35 Alone At Last! (1/2)

Jam's internal struggle ended, as both he and Evangeline both quietly accepted each other as Dao Companions, even if they didn't verbalize it.

Now that they were in a relationship, Jam suddenly felt a sort of pressure leave him, as he started chatting with Evangeline in a way that would stump those that knew Jam for the social retard he was.

Chatting made time pass by very quickly, and Jam got to know a lot about Evangeline as well. It turns out she had a lot of talent with regards to the various secondary occupations. However, she only focused on cultivation, and had completely disregarded the benefits secondary occupations could grant those who trained in them.

Unlike Jam, she couldn't make her own pills, armor, or talismans. She couldn't tame beasts, cast illusions, or manipulate arrays.

Jam made her understand how important it was to train in secondary occupations, when he offered to repair her armor.

To Evangeline, training in secondary occupations was just a distraction, and only cultivation was important.

Evangeline was a ten year old at the peak of the Soul Condensing Stage, she had three of her four Daos at the Dao Infusion Level, and enough experience with the sword to instantly form Tier 4 Sword Essence the moment she reached the Soul Fusion Stage.

However, as she saw Jam repair her armor, she remembered the pills he had taken after waking up. Evangeline though 'If I trained in refining I would be able to repair my own armor in the field. If I knew the Dao of Alchemy I could feed my dear Jam pills myself, and wouldn't be worried about who would help him.'

Evangeline also started to question the skills she had decided to cultivate. 'All I know are these goddamned attack techniques! The Daos I study have plenty of restoration and healing techniques. All this time I've been waiting for a prince charming to rescue me like in the fairy tales. Yet I've neglected the possibility of my price dying after saving me!!!' Her thoughts were indeed eccentric and a bit nonsensical.

Jam's small act of reparing his Dao Companion's armor brought about a storm in Evangeline's thought process. She now had thoughts about practicing secondary occupations, and learning techniques that didn't encompass the word ”battle.” Jam's actions were so thought provoking to Evangeline, that she remembered she still looked like an arrogant (male) teenager.

She would have to start dressing like the girl she was. Jam would certainly prefer if she started dressing in a way that resemble how she talked to him.

…

Jam finished fixing up Evangeline's armor, and finished repairing his own armor set and gauntlets. By the time he finished repairing his armor, not only had his injuries fully healed, the time for the competition to end had come!

The squads were all numbered numerically, and would be going up one by one according to their number. Jam had to wait for half the groups to go in and turn in their corpses, as his group was 21 out of 40.

Evangeline would not leave Jam's side until her squad, Squad 9, had been called up. She reluctantly glared at the announcer as well as Arnold for registering their group so early. Before giving Jam a bright smile, and leaving to go turn in her beast corpses.

Knowing Jam's power, Evangeline knew her squad wouldn't win this time. However, the second place rewards were still very appealing to her.

Evangeline, Arnold, and the three other members of Squad 9 made their way to the inspection zone.

In every single Bi-annual Academy-Wide Hunting Competition every squad needed to have five members. Evangeline and Arnold didn't care who joined their group, as they had a two year win streak, and would pick random teammates from the list of the top 200 power ranking cultivators in the Mortal Realm, aside from their fellow core disciples.

Arnold thought it would be appropriate for him and Jared to make a group and compete against the remaining core disciples; he thought it to be like giving them a handicap. Evangeline, up until now, would only partner up with Arnold, so she was perfectly fine with being in his group.

As for the three other individuals outside the core disciples class. Neither Arnold nor Evangeline would care about them. Evangeline would somehow behave even more arrogant in front of non core disciples, and treat them like air. Arnold knew these power ranking disciples would never be able to challenge him, and would provide very insignificant contributions in the competition. He also dismissed them, as they wouldn't be in a mutually supportive relationship.

The three random power ranking disciples of Squad 9 went up to the inspection zone, and turned in their demonic beast corpses. All together, the three had amassed less than five million Spirit Realm Demonic Beasts.