The sun hung there in the sky, where it always hung in the third month like a lamp, spreading its light and heat.

 

The ceremony dragged on in the arena, and Elder Sa Yu Guo kept on calling names. Hours slowly passed, and the overwhelming majority only possessed D-grade aptitude. Only about nine of them had C-grade aptitude and no B-grade aptitude had shown since Sa Wan.

 

The elders' faces darkened. Compared to last year where they had seventeen D-grade aptitudes and three C-grade aptitudes, this year was terribly bad. 

 

A young woman dragged herself from the stage, returning to her seat, sobbing loudly. With her D-grade aptitude, she’d mostly be stuck in rank 10 for the short lifespan rank 10 Ka wielders had. 

 

The elder, Sa Yu Guo called out: “Sa Min.”

 

And the arena instantly went dead silent, as though everyone had stopped breathing. That was normal. After all, wasn't Sa Min the heavenly miracle who had received visions and blessings from Heaven. 

 

Some people had already made up their minds that he had S-grade aptitude, and they came here just to witness it.

 

Sa Min lifted himself up, groaning loudly as he stretched his muscles. Though the pain in his back had long gone, there was still this itching sensation, like something was stuck to his back. Sa Min brushed off the feeling as he glanced around. 

 

The participants watched him, silent, wide-eyed,  shut-mouthed. Their faces were filled with respect and admiration and a lot of envy. 

 

Except for this San Juan, of course, who was sitting alone, isolated by the other children. She just looked… miserable and afraid and angry—so much anger coming from those naive eyes.

 

What a pitiful slave! Sa Min sneered in his heart, walking down the stands. They were all slaves in one way or another, including himself. He never denied that! But was he a slave who loved being a slave? Was he a pitiful slave? 

 

On the side, Sa Wen nodded at him. Sa Min pretended not to see him and strolled towards the stage.

 

The sound thud, thud of his steps hitting against the ground could be heard. 

 

Everyone's attention was focused on him.

 

It didn’t take long before he reached the platform. On the stage, the scowling Elder Sa Yu Guo rose from his wooden chair, beckoning him over with his head.

Without a second of hesitation, Sa Min stepped onto the weathered platform, as calm as ever, making his way to the big wooden receptacle, the aged boards beneath him creaking. 

 

Still one complete force apple and half remaining after the last young woman’s awakening, Sa Min only took three of the force apples with both hands and continued his walk to the designated circle

 

The force apple felt a bit cool and heavy, their surface slick as glass and their color as white as snow.

 

Getting there, Sa Min threw one last glance around the silent faces, impatiently staring at him. A smile formed on his face but was swiftly stifled by a soft sigh. Sitting down with his legs crossed, Sa Min placed the three force apple before him, next to the other two.

 

He calmly closed his eyes, then held one of the apples to his force gate. straightway, the force apple trembled in his hand, and he could sense the primal force flowing into his force gate.

 

It felt like... that refreshing feeling you get when you wash your snake in cold water and walk out into the cold breeze

 

After some time, Sa Min opened his eyes, the force apple now spent and dry. Brushing away its leavings from his hand, he picked up another one.

 

These force apples were more than mere fruit, obviously; they were vessels of pure primal force…or more accurately, they were the tangible form of condensed primal force. Such valuable resources could only be found within the White Garden.

 

And what was the White Garden?

 

The White Garden was the reason for Tetra Blessing City's existence. It was the most valuable place in the city, producing large amounts of apple force. In fact, it was considered the foundation of the city. Controlled by the city lord, the White Garden was heavily guarded by the local army.

 

Nearly 900 years ago, after the Bloodthirsty Invasion incident had occurred in the area, the survivors — especially the 4 Clan — had banded together and moved to this place after discovering it contained a White Garden, thus forming Tetra Blessing City.

 

Before Sa Min began absorbing the next apple force, he glanced up at the elder nearby with an indifferent face. Sa Yu Guo looked…more scowled than he normally was. 

 

Sa Min couldn't help but snicker in his heart. He knew exactly why that was.

 

One of the aspects that differentiates the five aptitudes was the speed of absorbing the primal force. And the time Sa Min took to completely absorb the first force apple did not… look great at all.

 

I can tell which sea core I have just from this absorption speed. What a coincidence! It’s just like my first time; there's no doubt about it.

 

Once more, Sa Min closed his eyes, his face showing no grief whatsoever as he placed the force apple before his force gate, letting the primal force flow in.

 

It continued like this for moments. Then, suddenly, Sa Min felt a weird…. it was as though he were being stripped naked in the snow. Goosebumps ran over him, awakening every hair on his body

 

Sa Min paid the strange sensation no mind, as he steadfastly fixed his inner sight on his spherical sea core that had just opened. It had been quite some time since he last saw it, but still, it looked all familiar.

 

A layer of sky blue enveloped the sea core, or dantian as some called it. With a surface as rough and rugged as a wild beast's hide, this reflected the natural state of rank 10 Ka Wielders' sea core walls in the first transformation. These walls served two key functions — Supporting the sea core from collapsing was one of them.

 

The sea core in itself was an enigmatic, internal, separated space that shared no physical space with any organs. Its size, however, differed based on one's aptitude. 

 

For example, the size of the Ordinary sea core was only 20% of the size of the Legendary sea core

 

Within Sa Min’s sea core was a huge sphere of his unique pure force— sky-blue in color, smooth as glass, glittering with tiny copper flicks — sky-blue pure force, the kind of pure force that only ka wielders at his rank possessed.

