Since he was already here Arc decided to buy some ingredients to cook something later on, much to the surprise of those in the market
They were essentially watching a nobleman shopping for groceries instead of having his servants do it for him
In a classists society this was truly something you wouldn't see commonly
This situation was born due to a few facts, these being Arc's experiences from earth as well as his experience in the outer sect
he hasn't been a core disciple for very long, and has yet use some of the advantages of his "rank"
Though the people around him had all sorts of thoughts flooding their heads, they made no obvious moves
Choosing to avoid Arc's line of sight, as to prevent any possible problems from occurring
After gathering ingredients Arc began heading back to the room he rented,
All the while he found himself thinking of earth and of the "changes" he has experienced in this time
He knows that these experiences has changed him down to his very soul, it has evolved becoming more like the soul's found in the natives of this world
This was born of his embryotic cultivation technique, it was essentially connecting spirit and flesh in a way he never thought possible
Arc hadn't realized this before but his soul was not completely fused with the body he was residing in
He couldn't help but wonder; What caused this deley?
Was it his memories?the circumstances of his death?
Arc stopped walking for a moment and took a deep breath, as he muttered to himself
"Heh i can see why i keep myself busy all day, it sucks being stuck with my thoughts"
He closed his eyes as he thought to himself
'Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter yet; After-all i'm not strong enough to do anything about it'
Arc opened his eyes more determined than ever as he continued down his path,
As soon as he arrived to his room he began meditating and once the mission officially began he set off
An ancient forest spreading as far as the eye could see, birds flew between and above trees as squirrels and Beatles scurried around the ground and on top of trees
Suddenly a loud roar descended, devastating-the peace, the animals and insects began to scatter as the sounds drew closer
A large bear appeared with a injury on its side, it was running for its life, it looked back only to see "him". a large set of armor in its hand a pale white spear
The bear felt dread, and continued to run it had no chance in fighting it, this was his best chance of survival,
The man in the armor struggled to move through the woods quickly while it was first nature to the bear
This chase continued for what felt like days, before the bear finally lost the man in armor, he couldn't help but feel joy
It was hurt and tired beyond all measure, it felt as though it couldn't have ran for 10 more seconds before collapsing of exhaustion
Then it heard a sound, it turned its head back in fear and there he was, as menacing as ever
The bear couldn't help but speak in the language of beasts and beg for its life
Suddenly the man stopped, and spoke in a language the beat couldn't understand, yet it understood the meaning of those words
"You're intelligent?!"
The bear stunned spoke once more
"How can i understand you"
The armor on the man shrank into his clothes and a pair of robes covered them
"You can't understand, but my soul is communicating with your own, i do not understand the language you speak either"
Due to the fact Arc is now able to see his soul, he has begun to perceive the souls of others, and because his soul is stronger than the bear's, he is able to "read" what he is saying
Of course this only works when said party wants to be understood, if they didn't "open" their souls to communicate then no understanding would be found
"My name is Archean, i apologize for the confusion i thought you were the rouge demon beast that has been targeting nearby cities"
"No, that wasn't me, i was just eating honey nearby"
The bear couldn't help but feel relieved that it was no longer being harmed,
At the same time the bear felt as though it was going to cry, it was being chased for days because his hunter had mistaken him for another bear
"Yes that is my mistake, i will pay you back"
Arc said before searching his storage ring hopefully finding something to appease the bear
Arc then found a large gourd of honey apple wine,
"How's this sound?"
Arc pulled out the wine and the bear looked at it and felt the spirit qi, and smelled the honey, it couldn't help but want it
there are 2 types of beasts,
Demon beast and spirit beast,
the difference is simple a demon beast is an animal with cultivation
While a spirit beast is an animal who awakened its intelligence, and could truly become a cultivator with the possibility of gaining a human form in the future
Spirit beast are also referred to as the favored children of nature, thus most cultivators will avoid harming them in most cases
when they first awaken their intelligence they have child like innocence, and thus they can be "bought" with food and treats
Such Beasts are very different from humans. They are significantly more loyal. If you make friends with the spirit beast in its youth, it will remember that for the rest of its life.
