Archean kept thinking about his next step, and time passed quickly, soon maven and aven arrived with the new recruits and prepared to depart.
It seemed that during this time Aven was playing poker with everyone who was interested,
Arc worried that he created a monster.
The 10 days trip back was much more enjoyable as everyone played all sorts of card games, and made bets
Arc only won 1 time in the ten day stretch and that was because his opponent felt bad and held back
Time passed quickly and they finally arrived to the sect
"Finally back"
Arc spoke clearly tired of losing
Arc arrived at his home after his long travels, and before he could even sit down he heard knocking on his door.
'What could that be?'
Arc thought to himself, before turning around to open the door
As he opened the door he saw Aurora, she stood there towering before him
"G-Greating elder Aurora"
Arc spoke nervously, not knowing why she was here
"Archean, you have quite the nerve"
Aurora spoke agitated
"W-what"
'W-w-what did i do?'
"Give me the notebook, i know of the drawings you've made of me "
Aurora spoke, teasing him
"Ha, you should've seen the look on your face, you probably thought you were gonna die"
Aurora laughed, then spoke
"well if I find any unflattering drawings, then you might"
A forced laugh escaped Arc's mouth as he felt embarrassed,and scared that she knew of the drawings
His hand began to shake as he handed her the notebook worried that his drawings would offend her
'Good now this brat will think twice before doing something that will make me blush'
Aurora thought to herself proudly, as she opened the book,
she began to look at the pictures and most were simple pictures of her, standing next to him towering over him,
one of her sitting and still being slightly taller than him while he stood
Then the last photo, the beautiful sunset that nearly brought a tear to Arc's heart, at one point he felt the drawing wasn't complete and added her
She stood in a towering white dress, with the beautiful sunset behind her she seemingly eclipsed the sun
'T-this brat'
Her face flushed red before she spoke
"I have been lenient but it seems you wish to test my patience"
She walked into his house dragging him in then the door seemingly closed itself as it was closed by her spiritual power
Several hours later she walked out with a smile on her face and her checks slightly red, before flying away
Arc face was bright red, with a plaster smile, and his clothes a mess, furniture in the house was broken, and he could hardly stand
It took awhile before Arc could calm down, but after finally calming down he changed clothes then headed towards the library
"Brat you finally remembered that i exist"
The old librarian spoke
"Old man i was busy, i broke through and became a qi cultivator"
Arc spoke apologetically
"Hm, congrats brat"
"Can you let me onto the second floor?"
Arc asked hopefully
The old man threw him the keys
"Lock up when your done"
He spoke before turning his attention to a book that was before him
"Thanks"
Arc headed up to the second floor and immediately began looking for earth elements techniques and spells
He would first focus on the techniques he had talent in, then secondary master basic skills of of all elements
Even if he lacks talent in the other elements, he can still use the spells at a lower efficiency, meaning he can use them as a way to train his energy control
But regardless they won't be strong compared to his earth elements abilities
He first found the qi manuals and began searching for the most suitable one for him
"Dimond qi art, it increases the density of qi significantly such a technique would help in both foundation establishments and golden core , Ah you need to rub dragon blood unto yourself to use it, lame"
"Magma rock, a fire earth qi technique that not suitable for me my best elements are wind and earth, earth being my best wind being the minimum , while in the other elements in no better than a mortal "
This process continued as he analyzed each technique's strengths and weaknesses looking for the one most compatible with him
"Lighting tempering stone? Lame technique name, lets see, it condenses the wind element into lighting that can be used in attacks and acts as a fuel to temper the earth elements in your body, it can also be used to increase body strength but it requires a powerful physique, ha, i doubt there are many who at qi cultivation who compares to my own"
After "memorizing" the technique he stored it onto a jade piece he had in his spirit ring
This next part was simpler, spells were a lot less complicated so he just directly copied every spell he found, before leaving and heading home for the day
'Should I leave the sect?, or should I stay?
I'm having second thoughts, I don't want to leave anymore'
"I don't know what to do"
Arc spoke conflicted, he had confidently set a plan, that now bursted into flames because he can't stop thinking about her , He had fallen head over heels
Now that he was back at the sect he had to resume his forge work, he would take that as a moment to breath snd think
After arriving to the forge he began to prepare everything and did a thorough cleaning of his work station someone else was filling in for him when he was out and they weren't as thorough as Arc
Almost an hour later a young kid arrived the "MC material" Arc brought to the sect
"Welcome to the forge, what do you want?"
" i want to commission something"
The kid spoke while looking around seemingly very interested
"Ok what is it?"
