Just like that, two months pass quickly Arc would spends most of his day in the forge, practicing the craft when ever he is not aided others
Even with that being the case he did not slack with the rest of his training, he had continued to train used the eagle claw technique
Lately he has worked to maintain it for an entire work day, this was harder than expected as the technique made the hands both hard and sharp,
he needed to be able to strengthen one aspect and weaken the other, at times, and doing so without disabling the technique was difficult
It took effort but he was finally at his goal, his ki control was at the most extreme level
During this time he had also reached stage 15 in body tempering, much sooner than he originally thought
The increased efficiency of his ki, allowed his cultivation to be done at a much faster speed
Now he just has to get the finish details done to achieve his foundation plan
While Arc has completed several of the necessary steps for his plan, he has yet to determine the location where he will attempt it.
'The sect would be the safest option but I don't want them to be aware of what i'm trying, and if i do it in the city it will directly be reported to every cultivation force stationed there'
If Arc is right about his idea, this would be a way to artificially create "genius"
This could cause massive problems in the power structure of the cultivation world
'Well since i have so many spiritual stones, i can directly use those for the energy requirements, perhaps i can go to the outer continent'
The outer continent is a place where spiritual energy is almost non existent
The world is so large that spirit energy can not spread everywhere, so the further away from the central continent, the less the density of energy
The outer continent having only mortals with no cultivation, he would be nearly untouchable even without the use of ki
'Yes that seem like the best course of action'
Arc thought to himself
But that is a worry for later today he had to head to the forge because he was assigned to be the forge aid to a core disciple
The core disciple were the direct disciple of the elders of the sect, especially those who were chosen were they're "successors" should they advance to foundation establishment
After heading to the forge arc, began preparing all the materials and tools, making sure that everything is clean and functioning
After making sure everything was alright, he then began to read and wait for the person to come
A few hours later the core disciple arrived
"Hello im Arc, i will be your forge aid today, if you need anything let me know"
'She looks like porcelain doll'
Arc thought to himself as he saw her walking in
"Hm"
Her face was expressionless, and her voice was indifferent
"Prepare the earth fire"
"Yes of course"
Arc followed her instructions and she began to work, she seemed to have been making a sword
Arc could see flaws and imperfections appearing, clearly she lacked experience in the forge
But his position as both an outer disciple and forge aid, meant he couldn't interfere unless given express permission
3 hours later she finished her sword
She seemed so pleased that arc felt bad knowing it would probably shatter on the first strike
"What do you think of the sword?, any problems?"
She spoke with pride expecting praise
Arc who had been cringing the entire time she worked couldn't help but speak the truth
"you hammered the steel when it wasn't up to temperature, you haven't tempered it,"
"there was lack of fusion in the billet you made those spots will probably be stress points ,your handle is also off-center"
Every word he spoke made her face hurt, her face was flushed red. What Arc unaware of is that she made a bet with her teacher,
As she seen her teacher do it so many times she thought she could do it too
Her teacher has been watching since the start, so as a random outer disciple called out all the faults in her student's blade, she felt a little embarrassed as her teacher
"Well said boy"
Arc flinched and turned his back
Behind him was a lady much taller than him, his head only reaching her chest
She had long white hair, and bronze skin
"Beautiful"
Arc spoke subconsciously
"Ahhh, wait i'm sorry I apologize for speaking rudely"
He bowed quickly the moment arc spoke, he realized, his life was on the line when before sect elders
Her face flushed but as Arc was bowing he couldn't see her face
" y-yes I'll forgive you this time, but don't say such things again"
"Master why is my sword so flawed, i thought i did everything right, i did it just like you "
"Mia, it's not that easy, i directly used spirit qi, when i'm forging; so i can skip certain steps"
"I have an idea, you boy, what is your name?"
The sect elder spoke
"My name is Archean. How may I address you elder?"
Arc spoke softly and quickly, as if it took all his effort to saw those words
"Well then Archean, how about you forge a weapon, and Mia will aid you, after all there is no better teacher than experience"
"As for how you can address me, I'll only answer that question if you can do a good job"
She decided to tease him after seeing how he felt about her
She had been caught off guard before, but her pride wouldn't let her be caught blushing again
Arc face was red as he began working
Meanwhile, while all this was going on Mia was completely oblivious to how either Arc or her teacher felt
She was just excited to prove to her teacher, that she can learn these things
Arc decided to make a twist Damascus short sword
After stacking his material, he directly used his ki as a welder to tac welded them together,
Basically he welded the outside, to prepare it for the forge weld
After heating it up in the forge, he took it, and started to set the welds, by slowly pressing the metal, slowly but surely
While he was doing this, his ki flowed within the metal, searching for any location that didn't fuse properly, or have any inclusions, he would use his ki to weld if the former, and burn away the latter
after finishing his billet he brought it up to heat and twisted it several times
After he finished that, he brought it back to heat the forged it to the shape of the short sword he wanted
Even then proceeded to thermal cycle the blade preparing it for a quench
After leaving the quench the blade was straight and harden, so he began to sharpen it on the tool that look similar to a belt sander as it has the same purpose just made in a different world
After he finished he presented his handless blade towards the sect elder
"That was outstanding Archean, your blade is very good"
The sect elder was genuinely impressed as forging is not a simple trade
It's not something that can be overcome by talent alone, to make a good blade is a testament of hard-work
"You may address me as by my dao name, Aurora"
"Thankyou elder Aurora."