Many sects recruit them same way they recruit humans, and if one makes it to golden core,
they have assured a golden core elder in the sect for more than 1000 years as they live much longer than humans of the same level do
"I'll take it, but give me something else as well so that i can heal from my injuries"
The bear spoke quickly before adding an additional request
Arc nodded and handed over the wine and a healing pill to the bear
He then began to walk away as he thought to himself
'I really suck at hunting monsters, i just spent the last month chasing the wrong animal'
Arc has been out of the sect, for more than 6 months, and currently has only successfully hunted a single monster,
it seemed as though all the monsters he was meant to hunt disappeared completely
Their homes left empty and desolate, he reported it to the sect but they seemed to believe that it's natural for them to leave and find area's with more spirit qi
And after finding the last one, he managed to get it confused with a different bear and lost track of it
Arc lacked combate skills, leading to fights becoming prolonged
And his subpar tracking skills, caused him to get mixed up
he can chase down an animal that he can see but the second he loses sight it's all over
Leading to the situation, he's facing now where at one point he started chasing the wrong bear
Due to his lack of combat experience even though he is strong enough to kill the bear,
he was unable to land a fatal blow during all this time, cause him to waste several weeks
Arc sighed and walked back towards the village hoping to catch sight of the correct beast this time
"Where are you going?"
The bear asked casually as it followed
"I have to find the other bear, the one i was supposed to be chasing"
Arc responded somewhat irritated
"I can help you, if you have something i can use to track scent, but you have to give me something in return"
The bear seemed to have realized Arc had good stuff on him and wanted to get some more food
Arc reached into his storage ring and pulled out a bear's ear,
This action annoyed the bear and it said
"Why did you chase me if you had one of the bear's ears, i have both of my ears"
Arc nodded his head before speaking
"I forgot"
'If it wasn't for you being stronger than me i would beat you up'
The bear thought to himself before gathering the scent
"I found the scent"
Arc hopped on his back and then spoke
"Alright let's go then"
The bear seemed somewhat bothered but really wanted more of that honey drink so it decided to put up with it
They took off in search of the demon beast, during this time Arc asked for advice in combate and tracking from the bear
The bear was genuinely surprised of how little experience Arc had,
not much can be done about it besides a handful of school fights,
Arc had no experience against other people let alone demon beasts
They found the beast 4 days later, and Arc immediately took action applying all the knowledge he has gained in this period
Arc qi flowed through the spear as he used a trapping formation in the other hand
Due to one hand being occupied, the bear took this as a moment to strike
Arc armor appeared from the inside of his robes, they protected him from the attack, long enough to allow him to swing his spear
Arc attempted to attack the bear with it, but it deflect, off its skin as he aimed the spearhead incorrectly
arc had no choice but to drop the spear and try to go into close combat
The bear realized that Arc was its previous attacker and swung wildly, Arc was struck by it and it sent him flying
The bear began to channel its ki, it radiated with a burning hatred, the bear repeatedly struck out towards ark, each attack more potent than the last containing more of its energy
Arc's armor could barely hold it together, as he is unable to use it's full potential due to his realm
The bear came with another attack planning to end it here, as it drove head first into Arc
Arc opened his storage ring, drawing another spear, this one was an ordinary one though, but as the bear ran towards him with so much force it dug into it flesh forcing it to stop its attack
Arc took advantage of this and use another trapping array, to prevent the bear from escaping, and went to grab his spear
This time he grasps spear tightly and went and pierced the bear in the back roughly where he believed it's heart is
The bear's roars shook the air as it slowly fell into a puddle of its own blood
Arc breath was weak, and the spirit beast came up to check on him.
"You alright Arc?The bear got you pretty good."
