“Miko, what the fuck is wrong with you?” yelled John, rubbing his nose. Tears were streaming down his face from the force of the kick.

John looked up at Miko and noticed he had grown since he last saw him. He was eleven years old and had short and spiky brown hair, with an average build for his age. His childish face contrasted with the refined and luxurious white robe he was wearing. Miko was the only son of clan leader Waylon Varis, and was considered by many to be a one in ten thousand years cultivation prodigy. He was the pride of the Varis clan, and as such, they had pampered him his entire life leading to his unbridled attitude.

“I’m just getting back at you for when you sneak attacked me last time!” exclaimed Miko. John was about to argue back, but suddenly remembered that it was in fact him that landed a sneak attack on Miko the last time they met at the Varis clan.

“Well, whatever. That was a pretty good attack. At least now you’re waiting until the attack strikes before you yell out loud” said John. John walked up to Miko and heavily patted him on the back, causing Miko to stumble forward a few feet.

Miko stabilized himself and turned to John laughing. “Lets go spar, we haven’t sparred in almost a year” replied Miko.

“We can’t just leave this clan gathering to go spar Miko,” John responded. As a downtrodden look appeared on Mikos face, a voice from behind them caused Miko’s face to brighten once again.

“Of course you can. We’re just socializing right now. Lunch doesn’t start for another hour. Just be back by then” said Cade, with Waylon nodding in agreement beside him.

“Lets go, lets go, lets go!” exclaimed Miko happily. John held his hand to his face, before agreeing to spar. John, Ryan and Miko then left the clan hall and walked towards the martial training arena, with Miko happily jumping up and down in excitement.

Watching them leave, Waylon smiled and said “Ever since John ‘saved’ Miko from that stray dog as a child, Miko has become John’s biggest fan and supporter, although he has a weird way of showing that support. Speaking of John, his senses are getting sharper as well. He almost managed to dodge Miko’s kick in time.”

Laughing, Cade replied “John has been almost killing himself trying to get stronger, so it’s only natural his senses have improved. Miko on the other hand gets more and more impressive every time I see him. Middle Mist Creation at only eleven years old, and a special variant soul type. He’s probably the most promising cultivator our continent has produced in the last ten thousand years. I can’t help but be envious of his talent. By the way, have you figured out what type of variant his soul is?”

“Not yet, we’ve checked every source of knowledge we have, and even had some terrifying experts check his soul, but none of them could identify what variant type it is. Several of those experts wanted to take him as a disciple, but it’s not the time for that yet,” replied Waylon.

John, Ryan and Miko walked for a few minutes before they arrived at the martial training arena. It had several sections dedicated to various aspects of martial training, such as practice dummies, weight training, and fighting arenas. There were several fighting arenas, each with dedicated stands for spectators to watch the sparring should they desire to do so. The group walked to one of the arenas that was empty and entered through the lower entrance. The sandy arena was circular, with a diameter of one hundred yards and stands dozens of rows high.

John walked to one side of the arena and turned to face Miko. He pulled out his greatsword and held it by his side. The iron sword blade was four feet long, weighed thirty pounds and had a dark gray luster to it. Although John was not a Body Refinement cultivator, he had an unusually powerful body, and was able to wield the greatsword without much problem.

“Alright, same rules as last time, no using your cultivation or profound strength, this is purely a weapon skills spar,” John said to Miko.

Miko stopped at the other side of the arena and turned towards John. He too took out a greatsword and held it in front of him. The hiltless sword had a blade that was four feet long and four inches wide at the base, with a golden sheen and a checkered pattern etched into the blade. Being made out of profound gold ore, it was much heavier than John’s sword, weighing one hundred pounds.

“I know I know, but this time you’re not going to win. I’ve been training my sword techniques almost every day since you beat me last time. Get ready!” Miko bellowed as he rushed towards John. John stood there, his stance wide and firm, sword ready at his side, waiting for Miko to reach him.

Miko appeared in front of John and raised the sword high above his head with both hands, and cleaved down towards John. Based on the difference in sword qualities and weight, John knew he couldn’t block this attack head on. As the sword slashed down towards John head, John gracefully twisted his body to the side and watched the sword narrowly scrape past his chest.

“Oh no you don’t. Don’t think I didn’t remember this move from last time” yelled Miko as he turned his shoulders and arms, redirecting the sword towards John’s waist. It was at that moment that John realized Miko had actually feigned the first attack, putting barely any power into it, all for the opportunity to redirect midswing when John least expected it.

“Bang!”

John was barely able to raise his sword in time to parry the attack, but his hasty defense allowed Miko to send John stumbling back ten feet. Not wasting the opportunity he created, Miko pounced forward towards John, swinging his sword towards John’s waist again.

