While the Immortal Demon Sect was still hidden in the darkness before dawn the young servants whether it be boys or girls were already awake and was already completing the duties assigned to them by the observers.
Ace, one of the servant boys carried a dozen chopped woods behind his back and placed them before the observer of his group.
The observer carefully counted the woods before him and confirmed that Ace had already completed the morning quota so nodding his head he said, "You may go back to the servant's quarters and rest."
"Thank you, Sir." Ace respectfully bowed his head to the observer and left that place but he didn't immediately return to the servant's quarters, instead, he passed the servant's quarters and after checking if no one was around Ace went up the mountain.
Ace traverse the usual pathway that he had been using for the past months and hallway up the mountain eventually reaching a mist covered path. The mist in front of Ace was like a wall without end.
Looking up Ace saw the never-ending mist that seemed to stretch even passed the sky. This mist covered path was the barrier that leads to the outer area of the sect where the outer sect disciples reside and cultivate to reach the peak of the Martial Path.
Every cultivator in the Nine World all dreamed of ascending to immortality and one-day attaining everlasting life and then ascend to godhood but being a cultivator requires one to possess talent in order to break the limits of mortals the greater the talents someone possesses the faster they can reach greater heights in their cultivation.
The Immortal Demon Sect was a place where the younger generations trains to become cultivators and consequently, the Immortal Demon Sect is the greatest power in the whole Ancient Dragon Continent.
The Immortal Demon Sect is an Immortal Rank Sect with over one million years of heritage and Ace is one of the hundreds of thousands of servants that help in doing the chores around the whole Sect.
The servants have duties assigned to them like doing the laundry and chopping woods, although there're many jobs that a servant do in the Sect these two jobs were the only things that Ace knew.
Ace was assigned to chop woods every morning and like the other servants he chops three of logs of woods every day and show them to the observer assigned to look over their progress and then another three in the afternoon before night falls.
Every servant also have to secure their own food in order to eat so most of them will go out to hunt wild animals in the wild in order to eat a decent meal and the only payment that they can get from being a servant was one low-quality crystal essence.
The servant's jobs may look hard but no one complains about them because every single one of them chose to become a servant to the Immortal Demon Sect themselves and Ace was not any different than them.
It may seem strange why anyone would want voluntarily become a servant doing all this manual labor for a low-quality crystal essence but being a servant in the Immortal Demon Sect is better than not because this is their only hope of officially entering the Sect even after failing the sect exams.
Also, to become a servant of the Immortal Demon Sect one must be able to pass two out of the three exams in the annual recruitment for the Immortal Demon Sect and every year the number of youths who participates in the annual recruitment was in millions.
After the recruitment day of the Sect, those who failed the succeeded the first exam but failed the second will be sent home.
Those who passed the second exam but failed the third is given the choice of either becoming a servant or going home.
And for those who passed all the exams will be able to enter the Sect and become an official disciple most will become an outer sect disciple while some of the lucky ones who catches an eye of the elders can become an inner sect disciple in one leap.
Ace was someone who failed the third exam and chose to become a servant in the sect and attempts becoming an official disciple by breaking through the limits of a mortal by creating a Soul Seed inside the dantian and then nurturing it to grow into a soul of an immortal.
Cultivation is the norm in all Nine Worlds, by cultivating and gathering and refining the heavenly essence of the world one would be able to become a full pledge cultivator.
If a servant was able to create a Soul Seen inside their dantian before the age of sixteen the Immortal Demon Sect will allow him or her to enter the sect officially making him or her a disciple of the sect.
However, Ace has a huge problem in his cultivation and that problem was he can't create the Soul Seed inside his dantian even though the amount of heavenly essence in his body was enough to form one.
Ace's body was strong and his meridians are all normal he still found himself unable to create a Soul Seed inside his body. Ace was frightened by the fact that he cannot create a Soul Seed.
After checking his body for problems and even asking the observers about his condition in a roundabout way…..which got him into trouble. Ace, without any more lead to follow finally made a conclusion that his strange problem had something to do with the thin floating translucent board that appeared in his head one day.
