seal.

"Refused. Sirius has no authority in my area." Connor glared coldly. "Get lost, boy."

"Are you disrespecting Patriarch Falon?" Matthew glared again.

Swoosh!

Matthew was lifted off the ground as Connor grabbed him by the throat.

"Let…me…go…" the young master of clan Ethos could barely squeeze out.

"Of course I will! I just want to give you a notice first." Connor smirked as he took Matthew with him.

Hearing the commotion, the disciples of the Falon clan that were training in the cultivation rooms exited their rooms angerly. They were more than shocked to see the young master of clan Ethos being dragged by the throat by the grand elder of the Falon clan.

"Give me a moment." Connor smirked as he started writing a letter when he reached his desk. He was writing a letter while holding the man by the throat! "Here you go! If you think that Sirius will help you, here's a letter from me. Give it to him."

Connor stuffed the letter into Matthew's inner pocket and proceeded to throw him out the window, shattering the glass.

Everyone started cheering and clapping.

Connor smirked. He enjoyed the praise until he realized that he wasn't the youthful young master he was in the past, he was the grand elder!

"What are you looking at?!" Connor glared at the large crowd. "Get back to training! Someone clean up the glass!!"

The higher leveled disciples bowed and got back to training while the lower leveled ones were literally fighting to pick up the glass. If Grand Elder Connor Falon memorized their faces, he might help them out if he's in a good mood. Casual help from Talon City's most powerful cultivator was life altering for normal people!

"Young Master...why are you mad?" Mystra asked Haze as he slammed the door.

"I hate that fucker!!" Haze grit his teeth madly. 'The bastard killed my sister then suicided after!!'

Matthew Ethos wasn't someone that Haze had ever met in the past. He only knew that Matthew had killed Alexis for some reason then suicided after. Of course, the Ethos clan had to answer to the Lighting Immortal a few decades after that.

"C-Calm down, Young Master." Mystra smiled awkwardly as she sat behind him and started massaging his back.

"E-Enough." Haze said as his head dizzied.

"..." Mystra went back to her side with an embarrassed face. This was usually how she relaxed Haze before he would slowly start getting in the mood. "I apologize, Young Master."

"..." Haze looked at Mystra's sad face as she closed the curtains. He was certain that she was making a very uncomfortable face right now. "Thanks. You can call me Haze. You're not my servant anymore."

"Thank you, Haze." Haze could hear the happiness in her voice.

He smiled lightly and chuckled. 'As long as she's happy, calling me by name is no big deal.'

After 4 months of cultivating, Haze suddenly realized. 'I can breakthrough to the Foundation realm any second I want.'

"Mystra." Haze called out as he usually did as he dressed himself.

"Hm?" Mystra's voice was heard from behind the curtains. "What is it?"

"How close are you to the Foundation realm?" Haze asked as he adjusted his robes. He frowned. 'I really miss wearing shirts and shorts. I need to find a tailor soon.'

"I think I need one more push." Mystra said with some hesitation.

"Good enough." Haze nodded to himself. "Get dressed. We're going out."

"Huh? Where to?" Mystra was surprised. Haze hadn't left this room in the last half year.

"We'll go visit my father." Haze pulled the curtain back when Mystra finished changing.

The two walked out of the room and locked it behind them. Haze dropped the key off on Connor's front desk with a glare.

Connor looked to be in thought as he just watched Haze's back. 'Something's different about the brat. He wouldn't train for a week before, but now, he's holed himself in a cultivation room for half a year.'

He simply shrugged then started to attend to some documents on his desk.

Meanwhile, Haze was walking side by side with Mystra. He stretched as he walked.

"My body's not ready for long cultivation periods yet." Haze rotated his shoulder.

"You're just lazy, Haze." Mystra said in a familiar tone. She took Haze saying that they're friends to heart and dropped all formalities. It was easy for her since they've dropped formalities many times in the past.

"Calling your master lazy? Elder Brother Haze, seems like I should punish your servant since you don't have the heart to do so." Haze sighed as a young man with auburn hair and shining blue eyes approached. It was Gabriel Falon, the youngest of the Falon main line's sons.

"Gabriel, piss off." Haze glared at Gabriel. He wasn't like that time with Connor. Back then, he didn't have a speck of Qi in his body. He had to use the Lightning Law to use Lightning Body skill. Right now, he could simply call to the Lightning Law using Qi, which would heavily reduce the strain, though it also reduces the power.

