by William Bill
Luna was already amazed that Damien again took only a single day to breakthrough to the Early Origin Soul Stage. But she still somewhat expected it considering how strong his soul was.
But seeing how his soul was already comparable to an Early Nascent Soul Stage, her eyes almost went wide.
Cultivation of the soul was way harder than ethereal cultivation, which is why there were only a total of six stages in soul cultivation while there were nine realms in ethereal cultivation.
Usually, one would only try to breakthrough to the Early Origin Soul Stage at least after reaching the fifth level of the Initial Ethereal Realm so as to improve their inner senses to sense the soul plane.
Cultivation of the ethereal improves the body, ethereal core, and soul at the same time. But the improvement in the soul couldn't be compared with the improvements one would gain through soul cultivation.
"Heh..am I not awesome? I knew my talent couldn't be bad." Damien said with a smug smile.
"Hmph, don't get ahead of yourself. You have merely entered the cultivation journey. As you advance in this journey, it would only get more arduous and grueling. Also, you have to manage to stay alive without getting killed because of some trivial offense. In the cultivation world, nobody lives too long. In the end, you can only depend on your brawn and wits to survive in this world." Luna said candidly.
"I know...I know. Jeez, you don't have to nag me like this just because I made a mistake once." Damien rolled his eyes.
"Even though I am new to this world, it doesn't mean I would be dumb enough to jeopardize myself. First, I need more information about this empire...especially about that princess. Something just seems strange about her. The way she treats me talks to me...everything seems so fishy.
I guess I will know what she is planning once the week is over."
"Oh, She seems strange to you?" Luna asked with a playful smile.
"Wait...you know something?" Damien asked doubtfully.
Luna giggled, "Who knows? You will find out soon anyway, hehe."
'This imp is having fun seeing my cluelessness. Heh, goddess or not, you have to grow a bit more to get back at me.'
Damien shook his head, "Anyway, I want to learn how to concoct pills. Since I know the medical ingredients required for different kinds of pills and the theoretical knowledge, I guess I can try. I only just need to read some books on alchemy concoction and try to experiment on my own. It's not like I can expect a teacher to teach me."
Luna raised one of her eyebrows, "You want to be an alchemist?"
"I mean, it would be beneficial, right? I can create my own healing pills, breakthrough pills, etc. Also, if I am really good at it, I could also make easy money out of it."
"Sigh...don't tell me you always forget things when you are excited like a kid. Don't you know the basic requirements to concoct a pill? You need to be at least adept in fire laws or have a soul cultivation base necessary for concocting the pill. Or are you going to say that you are adept in fire laws when you haven't even formed your elemental seeds?" Luna said with a sarcastic smile
.
Chapter 20: Elemental Seeds
Elemental seeds were something similar to the Origin seed because they represented one's understanding of the elemental laws. But other than that, everything else was totally different.
There are a total of six basic ethereal elemental seeds; Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Metal, Lightning.
And these seeds would take the form of their respective attributes. The Fire Seed would have a fiery and hot attribute; The Water Seed would have a dynamic but constantly changing flow; The Wind Seed would have the attributes of a tempest; The Earth Seed would have the attributes of nature; The Metal Seed would have a lustrous nature; The Lightning seed would have a glaring wild nature.
But generally, when people form their basic ethereal core, these elemental seeds wouldn't have taken form fully. So, one would usually know if they have any talent for any elements when they have themselves tested by the experts.
But one can also focus on their own ethereal core and try to discern the element they are talented in.
But it would be very hard for someone who only began their cultivation since the elemental seeds haven't even taken basic form yet; however, if they are really talented in an element, they might be able to realize it themselves once they focus on their ethereal core.
And those with no talent wouldn't even awaken any of the elemental seeds, and their potential would be very low compared to those with at least some talent.
Damien answered, "Well, I haven't tried to discern my element yet. But even if I suck at fire laws, I have my strong soul. Once I cultivate my soul a bit more, I can try concocting at least rank 1 pills."
"How are you going to even procure the materials required for it?" Luna asked as she crossed her arms.
Damien gave a sly smile as he said, "I have my ways. A goddess like you should not concern herself with these mundane matters."
"Oho?" Luna curled her lips, "So seems like you are capable enough to handle these mundane things. And here I thought you would be begging this goddess to help you."
Damien wrinkled his forehead, "Do you mean you have the ability to help me?"
Luna shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe or maybe not. But since you boasted that you could figure things out yourself, this goddess thought it would be best that way."
Seeing the sly grin on her face, Damien's eyes twitched.
'Damn...don't tell me she could easily get me the stuff I need? Nevermind, for now, I should try to get it myself instead of relying on a foxy imp.'
"Whatever, I will now try to discern my elemental affinity. I would be satisfied no matter which element I have an affinity with."
"Whoa, you are confident you have an elemental seed? What if you only have dead elemental seeds? In other words, a complete talent-less wastrel?" Luna asked mockingly.
