I was about to fall asleep but then I heard a knocking sound coming from somewhere. I walked towards the door and opened it but nobody was there. I was confused until I heard it once more. This time I managed to locate where the sound was coming from. It was coming from the window.

  I walked towards the window. The curtains were closed so I couldn't see who it was but I had a pretty good idea of who it was. I spread the curtains wide open in a single giant motion. I saw a figure outside.

  The figure had black hair that blended with the night sky outside. It had bright blue eyes which stared at me from the outside. I fully opened the window and the figure leaped inside.

  Due to the illumination of the candle light inside my room I could now clearly see who it was. It was Richard.

  "I'm assuming that while you were executing your masterful theft you couldn't help but bring some for me?" I said.

  Richard turned to me and smiled.

  "O Alice you are truly smart. A nerd through and through." He said.

  I got mad and punched him in the stomach.

  He stumbled backwards in pain.

  "Anyways where are the spirits you so kindly got for me?" I asked in a sweet voice.

  Richard winced in pain for a bit but then smiled. He took out a black crystal box from his robe and got down on one knee.

  "Alice Redgrass." He said.

  "I, Richard Sunborn, wish to bestow this gift upon you. Do you accept?"

  "You truly have a love for being overly dramatic." I slandered him.

  "DO YOU ACCEPT?" He said in a clearly fake rage

  I chuckled before replying to him.

  "I, Alice Redgrass, accept this gift." I said while extending my right hand to pick the black box up.

  After I picked up Richard stood up and headed towards the window.

  Right before he was about to leave he turned to me.

  "Until we meet again, young miss." He said in his dramatic voice again.

  "If you say that again I'll punch you in the stomach again." I threatened him while raising my clenched right fist.

  I saw his face be overrun by pure fear. Without saying a word he leaped outside into the dark night. He did a backflip in midair for seemingly no reason other then to show off.

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  I closed the window and the curtains before walking to my bed. I sat down and opened the box. It was full of Water spirits. I counted them and realized there were 14 of them. I reached inside and grabbed one and started absorbing it.

  ...

  After all the Water spirits were absorbed I officially reached Tier 2 but in order to hide it from the sect I commanded my spirit to not release any of that absorbed energy into my body. This means I would have the physical capabilities of a Tier 1 cultivator but will have the elemental capacity of a Tier 2 cultivator.

  Also to make communication with my spirit easier I decided to give my spirit a name and this was totally not copied from Richard. The name I decided on was Wonder because I felt like it went along nicely with Alice.

  Then I fell asleep.

  ...

  I awoke from my bed and got dressed before making way to the Elder's room.

  Once I entered I saw Richard was there along with all the other cultivators.

  The Elder spoke to all of us in his powerful voice.

  "We have just experienced another tragedy. Adam has sneaked back into the treasury through the hole in the roof and stolen even more elemental spirits. He stole 14 Storm spirits and 15 Water spirits."

  As I listened I noticed something that caught my attention.

  The Elder just said that 15 Water spirits were stolen but in the box Richard gave me last night there were only 14 Water spirits. In order to confirm this and make sure I wasn't misremembering I concentrated my thoughts.

  "Wonder. How many spirits did you absorb last night?"

  "14 but I don't understand why you're asking." he replied.

  I didn't pay attention to Wonder's confusion as I started theorizing about why Richard would do such a thing. Could he have taken it and absorbed it in order to create a Deviant Element? That's the most likely possibility. I then started thinking about how this would help him.

  Because this theft was blamed on Adam the hunt for him would likely happen way sooner then if it didn't happen. So this leads to a larger chance of me and Richard going into the Frontier and finding Adam. It also gave him a hidden weapon he could use in the fight against Adam which was the Thunder Element, a combination of Water and Storm.

  So due to this heist we both got stronger, would explore the Frontier earlier and gained a secret weapon against Adam all due to a simple plan that Richard executed. I couldn't help but admire him. He was simply a genius.

  I glanced at Richard who was to my right. He noticed my gaze and turned his head to look at me. He then gave me a slight smile before turning his head back.

  "He even knew I would figure it out. Simply amazing." I praised him in my mind.

  Then the Elder spoke again and I turned my head to listen.

  "We will venture into the frontier. Groups of Tier 2 cultivators with two members each will be sent into each direction while groups of Tier 1 cultivators consisting of 5 members each will also be sent in each direction. This will hopefully cover most of the Frontier that we are capable of exploring."

  Everyone agreed with the Elder and we all walked out of the room. Me and Richard walked through the hallway together.

  "I have no words." I said in order to start the conversation.

  "I'm assuming you figured out my plan." He replied.

  "Yeah. Thanks to you we will hopefully find Adam quickly." I praised him.

  However I then noticed his face had a look of deep contemplation on it.

  "What is it?" I asked.

  He only replied to me after a few seconds.

  "The Elder has forced us to venture into the Frontier in groups of 5. You and I will obviously be in that group but who will the other 3 members be?" He said.

  I thought about it for a second.

  "My sister." I said suddenly.

  "My older sister is a Tier 1 cultivator. She can go with us." I explained.

  "What element and how many spirits absorbed?" Richard asked.

  "She's an Earth Core Cultivator with 12 spirits absorbed." I said.

  "She'll make excellent bait for Adam then." Richard said immediately after I finished my sentence.