Sophia, who had just appeared, was known to be a cold beauty. Both the siblings and Sophia went to the same academy, the Flossen Kingdom Noble Academy. Calling it an academy wouldn’t bring it justice though, as it was almost a city on its own. Sophia was quite known among the guys their age at the academy. Even though she wasn’t one of those school idols, one couldn’t help but name her when talking about beauties.

She had fair black hair that barely reached her back. Her body wasn’t the curviest one could see, but it was still well proportioned, and the eyes of all the youths there couldn’t help but gaze her way.

Once the veiled girl stepped on the stage, the whole crowd turned quiet. She was supposed to be the prize of this competition, but what would happen if she disapproved? Everyone couldn’t wait to see this drama develop.

“Mrs Sophia! Is it true that you were the one who asked my father to change the engagement partner?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? We were never engaged in the first place! Stop spreading lies!”

“How could you say such things to me? We were a match made in heaven! Both descendants of Baron households, and of the same age on top of that!”

“It is indeed true that we have similar backgrounds, too bad your talent is severely lacking. In fact, today I was here to sign my real engagement.”

“Your real engagement? You didn’t choose Roland, that foolish brother of mine, right? I just destroyed him in a duel, he isn’t worthy of you!”

“Maximilian, you dare? You only won with petty schemes! Come and fight me once again!”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t been engaged with that all brawn no brains either.”

““Then who is it?””

Both Roland and Maximilian reflexively turned their heads towards her.

“Willis!”

““WILLIS?””

“AHAHAHAH, LOOK AT YOUR FACES! While you two were busy in a quarrel over Mrs Sophia’s hand, I was the one to actually win her over!”

“Willis, you also shut up. This is a political marriage. I got engaged to you only because my family owed yours a favour. Your talent isn’t enough to gain the right over my hand. You only had slightly better qualifications compared to these two.”

“Oh come on Sweetie, don’t be so shy! Just admit it already that you instantly fell in love with this beautiful me!”

“What did you say? Say it one more time if you dare!”

The girl proceeded to unsheathe her sword and pointed it at Willis’ throat.

“Nothing.”

“Very well.”

The crowd then burst out laughing. It was always refreshing seeing two youths quarrel.

But both Maximilian and Roland had unbelieving expressions, as they had noticed the fact that Sophia slightly blushed. The Ice Queen was slowly getting melted! Was she perhaps one of those legendary Tsunderes of their dreams? And she was snatched!

But this was none of Vince’s concern. He didn’t reincarnate just to get some girls, he had something else to do.

‘Why did I have to be from such a stupid family? One is more foolish than the other! Luckily I’ll be forced to give up on the Dawmond surname. I would have had to find another way to do so if that wasn’t the case.’

‘In any case, I’ve achieved my objective here. People lack combat experience, at least in my family. I think it’s safe to assume the average noble family will have similar combat experience to mine. If something serious happened, they wouldn’t have the slightest clue over how to react.’

Vince thus went back to the training grounds and started his daily routine that had gotten delayed due to his foolish brothers. He was about to breakthrough from the Early-Dawn to the Dawn Stage; therefore, he had to be prepared.

‘In two days at most, I should be able to breakthrough and achieve a Dark Red Core at the same time. Although my cultivation speed is pretty slow, my Cultivation Base quality is top-notch. I shouldn’t be left too far behind.’

If anyone had heard such words, they would deem him as crazy. He had gone from the start to the initial stage’s peak in just over three months. A talented cultivator would take a year to achieve the same result, yet he was worried about being too slow.

What was more astonishing is that he didn’t even spend a lot of time cultivating. In fact, he had spent more time training as a mortal than training like a cultivator. But why would he do such a thing?

‘FUCK. I slipped again! I can’t take it anymore! This body doesn’t react as well as I want it to! I’ll train to death if it needs to be!’

Well, not a reason one would expect. Vince thus started training even harder than before, intent on finally gaining control over this body of his.

While he was doing his twenty-seventh series of push-ups, his father came over.

“Hey little Vince, how is your training going?”

“As well as always, father.”

“I’m glad to hear that! From tonight Old Mo will stop teaching you, and you’ll go to Cultivation lectures with your siblings instead. It’s about time for you to learn what Cultivation is all about!”

“As you wish, father.”

“The lesson is going to start at six o’clock. Be sure to be there on time.”

“Yes!”

“I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll have to take my leave now. You can ask any servant to show you the way once you’re ready.”

Rupert then left, leaving Vince once again to his training.

Vince kept on training until it was a quarter to six. He then asked a passing-by attendant to lead the way. Once he was in front of the room, he gently knocked.

“Hello?”

“I’m Vince Dawmond. Father told me I’ll be in your care starting from today.”

A man who looked to be in his sixties then opened the door, greeting him. He had a bit of beard that he was gently stroking once he saw the little brown-haired boy. His grey hair showed that he had long since left his prime, and his pair of piercing pitch-black eyes made him look like a wise sage, who, having already travelled far and wide, possessed long-forgotten knowledge.

“That is indeed the case. My pleasure to meet you, my name is Kevin. I’m a Flowing Realm cultivator, and I’m going to be your Cultivation teacher until you join the noble academy.”

Vince then entered in a mid-sized room and sat at one of the first row desks. There were already four of his siblings here, and all looked eager to learn more.

‘I wonder if they’re only interested because this is about Cultivation, or they really are diligent students.’

Confirming that everyone was paying attention, Kevin started talking.

“I’ll be your teacher for the next year, and my purpose is to get you all a solid foundation for the academy.”

“Today, we will talk about the Awakening Realm and its peculiarities. We won’t do any practice for now, but not for long.”

“The Awakening Realm is the start of the road for a cultivator, and creating a solid foundation in this Realm will allow you to reach astonishing heights. Failing to establish a good foundation will get you stuck instead, and you might never go past the Awakening Realm. There are ten stages in this Realm, like any other, and ten Core colours. If one cultivated perfectly, he would achieve a better Mana Core at each Stage breakthrough, but let’s be honest, that is pretty much a Utopia.

As long as you get a Yellow Core, averaging one Core breakthrough every two realms, one can attempt to reach the Enhancement Realm in his life. Even though it’s possible even with an Orange Core, the minimum requirement to breakthrough from the Awakening Realm, such a thing is improbable. Ninety-five percent of Orange Core cultivators won’t make it to the next Realm, the Flowing Realm.”

“Having a better Mana Core will increase your Mana Capacity in the future, as it will be able to store Mana in higher concentrations. But when one is breaking through, that is not the only thing he has to focus on. Breaking through is also a chance to improve your body, as it is the moment in which it is the easiest to reshape. Imagine your body like clay. During breakthroughs, the clay is still wet and can be easily shaped, but once it is fired, it will be hard to reshape it.”

“Mana techniques, as you know, in the Awakening Realm are only limited to body techniques. Therefore the difference in Mana Core colours is not as evident. But in the Flowing Realm everything changes. The Mana Core Colour heavily impacts the strength of the spells one casts. That’s also the reason many cultivators regret not spending more time in the Awakening Realm to achieve better Mana Cores. Merely rushing cultivation will do you no good.”

‘Hah… I already know all of this stuff… I wonder how that little girl is faring. She was an interesting lass, I hope she will entertain me well.’

And soon enough, the first of a long series of lessons that taught him nothing new came to an end.