Arc spoke casually
The kid reached into his pocket and pulled out a cracked ring
"Can you fix it, its all i have left of my mom,"
'wow this kid is a bad liar, he couldn't even look me in the eye as he said that'
Arc didn't respond he just lifted his hand and grabbed the ring
' I don't have a single clue of materials was used in this, I can tell it has a powerful earth element, maybe I can use silver infused with my qi to act as glue'
Arc proceeded to heat up some silver then he grabbed a handful of liquid silver absolutely terrifying the kid, he then used his qi to guide the silver into the cracks,
His qi was made up of earth elements of the highest purity, he used to nurture the silver, helping it to bond with the original material used in crafting the ring
"Here you go"
Arc handed him the ring
"How much do i owe you"
The boy asked
"due to it being repair in the material I was using being mortal metal, its cheaper, only 10 spirit stones"
Arc seemingly reasoned with him to explain how it's a cheap price, but to be honest, he could just see that was the exact amount of spirit stones the kid had on him
"Okaay"
He handed over his spirit stones with a tear running down his face
The kid left the room after that and as he was walking away a voice appeared in his mind
'Brat, i told you the ring was unrepairable and you didn't listen, Thank-you, because it actually did fix it for the most part'
"Really? It worked?"
'Yes he basically stopped the energy leaking by using silver loaded with pure earth element the purity was inhuman, he probably has a natural earth spirit physique'
Arc stayed in the forge for the rest of day and no one else came during that time, so he went home and began researching spells
"Mud to stone, and stone to mud, these seem like versatile spells in guess i can start with these"
By using earth elements qi in changing the density of dirt, he can make it into mud than harder than bricks
He continued to practice, attempting to decrease the cast time of the spell as it took nearly 4 seconds to activate, something that would be completely useless in combat
This practice continued onto the next morning Aurora returned
"Archean, pack your bags"
She spoke assertively
Arc directly complied, nothing good would come from angering her
After seeing Arc take all his stuff and place it within a storage ring, she placed her hand upon his shoulder, and took to the sky
Before Arc could even process she grabbed him-they had arrived, after looking around he realized he that they were on the first peak of the mountain
This was were the grand elders and sect leader lived, the 3 Golden core cultivator's, and a nascent soul cultivator
"Th-this is the mountain peak"
Arc look around completely shocked
"Finally realize just who exactly you have been flirting with"
Aurora giggled watching his reaction
"Your a Grand elder of the sect?"
Arc felt he was fear, he knows that she seems to have a positive opinion of him, but if she finds out about his physique things may not end well for him
"Don't chicken out now"
She spoke as she pointed towards a house
"Go pick a room, oh and if anyone ask, don't tell the the truth, tell them your one of my students"
"Y-yes okay"
Arc spoke nervously this may be the most dangerous place to be right now
After entering the house, he found that there was several empty rooms, and he found one towards the back of the house before unloading all of his stuff
When he turned around he found that there was a uniform used by core disciples, waiting for him and he changed into it remembering what she had said
'I never thought i would become a core disciple like this, it feels embarrassing'
Arc was now feeling embarrassed realizing he had flirted his way to a position that's meant for the strongest or most talented disciples of the sect
Arc left his new room in search of Aurora, to talk to her about these new arrangements
"Grand elder Aurora, may I ask you"
Arc was the cutoff by her
"Did you think everything wouldn't change after what happened? and don't talk to me like that, we are passed it, call me Aurora"
Before Arc could interject she continued to speak,
"Now listen here, you have 2 options be complacent with yourself, and the fact that i like you very much and use that to slack off,
or use this as a driving force to grow stronger"
" don't forget i only talked to you the first place because of the talent you showed in forging,
If you want to be complacent than I will grow bored of you, I don't enjoy weakness"
"So here is your challenge, reach the Golden core stage before the age of 100, and I'll accept you as my dao companion,
Fail to do so, and I'll play with you until I ultimately get bored"
As she spoke she got closer and by the time she utter the last one she was leaning over, completely towering over Arc, his face was beet red, and his heart raced in both fear and joy
"I will become a gold core cultivator, i can do it, i will do it! "
Arc voice was no louder than a whisper, than grew louder more confident
His previous fears of his physique was suppressed, this is a world of cultivation, there is no easy ascension,
if he wants to reach the top he has to rid his fears and challenge himself beyond what is possible
This brought a smile to Aurora's face she didn't want the person she fell for to be a weak fool who relied on her
She has given him the position of core disciple, and that will be the extent of the help she will grant,
he must do this on his own, if he couldn't, than they were never meant to be
"By the way Aurora, I'm curious how old are you?"
Arc asked casually before getting flicked in the head
"You shouldn't ask a lady such things, but i am 120 years old, i'm only telling you only because it would be strange to hold it from you"
Arc's mouth opened in shock, even when accounting for his age in his past life, she is more than twice his age
Before he could speak he was reminded by her
"Cultivator's live longer than mortals, and there is not set age for how long each realm lives."
"It depends purely on your skills, your foundation, and your physique, 100 is only a lot in mortal standards."
"I can tell from the pure earth elements in your body your lifespan should be nearly 300 years."