He discovered that translucent board when he was meditating about three months ago and written on the transparent board were:
Name: Ace <<no surname>>
Level: 0
Experience Points: 3/100
Martial Skills: <<none>>
That translucent board was strange and the only thing that he can understand about it the first thing he saw it was the Name and the Level.
Obviously, the name was pertaining about his own name but regarding the word level Ace connected it to cultivation levels.
Core Formation, Minor Saint, Great Saint, Sovereign, and Earth Sovereign….each of stage divided further into nine levels.
"It sounds the same so they might have the same meaning." This is his honest thought. Ace had never seen or heard such thing so in fear of attracting unwanted attention Ace kept quiet about it.
Ace knew what to call the translucent board as its name came with it as he made the discovery "System" that was it is called. Without any manual or books concerning his System Ace was left to discover what it can do by experimenting and in the past three months he only learned one thing and it was about the "Experience Points".
In the past three months every time Ace killed a rabbit in the wild to be cooked Ace will find an additional number added on it and after three whole months of hunting and feasting on wild rabbits, Ace increased his experience points from 3 to 95 Experience Points he currently only needs 5 more points to reach 100.
Ace stood in front of the mist barrier and smiled wryly, he came here in order to freshen his mind and regain some of his drives and after a while Ace's face showed a bright smile when he gave himself a slap on the face and immediately he came back to his normal self, "I'll cross this barrier someday."
"Time to hunt some food." Ace run down and went down the mountain to get the bow and arrow that he used when hunting for food.
After Ace went down the mountain the sun slowly rose into view and Ace went hunting in the nearby forest where the wild rabbits frequently go to. Ace was moving relatively quicker than when he was trying to go up the mountain so it didn't take him long to reach the plains where the rabbits appear.
Ace climbed up the tree and hid behind the branches and leaves, regulating his breathing Ace waited for a rabbit to appear whilst hiding his presence as much as he could.
In the past six months since Ace became a 'servant' he noticed his body was being strengthened by the manual labors he does, the strength he got from cutting wood helped him greatly when he hunts for food for Ace being a servant have many hidden benefits.
Ace waited and after a short while Ace noticed some movements from the grass, Ace took a deep breath and took an arrow from his quiver and knocked it on his bow. Drawing the makeshift line made of stretchable vines that he found in the forest Ace squinted his eyes and waited for the right timing.
Then, as he kept his motionless stance Ace looked far off and after he saw some minute movements one hundred meters away from himself Ace released the arrow and sent it flying.
Whoosh!
A shriek was heard and Ace climbed down the tree to get the rabbit that had been shot on the neck. The area where he got the rabbit had blood that spilled everywhere showed how much it struggled before its death.
Carrying the rabbit Ace went to another location, like before he didn't take long before he reached another destination. He climbed up another tree hid behind the tree branches and the leaves and waited for another rabbit to come by.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ace killed another 3 rabbits counting the other one he killed he currently have four that means he also gained 4 Experience Points, "What a nice haul for the day this should last me for a while."
After checking the system Ace found that he only needed one more point to reach one hundred so after thinking about it for a while Ace decided to wait for another rabbit so he can gain the last Experience Point that he needed.
Ace waited but no rabbits came for a long while, he felt his feet going numb from crouching too much but he kept waiting for the next rabbit.
Rustling sounds were heard once again, Ace's ears twitch and his eyes squinted like before. Taking an arrow from his quiver Ace knocked an arrow on his bow and drew it back forming a crescent moon.
It had to be noted how fine and exquisite his skill on the bow reflecting just how much practice he needed in order to reach this level of mastery. Taking a deep breath Ace waited and when his ears picked up the rustling noises again Ace released the arrow from his bow an fired it off hitting a rabbit approximately 110 meters away from himself.
Ace wanted to run up and get the rabbit but when he was about to climb down the tree Ace's head receive new data from somewhere he did not know.
Name: Ace <<no surname>>
Level: 1 <<Level up>>
Experience Points: 0/200
Martial Skills: <<None>>
"Level up? What's this…" feeling a sharp pain inside his body Ace suddenly collapse and feel on the ground from above the tree, "Burning….my body is burning."
If Ace could look into his body now he would be surprised to see the heavenly essence he created was condensing to one single point and connected to his very soul… the Soul Seed he couldn't form was being formed inside his body at this very moment after leveling up.
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