As the boy looked, Caelus noticed his disdain, almost hatred. "Ah, look. Filthy Reptiles here, of course, an Empire like this would bend to allow them." The boy spoke, someone of the Yun Clan as well. As he told this to one of the older members, who was clearly in his 30s.
"Shhh, you don't want to hurt their feelings, who knows how loudly this Wyvern might react." The older man spoke, calm but clearly showing contempt against Caelus.
To him, it didn't matter; he was still human in his own eyes, so the insults would be less than worthwhile, though he knew they would deserve to be beaten for that because insulting someone on something like a classification and getting the species wrong entirely was laughable.
[Resources needed for Virtuoso Pill - One Blood Yin Flower, The Phoenix Bearing Fruit, and four scales of any Reptile, the Stronger the reptile, the higher chance of a better pill, and goat horns :3]
"....What is this, some sort of demon summoning ritual?" Caelus lifted his eyebrow, clearly confused at this. Still looking at Elysia, who was at least trying to make a single Sphere around her heart, since she knew where that was at least.
Caelus then looked down, lifting his leg up like he was some sort of martial artist ready to kick. Only to move his hand, shift his Mana around, and make the pain from a scale being pulled immensely suppressed, like the medicine, from that, he pulled one by one. Each one was painful, but the same kind of pain. After doing it twice, he expected the same pain, and his mind reacted with the same amount of pain.
Holding four of them, he stored them inside his pocket. The Yun Family stood nearby, looking at the pavilions, as a lady came out with a few books, which she had clearly bought.
"Hmm... What is that Wyvern doing? It seems he took his scales, probably to hurt himself because of what he is right?" One of them snickered. Though all Caelus could hear was a Hyena.
Putting his leg down, he looked up to Elysia, who covered her eyes, having finished with one sphere. Which, for her, felt a lot easier than expected. "Ah, okay, I'll be going now-"
"Before you go, do you know what the Phoenix Bearing Fruit and Blood Yin Flower is? And if so, where to get it?"
"Ah, those, usually found near the auction area, it's a large building, check the third floor for Virtuoso, there are some of those there, they are cheap because they're hard to use and make. Also, uh, as a thanks for helping me at least learn somewhat about Cultivation." Elysia continued, moving her hand as she rummaged through a pocket, taking out a ring, tapping it, as a thousand pieces of gold flew out, landing directly on her hand in a tower shape, somehow still balanced.
"Took me a long time to learn how to do this... And a lot of failed attempts." Elysia continued with a nervous chuckle.
"Well, at least you've gotten good at it. With that level of determination to continue, you would be a good fit for Cultivation. I just need to know how you feel about blood at all."
Caelus grabbed the Gold with Mana, lifting it above the air and making it float down, then put it in his pocket, which led to the inventory. Once it was done, he waved as Elysia ran off, only now noticing she was wearing normal clothing even peasants could get, maybe it was just her pajamas. At least that's what Caelus thought.
Only now he realized he hadn't been thinking much about the Church, which only made him suspicious because they hadn't acted in a while, at least to restrict or slow him down.
Going to the door and his hands in his pockets, he left, kicking the door open softly, just because he wanted to have a little fun. After a bit of walking, he reached where the Auction area was, as he saw the giant building, being larger than even the noble houses, going up at least five floors and being as wide as a normal home.
Opening the door, as he went inside, it dizzied his senses as it looked a lot larger on the inside. It took him a second to get himself together as he noticed there was a staircase and a ladder, but also a hole in the middle, large enough for people to fall over, though a railing was there to prevent that. His wings sprang out as he flew up, going to the second floor, only to finally fly up to the third. Almost losing track of where he was supposed to go.
"Alright. So now time to look for those fruits... If I could read what these labels said." He could tell the writing was in Chinese, or something very similar, because some of the letters were very off, and he waited for the Aphro to reply.
[Ah- Auto-Translator has been Upgraded Auto-Translator (Lv. 2) - Can now translate words!]
"The most useless upgrade you could've done, just had it in the first one, but sure. Why not?" Caelus thought sarcastically.
Blinking once, the writing translated as he landed on the ground. His wings sank back in and disappeared as his clothing stitched itself together to hide the fact that he even had holes there.
"Alright..." Accidentally speaking out loud, people turned to him, confused by his voice. "Why does he sound like that?"
"Is he a Wyvern? They sound very different, either fully masculine or fully feminine... This one sounds in between that." Another person replied to the person who asked a question.
"...I can hear you, you know," Caelus replied. Annoyed at how they were gossiping so loudly. Only to turn back and grab five of the Phoenix Bearing Fruits and Five Blood Yin Fruits. Enough for testing at least 5 times; he had 4 scales, so that was also fine, and since it was Dragon scales, it'd be a lot easier and a lot stronger.