Arc laughed as he pulled out a healing pill
"I don't like fighting, i'd rather be reading in the library right now"
The bear laughed lightly before placing Arc upon his back, after Arc put the demon beast within the spirit ring, they began to head back to the black mountain sect
This life or death battle had given arc what he believes to be inspiration for his technique,but this will require more research to determine
While during these past four days traveling with the Bear grew very attached to Arc
Since he had lots of the tasty food, as well as the seemingly endless cultivation knowledge
So it decided to head back with him to learn more, and become a truly powerful spirit beast
Arc and the bear began their journey to the sect, and as the bear has never been there, it was curious and repeated asked lot of questions
Arc answered them all as he was in a good mood, until something the the bear's said made Arc doubt something
"Why did you leave if everything was so good? "
"I needed to find my way to get stronger, cultivation techniques don't fit my body"
"Duh why would human techniques work on a spirit beast?"
"What do you mean? I am human"
"If that were the case then why do you smell like a spirit beast "
Arc's eyes went wide as he spoke
"What?!"
The bear looked at Arc's genuine expression and explained
"What truly separates spirit beast and demon beasts is that our physical body, and soul are superimposed upon each other"
" When I become a spirit bear, I received a small inheritance of memories from an ancestor of the bear clan, so i know this much"
Arc thought to himself
'so that's how it is, a demon beast represents the physical body,
while a human represents the spiritual body'
'This is why spirit beasts are considered the favorite children of nature, because the can receive the maximum in both'
' I forcibly expanded my meridians with a body comparable to a polar bear, enforce energy into my veins to make it more accommodating towards it,'
' I've basically turned myself into a pseudo, spiritual beast, but due to the vail within my soul, it never radiated outward'
' since I removed that veil, I've felt myself change. I couldn't tell why I thought it's because my body developed further.'
' This may be why I found techniques unsuitable for me to simply put. My anatomy is no longer that of a normal human.'
' I had just assumed that my standards increased due to seeing the shape of my soul, and due to the effect on my body, I instinctively drove to increase my physical strength'
Arc back was in a cold sweat, thankfully he had gotten this warning from the bear or he could have taken the wrong approach
Arc spoke
"can i see a spirit beast cultivation method if you have one"
Arc wanted to verify with all severity that he begun taking on this unique path
"Uhh, I can speak one out loud for you to write it down because we can't understand the same language"
Arc agreed and began recording what the bear spoke
When Arc finished riding, he looked down at the technique, and found it adequate, looking at it he instinctively knew he could cultivated if he tried,
but as it's not an earth element technique, it would not go too well
This confirmed what the bear said, and Arc now has to reimagine his own technique
the past six months have slowly been developing a technique looking for inspiration for the final stroke
He thought he found it when fighting the demon beast to death, but it seems the only thing he instinctively found there was the power with it his blood,
He did not understand what that was because he did not understand where it was coming from, as inspiration was to dove deeper into
Now, looking at the spirit beast technique, he sees how dangerous that would've been
This leaves are with two options, the first develop a spirit beast cultivation technique from scratch, the second to purchase one
'This could be a hard decis- no wait it's not, i'm rich'
Arc thought to himself
He could buy several techniques and use them for reference when developing his own,
this would significantly shorten the process and cause him to skip many possible mistakes
With this new knowledge they continued on their journey, 1 month later the arrived at the sect
The first thing Arc did was register the bear as his spirit beast within the sect so that it would be able to enter sect grounds
He then immediately ran up to the first peak, as he missed Aurora very much
After arriving to the first peak he ran up to the house and knocked on the door to her room, she opened the door and was pleasantly surprised
"Welcome back Archean"
Arc didn't say anything he just ran up and hugged her,
he was small in size when compared to her, she looked down to see him absolutely as adorable as ever
She grabbed Arc's shoulders before bending down and giving him a kiss, one turned two, then three, she then found herself dragging him into the room
The next morning, they were in bed together, Arc was lying on her chest as she rubbed his head gently and he felt happy, he hugged her as he thought to himself
He felt as though he's been treating cultivation the wrong way this entire time
' In the novels cultivation is all about fighting against the heavens, forcing your will to make the world knell, killing everyone who gets in your way'
' it feels different here, it feels like cultivators are just people with their own dreams and aspirations, their dreams might've been exaggerated by their powers but it's the same ones normal people have'
' I don't feel like I have to be living in fighting, I can continue to write, read draw, and now Forge'
' Cultivation in this world feels more like you're facing yourself instead of the world, but facing yourself does not mean torturing yourself, but pushing yourself further'
'And it doesn't feel like you're battling the heavens either, if the world was truly against cultivation, why do tribulations heal you after you complete them?'
