Viers’ day started early. At 5 AM, he got up, just as the giant sunflowers were starting to shine. He worked out lightly such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and so on. He also liked having a jog. The abundance of greenery made the air he inhaled taste fresh and delicious.
6 AM, the Pukupukus, an artificial lifeform that Viers created, the second one after the Tyra Xerg race, had prepared a sumptuous breakfast. Viers took a bath before eating, joined by the other residents of the Biome.
“Morning,” he greeted.
“Good morning~”
“Good morning, Lord Viers. I hope your rest was plentiful.”
“Yaa!”
And people greeted him back.
The food was many and varied. Strong monsters that the party hunted became nourishment as their meat gave cultivation benefits to the gang. Viers was the biggest eater. Others did not eat as much as he did. There was a reason for that. For Viers, eating was life. Eating increased his life force.
And with a new Arte he created, he doubled yet again his gains from eating.
Arte - Power Food: Morsel.
Eating delicious food was one of Viers’ favorite activities, now it also assisted him in his Path of Power. Needless to say, Viers liked the Arte very much. By casting it to the food he had, it would make him fuller than usual, magically becoming more nutritious, easier to digest, etc.
The greater the quality of the food, the stronger the Arte effect would be. It had five stages: Morsel, Snack, Meal, Feast, Banquet. The Rank 1-3 monsters seemed to be only at Morsel stage.
Furthermore, there was the boost from Horizon.
Viers’ head was already spinning on calculating how much stronger his Arte was. He gave up thinking too much and just enjoyed the benefits.
As they filled their bodies with fuel, the gang also talked about what they planned to do today, the cultivation roadblock they currently had, Arte discussions, things they needed to be doing, and so on. Viers sometimes assigned them tasks.
“Our food stock is dwindling,” Viers said. “We need to hunt more monsters.”
“No wonder considering how much you eat every day. Three days ago the warehouse was filled to the brim, I’m impressed,” Paina said with a spoon in her mouth.
“I’ll take care of it,” Farley said.
“I’ll help.”
“Why thank you, Boram,” Farley dipped her head politely. “We’ll go in the afternoon, okay?”
After eating, the party separated doing their own things.
Boram went with the three familiars. Viers wanted him to learn the familiars’ elemental reaction technique.
Viers could cover Hydro and Cryo, Faiya with Pyro, Dia gave Dendro, but the best of the lot was Futon. He could use Anemo, Hydro, and Electro. The cloud elemental could possibly cover Cryo as well if he put some time to learn it but Viers didn't let him. Better to let him master the ones he had first. If Boram was able to contribute with Geo, the seven elements would be assembled.
Boram had been trying for a while but struggling to grasp it. It seemed it would take some more time. Still, progress was made.
Farley and Gwen were in the library, studying. Viers had a lot of books from looting here and there.
Paina was playing music, a violin. It was a form of training for her.
The employees of Viers Corp were hard at work. The CEO audited their progress every day. He wanted them strong, slacking off was not an option. But, they were given free rein on how they would get there, and help was always given to the worthy. The CEO did not pamper them, he got his own plate full.
Literally.
Viers, after eating a sumptuous breakfast, went on eating again.
He went next to the kitchen, to an open clearing. The kitchen was very busy, twenty Pukupukus were cooking non-stop. Food after food was carried to Viers, who was now in his monster form. The monster forms got plenty of biomass for their evolutionary power. Viers planned to push the monster forms until their Rank 3 peak performance.
It wasn't easy gathering the needed resources. However, since they could become stronger just by eating, Viers didn't let go of the power increase. The dragon and orca forms were the worst of them all, the amount they needed to eat was astonishing. Of course, the Power Food Arte was always used for efficiency.
From 6 until 9 AM Viers ate, ate, and ate. The food storage was getting more and more barren. Farley and Boram had their work cut out for them. Although, this amount of consumption wouldn't be a permanent thing. Only until Viers could max out his monster forms’ potential. After that, his human body was the only big eater.
During this time, the queen graced Viers with her presence.
Zerrigan, still a hatchling, already had a royal entourage. Three Pukupukus were with her at all times, catering to her every need. From cleaning to transport to feeding. Zerri was still a baby with a not fully formed mind but she was still the Xerg Viers knew.
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Carried by the Pukupuku, she was placed beside Viers. The monster Viers gave her a tickle and he felt her happiness and then the two ate their food. Their menu was naturally different. Zerri got her very own version of royal jelly.
Zerri wasn't able to do anything now but in a few years, she would grow, exceeding the potential that she showed in the Book World. Until then, she did what a baby does, eating and sleeping and snuggling.
From 9 to 11 AM, Viers was in the toilet. What went in, must go out. From human form to monster forms, he cycles them all to clear the bowels. Since some of his forms were big, a normal toilet wouldn't do. There was a place specifically created for Viers to take a shit. There was one exception, the slime monster. That didn't poop.
After he had his fill of eating and shitting, Viers went on training. What he did during this time was varied. Improving his Artes, developing and testing new ones, practicing his swordsmanship, visiting the Power Spots, and the like.
He had a special place built for such purposes, Viers called it the Dojo.
