The Disciple Evaluation competition was now a week closer, and every disciple in the sect was focused on preparations. Well, most of them could be seen preparing. Some were engaged in spars, others in cultivation, among others.

A group of eight sat at a table having lunch and talking. It had been a long time, say, a week, since they got the opportunity to share a table like now, so they had to make the most of it. The eight in person were actually nine, but one was mostly not counted due to who or what he was. They were Bahamut, Exildra, Lily, Alana, Ren, Sel, Apollonia, Rakia, and Gabi.

Gabi was currently the one speaking, telling them of what he had been experiencing, and Bahamut couldn’t help but wish it were him. Gabi spoke of the intense training he’d been subjected to, which always left him crippled, so that he had to crawl afterwards.

He talked of how his master made sure to break him every single day, and mend him again, as if he were some toy. Despite how he spoke like he was forced and with that grudge in his tone, everyone could tell that he had a very good relationship with his master. Plus, Gabi was brimming with power.

This wasn’t a blatant show of power or an aura release. The guy had become very powerful: so powerful that even some of them felt suffocated. If the rankings for the strong eleven were to be updated, Gabi would undoubtedly make the first five or even the first three. As for the first two, there were two people already there, and those people weren’t even trying. Looking at them sitting there and fighting over bread, which wasn’t even theirs to begin with, would make anyone who actually looked at them feel as if they weren’t trying hard enough. Anyone except Gabi, as he had earned the right to share a table with his role model, Bahamut.

Speaking of Bahamut, everyone had decided to keep mute over the recent changes to his appearance, except one person...

"Master, why is your hair so long, and your skin looks so smooth!" Alana blurted out with glowing eyes, making Bahamut choke on the bread he’d managed to snatch from Sel. She wasn’t affected by his grudging look nor the death glares everyone was giving her. She just looked at her master with curiosity, awaiting his answer.

"Because I am awesome and gorgeous," Bahamut answered with a flick of his hair, making Sel look at him as if he were a ghost.

"Who are you?" Sel asked, his hand going straight to his waist.

"Bahamutia..." Bahamut answered with a wink at him, making Sel’s face twist in disgust.

"Idiot!"

"AHAHAHAHA!" Ren blurted out laughing so hard that Bahamut felt offended.

The rest of them could only try to stifle their laughter. Bahamut never changed. Despite all the intense training, his crazy tendencies, whatnot, he was always the guy who never wasted an opportunity to get a one-on at Sel, and it was even funnier how he always got Sel.

"So, what are your plans now? I can feel that you’ve gotten a lot stronger," Apollonia asked a general question. She was referring to all of them.

"I’m very close to advancing to Circle of Initiation. I am there, but it isn’t stable for now," Exildra answered first with a smile. She had woken up three days after going unconscious with no visible changes. In fact, her progression speed had dropped drastically, but Henut stated that it was normal, as she wasn’t only cultivating her power tier but also her eye. She had stated that her progress would spike after her eye was completely healed and she reached the barrier to break through to Tier 2. From there on, her progress might even rival that of the very top people. The only downside was that she would experience the coma two more times. Afterwards, she would be free of it.

Lily answered next.

"I am at the Circle of Initiation, but nowhere near the peak. It would take some time, but lasting long in this competition wouldn’t be a problem unless I encounter someone or something beyond my tier."

She was very confident with her answer, and she had the right to be. She was literally brimming with power.

The next to answer was Sel.

"I am very close to breaking through and ascending to Tier 2. I don’t know, but it would surely be one of these days." From the way he spoke, everyone realized that he wasn’t as concerned as they were for him.

Alana also answered that she was at the Circle of Initiation, shocking most of them. Just how fast was her progression speed? It was as if she had hopped, and she had literally done that. Her master was Bahamut, and even in normal terms, they were expected to be advancing together as master and beast, but here was the case that Alana wasn’t exactly a beast, but a humanoid, sentient being. She had her own path despite their bond.

The thing was that Alana had been accepted into the sect, as said earlier, and she would also be partaking in the disciple evaluation competition. She had already fought someone in the trial battles, and the end was truly unexpected for everyone who witnessed it, except for this group, excluding Gabi. She had decimated her opponent in mere seconds. No one saw it coming. That told just how powerful she was.

"The disciple evaluation is close, and so am I very close to a breakthrough," Bahamut stood and exclaimed dramatically, earning him more than a few strange looks.

"What’s up with you, dude? Did you hit your head, or perhaps, you tasted the forbidden nectar..." Sel asked with a narrowed gaze. He quickly ducked, saving his head just in time from a clay cup. Exildra and Lily’s faces were so red that blood would look white as compared to them.

"You are beyond saving..." Bahamut shook his head dramatically, as if Sel had done something bad, a taboo.

"Piss off!"