"Actually... Aphro, what does the Virtuoso Pill even do?"
[Increases your stages, depending on what it is. If it's a lesser and you still take it, then you lose a stage. If you lose a stage right after becoming a Virtuoso, then you fall down to the Peak of Foundation, which causes Mana density to lower, which means you basically lose a body part. A High Rank Virtuoso Pill would make you go up two stages, and a Peak Rank Virtuoso Pill goes up by three Stages. Along with that, it helps stabilize your Virtuoso Core, so each sphere you have protecting your organs is going to get one more layer of Mana! But using more and more lowers its effect :3]
"...So three layers, got it." He already put two layers of the sphere around each organ and Joints just for his hands, so three layers would be overkill, but he didn't mind; it was better safe than sorry... But he still had to take risks. He wouldn't grow faster without it.
Once he got the five of each in one hand, he started walking away, only to see the Yun family walk in from the side of the railing. Seeing it was only the Virtuoso, they were probably here for the herbs and ingredients needed to make some pills, or to have a practitioner do it instead.
What he found weird was that he could easily tell their path. Their Main path was the Martial Path, but he could obviously tell they were going to go the Valoria path because of their belief.
But he left it alone. Walking over to the counter, where people paid for whatever they got. Caelus got to the back of the line. To a few people's confusion. As they expected him to just cut ahead.
After waiting for a solid ten minutes, he finally reached the counter and set the fruits he was going to get down. Only for him to notice Mana flaring up almost instantly, instinctively he created a barrier, large enough both to protect the receptionist and himself... And the Ingredients.
People jumped back in shock, only to get ready to attack, yet before they could, they realized who it was... The Yun Family, meaning they would rather not offend them.
"Ah... It's them, well, I guess I have nothing to do. I only hope the best of luck to the Wyvern." One cultivator spoke
as more people murmured. Caelus turned back and spoke once more. "So... How much is it?"
"...Because you actually helped me, I shall give a ten percent discount, though I would give more. This is about enough, so now it'd be 190 gold."
Caelus looked through his pocket, taking out exactly that much gold and giving it to her. He took the fruits; he had put all of them into his pocket and lowered his shield. Turning towards the person who did that. It was the kid who spoke rudely before, though he didn't care about insults... He did care about getting hit over something like-
"Hey, why the hell did you not attack then? Were you too scared? Of course, you defend yours-" The kid continued to speak, probably in his early 20's.
Caelus moved his staff, pointing it towards them and coating them in Mana. He shifted their location, teleporting them to another area. Caelus became a little dizzy but regained himself and sent out hundreds of his Cut.
Most Virtuoso could already teleport on their own now, though Tellus was advised against learning it even as a Valoria. Of course, because of the Church.
During the three days he was awake, he started by learning Teleportation, though he was still applying physics to it.
Seeing it was simple, he learned it from what he could remember from the classes he took only a year ago.
"Ah- What the hell!?" The same kid spoke, getting hit by the Barrage without stopping, though only a minute later, and two other at Virutoso showed up, his Guards, though they were just a little bit stronger than the kid, and four stages ahead of Caelus.
Once the Barrage stopped, they stared at Caelus while also healing the damage he had taken faster. While it was a ton of tiny cuts, Caelus made sure they went directly to the places that hurt or inconvenienced him the most.
"D-Do you even kn-"
"Yes. I do. And I don't really care. You attacked me... Inside a building instead of at least having the courtesy to attack outside." Caelus interrupted, not wanting to hear any whining.
"I am Yun Li! Bow your head right now, you-" Li tried to continue speaking, only for Caelus to send another barrage of slashes his way.
"Stop with your tantrum. I don't wanna hear it." Caelus replied. Though he did feel the urge to piss them off a bit more, he held off on that; he knew that it would cause trouble he didn't want."
Li this time moved his hand, pulling out his blade and deflecting each slash. Holding it forward, he noticed how it looked extremely well-made, something that would've been extremely expensive.
Caelus waited for a second, noticing the Sword Intent flare up. Wind, he had wind, at least for his sword intent, with how he held it, he knew Li was sloppier than Tellus, who was gifted and worked hard for her level.
Caelus once again tried releasing his Simple Cut, getting ready for what they'd do. But once he formed it and launched it out-
It had dissipated. Confusion riddled his face as Caelus tried again, only for it to dissipate.
[Notification, You have reached the Maximum use your Simple Cut can go; you must advance and change it to fit your realm. Your Simple Cut can activate, but it will hurt as much as your Foundation Attacks did, hence you may lose fights. You must also update Horizon Step and Burning Temptation]
[Barrage used minimal Mana per slash, weak but functional. Focused Simple Cut required full compression. Which no longer worked at Virtuoso density.]