"Your only 18 and technically have only been a cultivator for a few days, as a body tempering doesn't count as cultivator, you'll understand this better in time"
"Yeah, that's true, I guess I forgot about that"
Arc seemingly remembered in this world this age difference between partners was common due to how long the people live
Aurora then turned around and spoke as she walked
"enough questions go, cultivate, study, forge, do whatever is necessary and grow strong"
She then disappeared
Arc clenched his fist, and thought to himself
'my physique, i need to learn more about it, i got blinded by the fact it can absorb world qi, i need to find my limits to surpass them'
Arc headed down the mountain towards the 3rd peak, he planned on using some of the sect facilities in his training
First he headed to the library to show off to the old man
"Hey bra-what the hell brat, how the hell did you go from an outer disciple to a core disciple in one day?"
"Im build different"
"What"
" That's my way of saying that im extremely talented."
Arch explained, realizing that that is not a phrase used in this world
" ba, Keep running your mouth like that brat, and i'll show you what a show off get"
"Okay, im sorry old man, by the way now that i'm a core disciple, Can I go to the fourth floor?"
Arc spoke, respectfully, then it changed back to showing off
The old man looked at him, scoffed, and threw him the key, as he spoke
"lock up when your done"
The forth floor contained foundation establishment techniques, as well as knowledge about many of the trades of cultivators
Arc first went and checked on foundation establishment techniques, as due to the purity of his qi, he will have no bottlenecks to reach foundation establishment
So in his opinion he might as well find the most suitable technique then search for knowledge regarding his trade,
"Iron man heart, by absorbing the essence of iron increase purity of the earth elements in your body, good but not necessary for me
Let's see, a fire earth technique, an earth water technique, another good earth technique that requires something i don't have"
He began to analyze the techniques searching for one most suitable for him
"None?, how that's weird"
Arc didn't find a single technique that he liked, he was to the point tempted to cultivate his qi cultivation technique while at foundation establishment
"Wait, why don't people do that?"
Ark began to think and realize there's a flaw in his thinking; he reached innate, his physical body has the might of a foundation establishment beast
While his qi has almost liquified, he was essentially a half step foundation establishment cultivator, while simultaneously being a stage 1 qi cultivator
So to him he had no need to change techniques,
After sorting that out in his head, he walked towards the forging techniques, in thr hopes of finding one suitable for him.
he plans to start preparing to build his natal weapon, and finding a forging technique can increase his ability significantly
"Ohh thats clever, oh i never thought of that gold works like that, no wonder silver is my go to material it makes sense now"
As Arc read the holes in his knowledge began to be filled, and he began to have a better understanding of forging as well as the earth element and the metals that it comprises
He kept reading the books until the librarian came up and spoke
"Brat your still here?, you know the library closed an hour ago, go home"
"What, dang i forgot since i don't work here anymore I can't stay overnight in the library"
Arc said sadly
" You were staying overnight in the library?"
Arc left before he could get an answer
"That damn brat, i ought to kick is ass" the old man muttered to himself before heading to the sixth floor of the library
Arc after leaving the library realized it was already dark out, and began walk up to the first peak, after arriving he made his way to his room and he collapsed in bed falling asleep immediately
It seemed as though he was running of fumes before
The next morning he got up, and headed to the forge, when he got there, he realized as a core disciple he didn't need to do sect work,
So he decided to he rent a room for tomorrow, and headed back to cultivate
He used the lighting rock technique condensing all the wind elements in his body into electricity
'That freaking hurts'
The electricity flowed from his dantain through all his meridians then back into the dantain fueling the earth elements
While this was happening he was also absorbing world qi in massive quantities and converting it into spirit qi
But due the fact he was absorbing both world qi and spirit qi simultaneously, the spirit qi acted as a barrier preventing the spying eyes from seeing his uniqueness
something Arc predicted, unless he cultivates in a place with no aura, it would be difficult to tell if he is absorbing world qi
Even though they couldn't tell that it was world qi, the other cultivator's on the peak could see the vortex of energy, endlessly being absorbed
Aurora couldn't help but have a giant smile on her face as the other grand elder came to ask her which one of her students was doing that
"That would be Archean"
Aurora spoke proudly
"He is absorbing so much spirit qi, he might directly reach foundation establishment"
The sect leader spoke happily and thought
'Im glad the elders have been finding good students, the next generation of the sect will rise before we know it'
Arc was oblivious to this as he felt his aura increasing at a rapid pace, then the lightning would break it down, tempering it making it flow smoother through the meridians
When Arc finished he had reached qi condensation stage 5 , which had a total of 10 stage, he was half way through to the peak of qi condensation
When he opened his eyes Aurora was siting by watching him with a big smile, seeing that he opened his eyes she leaned in closer and grabbed him from is armpits, lifting him into the air
She then walked forward what Arc would soon realize as her room, realizing what was happening Arc's face went bright red and he couldn't stop smiling