"Heh...for some reason, I think you already know which element I have an affinity with. If I was truly talentless, I doubt you would be so laid-back right now. And besides, I already had breakthroughs in both ethereal and soul cultivation within a day. So, I am ninety-nine percent sure that I will have at least some affinity towards an element." Damien said with a face-wide smile.
"Tch...you are no fun."Luna pursed her lips.
"I am going to sleep for now, and you should take some rest too. No need to discern your elemental affinity now; try it tomorrow morning. I can understand your excitement and eagerness to gain power, but remember that it will only cause a backlash and ruin whatever you have built till now if you overdo things. Otherwise, trust me, I wouldn't be telling this." She said earnestly before disappearing back into the Shard Of Essence.
Damien pondered, 'I guess I have been too hasty in trying to progress without taking proper rest. Wew, this little goddess is surely amusing. After a long time, it feels good to have someone be concerned about me even though it's because she depends on me.'
It was the morning of the 4th day of the week when Damien was already sitting cross-legged on the floor without forgetting to take a rank 2 Sustenance Pill.
He focused his senses on his ethereal core. And soon enough, inside the gaseous sphere, the first thing he noticed was some faint wild particles hovering and clashing with each other.
He tried to concentrate more to know what those particles exactly were.
As he focused, he was able to see faint bright sparks whenever they clashed...he had guessed before what element the seed was, but now he was sure it was the lightning seed!
And the lightning seed had not yet taken any shape, nor was the Origin seed reacting in any way.
Damien opened his eyes and thought, 'Hmm...it seems I have the lightning seed. So does that mean at least one of my parents are adept in lightning laws?'
There was a high chance for one to inherit their talent in elemental laws from their parents or forefathers.
So, Damien thought he must have inherited his talent from his par
ents.
Only a very small percentage of cultivators awakened their elemental seeds, which were not related to their parents. But still, it was very rare and not something that happened commonly.
And there were even lesser chances for someone with talent-less parents to have some talent in elemental laws. Such that it was only a one in a hundred million chance.
Luna appeared before him as Damien broke off from his thoughts.
"So, you realized your elemental affinity, right?" She asked as she already noticed Damien, deep in thought from inside the Shard Of Essence.
"Yes, I have the lightning seed," Damien said with a tinge of excitement in his eyes.
"Good. You are lucky that you awakened a higher element instead of common elements like fire, water, and all. Lightning laws are really powerful such that in terms of pure power, they would exceed fire and ice and even the rest of the ethereal elements."
"But it seems like your alchemy experimentation has to be postponed unless you can manifest etheric fire using your soul."
However, Luna knew that Damien could at least comprehend some of the fire laws since he has a lightning element.
Still, his comprehension wouldn't be as strong as his comprehension in lightning laws; Unless Damien's comprehension talent was too high, he could easily comprehend fire laws without having an innate talent in them or if he had some fortuitous encounter to increase his comprehension of fire laws.
Suppose someone is not adept in fire laws but wants to pursue a successful career in alchemy. In that case, they should have high soul cultivation and be able to manifest strong etheric fire.
An Etheric fire has similar properties to normal fire, but the difference was that it originated from the soul and was also stronger than usual flames.
But even among alchemists, only very few of them are able to even manifest basic etheric fire.
But using these flames was very taxing and tiring because of which even if they were stronger than the usual flames, cultivators other than alchemists didn't bother to try manifesting and using these etheric flames.
Damien asked with sparkling eyes, "Well, my beautiful goddess would teach me to manifest them...wouldn't you?"
Luna lifted her chin, "Bah...you can keep your silly flattering tricks with yourself. Don't expect this goddess to fall for them."
Damien rubbed his nose, seeing that she didn't fall for his sweet talk.
"But...seeing that you admire this goddess's ethereal beauty, I will help you if you promise me that you will owe me a favor," Luna said with an enchanting smile that would even bring heavenly emperors to their knees...but to Damien, it seemed as if a demoness was smiling at him.
'Shit...this imp is trying to take advantage of my situation. Well, what can a goddess ask as a favor from someone like me? As long as I can learn it, I guess I don't have to bother about what she wants from me.'
"Fine. I promise I will owe you one." Damien said with a strained smile.
"Good. But first, you procure the things required for concocting pills, then I will teach you how to manifest etheric fire." Luna said with a beaming smile.
"Also, you should not forget to train your lightning element. Don't get complacent thinking that you awakened a higher element. Even though ethereal lightning energy is extremely strong, it is too volatile. It is the hardest to control and manipulate among all ethereal elements. It is also easy to harm oneself in the process of cultivation, to the point where you can damage your own ethereal core. And the higher a level you reach, the more this concept applies to you." Luna said in an instructing tone.
Damien was a bit taken aback, thinking whether it was his fortune or misfortune to awaken the lightning element.
He cleared his thoughts and said, "Of course, every good thing comes with its advantages and disadvantages. I won't slack off on my ethereal training, and with you guiding me, things won't end up that bad."
Chapter 21: Teach Me
"Hmph, don't expect this goddess to babysit you. Unless you try something that is going to cost your life, I won't interfere." Luna said, narrowing her eyes.
