Ignoring all the stares, Fatty and Calron continued to walk towards the gathering hall.

“Hey, isn’t that the fat kid… wow, look at those muscles… I remember that lightning kid!”

As the nearby disciples whispered amongst themselves, the two boys paid no attention to the gossip, and continued their own conversation.

“Big brother, after we finish eating here, can you bring out that electric snake? Please?”

Fatty excitedly asked Calron in a hushed tone.

“Fatty, I just told you that I have no control over the lightning! Besides, why do you want to see it?”

Calron said in an exasperated voice.

“Uh…I just wanted to see if it looked delicious…”

Calron stopped walking as he dumbly stared at Fatty.

“Fatty… it’s made of lightning… you can’t eat that!”

Calron spluttered as he tried to answer Fatty. He simply did not understand where Fatty got these types of ideas from, or his insane obsession with eating exotic foods.

“Eh? But you said the beast had a physical form, so it definitely must be made of real fles.h.!.+”

Fatty argued as he tried to convince Calron.

Knowing that he would never get anywhere in a conversation about food with Fatty, Calron just sighed as he responded.

“I don’t even know how to conjure that thing, as it always seems to appear whenever it wants… ”

In truth, Calron simply had no idea as to how the Azure Lightning worked. Only his Teacher seemed to understand it, but with him recovering his soul, there was no way Calron could question him.

Ever since the locket had been given to him, his future seemed to have taken a detour from what would have been a normal life.

“Ah, forget it! Big brother doesn’t understand the pa.s.sion of exotic cuisine!”

Fatty exclaimed with a shake of his head.

Rolling his eyes, Calron tugged at Fatty’s shoulder.

In front of the boys, a bustling crowd of disciples were lined up as they waited to receive their meals. A few of them were already busy eating and chattering away with their friends.

The gathering hall exuded an chaotic atmosphere of shouting and scurrying, as Gretha and the other cooks rushed to deliver the trays of food.

“Fatty, I’ll go and wash my hands. Save a spot for me in the line!”

Calron shouted over to Fatty over the loud noise in the background.

“Huh? Why do you need to wash your hands? It’s a waste of time!”

Fatty retorted as Calron turned away.

“Hmph, whatever, I get to eat earlier!”

Fatty muttered as a thin line of drool started to seep from his mouth.

After some time had pa.s.sed, Calron finally came back to the gathering hall as he wiped his still wet hands on his trousers.

“Well, at least the line is much shorter now.”

Calron muttered as he walked over to the queue.

He was gazing around, trying to find Fatty within the crowd, when Calron suddenly b.u.mped against someone.

“Ah, sorry!”

Calron automatically said to the figure in front of him.

The figure slowly turned around, as a girl of around ten years old was revealed.

Her dark red hair fluttered in the air as the strands of hair obscured her snowy white face.  Her emerald green eyes sparkled as they landed upon the young boy in front of her, while her red rosy lips moved with no sound coming out.

It was not that the girl was a mute, but it was that Calron simply could not hear anything as he was completely enraptured by the girl in front of him.

Where Felice’s beauty was like the fierce blizzard in the arctic, this red haired girl’s beauty felt like the warmth of a bright sunny day!

The red haired girl stood at least a foot taller than Calron, and it was clear that she was a lot older than him, but none of this seemed to matter to Calron as he simply stood there in a daze.

Realizing that the boy in front of her just stood there gaping at her, the red haired girl gently poked Calron on the forehead.

“Huh?”

“I said, are you alright?”

The soft voice of the girl reached Calron’s ears.

Shaking himself out of his daze, Calron spluttered out his words.

“Uh… yes, I’m fine…thank you, I should… ”

Seeing the little boy furiously blus.h.i.+ng as he stumbled over his words, the red haired girl let out a pleasant laugh as she petted Calron’s hair.

“Aw, you’re soo cute! What’s your name?”

Calron seemed to blush even more as the red haired girl obliviously petted his hair. He knew he should smack her hand away, as she was treating him like a lost puppy, but Calron simply could not bring himself to do it.

“I’m Calron! W-what’s your name?

Seeing the boy continue to stutter, the red haired girl gently covered her mouth as she tried not to giggle.

“I’m Lora! Nice to meet you Calron! By the way y-“

The red haired girl abruptly stopped talking as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be talking to a trash like him, Lora.”

A rough voice sounded out from behind the girl as a figure stepped up next to her.

The new stranger was a boy around twelve years of age, with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was just slightly taller than the red haired girl, but his thick muscular frame made him appear even taller.

Although the stranger was not as large or as muscular as Chax, he still had quite the intimidating presence.

“Stop it, Tarth! He’s just a kid, and he was talking to me, not you!”

Lora furiously scolded Tarth, as she shot an apologetic glance at Calron.

“This kid is a lightning cultivator!”

Tarth retorted in response to Lora.

“So what? If I want to talk to him, then I will. Back off!”

Although a trace of surprise flashed across Lora’s eyes, she immediately regained her composure as she glared at the blonde haired boy.

Watching this scene unfold from the sideline, Calron felt a cold fury surging within him. He was tired of people treating him like tras.h.!.+

Master has given me permission to use the Formless Fist for the tournament, so it will be alright if I use it just a little bit for this brute right now! Besides, I can always ask for forgiveness later from Master.

As Calron debated on how he will apologize to his Master later, suddenly, the muscular boy angrily huffed and stormed away.

Calron missed the discussion between Lora and Tarth, but it seemed as if Lora had threatened the blonde boy with something.

Turning to face Calron, the red haired girl gently patted his head as she stated.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Calron. I need to get back to training my cultivation now, so I hope to see you again sometime! Don’t worry about what Tarth said, and just focus on your training. I’m sure you will be strong one day as well!”

Lora gently said to Calron. Although her voice sounded sincere, both her and Calron knew that she only said it to make him feel better. It was common knowledge that lightning cultivators could never break through the Spiritual stage.

Nonetheless, Calron gave her a smile, as he knew she only meant him well. With a final pat to his head, Lora smiled as she turned around and left.

Right then, Calron spotted Fatty wolfing down the entire food on his tray.

Calron’s ill mood immediately recovered upon seeing Fatty’s antics. Shaking his head, Calron went ahead and stood in line.

“Ah, big brother, that roast was delicious! Are you going to eat that leg piece?”

Fatty asked as he stared at the piece of chicken on Calron’s plate.

Already feeling full, Calron silently shook his head as Fatty leapt onto the last piece of meat.

“Fatty, do you think girls are beautiful?”

Calron abruptly asked as he silently pondered within his own thoughts.

“Om nom nom- girls? Well, big sister is pretty! I don’t know about the other girls though…”

Fatty said while continuing to chew his food.

“Never mind, let’s go back!”

Calron stated as he got up from his chair.

“Noo, I still want seconds!”

“Sigh… I’ll go back and start cultivating then. Fatty, don’t stay here all day and go train. If you want to catch up to me, you’ll need to at least master the Formless Fist or reach a higher rank in cultivation.”

Calron slowly teased Fatty as he started walking away.

“Hmph, just wait and see, I’ll soon surpa.s.s big brother!”

Fatty shouted behind Calron as he continued to gnaw on the chicken leg.

Being in a good mood as he thought about the red haired girl he met today, Calron happily whistled as he walked back towards his hut.

He felt like he could finally make a breakthrough into the fourth rank!

He knew he was already close to the peak of the third rank, but after his recent experience in the source pool, he felt that he had already reached the limits of the third rank!

However, just as Calron entered the corridor of the disciples’ huts, he heard a sinister laughter behind him.

“A trash like you really thinks that he can get away?”