"Teacher he did it differently than you do it"
Mia thought about it and couldn't find the reason why it seemed so difficult to understand
"Naturally different people can do the same thing in different ways plus he is still in the body tempering stage"
Aurora sighed then thought to herself
'This girl really.., perhaps i should have her placed in classes with the children'
"Archean you have talent in forging, i hope that the next time i see you, your skills improve even further"
Aurora spoke, before she vanished as if she was erased from space, she had also taken away her student
After they left, Arc had completed his work for the day, and was free to do as he pleased, but considered how long he had spent in the forge, he went straight to bed
After waking up the next morning he decided to take a look at mission listing, different from the jobs taken in the sect, these are temporary jobs, that require one to leave the sect for various reasons
'If i can find a mission that's heading to the outer continent, then I can avoid possible suspicion, it may be overkill but better safe than sorry'
'This job involves heading to the outer continent's to a mortal county to recruit disciples, they leave in 5 days i can just barely made it'
After picking up the job, Arc began preparing everything he would need as the ship will be taking off soon
Arc loaded up a a small spatial ring, with sprint stones, food, water, a spear, a short sword, and a bow, and a few empty notebooks, as well as plenty of Gold coin, just in case he decides to buy something in the outer continent
Arc headed home after having everything prepared, he couldn't help but want to draw something, Arc was an avid fan of books and drawing
He has been pushing himself very far lately so, he decided to allow himself some leisure and began drawing
Remaining mentally healthy is very important for a cultivator there are spells that can take advantage of emotions outbursts,
plus when you're feeling extreme emotions you tend to ignore details, so Arc had decided rather quickly to add some time for drawing into his schedule
' i want to draw her'
Arc took out one of his notebooks and began to draw Aurora
Arc was completely unaware that Aurora being a Gold core cultivator can vaguely sense when others weaker than herself are "mentioning her" when within rage of her divine senses
Naturally it is not a perfect gift, it has a short range and the effect would grow weaker the closer in strength they are to her
she found herself flying towards the source of the feeling instinctively, wondering who was behind it
She arrived only to see Arc's blushing face as he lied in bed his legs kicking in the air as he was drawing her
'Wh-what'
Her face flushed red
The men of this world typically like short, jade skinned woman, so she she had no experience with anyone liking her like this.
This definitely wasn't an excuse the author created to write a girl that's his type, definitely not…
She flew away trying not to be seem blushing
Arc was completely oblivious to this as he continued to draw pictures of her
Five days passed quickly, and Archean found himself on a ship
The ship was much larger than he thought, it was comparable in size to a cruise ship,
but according to the crew smaller ships can't make cross continents, the extreme conditions this includes large stroms and monsters
The sea was extremely beautiful, Arc watched the sky almost entire first day, and once the sun began to set he decided to draw it
He thought it looked amazing, it was sight, in his entire life he had never seen such a beautiful sun set, he drew to capture the emotions he felt in that moment
Other than occasionally making some drawings, there wasn't much to do in the journey, but he managed to entertain himself for those 10 days
After finally making it to shore Archean and the 2 others who took the mission headed towards the country capital
" jeez this is taking longer than I thought"
Maven spoke
He is one of the people who camee on the mission with Arc
"Definitely"
Arc spoke
' there was really nothing to do on the ship other than practice eagle claw, and draw or write,plus the only game that's super popular in this world is just this worlds verison of chess, and I suck at it, maybe i should make some playing cards'
"Naturally, we aren't qi cultivators yet, were we, we could've flown there"
A person named Aven spoke
"Why you think I took this mission, so i can have the spirit stones to break through"
Maven said exasperated
While they chatted a group of mortals came of to them and their leader spoke
"Esteemed cultivators thank-you for making the journey here"
"I was sent here by the king to lead you to the capital"
"What's your name mortal"
Maven spoke arrogantly
'Your barely not a mortal'
Archean thought to himself
but didn't say anything as this was far too common, as long as it didn't disturb the mission he would just ignore it.
"esteemed cultivator, i am baldric"
He spoke respectfully while bowing
"Lead us then Baldric"
Maven spoke authoritatively
With a native guide with them it was much simpler to reach the capital, they reached it in just 3 days
During this time period, the group had more fun, as Arc ultimately did create some playing cards, and they played go fish, and once they understood the concept, he taught them poker
"This game sinks"
Arc spoke annoyed
' I literally just taught them how to do it, why are they better than me?, Even baldric beat me!'
