When John opened his eyes, the sun had set.
'Damn, I slept for way longer than I expected.'
"You had a good rest. Go and freshen up inside. There's a new set of robes for you with Ouroboros-style designs. Wear whatever you want."
Azelis was floated cross-legged on the training ground to his left as John saw her after turning his head.
"Follow the dark line here. It will lead you to your room."
John looked at a magical dark line extending from her and entered the three-story pavilion.
Nodding his head, John stretched his arms and legs before going inside.
His room was plain and mostly empty. One cupboard, a big bed, an awesome sizable bathroom with a large round bathtub, and a flexible water system of hot and cold, with the feature of filling or emptying the bathtub swiftly.
John freshened up and wore his new black robe with dark gold embroidered patterns.
As he arrived at the ground outside, John saw Alfred shaking the water off himself, looking clean and fresh.
"Woof!"
Alfred told him that Azelis controlled water by spraying showers from all sides around him using some magic.
Alfred was too big to fit in the room's bath, so that was the only way, unlike King-rank and higher-ranked Monsters who could shrink their sizes or rather transform into small form.
"Sit."
Azelis told John to sit cross as she summoned a table and two chairs from her storage ring.
"You know you are my first apprentice, and I don't think I made the wrong choice in doing that," Azelis said, having a faint smile that didn't look like a smile as her brows were ever so slightly furrowed, as if troubled.
"However, some people have doubt about my choice, so the only way to clear this doubt is for you to prove yourself."
"Makes sense," John said with a nod.
"There is going to be a rather big tournament next month, exactly after eighty days starting today. On Zephir month's 15th day, it will begin in the heart of the Nexus city."
John blinked, surprised. "Nexus city?"
"Yes. To have you participate there… you'd need to really work hard and compete against those who have been blessed from birth by their parents' genes, and have been training since way younger than average tamers."
'I've been training since I couldn't even walk,' John internally thought. 'If I lose to a bunch of kids near my age, I should kill myself.'
"Don't worry, I will prove myself," John said with a grin. "And win that tournament."
Azelis dryly smiled. "John, I suppose you don't know… that the children born from parents who are King-rank or higher-ranked Tamers can have a permanent impact on their genome because of reaching a certain level in Monster Geno Art. It means that following generations are born with some kind of soul talents, which can be further developed with training and resources, which the strong tamers can procure for their descendants."
"You have one soul talent, I know. We will try to develop it to make it more powerful. Aside from that, another important thing is your training speed regarding Monster Geno Art."
Azelis's expression was somber. "The silver-rank kids participating in the tournament will have their stats at very high numbers since they've been training for months already, and some have already maxed out Silver-rank parameters. So if you want to win, you will probably taste hell because reaching maximum in eighty days is as tough as hell."
John scratched the back of his head and said with a smile, "I think I am more familiar with hell than heaven, so if it's about going through hellish training, I've no complaints. I will do whatever training you tell me to go through."
"I like that spirit," Azelis chuckled. A moment later, she breathed and said with a smile, "I will help you within the limits that I am allowed to. I can guide you and give you the promised resources. But ultimately, you have to train your Monsters and yourself to become stronger."
"Now, there are certain places that can make a Tamer stronger faster due to the extreme environment, spirit phenomena, and a certain level of danger with exotic resources," Azelis said, her expression turning severe. "If you want to become an exception rather than the norm, you will have to grasp the opportunity to go to such places. There also won't be any security or observers to save Tamers there like in the trial, so there will be unavoidable danger, unlike in the survival trial you just experienced."
'What? That's literally perfect for me!' John giddily thought, but he somberly nodded outward and said, "I can survive."
"I believe you," Azelis smiled. "But there are certain quotas, and not everyone can go to that particular island. Each of the five ruling sects gets five quotas, and ten other smaller sects get one quota each."
"Aside from that, the Nexus city will have fifteen quotas."
John raised his eyebrows. "So only fifty Tamers are allowed to go to that special island?"
"Exactly," Azelis nodded. "It's a unique dimensional island with rich resources, environment, and exotic monsters, as well as dangers. Since only fifty people can enter through it, no one else can observe and know what is going on, and only Silver-rank souls can go inside. And exactly ten days later, those alive will be transported out."
John internally cried out. 'Awesome!'
"Honestly, I don't want you to go there so early."
'What? No, no, no.' John panicked. 'I want to go there.'
"However, if you don't go there and survive to get stronger, you won't be able to make an impact in the tournament eighty days later."
"I will go," John said with a determined expression, his fists clenched.
"Yeah, I can see that you want to go," Azelis wryly smiled. "However, you have to win a quota for yourself by competing with fellow Silver-rank Tamers, and there are only ten days left before the competition begins."
"As such, you and I will have to work extra hard during the next ten days. I have to work on guiding you, and you have to work by training Monster Geno Art and making your three Pets awaken talents, quirks, refine skills, and reach as high as possible in Silver-rank's parameters."
John nodded as he got off the chair. "Let's start right away. What are we doing first?"
"Let's first give you some important stuff. Putting aside the Gold and Silver-rank resources for now, we'll first go to the library so you can pick a Monster Geno Art and a Soul Technique you like."
Azelis got off the chair and began walking while John followed.
"Put your pet in the soul space or keep it here, up to you."
John sent Alfred into Monster Paradise.
Azelis stopped on the stairs and turned to John. "Step on my shadow here."
John saw her shadow extending more than usual and blinked 'Interesting.'
After he stepped on it, Azelis turned her head to the front.
In the next moment, both of them began moving like gliding over the ice.
'Damn!' John was surprised as the speed of this shadow glide or whatever was fast! 'This is probably 60mph speed.'
After zooming over the stairs, roads, structures, and people, they arrived in front of a large hall on the upper-north side of the mountain, with cobble-stone pathways and wisp floating lights dancing positioned like night lamps, leading towards the gates of the fifty-meter-tall structure's big doors.