 

This sky-blue pure sea was not his yet. It was still filled with the real Sa Min’s Copper Essence Marks.

 

There was a distance between this sphere of sky-blue pure sea and the wall. All ka wielders’ sea cores were like that, no matter their aptitude or cultivation Rank. 

 

Above the sea sphere surface, something was hovering—a dark jagged rock with its edges jutting out, filled with tiny darker holes glowing in red. This was the Borned Ka of the original owner of this body.

 

Volcanic Glowing Rock Ka of the Fire Smallway, Sa Min mused to himself. This Ka can only be used with one Yantra. If the frame of this body is Highway Frame, then it is possible that my essence core is the Reality essence core.

 

At that moment, the Volcanic Black Rock Ka suddenly trembled.

 

Now, Sa Min thought quickly. Without wasting a single second, he immediately summoned a group of small golden grains that, if you looked closely, you would see that they had intricate lines. They came in through the wall of the sea core and swept over everything.

 

The Kas were born into this world in three different ways, one of them as Borned Ka of ka wielders. Every ka wielder had their own Borned Ka that they borned with, their very essence, the thing that made them who they were, like their… souls, giving them their unique identity.

 

So even though Sa Min managed to take possession of this body, its Borned Ka was not his.

 

When a ka wielder’s Borned Ka got damaged, its wielder would have a severe reaction, and when it got destroyed, the ka wielder would die, no doubt about it.

 

That was why, before the battle between him and the red-flames mercenary band, he had hidden his Borned Ka in a safe place, providing it with enough food that would suffice it for many years.

 

Because if they had managed to seize his Borned Ka and refine or destroy it, he would have died no matter if he succeeded using the Ba Switch Yantra or not.

 

With almost no resistance, Sa Min’s rank 7 Essence Marks erased the rank 10 Essence Marks of the old Sa Min entirely, replacing it with his. Now, the sea core’s walls, the sphere sea, the Borned Ka, all belonged to him. 

 

That wasn’t the case, naturally. Refining Kas, whether they were the Natural Kas or the Created Kas, was a very difficult process, requiring a lot of Mark Essence and patience, depending on their ranks and the ranks of their past owners.

 

But this Volcanic Black Rock Ka was rank 10 — meaning it only produced rank 10 Essence Marks — and it had just awakened, still weak as it hadn’t drunk yet. Moreover, the old Sa Min was just a one-year-old baby—his will was weak.

 

But Sa Min’s Essence Marks were rank 7 as his borned ka was rank 7. It had been ranked 4 but one of the flaws of the Ba Switch Yantra was that the rank of the Borned Ka would be lowered with an entire realm.

 

That was why Sa Min had managed to refine the Volcanic Black Rock Ka in no time.

 

Watching the Ka sink down into the sky-blue pure sea, Sa Min calmly opened his eyes, smiling, indifferent to the outcome of his awakening. He’d hoped for a good aptitude. It hadn’t happened, what could he do?

 

The crowd was in a state of… silence, not that curious anticipation silence of before, when they had eagerly waited for him to open his Legendary sea core. This..this was a silence of shock as they struggled to comprehend what had just happened.

 

"Hey? Have you opened your sea core?" asked Elder Sa Yu Guo, his voice sounded like… he was begging Sa Min to say no. Sa Min slowly pushed himself to his feet, answering the crowd's silent question. 

 

The crowds went crazy! Their faces contorted with mockery, and disappointment, and rage; some people were laughing like they had never laughed before, and some were already turning to leave.

 

Sa Min grinned as he turned his head from side to side, enjoying the bustling sight of the crowd.

 

Before him, Elder Sa Yu Guo let out a heavy sigh. “Legendary sea core... huh, can’t believe I bought into that," he mumbled quietly before turning his head to look at Sa Min.

 

Only to find Sa Min’s face showed no sadness, no disappointment, no anger, no emotion at all, in fact. And this only made the elder’s disappointment turn into anger.

 

“What are you still arrogant about, little brat?" The elder rapped. "It's merely an average sea core. You…you need to hide your face in shame, like everyone else, like your father over there." He nodded towards the elders' section, where Sa Huiqin sat, his own head buried in his arms like an ostrich trying to hide itself. 

 

The elders surrounding him looked like they were attacking him with their mocking eyes and words and laughs.

 

"Aren't you disappointed that Heaven has betrayed you?" Elder Sa Yu Guo continued with anger. "Aren't you angry that people are leaving you—you see them, don't you?" He nodded towards the stands that were getting emptied. 

 

Sa Min met his gaze calmly but remained silent.

 

"Why are you so bland? Do you not understand the importance of aptitudes in cultivation?"

 

Oh, I know, trust me, little man, I know very well the great difference between aptitudes, not just in terms of cultivation speed or potential but also in terms of battle strength, crafting Yantras and creating Kas, and more and more...

 

But… I had a C-grade aptitude before and I know that this is not the end of it. Disappointed in Heaven? Brother, if anything, I should be grateful to it. I could have transmigrated to a non-wielder or failed entirely...that is if it exists in the first place.

 

As for the people leaving me, heh, aren't they going to leave no matter what, whether they like it or not…nah… I cut that slavery thread a long time ago.

 

Growing impatient, Elder Sa Yu Guo stepped closer, “Why are you not talking? Are you so disrespectful that you can't even respond when an elder is talking to you?"