'I have been forcing myself past means, rushing, so my thoughts never catch up to me'
'now I see I've been wrong, cultivation is to understand your soul and body, and make them evolve'
'Without confronting thoughts i won't make it far'
' as a cultivator, I must have the strength to protect myself, I do not need to enjoy fighting or killing, but I must always be ready for it'
'that is the mental state of cultivator must have,
they must have peace with themselves and be willing to protect themselves.'
'not like in the novels were someone would kill entire families over an argument'
"What are you thinking about"
Aurora asked with a giggle, seeing Arc mind wander around
"I was just thinking about Cultivating and the type of Cultivator i want to be"
"What would that be"
Arc lifted his head and brought it near Aurora's and spoke
"I want to be with you, we haven't been together long, but I've never felt joy like i do when i'm with you
So i'm determined to reach a level that i am worthy to be by your side"
Aurora's face went slightly red as she spoke
"You always say the most embarrassing things"
They cuddled for awhile before Arc and Aurora decided to go on a date, neither of them wanted to seperate so soon,
but as a grand elder she had may duties to attend, so they would have to settle with a short date
"Let's go eat I'll cook you something tasty"
Arc said as they left the room, he wanted her to try some earth food, and hopefully she'll enjoys it
"Okay sounds good"
Aurora felt calm and happy, she has been feeling very stressed lately as she would soon be attempting to breakthrough, and Arc has helped her calm down and feel better
After arriving to the kitchen they began to chat about forging, as that being the trade they both specialize in, they could spend hours debating
Arc began preparing the food as the spoke, he decided to make cuban sandwiches,
Nothing too complicated, but he held a special place in his heart as it was something he ate frequently growing up
He placed some bread upon the cutting board and cut it the long way, he then spread mustard and mayo on both pieces of bread, he then added slices of ham, as well as pieces of pork,
After that he placed a cheese that tasted similar to swiss, it's not the same but its the closest he could get in another world
He also decided to add tomatoes, because he enjoys them very much, then he toasted the sandwiches in what looked like a panini press, something that he made while outside the sect, as he loves sandwiches
"Im finished"
Arc came to Aurora and handed her one of the sandwiches, she looked at it and thought it smelled great
"This looks delicious Arc"
Arc face turned bright red, she has only ever referred to him as Archean, so it caught him offguard
Seeing his face, she laughed as she spoke
"Your too cute"
As they got to know each other she has built a better resistance against his flirting,
she also has learned how to make him be the one to get embarrassed
This made her feel very nice as her pride doesn't allow her to be second place
They then ate the food and continue to chat about various forging topics, until she asked him what did he learn during his time outside the sect
Arc decided to come clean on some information under the premises she wouldn't share this with anyone,
she didn't tell mind and agreed and even offered to make a dao oath which Arc agreed
she trusted Arc and believed that he would most definitely be her dao companion thus she felt it natural for them to not hide things from eachother
Arc came clean about his qi condensation breakthrough, and his exploring the soul,
his inspiration in the fight, and the information the bear shared with him,
The only thing he withheld was his reincarnation, at this moment was just trying to her to understanding of his current situation
There was no need to add unnecessary risks and tell her that he retained his memories of his past life
She looked genuinely shocked
"how the heck did you do that?!"
"You are a human equivalent to a spirit beast, and have a physique capable of absorbing world qi?!"
Arc laughed bitterly as he spoke
" i guess, im weird"
Aurora thought before saying something
"You are cultivating something i can't give you advice on,but overall i'd say this is a good thing,
you've given me some ideas that may help me break through to nascent soul,
"you can try cultivate and studing with the bear as your cultivation arts will have more similarities"
Arc thought about it and found that to be true, they could help each other
Arc went up to Aurora and hugged her once more, After hugging they went their separate ways as they both had things to do
"Now where the heck did the bear go"