'I am more than confident in beating a Peak Foundation realm cultivator using solely Lightning Body.' Haze thought arrogantly. He had the credentials to back it up!

Skills with weaponry and martial arts were divided into: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, King, Lord, Emperor, Holy Saint and Transcendent. He was ranked Holy Saint with daggers and hand-to-hand combat, Emperor with shortswords and Lord with longswords and spears. He was also King rank in arrays and Master ranked in many other weapons.

Using his hand-to-hand combat to its highest level would probably place his power near the Middle Qi Condensation realm with the same rank as himself. Using daggers, he could probably bring down a Low Golden Core cultivator, yet barely. If he fought a normal cultivator with a rank appropriate for their realm, he could easily dominate even a Peak Nascent Soul realm.

"Seems you're itching for another beating! It's been a while since I've seen you, I thought you threw yourself in the Ableasia Lake!" Gabriel punched his palm as he slowly approached Haze.

"Gabriel, remind me. What was your realm and rank?" Haze asked coldly.

"Did I hit your head so hard that you lost your memory?" Gabriel laughed loudly. "I'm a High Foundation realm with Beginner rank hand-to-hand combat! I can use my Intermediate rank longsword if you want!!"

"Mystra, kick his ass." Haze pointed at his younger brother lazily.

"A-Are you sure?" Mystra was hesitating. She knew that hand-to-hand wasn't Gabriel's specialty. All the Falon children's specialty was longswords, yet her main specialty, hand-to-hand combat, was only as powerful as something Gabriel had simply honed through beating Haze up.

"I permit you to use Lightning Body." Haze smiled. Within the previous 4 months, he had taught her Lightning Body and the basics of how to utilize the Lightning Immortal Technique. It's special feature was that the Qi cultivated through this technique was filled with Lightning. It was quite easy to use Lightning-based skills with the Lightning Immortal Technique. It took drastically less Qi to use the same Lightning skill.

"Really?!" Mystra said excitedly.

"Sending your woman to fight? How manly of you, Elder Brother!" Gabriel laughed. "I'll beat her then break all her bones while you simply cry and watch on!"

Lightning Body!

Mystra's black hair flowed upwards and turned bright blue! Her muscles tensed up.

Boom!

Gabriel was immediately caught off guard as Mystra sent him flying with a punch. He slid on the ground before he stabilized himself. He glared at Mystra hatefully as he spit a mouthful of blood.

"Weren't you gonna break all my bones, little boy?" Mystra motioned for him to attack her as she smugly smirked. Haze had told her that her power with Lightning Body reached High Foundation realm. They were supposed to be equal, but Gabriel wasn't much better than Haze. He only put effort into his cultivation when important events were approaching.

Right now, Mystra held the upper hand in this fight. She chuckled as she rushed him again.

Boom!

The ground under her burst as she suddenly appeared in front of Gabriel and punched out.

Whoosh!

He quickly ducked under the hook and set himself up for a tackle, yet he sadly just rushed into Mystra's knee.

"Shit!!" Gabriel cursed as he blew blood out of his broken nose.

Mystra kept laughing as she toyed with him. She was beating the crap out of him. He was rusty and she wasn't. It was as simple as that. By the time he regained his edge, he had sustained too much damage.

"What are you gonna do now? Huh? Won't you answer me?!" Mystra asked crazily.

'The Lightning's messing with her emotions.' Haze sighed. 'She should be close.'

"I'm gonna kill you!!" Gabriel yelled as he glared at Mystra with bloodshot eyes and bleeding nose.

"Try me, bi-!"

Mystra got cut off as all power left her body. She quickly lost her Lightning Body as she hit the ground.

"DIE!!" Gabriel raised his leg for an axe kick to her neck.

Lightning Body.

Bolt.

BOOOM!!

Haze suddenly appeared in front of Gabriel and grabbed his leg. He just slightly pushed back as Gabriel fell to his butt. Completely and utterly exhausted.

'Looks like he took quite the beating.' Haze released his Lightning Body and turned to Mystra. "We'll talk about this later."

He picked her up in his arms and started walking towards the main building. He decided to visit his room first and let Mystra rest there.

He opened his room's door just to find a shocking scene. "Elder Sister Alexis?!"

Alexis was gathering all the handkerchiefs that were under his bed with a disgusted face.