As Ian approached the private training grounds in the estate, he opened the door slightly and could hear Emily bragging to Emma.

​"You should have seen the look on his face when I pretended I was about to cry! Hahaha!" Emily said, smiling and lightly smacking Emma’s shoulder. She was laughing so hard that tears started forming in the corners of her eyes.

​"Emily, you shouldn’t tease Big Brother like that. He could have been really hurt, for all you know," Emma said with a concerned expression.

​"Emma, don’t be a buzzkill. We should at least have a little fun with him, right? And haven’t you noticed he has been a lot more serious these days? Maybe he blames himself for Dad dying," Emily said, her expression suddenly turning solemn.

​Outside the door, Ian froze. Her words felt like a heavy stone dropping into his stomach. He instinctively clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. She is right, he admitted silently, feeling a sharp pang in his chest.

​He didn’t realize it, but when Ian’s father died, Kael had not yet taken over the body. However, the deep soul assimilation between the two identities made the memories and grief bleed together, making Kael truly feel as though he himself had also failed to protect his father.

​I was too weak to protect him. That is exactly why I need to get stronger, Ian thought. I need to gather these Prosperity Points so I never have to watch my family suffer like that ever again.

​Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Ian awkwardly backed away down the hall. He pretended to approach the room again, this time stomping his feet to make loud footsteps so the girls inside could hear him coming.

​When he walked inside, the conversation the girls were having had completely shifted.

​"Emma, you should work harder! Look at me, I broke through the first stage. If you give me about three days, I will be able to break through to the second stage," Emily said with a confident, cocky expression, resting her hands proudly on her hips.

​"Okay, I will try harder this time. I don’t want to be left behind," Emma said with deep determination, clenching both her fists in front of her chest.

​Ian was shocked by how fast their conversation had changed. What surprised him even more was that Emma was actually going along with it instead of complaining.

​"I guess you girls won’t be needing my assistance anymore, seeing how determined you both are," Ian said, smiling as if he were incredibly proud of them. "At first, I suggested these morning training sessions because I thought you wouldn’t be up to it, or that you would slack off when you were alone. I guess my worries were wrong, seeing how Emily broke through in just one day."

​"Emma, are you hearing this guy? He thought we were so untalented that he had to supervise us every morning," Emily said while smirking.

​"Emily, don’t put words in my mouth. I just said that—"

​Before Ian could finish, he was cut short.

​"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Since there is nothing for you to teach us anymore, I’m going back to sleeeep," Emily said, yawning loudly. "Some of us didn’t get a proper sleep last night. I will be going now."

​Emily turned and walked out, leaving only Emma and Ian in the room.

​"Sigh... this girl is too much," Ian said, though he had a warm smile on his face.

​"Brother, you shouldn’t worry about Emily. She really cares for you, you know," Emma said softly, trying to reassure him.

​"I know," Ian nodded. "But you should get serious too. You don’t want to be left behind by her, after all."

​"I know," Emma replied with a long face, feeling guilty for not taking her training seriously the day before.

​"Don’t look so down. Cultivation is just starting, and there is a long road ahead of us," Ian said while affectionately ruffling Emma’s hair.

​The following days were peaceful, but grueling for Emma. One afternoon, Ian quietly watched her from the hallway window. Sweat poured down her face as she struggled to hold the wide horse stance. Her legs shook violently until they finally gave out entirely, causing her to collapse onto the hard wooden floor with a frustrated groan.

​Ian almost stepped into the room to tell her to take a break, but before he could, Emma gritted her teeth. She slammed her small fist against the floorboards, muttered fiercely to herself about not losing to Emily, and forced herself right back onto her trembling feet.

​She trained like crazy, but it still took her a full 48 hours of pushing her body to its absolute limits to finally break through to the first stage. It seemed she was not quite as naturally talented as Emily in this field. Still, when she finally made her breakthrough, she was so happy that she ran straight to Emily to show off.

​However, that happiness did not last long.

​After hearing Emma brag the previous night, Emily had been completely on edge. That was the first time she had ever heard her sweet sister brag about anything, and to Emily, it was not a pleasant experience. She absolutely did not want to go through that again.

​"Dammit, I should work even harder," Emily muttered to herself in her room. "Yesterday she kept going on about how she would surpass me if I didn’t take this seriously. Let’s see if you can surpass me when I break through again today!"

​Emily dropped into her stance, a fierce, competitive fire igniting in her eyes.

​Just after she said that, the familiar hot feeling from before blossomed in her chest. It spread rapidly throughout her body, rushing to every inch of her skin. This time, the energy felt even hotter and more intense.

​"I did it! Hehe!" Emily cheered.

​Without wasting a second, she dashed out of her room and ran straight toward Emma’s room with a huge, victorious smile on her face to brag all over again.

​While all this was happening, Ian was sitting in his room, reading the system notification that had just popped up regarding Emily’s latest breakthrough.

​[Notifications]

Emily Thorne broke through to the Middle Stage of Skin Cultivation, rewarding the Host 30 Prosperity Points.

​Ian was thrilled. He couldn’t wait to check his stats.

​A few days ago, when Emma broke through, he had earned 20 points, bringing his total to 40. At the time, he had checked his own cultivation stats, but the [+] upgrade symbol hadn’t appeared next to his techniques. He hoped it would show up now that he had a total of 70 points.

​He had thought about buying new martial arts techniques from the shop, but with his current points, he couldn’t afford a single one. All the items were grayed out, hiding their names and exact details only prices were there. The absolute cheapest technique he could see was priced at 100 points. The same rule applied to the cultivation techniques section—everything was locked, which was exactly why he still had no idea what stage came after Skin Cultivation.

​"System," Ian called out eagerly.