"Ha, someone is a sore loser"
Aven spoke happily, of all those introduced to the game he was the one to enjoy them the most
He even fought a mortal's forge and "borrowed it" and had a set of metal cards made as Arc's cards that were made a papyrus weren't that great to used
After arriving the found tents set up they knew it wasn't time to joke around anymore they were representing the Black mountain sect today
Archean spoke clearly out to all the mortals in attendance
His voice shook the air
"The Black mountain sect has arrived"
Many fell to the floor in awe, his voice alone was this powerful
This actually shocked his team members too, as they hadn't expected him to have reach body tempering stage 15
That would be the only explanation for such a powerful voice without the use of ki or qi
What followed next was nothing special, they had everyone line up, and take turns putting there hand upon a special stone
It's tests the affinity to spirit energy
Example If you have affinity for fire it glows red, it glows brighter the greater the affinity
After the first 13 people were chosen someone else came, a young boy who was immediately scorned by all those around him
his appearance caused a single thought to enter Arc's head 'This kid is main character material'
"Whats the bastard doing here"
"I have every right to be here!"
"Ha, your just the bastard of the Lavier family, your right is to die"
'Damn they're having a full face-slapping chapter, while this is fun to watch. I need to remind them that this isn't a joke'
Arc giggled to himself before speaking with a voice that shook the air
"Cease your bickering, or I will have all your heads"
"Yes how disrespectful to speak like that in your presence"
Maven spoke adding on to what arc was saying clearly feeding the fire
That brought all those who were arguing to a cold sweat as they began apologizing
Then the potential main character put him hand upon the stone
'his affinity barely reached the sect's absolute minimum for accepting disciples,definitely a main character template'
Arc thought to himself
Other than fun outburst, not much more happened, and they stayed there all day and the next day, as people from the surrounding country's finally arrived as-well
"That's the quota, let's head back to the ship in a 3 days, I want to do something before heading back to the sect"
Arc spoke
"Yeah thats fine"
"Yeah the ship is pretty boring, so this time im actually pack some more things to do"
The group had similar views allowing Arc to head off without suspicion
Arc went into the forest and found a secluded area, and prepared to break through
First he placed down the ki condensation array, it increased the density of ki significantly. In a normal breakthrough,
they would slowly replace the compressed ki with qi, and open up the dantian
But Arc began to take all the ki, and fused it into his flesh and bone, tempering his body beyond what should be possible
Beginning the innate breakthrough
'Now step 2'
Arc used his spirit ring to bring out the spirit stones in his possession
he began absorbing the energy and using ki to guide the qi into his flesh and bone, further tempering it
His meridians began to swell, and his muscles began to vibrate
His bone changed in color
'This really freaking hurts'
Arc mind has been tempered by his painful body tempering art allowing him to continue even though he was in massive pain
At one point his body felt full, as if a hungry he didn't know existed was for-filled
And the excess energy was then used to open the dantian,exhausting all his spirit stones
"Jeez that was freaking painful, but it was worth it"
'My physical power alone has increased more than four times, and now that I have spiritual qi, I'm incomparable to how i was yesterday'
'Within my dantian I can see the gaseous spirit qi, I can also see a almost liquid spirit qi,
it seems that I've purified the qi in my body to such an extent that it almost directly turned liquid'
'I won't face a bottleneck before foundation establishment realm'
"Ima try to cultivate spirit qi"
Arc then began to use a spirit qi technique that he read in the library, an earth element technique called Earth Qi body
Energy began to flow and he felt the qi within his body grow
"Thats incredible i can feel the spir….. im in the outer continent….. WHATT!!!!"
Arc was taken to his feet, and realized what had happened, his body could absorb world qi.
Something he only learned about recently, in the pasted he wondered whether radiation was a kind of spirit qi
And according to his research, energies that form the physical world are world qi
While spirit qi, is the energy born from the "soul", if absorbed one can manipulate the energies that make the world
According to his research it was impossible to absorb world qi, before nascet soul cultivation
Simply put Arc is basically a nuclear reactor that can absorb energies such as sunlight, radiation, the things he eats, and convert it to spirit qi of the highest purity.
'This is good but this is also dangerous'
Arc stood leaning his back against a tree and began to think what he should do.
'Should I remain in the sect?
i no longer require spirit qi or spirit stones,
but the sect has the library filled with cultivation books,
I only know the books of the first floor ki martial arts, and the basic qi techniques.'
'But if it gets revealed i can do this that won't end well, maybe they'll try to recreate what i did, and if it doesn't work for them?
Then they might just kill me or attempt to takeover my body'
'I think I can go back to the sect, but not for long,
I'll head back to the library, not as a worker but as a qi cultivator and read,
since the librarian is nice to me, he might let me stay all day, allowing me to copy enough techniques to leave the sect
Arc then saw the formation of rain clouds appearing above him so he decided to think about this while walking back to the ship