“Ha HA!
Now THIS is a great find!
Strong body, accustomed to hard labor, from humble beginnings…
Is she not a promising gem hidden amongst all this mud~?”
The muscular man ‘stepped’ forwards and grinned down at me, his eyes flashing with amusement and intrigue as he took in my stature, my eyes, and also how I reacted to his booming voice; whatever he saw just made him grin more, while the red clad woman behind him also moved forwards with a grin.
“She is quite the gem~!
Casia, tell me she isn’t~?”
That last bit was said with a bit of a bite that felt odd after hearing her silky voice, causing the black haired woman to purse her lips and glance at her comrade from the corner of her eye before she stared back down at her ledger.
“Tell me girl, do you have any weapons training?
How have you cultivated?
How did you reach Seventh Foundation in this place?”
The man let out a barrage of questions, each one coming quicker than the last as he got even closer, and yet even when I swallowed down my nerves and replied “No weapons training, sir, and I cultivate usin’ whatever Qi I can gather.
As for my level, um…” he just continued to grin, unbothered by my shaky voice.
“Casia?”
“Twenty…
two.
Twenty two years of age, futanari, high bloodline purity, potent latent Qi…
She might have a special physique that will awaken when she reaches Spirit Blossoming.
Meridians are a bit clogged, and her left hip as well as both of her shoulders have a bit of impurities built up already.”
The scholarly woman’s voice was clipped and flat as she read off of her tome, listing things off that I knew as well as things that I didn’t, but what I was really focusing on was the man’s reaction in front of me. Find the original chapter at g.com.
He nodded and continued to stare at me before smirking when he heard that last bit, sending a shiver down my spine as I feared he might dismiss me because of that, though he just said “A couple of pills and that’ll be cleared up.
What’s her talent grade?”
“She’s improved…
prior listing of Orange, but now it’s a pale Green.
A few years and she skipped over Yellow completely…
With these impurities cleared I don’t doubt she’ll be full Green, maybe even tinged with some Blue.”
Again the man nodded, but this time the red clad woman stepped forwards to ask “And what does it seem like she’s good at?
Physical Cultivation, surely, but anything Elemental?
Mental, perhaps?”, her earlier bite gone as she instead focused on her duty.
Elder Casia also moved past whatever happened earlier as she continued to skim the tome, taking it all in before frowning as she said “Uncertain.
Her bloodline purity makes in depth scrying difficult.
Isabella…
why did the previous Elder not take you in?”
Her question caught me off guard, while her piercing obsidian gaze sent another shiver down my spine, causing me to straighten up quite a bit and swallow down some more nerves – which began to spike again when I realized how much of an ethereal beauty she was, looking every bit the untouchable superior being that she was.
“I um…
he never really gave me an answer..?
Just said I wasn’t up to scratch, wasn’t that impressive…”
When she furrowed her brow at that I took a step back, afraid that she didn’t believe me and uncertain of how I should go about proving that to her, though all that step back did was make the man and red clad woman laugh, sending a rush of heat to my cheeks as embarrassment set in.
“Wasn’t up to scratch…”
Letting out a huff and shaking her head, Elder Casia began to trace her silver finger over the page of her tome, likely writing something down for later while the man grinned at me and said “Don’t sweat it, Isabella. Follow the newest chapters on NovelPing.
That dolt isn’t the one here for your test!
Speaking of…”
He lowered himself to the ground and waved a hand to the side, summoning a thick pillar of some kind of black metal etched with all kinds of runes and symbols; the heavy thud when it hit the ground was something I could feel even from a few feet away, and the gasps from around me reminded me that there were other people here.
“Come give this a lift.”
The easy way in which he suggested I lift some metal pillar made that redness in my cheeks fade as I blanched at the idea, already thinking about the muscles I was going to pull in my back if I even tried that.
Yet this was a request from an Elder of the Moon Resplendent Sect, so I swallowed down my misgivings and stepped forwards, shaking off my hands and doing some quick stretches as I examined the pillar.
It was maybe two and a half feet wide and eight or so feet tall, made from an inky black metal that almost seemed to absorb all the light that hit it; those runes glimmered with faint power, and when I reached around to wrap the pillar in a tight embrace its surface almost seared my skin with its intense cold.
I let out a hiss yet persevered through the mild pain it brought, too focused on hoisting it up to care that it was so, so cold; I also missed the slight raise of the man’s brow as well as the widening of the red clad woman’s grin as they both watched me, a gleam entering their eyes.
Clenching my jaw and attempting to raise the pillar off of the ground even an inch, I squeezed myself around it and leaned back just a little, my muscles spasming as I exerted my strength as best I could.
Those etchings began to glimmer a little more the harder I strained, and if I hadn’t been more focused on what I was doing and actually accepted the things I was seeing I would have noticed that the etchings around my arms were beginning to move a little.
But I was by far more focused on just lifting the damn thing than I was on those little details, so I just kept straining and lifting until eventually it moved, albeit ever so slightly…
but it moved, and I felt it lift off of the ground for a second.
Then two.
I didn’t get a third second though before it crashed back down against the ground, and the moment it did I let it go and stumbled back, sweating profusely and panting as the exertion made itself known in a wave.
“Well well well…
You got that, Casia?”
Whew~