With the help of superior Cultivation, I was able to become intimately familiar with Vilya’s Soul. I could scan it in great detail, and just as she said, her Soul was already showing signs of worsening. A few more days and it would start to fall apart. We didn’t have much time.

I had to feed it, but at the same time carefully avoid giving sustenance to all the cursed parts. Those had to be destroyed, or at least remolded. It’s what she had to do on her own because she was the one who felt the effects and could tell if it was right or wrong. I could see the changes, but without first-hand experience, I couldn’t help her.

I mentally tore a chunk of Spirit Accumulation Soul Essence and twisted it into a long string. I then very carefully poked a pinhole into her Soul and put the thread through. I then repeated the same action a few dozen more times, sowing the split parts of her Soul together. It was primitive, yes. But I needed for the Soul not to crack further as I fed it.

I didn’t know what would happen when I did that, but it was best to be safe.

The ownerless Soul Essence already began to merge with the surrounding Soul, forming thin threads across the wound.

“Woah…” Vilya exhaled. “So much Essence… That’s more than I get in a month.”

Her words gave me pause and I stopped what I was doing. [Wait, a month? Really?] The thread was less than 10% of the total I was about to give her. Something didn’t seem right.

“Yeah, I never could properly bind the scar, that’s why it kept reopening. I could at most do one or two stitches, and they would break in a few days.

[Holy shit… Just how weak are you?!] I exclaimed. I could literally kill a rat and get more Soul Essence in minutes than she could gather in a month?! No wonder I finished a century of Cultivation in a year. With superior results, mind you.

I knew others' Souls were smaller and weaker than mine, and that they Cultivated slower, but I didn’t know it was that bad! What was the density of their Souls then? 0.01% of mine? Yikes!

She lowered her head and didn’t answer.

[And if you think that’s a lot, well…] I smiled mysteriously.

As it seemed I was on the right track, I made another long thread and bound her Soul even tighter. Actually, I repeated the action three times in total, completely sealing the wound. By the end of it, Vilya was completely silent and I could feel her heart beating like crazy. And I was pretty sure she was holding back tears.

In total, I used about a quarter of what I intended and then decided to stop. She was clearly in no state of mind to continue, and I didn’t want to push it too much. It was best to let her slowly acclimate to the changes.

[That’s it for today. We’ll continue tomorrow if you feel alright.]

As soon as I said that she turned around and jumped on me and began kissing me as tears ran down her face. Her smile was so bright and she kept repeating “Thank you!” over and over, without stopping.

I thought it was a bit over the top, but I let it slide. I let her get all the emotions out without interfering. If she thought she had to thank me a thousand times, I would let her.

Eventually, the tears ran dry and she calmed down. She sat on her knees and then kowtowed three times.

”Senior Gerald, Disciple Vilya Meifeng will forever be in your debt. Please do not hesitate to ask anything of me.”

[Um… Sure.] Also, please get up, this is getting awkward. I didn’t say my thoughts out loud because she already straightened her back and wiped away the tears off her face. Her smile was so brilliant and warm that I had to contain myself not to jump her.

I had to get serious for a moment, so I cleared my throat and spoke. [Right. The first round went even better than I expected. I had no idea your Soul was so...]

“Weak?”

[I was thinking the opposite of dense. Frail? Light? Fluffy? Man, I don’t know… You said you had Mortal Talent, right? And a low-grade even?]

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Vilya slowly nodded her head and sighed. “It’s right on the edge. I was just barely good enough to join the Sect. I even took the Soul Compressing Pill to boost it a little bit, but it barely pushed me over 26%.”

[Right…]

As far as I understood the Talent classification, it went something like this:

25% was the minimal required Talent to be accepted into the Myriad Beast Sect. It was where the Mortal Talent began. At 40% was the start of Earth Talent, and above 55% came Spirit Talent, the highest I was currently aware of.

These percentages referred to how much lifespan was extended each time a Cultivator advanced a Realm. Not a step, an entire Realm.

There were theoretical maximums for a lifespan at each Talent bracket, though they were calculated as if a person Cultivated since birth. A bit unusual, but it made sense, in a weird kind of way. These percentages probably came from the fact that every higher Talent grade could begin cultivating a year earlier than the last.

