Morning, Castaway Island, Dawn Village

  Badum, Badum.

  Orien's heart beat steadily today, no nervousness in sight.

  Warm rays of sun shone down through the window. It was so peaceful that he would have liked to stay in bed for a little longer.

  Today, however, was one day that he absolutely could not oversleep.

  His eyes peeled open, and he moved his blanket off his body. He did one big stretch like usual, and then he did a few more. He was preparing to bathe himself and stopped to look at himself in the mirror. He gently patted his face and locked eyes with himself again, just like he had in the past.

  This was different. The Orien of today was ready to do or die.

  He would leave that morning after giving his mother and father a tight hug and eating breakfast together with them. His father had opted to go to work late today because his son was asleep by the time he got home the previous day.

  Orien slept like a rock, and he didn’t want to wake him up before such an important day.

  ‘A few hours off the farm wouldn’t hurt. Not seeing my son for a while would hurt,’ Nordt thought.

  Orien was savoring today’s breakfast. The eggs and meat were cooked in his favorite way, fried and flavorful. 'Truthfully, it may be a while before I can experience this again,' Orien looked at his parents eating at the table with him.

  "I love you, Mom, Dad. Please take care until I see you again," Orien said.

  Eve raised her head, and her eyes seemed moist. The three of them hugged once more. "You be safe, and don't hesitate to reach out to us," she said.

  Orien wasn't sure if he would have the ability to visit considering how cultivators operated, but he swore to himself that he would make the time.

  Fwip, fwip. His black robes fluttered behind him. His curly black hair looked tame after his mother trimmed it for him, and his light tan made him look a bit more handsome today. He reached the schoolyard in no time and made his way to the entrance.

  ‘A lot of students are already waiting outside, but it’s still early,’ he thought as he found a corner and waited as well.

  His eyes wandered until he saw Haruki some distance away, chatting with a girl he couldn’t recognize. If he had enough confidence to be flirting right now, then he was probably fine.

  "I wouldn't want to interrupt. I'll wait until he's done,” Orien mumbled.

  Wisp chimed in, "Very insightful of you, lad. Wait until we go cherry picking in the cultivation world. I'll even get you in a brothel if the chance-"

  "Wisp, disregarding the fact that I'm not sixteen yet, I've got my heart and eyes set on a girl already. She must be waiting for me even now,” Orien replied thoughtfully.

  Wisp grumbled, "Lad, it's precisely because you're so young why you mustn't put all of your eggs in one basket. I know this old man likes to fool around but speaking with a moment of clarity here… you're a young man. You need experience before tying yourself down!"

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  Orien frowned but didn't refute Wisp. He knew he was too inexperienced to say anything with any real weight on the topic.

  Suddenly, there was an interruption when a lanky youth, noticeably taller than him, began to make his way over from across the courtyard. Orien frowned, and Wisp, who was observing this situation, asked, "Kid, is that who I think it is?"

  Orien responded in his mind, "Oh yes, that definitely looks like Lars. This asshole is probably gonna try to finish what he started a few weeks ago. I've got my ass handed to me by him before, so he’s probably mad that I managed to put up a fight last time.”

  Wisp hadn't responded, not because he had nothing to say, but because he felt he needed to see Orien handle himself. He felt that he was more than qualified after fully absorbing that half spirit grass pill and training his body for a month.

  "Yo, rat! You really showed up again after failing the evaluation the first time? It seems not even a beating was enough to deter you, damn! You sure do have guts,” Lars taunted loudly, causing a few surrounding students to look over.

  "What did you just call me, you dog shit? Also, do you think you performed any better? You’re here again, just like I am,” Orien refuted calmly.

  There was a look of scorn and annoyance on Lars’s face as he said, "I called you a damn rat. Like the one I left on your seat a few weeks ago. Ring any bells? Get the fuck out of here before my hands get itchy," he had an arrogant smile this time because he was in peak form, not exhausted nor winded from a long trek.

  Orien’s eye twitched, confirming his suspicion that it was certainly Lars who left the rat carcass on his seat. He had assumed so since their encounter on Alnilam Peak.

  That was all he wanted to confirm before releasing his pent-up frustration.

  Orien glanced around one more time to ensure that the assessors had not arrived yet and there were no teachers in the immediate vicinity as well.

  Lars stepped even closer with folded fists, saying, "Have you gone fucking deaf you-"

  CRACK!

  Lars was mid-sentence when he was violently swung to the ground. Orien had kicked him across the head in one swift motion.

  Lars could have never dreamed that Orien would humiliate him like this in front of a crowd.

  "Aeeeesshh, am ganna fahkin khill-" his swollen cheek and bloodied mouth made it difficult to understand what he was saying.

  THUD!

  Orien did not find it difficult to follow up and sent a palm straight into his nose.

  "Lars? No, I think your name is rat. You understand me? YOU are the rat,” Orien shouted.

  Orien had gotten a bit excited, momentarily losing his cool. He was completely swept up in the moment, now having had his first taste of revenge.

  "Now YOU are the rat, and I am the rat trap. Now let me hear you tweet like a rat while I rain these lashes into your back,” Orien provoked Lars with a shameful request, as though he was disciplining a child.

  Lars was stunned silly by the words he'd heard, as he had never been humiliated like this in his life.

  Before he could get up, however, he felt the air knocked out of his lungs, followed by a sharp pain in his back. Orien had sent another kick straight into his back as promised.

  “Tweet like a rat!!” Orien shouted, reeling his leg back once more.

  ‘What power... when did he get stronger than me...?’ Lars eyes threatened to roll back into his skull.

  Orien swung his leg two more times as though he was kicking a sack of rice before Lars started to crawl away as fast as he could. Orien did not pursue, he certainly was not trying to kill Lars today, as their grievances were not that deep.

  He did, however, mean to teach an unforgettable lesson, and he felt he had gotten his point across.

  Amongst all of the shocked gazes, Orien dusted himself off and straightened his robes, looking practically unscathed.

  "Beautifully done, boy! Chef's kiss! I could not have handled it better myself! Well, maybe I would have castrated that trash, but this old man can be a little extreme."

  Wisp laughed out and praised Orien, and Orien smiled widely after receiving praise. He had only ever received beatings before today, so it felt truly incredible to be delivering the blows.

  He realized everyone's attention shifted, and he too looked up. In the distance, a beautiful horse-drawn carriage could be seen coming this way.