Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Ignoring the slight heaviness in his body and his mind already slower than it had been in the morning, he locked the door to his room and didn't hesitate to summon the nine keys he had brought from the forest and six new ones.

Felicity, Electa, and Mary had given him their respective keys. In the case of the woman Liam had just said goodbye to, she had three other people's keys with her, which Liam didn't question, just willingly accepted.

With 15 keys in his hands, he connected them through the fittings on each one, putting the ones that matched together and leaving the others aside.

He had done this before, and soon the result appeared in front of him, seven keys forming a small, incomplete construction, but this time it showed him better where it would lead.

'This is a map... A 3D map to boot.'

Ignoring the remaining keys for a moment, he looked at the construction of keys that reminded him of a building in the city.

His half-closed eyes opened wide and he couldn't help but recognize the place.

'This is the Barter Fair!'

The Barter Fair was a building on Street Eight where students could exchange their resources for other resources, either among themselves or with Officials.

The place was a three-story building with practically no side walls, where anyone passing by on the street in front of it could see much of the interior, where people basically sat and waited to do their business. As the name suggested, the place was like a marketplace.

But despite its transparent appearance and the simple rules behind the place, it wasn't small and Liam didn't have a complete map.

'I need to complete the map before I go there. Felicity said it was dangerous to go on this mission, so I won't risk it until I have the map... As it is now, I can't see exactly where in the fair I need to go.'

He thought about it for a few moments and gave up the search for the future.

But before storing his keys in his spatial ring, Liam combined the remaining keys and built two more combinations, one with 5 keys and the other with 3.

The 3 key combination gave no clue where it might lead, but the 5 key combination made Liam think a bit more.

'I still can't tell what place this is, but it certainly isn't the Barter Fair.'

Liam put all the keys away in his ring and headed for the shower for a relaxing bath before his next few hours of sleep.

The Leopard's men were outside his room again, and he had blocked the passage through his bedroom window. The next day would be no less intense than today, so he would lie down to sleep soon.

...

The next morning Liam went back to his normal routine, woke up in the morning, meditated for a while and then went to the Refectory where Mary had been working since early morning as usual.

As he had recommended the day before, she was hiding her cultivation, and even he couldn't see her actual level. But he didn't invest in interacting with her, just nodding in her direction as he received his food from this Aspirant.

After his hearty breakfast, Liam made his way to the Runes Hall, back to this place after an entire week away from it.

As he arrived at the front of the hall, planning to go to the library, then to see Mary, and finish his day at the Battle Hall, Liam sighed at the sight of one of his competitors.

'I gave them a week's head start,' Liam thought not only of Virginia, the woman running ahead of him but also of the other two under Ann's supervision. 'I have to hurry or I'll lose to one of them!'

He moved on, past the entrance hall, and soon reached the main corridor on the first level of the hall, where Ann and two of his competitors were already standing around.

"Liam, finally back, huh?" The red-haired woman overseeing this group spotted him and smiled in his direction. She asked, "Did your hunt go well?"

He approached her, ignoring the other two. "Yes. I've completed my mission for this month and the next. Now I can spend the next 50 days in the city without having to worry about leaving."

"That's good. It will give you time to finish your time under my wing," she said as Giles and Virginia's eyes narrowed.

'Does she mean he's going to beat us? Just because he has a slightly higher cultivation than us?' Virginia formed small frown lines on her face.

Giles clenched his fists, taking Ann's lack of consideration for them as best he could. But he was confident he wouldn't lose to a rookie who had been in the sect for less than a month.

'I will show Senior Ann how wrong she is!'

The four of them entered the classroom they had been working in for the past few weeks without Fred joining them today. Apparently, the most advanced of the group was busy with his own hunt.

"Well, let's get to work," Ann said as she sat down where she usually watched the group while everyone went to their respective places of work.

...

An hour later, Liam sat down next to Ann to ask her a few questions about specifics he was having trouble learning.

At that moment, she was finishing answering the last question he had asked her.

"… But I wouldn't worry about it, Liam. There are things you'll learn faster and grow faster if you put your mind to it. But certain things can't be rushed and you have to wait for the opportunity to present itself.

Learning the combination of these characters is something that goes beyond natural talent and any tips I can give you. Keep practicing the basics, mastering what you already know, and creating enchanted items. Eventually, you'll be given the opportunity to learn how to combine these characters."

She paused for a breath and smiled. "This is like the Awakening Experiment. Everyone has the latent potential to awaken their magical powers. But the 'key' can be anything. A near-death situation, extreme happiness, love, fear, the observation of something, you name it.

That's why the sect uses the Awakening Experiment to give ordinary people a chance. In it, we can access different emotions and increase the chances of something happening.

But in the end, it depends on the type of experience each captive has. Some won't be able to access what they need and will die. Others, like us, will succeed, survive and grow stronger."

Liam couldn't help but put his doubts aside and think about the Awakening Experiment—the sect's name for kidnapping people and throwing them on an island to survive for 90 days.

Demon Gate was one of the few powerful sects in Twin Land that used this method. However, the efficiency of the Awakening Experiment was surreal.

Normally, it was very, very difficult to find good talents outside of a powerful family. For most of the world's forces, they had to rely on alliances with these powerful families, or they would be unlikely to get the best talented people on the continent.

In a way, that meant stagnating and falling under someone else's command.

However, the Demon Gate had found a way to combine demonic cultivation with the ability to access above-average talents without having to be affiliated with the continent's biggest families.

Through the Awakening Experiment, they had a chance, small but good enough for them, to access geniuses of ordinary origin.

Talent was usually a genetic trait, an average of family background. However, as Ann had said, every human had latent potential. And some of them were out of the ordinary for their background.

Through a tough test that pushed them to the limit, the chances of finding diamonds in the mud were not small, especially when these tests were conducted on tens of thousands of people every year.

This was how the Demon Gate had become great and maintained its greatness over the years!

Liam had learned about this while studying in the Library. Each group, led by Commanders outside of the headquarters, had the duty to take groups of prisoners to one of the sect's islands twice a year. After leaving them there for three months, the inner members would return and bring any survivors back to the sect, as had happened with him and Mary.

'In Twin Land, no one's awakening is guaranteed. It's like Ann said. You have to go through the necessary experiences to bring about awakening. Without it, even great talents can lie dormant all their lives, never leaving their mortality behind.' He sighed as he thought of the complexity behind this.

As cruel as the Demon Gate was, for the few who survived it, the Awakening Experiment was a key that changed their lives, opening a door to infinity and beyond!

On the one hand, he hated Demon Gate for taking away his freedom and putting him in a deadly situation. On the other hand, he couldn't help but wonder if it would have been better for him if he had never fallen into the hands of Amos' group and awakened his powers.

A mortal's life was not as safe and peaceful as it might seem!

As he looked out of this classroom, he could only sigh.

'This world is too complex to judge without delving too deeply into it. I still have much to learn!'