Mortal at 15, Earth at 14, and Spirit at 13. If things went like that till age 0, I didn’t know, but it sure seemed like that would be the case. But that would mean a baby would be born with a mature Soul, which would be… weird. Especially since reincarnation didn’t exist.

Anyway, the theoretical maximum lifespan for steady Cultivation came up to 220 years for a Mortal Talent. It was just over 510 years for Earth Talent, and almost 1400 for Spirit. It was, of course, less in practice, even more so if the person slacked and advanced slower than he should.

The lifespan compounded, and so the faster you advanced, the longer it would become. It worked the opposite way as well.

Take Vilya for example. She was years behind her peers, on top of her terrible Talent. That would mean that by the time she reached Nascent Soul Realm, if she even could, instead of her remaining century of lifespan, she would be pulling from just over 90 years, since she was taking longer.

Of course, every Layer gave you a small boost and you didn’t get a bulk increase at the end, but the percentage was calculated over the entire Realm.

Every person was different, of course, and those that came to 27% or 30% had longer lifespans, even more so those higher than them. It compounded that way, and small changes could become centuries of difference down the line.

Everything that pertained to the Soul worked like that. And as to how people figured out where they stood, it wasn’t an exact science. More of an approximation.

When they first joined, the test determined only if they went over the threshold of Mortal Talent. Depending on how good the Talent was, the Soul could resist more pressure. It was a well-known way to scout out talents. The younger you were when able to resist the minimum pressure for Cultivation, the better the Talent.

And then you had to figure the rest on your own when purifying the Soul for the first time. More cycles meant better Talent, and more opportunity to grow. Depending on your Talent, you could remove more impurities. Later, the Soul could be examined, and its purity discerned by a trained eye to determine the exact standing. But even then, the accuracy was +/- 2%.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know what my Talent was, since every way to check, was insufficient.

My Soul had no impurities after my resurrection, the Soul pressure of the examiners I could just barely feel, and as far as I could tell, my Soul was pure. Well, mixed with Divine threads, but if that wasn’t purity, I didn’t know what was.

Luckily Talent was on a spectrum, and there existed ways to nudge it higher. The Soul Condensing Pill, for example, could boost it by 1-3%. But Vilya was unlucky and received a minimal boost. That’s how she even came to 26%. It was terrible, I wasn’t going to lie.

With that kind of Talent, she was just slightly better than a Mortal who couldn’t even join the Sect. For them, Cultivation was but a distant dream. Even if they Cultivated all their lives, for them living longer than 150 years would be a miracle. It simply wasn’t feasible. They couldn’t even reach the Golden Core Realm. Might as well live a normal life and not waste their lives with something unobtainable.

However, for those of Mortal Talent, there was hope. They had one – not more, not less – chance to improve. There was a way to just barely reach the Earth Talent by sacrificing decades of Cultivation. And even then, success was not guaranteed.

I was talking about the Talent-boosting ritual.

The 50% chance of death didn’t deter desperate people from attempting it. I wasn’t fully familiar with it, as those I consumed didn’t require or haven’t used it.

I considered if Vilya should take that gamble. If her Soul could be fixed, that would be her chance to grow. Her only chance. Once she reached the Nascent Soul, it would be too late. She needed to decide soon.

[We should go visit the library.] I suddenly said.

“The library?”

[You need to start Cultivating your body. I’m afraid I’m going to crush you if I slip.]

“Oh…” She opened her eyes wide. “Yeah, that would be bad… But I can’t Cultivate, remember? I can’t make any Body Essence either.”

I nodded. Of course, I knew that. However, unlike Soul Essence, which was basically impossible to transfer, Body Essence was everywhere and easy to get. If you had money, of course.

[That’s not going to be a problem. The food here has more than enough Essence for you to build a strong body. I’m not going to force you to eat Spirit Beast meat, but I’m pretty sure you can handle flesh from Nascent Soul beasts.]

“Nascent Soul?! That’s so expensive, isn’t it?”

I wanted to, but couldn’t, stop a smile from forming on my face. She was still so innocent. Nascent Soul meat, expensive? Then what was I eating, mountains of gold?

I placed a hand on her shoulder. [It will be fine. Don’t worry about it. Actually, let’s get something to eat right now. I’m starving.]

“Oh, okay…”

We just stepped out of the room when a raging monkey attacked. “Stop right there! You are getting nowhere with my sword! Hand it over, you bastard!”

I internally sighed. Some people just never learn.