John steadied himself quickly and watched the blade approaching him. A slight smile flashed across his face and he raised his blade in a show to block the incoming sword. Just before the sword reached John’s waist, John crouched and spun down below the swing, his own sword arcing towards Miko’s waist.

Not expecting the fast response from John, Miko had already put his power into the attack and was unable to stop his swing. Miko suddenly found a sword whirling towards his chest, with no way to block it.

“Bang!”

John felt like his arms were about to break as he was suddenly sent flying across the martial arena, tumbling violently a few times before he finally came to a stop.

“Cough!”, John coughed up some blood, the blood trickling from his lips.

“Ahh sorry” Miko yelled as he and Ryan rushed over to John. “I instinctively used my full power at the last moment there to block your attack. Are you alright?” asked Miko as he helped John stand up.

“Cough!” “Don’t worry,I’ll be alright. I’ll just need a few minutes to catch my breath.” John brushed the dirt off his robe and took a small green pill out of his storage ring and popped it into his mouth. Although the pill was a fairly low level healing pill, it was enough to suppress the minor internal wounds that he had just suffered.

“Lets head back to the gathering. We’ll just call this duel a tie.” said John as he smiled at Miko. Ryan and Miko supported John as they helped him walk back to the clan gathering.

Arriving back at the gathering hall, John noticed the boisterous atmosphere as both clans drank and ate together, a sign of the two clans’ close relationship. John’s mother and father were at the head table as well, talking to the Elders of the Varis clan. John, Ryan, and Miko each took their seats at one of the tables close to the clan leaders. Once the clan leaders noticed the three of them had returned, they finished their discussion.

Cade Fenix stood up and addressed the crowd. “Attention everyone. As some of you may know, there is an important matter involving the Fenix and Varis clans coming up in the near future.” Cade paused briefly before continuing “The ancient pocket realm.”

Excited murmurs echoed throughout the hall at the mention of the pocket realm. The pocket realm was an ancient and mysterious realm. No one knew what the origins of the realm were or who created it, but they did know that wonderful opportunities awaited inside for those able to grasp them.

After quieting everyone down, Cade Fenix continued “The realm opens every twenty years, and the next opening will be in less than a year. Anyone sixteen years of age and under can enter. As such, each of our clans will select the most promising young cultivators to enter the realm. Unfortunately, due to the agreement in place with all the participating clans and sects, we cannot directly hand out entry. Instead, the top one hundred cultivators, decided by strength will be permitted entry. A tournament will be held between all the participating clans and sects several weeks before the pocket realm opens to determine who will enter. Do your utmost to grasp this opportunity. We will be giving out more information on this matter at a later time.”

Cade returned to his seat and started discussing matters with Waylon, while excited discussions filled the hall.

“I can’t wait to enter the pocket realm” one clan junior enthusiastically exclaimed.

“I’ve heard that previous generations received all sorts of amazing items and opportunities inside” replied another.

“Hmph, look at all these frogs thinking they’ll achieve anything of merit. Anything of importance in the pocket realm will be yours for the taking, senior brother Parker” said one boy.

“Right, Right. With Parker here, no one else has any hope of getting anything good” another replied.

At one of the central tables, a group of youths surrounded Parker Fenix, showering him with praise in an attempt to get into his good graces.While he said nothing, the haughty look on his face betrayed his otherwise calm demeanor.

“Look at them sucking up to Parker, it’s pathetic,” said Ryan. “It’s not like they’ll get anything out of pleasing him anyways.”

John looked over to the table of youths but said nothing. As far as he was concerned, anything to do with Parker and his lackeys had nothing to do with him.

The sun was setting by the time the festivities wrapped up, at which point the Varis clan got up, ready to head back home.

“Goodbye old friend, it was great catching up with you after all this time. I’ll see you in a few weeks in the Dreadel Kingdom” said Waylon to Cade as he stood up before leaving. The clan followed suit, with Miko in tow. He turned around and waved goodbye to John and Ryan before leaving with the clan.

After the festivities ended, John bid Ryan and everyone else a goodnight and headed back to his mansion with his mother and father. As they walked inside, John was about to go upstairs to his room when his mother called out to him.

“John, could you please take these gifts from the party today and put them in the cellar?” Rachel

“Sure,” John replied.

He took the several jars of wine that his mother gave him and walked to the back of the mansion towards the cellar door. After passing through several rooms, John arrived at the cellar door and opened it, looking down the staircase into the cellar.

“Now that I think about it, I guess I’ve never actually been down in the cellar. I wonder what it looks like?” John thought to himself as he descended down the stairs.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase, John took a look around at the large cellar and the contents within. He could see various things stored down there, including wine caskets, weapons, books, medicinal ingredients and more. Walking passed the weapons racks and bookshelves, John arrived at the section of the cellar for wine storage. He placed the wine jars on top of one of the shelves, and turned around to leave.

Just as John was about to head up the stairs, he felt something stir inside him, urging him to turn back.