During this time, Arsène was active inside his consciousness, doing productive work that he currently cannot. For example, he was soul searching other souls for info, organizing the data, researching ways so Viers could further improve, eating human souls, and many other tasks.
Arsène’s activation required Victa but Viers had Victa to spare. With Arsène, Viers gained double the training experience just like Naruto with his Kage Bunshin.
It wasn't like Viers didn't think of making another clone but he couldn't. Even with his soul mastery, he wasn't able to create another self. The result was unable to reach Arsène’s level of perfection. Since he didn't have another fruit of the World Tree, he must be content with x2 of exp multiplier.
Usually, this went on until 6 PM, with a lunch break and a couple more of short rests shoved in between. At times, others also joined for joint training or sparring.
Farley and Paina had already risen to Level 1 in just a few days and they weren't far from Level 2. Viers himself was getting close to Level 3 peak, even though he focused most on the Nutra, the godly cultivation boost drug, for his Profound Codex’s mastery. The environment in Dia’s Biome was just too good. It was basically a Level 5 cultivation cave.
No doubt his power was rising very fast. In the past, he balked at doing this because he didn't want to become too strong. His road was long and he wanted to experience life’s challenges step by step. The experience of overcoming challenges as a Level 1 or 3 would be beneficial.
After getting trashed by Georgi and Dumuzin, Viers had a change of mind. Dying wasn't cool and defeat carried great risk of dying. He was too arrogant thinking he could somehow survive by. To deny defeat, he needed strength.
Currently, Viers was burning his cultivation resources that he had amassed to grow as strong as possible in the shortest amount of time. One of the rising stars of the generation, the Silver Legion Ciel, was at his cultivation Level in Valkut, but she was four years older than Viers. He was catching up with the world-class standard with a meteoric rise.
However, it wouldn't be long until the resources ran out and his insight dried up. From there on, his growth rate would begin to plateau.
Since Valkut he rarely took any real risk. The most noteworthy was his fight against the dragon. His avoiding another encounter with Freya was also the result of him running from trouble.
But Viers knew there would come a time when he couldn't run. He had to be ready when that time came.
When the sun went down on the main world, the giant sunflowers in the pocket dimension also dimmed their light. At this time, usually around 6 PM, Viers finished his training and activated his Serpentes Renovamen.
His Victa became inaccessible and so Viers died as a Pathseeker. Once activated, Viers couldn't stop it until the emergence of the sun. Experiencing death and life as a Pathseeker repeatedly was Viers’ Profound Training. At a minimum, this happened once every ten days but then it wouldn't be training.
Viers always felt like a god turned mortal during this time. All the superhuman feats he was capable of just earlier in the day, was out of reach, a crippled man. The big bad villain Viers was very vulnerable during this time.
Like it or not, this was the path he must take to master the Profound Codex and attain the Imaginary Domain. Without it, the gate to Level 4 would remain closed forever.
Until he ascended to Level 6, this was the cross he had to bear.
Even under the safety of Viridis, the paranoid Viers wore protective magical items. He had multiple of them and spent no small fortune to acquire them.
Sometimes, he just took it from a corpse. Life was truly no small fortune.
When night fell and Serpentes Renovamen Profound Codex activated, it was the most lull of Viers' time. He couldn't train other than his physical body. He had so many Pathseeker things to improve on but he was currently unable to do anything about it. He could only do mundane human things.
In the past, this was the perfect time to do something novel to improve his Horizon. Trying new activities, reading new books, creating poems, stargazing, and many other things.
However, there was a small problem.
Viers had met the soft cap of his Horizon utilization. His Horizon was above 550% boost but he could only use 500% boost without repercussion. Using any more than that, he would suffer grievous injuries. Therefore, even if he increased his Horizon, he couldn't use the excess. He wouldn't use them unless it was an emergency.
Maxed out, increasing Horizon was not as impactful as before.
This was the case of a player focusing too much on improving a skill so it hit max level way before its time. Arsène’s existence doubled the Horizon experience gain, which also contributed to this situation.
Viers’ Horizon was still growing every time he experienced something new, just slower. He already felt the growth rate was getting slower after it hit 500%.
Once he became Level 4, he had a feeling his max utilization limit would increase so Horizon was still one of the most important weapons in his arsenal.
Back to the matter of night activities, Viers still had his mind so he could theorize and ponder about cultivation matters that would improve them but that was about it. The night felt long. With no computer, internet, or games, the sense of boredom often appeared.
Outdoor activities such as going to the cities were out. Viers was too cowardly to go out as an Idler.
Viers missed the internet so much and realized he needed a hobby. In the Fables, xianxia heroes usually had side jobs other than being a super OP cultivator.
A second profession, or class, or job. For example, they could be an alchemist that made beneficial cultivation pills or a smith that made custom gear. Since fooling around to raise Horizon was not high on the priority list anymore, he was tempted to get this cultivation side job.
All in the name of power.
For now, since he could improve his own strength, why not improve others’?
Viers hung out with other people in the Biome. Giving advice in their training, Arte suggestions, teaching the children lessons in math and letters, things like that.
It was surprisingly fulfilling.
Viers was an introvert, socializing was not his strong suit. But hanging out with buddies was… nice. Humans were truly social beings.
After it was getting late, around 10-11 PM, he went to bed early to wake up early.