Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

The demise of individuals who held significance and would be deeply mourned by others contrasted starkly with the passing of mere Aspirants. Whenever an Officer met their end, it would inevitably trigger a wave of chaos and prompt a thorough investigation within the sect. Conversely, the deaths of Aspirants seldom attracted any notice or concern.

That's just how the sect operated!

Liam smiled at Mary and didn't worry about her actions. "Good. Those three were the biggest loose ends that knew about our relationship. The others who might know are too strong for us or are our allies. So don't act against anyone else for now."

"Yes, I know. Anyway, what are you going to do?"

"I have some free time, so I plan to rest and meditate. You should use the free time you don't have to cultivate with me to learn a cultivation-level concealment technique. I have this with me."

He called out the Mana Mask book to her, making her grab the technique out of thin air and flip through the pages.

"Right now, I'm using Mana Mask at the first level of mastery. I won't need the book for the next few days, so try to learn the first level in the meantime. You'll become stronger than your talent allows, so you'll need something to hide your true strength."

She already knew that he was using some kind of technique, but Liam hadn't recommended that she learn it yet. He had planned to, but because of the training incident with Francis and then the challenge with Susanna, he hadn't had time to talk to Mary about it. At most, he had tested to see if his mask was as visible to others as it was to him.

"I see... So that's what you tested that day." She smiled at him.

Mary had very few merit points. She definitely couldn't enter level two of the Library with the same frequency as Liam. But fortunately, the copies of the books there could be studied by several people at the same time.

She thanked him and promised to visit him in two days.

He stayed alone in his room, resting for a while, but already planning to cultivate soon.

'I'll have Thal'Korr absorb the crystal Lazarus Ross gave me. As for the Refulgent Life Elixir, it would be good to take it now. But I have a feeling I'll have a lot of trouble leaving the city to hunt for Arcane Crystals. It would be better to leave it for when enemies attack.'

Beyond the cities where the headquarters were located, the rule of the jungle prevailed—survival of the fittest. Liam was well aware that a few of his adversaries were on edge, eagerly expecting any chance to strike against him.

The best of all places to act against him was definitely in the forests around the eight outer disciple cities, where one could be killed by beasts, plants, disciples from other cities, and so on.

'The Abyss Matriarchs are the ones who want me dead the most. I'm sure a group of these women will try to act against me outside the city. But apart from them, there are other rival factions of Leopards, or those who have tried to get close to me who will try to act. After seeing my result in the battle earlier, it's unlikely that the Emerald Owls will miss the chance to act against me.'

Liam pondered, imagining at least two groups that would soon act against him, but he thought it was possible to have many more problems. Considering the beasts and the disciples from other cities, he believed he would have at least four different enemies when he left the city in a few days.

"Sigh... "No time to rest," he said, rising from his lying position. He settled into the lotus position, retrieving the Arcane Crystal bestowed upon him by Lazarus. "It's time to cultivate, Thal'Korr," he whispered to himself, determined to enhance the power of the Shadowfiend during the upcoming days of recovery.

Arcane crystals didn't increase the level of the Spirits that consumed them. They improved the Spirits qualitatively, and level increases usually accompanied those improvements. But during the process of qualitative evolution, the crystals did not increase the mana of the Spirits that absorbed them.

For a Spirit to become stronger without changing its magical quality, it would have to cultivate within its master's soul space, using the master's cultivation base to strengthen itself.

However, Arcane Crystals could help in many ways even before the quality improvement. For example, an injured Spirit could recover faster if it could absorb Arcane Crystals of a quality close to or higher than its own.

'I'll help you recover from the injuries you've suffered in the past few days, and then I'll let you cultivate until you reach the 6-Star. Now that I've advanced to 7-Star, I'll have no problem feeding you.'

A Spirit Master always had to be careful when they cultivated their Spirits. If they allowed their Spirits to absorb more mana than they had, they might die from the mana absorption of their own Spirits!

This was the reason it was rare to see a Spirit at the same level as the master, especially if one had multiple Spirits, such as stronger cultivators.

This was also the reason Liam had been worried at the beginning of his journey. The incubus was not limited by him and often forced him to cultivate to stay far enough away from such a Spirit so as not to be led into the tragic situation of death by the Spirit's cultivation.

Anyway, Thal'Korr would soon begin his absorption of the Ancestor-grade Arcane Crystal!

...

Time passed, and the end of the fourth day after the battle with Susanna had arrived.

That evening, Liam had returned to his room after another visit to the Infirmary, still with bandages all over his body, but much better than a few days ago.

He had helped Thal'Korr reach 6-Star, helping his Spirit recover 100% from the fight with Francis, but also from the use of the Ephemeral Ascension Pill. Otherwise, Liam had made little progress.

He had been to the Runes Hall twice in those four days, after Ann had given him time off because of his injuries. Although he was well enough to fight and do his activities, he didn't want his enemies to know about it.

He sacrificed four hours of rune study that he could have had in those four days, which would have been enough to finish learning what was necessary to reach the minimum required to start inscribing runes on objects.

But Liam was calm when he returned to his room this evening. Before he left to hunt for the Arcane Crystals outside the city, he wanted not only to conquer Electa but also to become a First Class Runemaster.

He planned to do both things in the next two or three days before he left on his hunt!

As he entered his room, he removed the cloak that protected his body and returned to a meditating, the thing he had done the most in the past four days. It had helped him recover faster than the Infirmary Healer had predicted.

If he was supposed to be fully recovered in a week, now Liam had could take off his bandages and bathe again in another day. His skin would be completely healed by tomorrow evening, and his hair would grow back after that.

He could finally put his plans into action and go after Electa, a beautiful black-haired woman he had already seen twice in the last days.