"So delicious!"
Little Sephare munched away on her food, her small legs swinging happily. It was as though Ryu didn't notice her mother and elder brother at all. They were much less pleasing to his gaze – Gisla for actually allowing her daughter to do such a thing, and Guiot for not paying enough attention.
What would have happened had Ryu been a demon who wouldn't even let a thirteen-year-old little girl go? Wouldn't Little Sephare's life be ruined? He couldn't easily forgive such a thing.
Guiot himself was both embarrassed and stunned. He had profusely apologized to Ryu for his previous assumptions already, but what stunned him was Ryu's major personality shift. He felt that he knew too little about Ryu, but how could he? After all, they had only just met each other.
The person truly the most shocked was Ailsa. She was still having trouble wrapping her head around a kind, smiling Ryu.
The weeks ticked by.
The journey from the Core Region to the Outer Ring was quite a long one, but with an Immortal Cave, and considering the Pedestal Plane was the smallest of the Immortal Planes, it should have only taken half a month at most. This time would have been even shorter if Ailsa lay the formation necessary to upgrade one Mortal Qi Source to an Immortal Qi Source.
However, Ryu and Ailsa purposely slowed their pace in order to see what kind of special abilities a healthy Sephare had. The results were quite intriguing.
As Sephare's vitality grew, her talent seemed to grow proportionally as well. This made sense and would be true for anyone, in reality.
When a body's vitality was low, much of its energy was geared toward sustenance. Everything from blood flow to digestion was slower in such a state.
Once vitality was normal, the body could then spare the needed energy for less 'essential' tasks. As a result, Sephare broke through a bottleneck, entering the Sixth Awakening Realm. The little girl was ecstatic, smiling so brightly it seemed her cheeks might pop.
It was then that Ryu notice Sephare's Spiritual Foundation was decent. Actually, Ryu's standard of decent would make Little Sephare a genius of the Core Region. Her Spiritual Foundation was 64 meters across at the Sixth Awakening Realm. That meant she had an Earth Grade Spiritual Foundation!
From this, Ryu understood why she was overlooked. Even though such talent made her a genius, Spiritual Foundations simply weren't very important to the Pedestal Plane, so they often didn't bother to check it at all.
The unfortunate truth was that the Spiritual Foundation didn't truly display its prowess until the Dao Pedestal Realm. It was then separations in grade divided those with talent and those without. The problem then became obvious. Who on the Pedestal Plane could reach such a high standard? Why bother with it at all, then?
That said, one's Spiritual Foundation wasn't useless at lower Realms. For example, the Qi Fumes of the Pulse Opening Realm wafted from one's Spiritual Foundation.
Once Little Sephare entered the Pulse Opening Realm, her true talent would start to shine forth. It was just a shame that her body had been too frail to progress until now.
Aside from this, one's constitutions were interconnected and could build off of each other. This was why mutations could occur. So, even though Sephare's meridians were normal, they would benefit greatly from her Spiritual Foundation, making them sturdier than others.
Still, of this was out of the normal. Ryu just felt he could breathe easy now. If he brought Little Sephare to the Awoken Moon Sect, they'd have an Inheritor who could replace Melody. Sephare would even be able to lead them to the Core Region one day.
"Really, Big Brother Ryu?" Sephare's big eyes sparkled, her small hands grabbing onto Ryu's. "I can enter a Fifth Order Sect? Really, really?"
"Of course. If you work hard, you can even become their Inheritor. Your Spiritual Foundation is of the Earth Grade, so your future is bright."
Gilsa and Guiot gasped when they heard this.
The Earth Grade? Such an evaluation was so high they felt faint. In the Outer Region, having any sort of ranked constitution was something a Clan could celebrate for generations, even if it was of the Common Grade.
"Honestly, you are too good for the Outer Ring. But, the Awoken Moon Sect are people that can be trusted. It's also a female-only Sect, so you will be comparatively safer. I'll have the Castle Master take you in as a disciple."
Sephare almost started crying. If it wasn't because she didn't want to be anymore of a burden, she really would have. All she wanted was the ability to support her brother and mother, yet it had actually come so easily?
"That bad old lady. She told me that my Spiritual Foundation was a little bit better than others, but that it was useless."
Ryu's expression darkened. So it seemed others had already noticed and likely pressed Sephare down due to jealousy. It was a lucky thing that Guiot had at least been of the Spiritual Severing Realm, enough to be an elder of Sephare's Sect, or else her fate would have likely been even more tragic.
Ryu sent a glare toward Guiot, his frigid gaze piercing the latter's heart.
Guiot shivered, wondering for a moment who really was Sephare's blood brother. But then he was overwhelmed by guilt. He spent so much of his hours off training that he didn't consider the details of his little sister's plights. He hadn't even known Sephare joined a Sect until months after the fact.
Like this, Ryu became more determined to have Sephare enter the Awoken Moon Sect. As for her previous Sect, would they dare to quibble with a Fifth Order hegemon?
The days ticked by and Sephare and her mother grew healthier and healthier. Even Guiot seemed to improve thanks to the high quality food. But, this could only be expected. Ailsa had perfectly tailored their diets to maximize the benefits. Guiot especially consumed many soul nourishing foods.
Still, though everything was trending well, Ailsa couldn't help but feel a bit weird about it all.
'The mother has such great vitality, yet she's a mortal? Hold on a moment, how is it possible for a person without cultivation to live long enough for their son to reach the Spiritual Severing Realm? And to also have enough vitality to give birth to another child just thirteen years ago? How is that possible?
'Also, the little girl's qi control talent seems to be improving disproportionately to her Spiritual Foundation Grade, but I don't sense anything unusual about her other Pillars.
'It's almost like… She's not human?'
Different species had different innate talents. An average talent for a human was not the same as an average talent among beasts or Faeries or any number of other existences. Sephare's rise back to her baseline talent didn't make sense for a normal human.
But… what if she wasn't?