Chapter 24 - Time Flies
Time passed, and the years went by. With the Nari Tribe as their backers, the Varen Tribe had been quite peaceful. At first, a few tribes were afraid that the Varen Tribe would use this chance to began charging tributes. Although the Nari Tribe wouldn't help them attack anyone, they wouldn't be scared of being attacked as well.
But contrary to their expectations, the Varen Tribe continued their good relationship and trades with the surroundings Tribes. It seemed they had no intention what so ever to charge other Tribes. The only exception was the Tranko Tribe. The Varen Tribe wasn't demanding any tributes, but they completely ceased all trades and relationship with them.??
If that was all, the Tranko Tribe wouldn't care that much. There were several other Tribes around with who they can trade. However, due to the cold shoulder given by the Varen Tribe, the other Tribes also distanced themselves.
Thanks to that, the Tranko Tribe was having a hard time acquiring the materials it needed. Sometimes having to travel much further away to find someone willing to sell or trade. Because of that, Ramin Tranko ordered that they should all keep a low profile from now on. This kind of treatment would sooner or later disappear, he only had to wait.
Today, there were 61 kids gathered in front of the Martial Arts Elder's House. At the start of every new year, the kids with aptitude at the Brown Level or higher who reached 5 years old would officially start their warrior training. Although all the Tribe members had access to the Body Transformation Realm's cultivation manuals, only warrior candidates received proper training.
Not too surprisingly, Rean and Roan were also present. They had kept a low key during all those five years, with only Juri, Alanda, their parents, and the two Protectors aware of their real strength. Still, to make sure that these two little monsters wouldn't be found, they pretended to not know anything outside. Also, their two protectors were advised to keep their mouths shut. Not even their family members should know about it. After all, Opril and Diakar would sooner or later notice the difference between the Larks family twins and any other kids.
But today, it would be all over. Those two can finally leave their cocoon and practice Martial Arts out in the open.
Rean and Roan had not slacked during this time. They already arrived at the Spiritual Vision of the Body Transformation Realm. Although they are still in the first Realm, their advancement is genuinely frightening! One only has to take a look at Rean and Roan's father. He is already 31 years old, but he is only at the Muscles Strengthening Stage with his gray color aptitude.
Even a Brown Level Aptitude would only reach the level Rean and Roan are at the moment around 18 to 20 years old. Yellow was a little faster, usually reaching this stage around 12 to 15 years old. The only one in the young generation that looked a little like Rean and Roan was Mila, who started to cultivate at the age of 5 and reached the Spiritual Vision Stage by 9. She only cultivated 4 years to achieve the same result.
Of course, there were huge differences between Mila and the Larks twins. For one, since Mila has a green level of aptitude, she received a lot of cultivation resources in her upbringing. But in the case of Rean and Roan, they didn't get anything at all. Their actual strength was built entirely on their own effort. Well... it was not 'effort' exactly... They simply hated the idea of being the one falling behind. They trained like crazy for the sake of 'trampling over' each other. If Rean or Roan had been a single child, their actual results would be far below what they are now.
Rean and Roan being in the Spiritual Vision, meant that they are ready to open their Meridians. The Spiritual Vision Stage allowed the cultivator to see their internal meridians. In this world, everyone had their own set of Meridians. They also followed their own paths, so it was impossible to use someone's experience when opening yours.
However, the number of Meridians never changed. Doesn't matter if it is men or women; they all had precisely 103 meridians. One can only enter the Energy Gathering Realm once they open all 103 meridians, no exception... or so it should be.
Rean and Roan were different, though. Instead of 103, they had 104 meridians! Of course, only the two of them knew about it. After confirming that everyone indeed had only 103, they could only attribute that last one to the White and Dark Light and Thread connection their Souls. Still, there is no point worrying about it now, so they decided to think about it after those last two are opened.
"Other than our parents, Diakar, Opril, Juri, and Alanda, no one else knew about our improvement. Finally, we don't need to hide anymore."
Rean looked at everyone around and asked.
"How do you think Juri will explain our actual level to everyone?"
Roan pondered a bit and said.
"Most likely, he will simply say that we were born with it already or some other bullshit like that. Anyway, this is an issue for him to resolve, not us. The moment we turned 5 years old, hiding our cultivation level became an impossible task."
Rean had to admit that it was true. If Rean and Roan didn't appear for the warrior training, it meant that something was absolutely wrong. Why would Juri keep hiding the twins after so long? It would attract more attention than if they appeared out in the open.
"Whatever. As long as you don't expose us, we should be fine."
Roan's mouth twitched.
"Are you looking for a fight?"
Rean snorted and ignored him. Traning was not the only thing they did in the past 5 years. They had fought a lot against each other as well. But there was a problem, their strengths were way too similar. So while Rean won a few, Roan also won his share. Of course, whenever they couldn't agree with something, they would still resolve with it a fight. Those two simply can't get along at all!
During these last 5 years, the Varen Tribe System seemed to get better and better too. The tribe welcomed the birth of another 4 Green Aptitude Level Talents, one of them being born just two months after Rean and Roan. Because of that, he was also in this new batch of kids that would receive the warrior training. His name was Rivio Jueten.
However, there was a little girl who was also 5 years old this year that made Juri's hair stand every time he thought about her. Her name was Inna Malaka, a Blue Aptitude level!