When Mu Yan left the awakening hall, he saw the world anew.
Spiritual power and its affinity was clearer. His steps were light his movement smooth.
Walking by other eunuchs, they would bow to him and call him senior...
He felt like a weight on his chest has fallen ’To cultivate is to become stronger. To become stronger is to rise greater heights.
They say with power comes responsibility... but why do I feel like I have always carried a heavy responsibility, but only now with power am I able to fulfil it?’
His heart calmed down finally.
The years of study, day in day out, twelve hours without a break. Tests, exams, projects... all those things were now over.
Arriving at the eunuch quarters, the eunuchs on the side looked at him weirdly.
Just then, in front of him, an eunuch called him out "Mu Yan, you-"
But before the eunuch could speak out, another eunuch grabbed him "A’qi, how many times did I tell you to be calmer!"
Then he bowed to Mu Yan "Greetings, senior!"
"Don’t make a theatre. Just call me elder brother like before."
When the two heard this, they felt like bitter.
In their youth, they couldn’t decide who was the big brother and who was the younger brother, so they made a bet: the one who awakened the first would be the elder brother.
Now it seems the first spot was taken...
Suddenly, the two separated and looked at each other with fiery eyes.
When Mu Yan saw this, he was about to grin. Hehe, the first place was decided, who would be the second place?
He walked passed them and they followed behind, quietly calculating in their minds.
At the end of the floor he entered his own small quarters.
Ren Yu, the last to enter, closed the other.
Instantly, A’qi asked "Mu Yan- big brother, you... how did the awakening go?"
Mu Yan smiled and gestured them to sit down.
Then he looked at the tea, not saying anything.
Ren Yu picked up and pushed A’qi "Serve big brother a cup of tea!"
"Why do I have to!"
"Was I the one who asked?"
A’qi got annoyed but since he wanted to know the answer as soon as possible, he didn’t argue and just poured a cup of tea.
Mu Yan smiled when he saw this and explained "Haha, this matter is very easy. No problem at all. You only have to get a full score for one of the four human paths."
"What?!" the two shouted in surprised at the same time.
"Full score? Brother, tell the truth, a real full score?!"
"Hmph, do I have to lie? Don’t you see my cultivation?
Oh right, you don’t... you haven’t awakened yet, so you can’t see my cultivation stage.
I’m at the early-stage of foundation building. Just a casual matter, don’t fuss over it."
A’qi was agape while Ren Yu took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, "So this is why the pressure on us is so high!" he commented.
Mu Yan nodded casually and waited for them to calm down before continuing "Just as I said, this matter isn’t a secret. Your cultivation will be boosted by your score, and the higher it is, the better a score you get.
But this is only because I am a pure royal eunuch, which is why I needed a full score.
My guess is that since you two have mixed paths, getting a full score so to say should be easier.
Maybe you only need ninety on two paths?"
"You think so?" Ren Yu asked, somewhat calming down.
While they weren’t sure of getting a full score, they knew that a high score was definitely possible.
And while Mu Yan focused on the royal path and did the others partially too, they had focused on two paths and generally ignored one path wholly while participating in the other a bit.
For example, A’qi with the goal of becoming an Envoy Eunuch focuses on the two paths of Literati and Martial at the same time, with a minor specialisation in Royal and no expertise in Craft at all.
Ren Yu on the other hand focused on Literati and Craft, minoring in Royal and ignoring the Martial path.
Mu Yan nodded "Although I don’t know for sure, my guess is that having 90 twice should be equal to having a full score. Maybe having 85 three times or 80 four times will have an equal effect. I am not entirely sure.
My scores were 110 Royal, 80 for both Martial and Literati, and 55 for Craft."
"110?" A’qi asked, only for Ren Yu to answer "Did you get he blessing of a senior? Well, with big brother’s talent, it’s no surprise.
Regardless, big brother, can you tell us what you’ll be doing next and whether we can help?"
At this point, Ren Yu accepted the matter and decided to move on. Talking more about it wouldn’t help, since they couldn’t get the scores just by talking.
A’qi seemed to have a different idea, but he decided not to continue asking and instead offer his help for this important information.
"Well the senior told me that the Royal Assignment will take place in a week. Until then, I will have to learn about the Royal Descendants of this year’s assignment. I will also have to check the other Royal Eunuchs that will participate this time.
In addition, I will have to prepare to leave the capital, which will also take time.
Prior to leaving, I will also have to try out my powers and get an understanding of them.
It would be a tragedy if anything were to happen on the way and I couldn’t use my powers.
Also, my powers seem to be a bit unique, different from my martial and literati class. I will have to see how I use it to my favour in the future...
There are many things for me.
But you guys tell me, how far are you from awakening?"
"I’m at least a month away."
"Similar for me. If nothing happens, I will have completed all my classes and get full points in 30days."
"That’s good. According to previous convention, I will leave a month after the assignment. If you two can awaken prior to me leaving, we might celebrate it a bit. That will also be a good time to introduce the prince or princess I adopt."
Having made the arrangements for the future, the three discussed the order at which they would do things.
Ren Yu took the job of checking Mu Yan’s fellow Royal Eunuchs of this generation, while A’qi went to check the Royal Descendants that would participate in this assignment.
They had split their tasks in the past like this, everyone helped the way they could.