"Who dares stop this young master?!"
A relatively young voice yelled from within the carriage. From the previous thump, it was clear that the owner of the voice had been flung into the wall or floor due to the abrupt stop.
The carriage door opened and out stepped a young man with black hair and eyes. His build was mostly slim, however, his most glaring feature was his height.
'This guy is tiny!'
If Damien had to make a guess, he'd say the man in front of him was 5 foot 2 inches maximum. He might even be shorter than that.
"Who gave you permission to stare at me?!" The man yelled angrily when his eyes landed on Damien.
'Is it a typical young master thing or does this guy have a Napoleon Complex?'
Still, Damien kept his mouth shut, choosing to observe before acting. He was still new to this world, so it was unwise to do anything stupid.
'Well, if I get some backing I should be fine.'
The young man quickly became further incensed by Damien's lack of reaction, but his eyes suddenly lit up in 'realization'.
"Oh, I get it. You must be some sort of country bumpkin! Hmph, my name is Wang Ming, now quickly kneel before me so I can go on with my day."
The whole situation was quite comical. Rather than a normal young master interaction like Damien was expecting, he had simply met a clown.
"Perhaps I really should kneel? Maybe only by doing this would we be able to see eye to eye."
Faint giggles began spreading through the crowd as people understood the meaning behind Damien's words. Unfortunately, Wang Ming seemed to be lacking in the brains department as well.
"Hmph, as expected of trash like you. It's good that you know when to kneel."
Recalling the conversations he heard in the crowd earlier, Damien began to feel sorry for the Xue Clan's young miss. Unless she was equally stupid, it'd be a shame for anyone to have to marry this guy.
Feeling disappointed by the interaction, Damien simply communicated with Zara to leave.
"Kid, you're too much of an idiot for this to be any fun, so maybe next time you should come back with someone better."
However, Wang Ming naturally wasn't satisfied. "Did I give you permission to leave?!"
Without warning, he pulled his arm back and punched forward, sending a large dragon made of flames toward Damien.
'This kid is just a 2nd class and still has the nerve to act like this. Is this what they call having eyes but can't see?' Damien wondered.
Still, he wasn't someone to take insults lying down. Since Wang Ming wanted to be humiliated so badly, Damien would just oblige him.
Disregarding the fire dragon that wouldn't be able to harm him even if he simply stood there and allowed it to hit him, Damien pointed his finger at Wang Ming.
'Let's just do this then.'
Dropping his finger slightly, Damien adjusted his aim before shooting off two concentrated beams of lightning.
Without even waiting to see the results, he turned and continued into the city, leaving a slight glance at the carriage driver as he left. With the line already being parted due to Wang Ming's earlier actions, he didn't have any trouble.
As he entered the city, Damien heard a shrill cry from behind him, followed by the muffled laughter of the crowd.
Any clothing below Wang Ming's waist had been burned to a crisp, becoming ash and exposing his lower body. The inevitable showing of his tiny member was what caused the crowd to laugh.
While Wang Ming continued being comedic relief, the driver of the carriage watched Damien's receding back in interest.
'The second young master needs to grow up, so interactions like this are necessary. However, the first young master will not be pleased when he learns of this.'
He had seen through Damien's intent even before the lightning had been released, yet he did nothing. Damien was also aware of this, as the old man's aura concealment couldn't fool his eyes.
'That young man's talents shouldn't be small. Maybe the first young master might even find a rival.'
Without speaking another word, the old driver used his mana to cover Wang Ming's exposed legs and led him back into the carriage.
As they departed into the city, Wang Ming was seething.
"A random trash bastard dares to humiliate this young master?! I will find some way to punish him, I swear it!"
As he partook in his rage-fueled monologue, he finally realized the meaning of Damien's earlier jab. "Dammit!" He slammed his fist against the wall.
"I'll make sure first brother makes him pay!"
Meanwhile, Damien was curiously looking through the city. The atmosphere was just as bustling as major cities in Apeiron like Aurora, but there was something inherently different that he couldn't place his finger on.
Still, this wasn't his focus. To his surprise, the talk of the town was perfectly in sync with his current goals.
"Quick, quick! Didn't you hear? The Celestial Star Palace is holding its disciple examination in 3 days!"
"Really? When I grow up and become a strong cultivator, I'm going to join the sect!"
"Stop dreaming! The Celestial Star Palace is the second-best sect in the entire world! How could you get in?"
"Well, I want to get accepted to the Jade Heavenly Palace! Second-ranked is too little for me!"
As he listened to the various conversations, Damien couldn't help but be amazed at the impeccable timing of it all.
'Don't tell me fate is actually a real thing?'
It was only then he realized he hadn't even done proper research on the sect.
'Well, I have 3 days to do so. Plus, it shouldn't be too hard, right?'
What Damien had forgotten was that he was dirt poor in this world. He was so used to not caring about money that he forgot how necessary the resource truly was.
For the next day, he didn't even take the time to enter a hotel or inn, simply spending all his time trying to gain information on the sect. And while he was largely unsuccessful, he was able to gain some general knowledge.
As its name suggested, the Celestial Star Palace was highly focused on such concepts. Not only was it a martial sect that cared about offensive prowess, but it also had a unique specialization in divination.
Now, Damien didn't necessarily believe in divination, but with mana anything was possible. He couldn't simply write it off as falsehood especially when such a large sect prioritized it.
'Not to mention, I don't really have anywhere else to go.'
Besides the fact that he was poor and had little knowledge of the Cloud Plane in general, he also found that the sect was even considered righteous among the righteous path. With its reputation, he didn't see a harm in trying to join them.
He didn't have any knowledge of divination, but it clearly had some correlation to time. And from his previous meditations, he was already aware of how closely interlinked space and time were.
The disciple examinations were open to anyone below the age of 60, which was still relatively young, especially in a world like this one. With the large number of 4th class beings in the world, meeting people whose age surpassed 1000 wasn't too uncommon.
The sect was still a few days of travel away, so after he gained this knowledge, he immediately set out.
'I can't miss this chance to get free housing…cough…I mean to expand my horizons.'