"That's perfect since I can try to learn things in my own way instead of being spoon-fed." Damien lightly chuckled.
"Good. Now till the next week, you should cultivate your ethereal energy. I will be sleeping till the start of the next week." Saying this, Luna disappeared into the Shard Of Essence.
'Wow, all she does is sleep. What a lazy goddess.' Damien sarcastically chuckled inwardly.
—
Four days passed…
It was the morning of the new week as Damien got up from his bed. He had been cultivating till yesterday night and already broke through to the second level of the Initial Ethereal Realm.
'Hmm...I have already broken through to the second level, but I still don't know any ethereal techniques. Well, Luna did promise to teach me a soul technique to absorb souls, but that is not exactly a technique which can be used to fight.'
*knock* *knock*
Suddenly, Damien heard a knock on his door. He was startled for a bit, wondering who was knocking. But he suddenly realized that one whole week had already passed since he came to this place.
As he was busy cultivating, he had lost track of time and sometimes even forgot to have a sustenance pill.
He went towards the door and opened it to see a maid whose mouth turned agape when her eyes caught sight of Damien.
Seeing that she was simply staring at him as if he was an alien, Damien cleared his throat, "Ahem...is there anything I can help you with?"
"Ah,no...yes—-I mean, the Court Master asks for your presence. I was ordered to escort you to the study room."
The young maid was startled as she didn't expect a servant to look so charming and dashing. And his bearing and demeanor didn't seem to belong to a servant at all.
'Hmm, finally, it seems like today is the day I find out what they are going to do with me. Well, since Luna seems to know their motive and didn't comment anything about it, I guess it's not detrimental to me.'
Damien gave a light smile, "Sure, please lead the way."
'How handsome!' The young girl exclaimed in awe inwardly, wondering whether he was some hidden illegitimate prince staying in the servant's quarters no matter how illogical it seemed.
They passed through the palace halls while some maids paused their gaze on Damien for a while before looking away.
While walking, Damien asked Luna through his soul link, "Hey Luna, won't they realize that I am not a cripple now?"
Luna's melodious voice sounded in his head, "No, they won't unless they try to forcefully probe you and find it suspicious that they couldn't see through you. If they don't, you will just appear like a crippled mortal without any cultivation. Since they already know you are crippled, they won't bother to probe you, and even if they casually extended their spiritual perception, you will just appear as a mortal."
"Wow, so using your Shard Of Essence, you can mask my ethereal aura?" Damien asked as he was impressed by her ability.
"Of course, it is not a big deal to mask your ethereal aura or even your soul aura." She replied in a prideful tone.
Soon enough, they reached the door of the study room.
"You can enter inside. The Court Master is already in the room. I will take my leave now." The maid stole a quick glance at Damien before turning away. She left with a slightly hurried pace as if she might have some unnecessary thoughts if she stayed any longer.
Damien lightly chuckled, seeing the young maid's actions. He shook his head and knocked on the door.
"You can come in." An amiable voice sounded.
Damien entered the door and was surprised to see Lily dressed in a dignified and elegant violet attire, which made her look befitting the title of 'Celestial Princess'.
She was sitting on a chair while the two court masters sat on chairs placed opposite her with a table between them.
It seemed as if they were already having some discussion bef
ore Damien entered.
The princess's gaze became glued on to Damien for a moment when his face entered her vision. This was the first time she saw his face properly. And his new hair cut seemed to suit him and make him look more attractive.
She quickly cleared her thoughts and gave a friendly smile, "Hello, Damien. I believe you must be feeling better now, seeing that you even managed to cut your hair."
Damien still hadn't removed the bandages on his right forearm, even though it almost healed already.
Damien gave a light smile, "Well, it's all thanks to the potent medicine you gave me, Lily. It won't be long before I am fully healed."
"Insolence! How dare you address Her Highness by her name!" Nestor Rong turned his head towards Damien as his eyes bulged, glaring at him.
Lily raised her palm gracefully, "It's fine, Vice Court Master. We are the only ones here, and I had told Damien it was okay to call me by my name when nobody else is around."
'Wow...she is even covering up for me. What is exactly up with her?'
Damien pondered as he had addressed her by her name on purpose to see what kind of reaction she would have; so that he would be able to get some cues on what she was planning.
Lily gestured towards a seat placed on her left side, "Please take a seat, Damien. I have some things to discuss with you."
Lily was surprised seeing Damien's bright and fresh face, which contrasted with his gloomy and angry expressions the day she rescued him.
Damien didn't bother with any formalities and directly sat on the seat.
"I wonder what the imperial princess would want to discuss with a cripple like me?" Damien asked with a slight smile.
Lily gave a light chuckle, "Well, Damien, even though you are a cripple, I was really interested in your swordsmanship. And as you know, it's because of my misunderstanding that you ended up here. So, the only thing left to do was let you go on your way since we don't have any suitable job for you. But then it would also be a waste to let you leave like that since it was certainly not cheap to rescue you, and you wouldn't have anywhere to go to anyway."