Chapter 38: Stalker, Three Weeks
While keenly observing the Rank-0 puppet, Ain handed it a black feather with a metallic sheen, the Rank-0 Blackwing Jay’s Crown Feather. Grasping the Puppet Command Token, he commanded, “Absorb this feather.”
The dark wooden puppet, humanoid in appearance, soundlessly extended its smooth right hand and received the black feather. It then sat on the floor in a meditative stance, holding the feather between its palms. Faint aether fluctuations surrounded it as a golden metallic glow suffused the black feather.
“The process seems… pretty simple,” Ain commented after a couple of minutes. He was expecting a more dynamic process, requiring some personal participation. “Looks like I just need to wait now.”
While the puppet experienced a metamorphosis, he began meditating to pass the time. Following the Chronarch Precept, his aether circulated rapidly, strengthening his body, polishing his aethercore. He only utilized the second aethercore, realizing that the meditation technique was still effective for it.
“If I don’t contract a spirit pet with it, the Chronarch Precept is still viable with my second aethercore,” Ain thought calmly, feeling as if he’d discovered a loophole. His first aethercore, after contracting the ghost-aspect Nox, wasn’t keen on a time-aspect meditation technique, providing diminished returns during meditation. “I’ll rely on my second aethercore during meditation for now…”
An hour later, his eyes abruptly opened as he halted the meditation. He sensed a unique fluctuation beside the bed. Glancing over, Ain realized that the Rank-0 puppet had completed its task! The Blackwing Jay’s Crown Feather was now a pile of ashes. The puppet itself exhibited no particular changes but a peculiar sensation was transmitted through the Puppet Command Token. Excited, he crouched next to the puppet and used Scan.
[Name: ???]
[Aspect: Metal]
[Rank: Rank-0]
[Grade: ???]
[Aspect Traces: Metal 62.5%, Wood 24.7%, Dark 4.2%, Soul 2.1%, …]
[Description: A puppet governed by the Puppet Command Token. It can absorb metal-aspect resources to upgrade itself.]
Grasping the information, Ain exclaimed softly, “Metal-aspect! The conversion was successful!”
After the initial excitement, he turned to its name. “The name is unknown… looks like I have to name it myself.”
“Wooo…?” Nox floated over at some point to join the festivity. Upon realizing his intentions, it enthusiastically suggested its own name. “Nox is your name. We need something new,” Ain replied speechlessly.
“Wooo…” Nox slouched onto the soft bed, feeling sad. It thought its name wasn’t good enough. Ain only glanced at it cursorily. His spirit pet was a little bipolar. As expected, within seconds, it was back zooming around chaotically. Ignoring it, he continued brainstorming. With his cognitive speed, it wasn’t long before he reached a satisfactory decision. “Since I’m nurturing it as an assassin, I’ll call it Stalker.”
[Name: Stalker]
[Aspect: Metal]
[Rank: Rank-0]
[Grade: ???]
[Aspect Traces: Metal 62.5%, Wood 24.7%, Dark 4.2%, …]
[Description: A puppet governed by the Puppet Command Token. It can absorb metal-aspect resources to upgrade itself.]
“As expected, the name changed,” Ain confirmed with Scan. After some consideration, he passed over the Rank-1 Dark Iron Bamboo to the puppet, saying, “Stalker, use this to reach Rank-1.”
Stalker silently received the Dark Iron Bamboo with fluid motions and returned to its meditative posture on the floor. It placed the black bamboo across its sculpted legs, its intricately carved palms pressing the bamboo onto its thighs. The familiar golden metallic sheen suffused the Dark Iron Bamboo as the absorption commenced.
“This process is supposed to take a few days,” Ain recalled. The aspect conversion only required an hour whereas upgrading to Rank-1 necessitates several days. “It shouldn’t be an issue if it remains inside the room…”
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Glancing out the window, he saw the dark canvas of stars shining brilliantly. Midnight was approaching, his cue to call it a day.
…
As Arcane Heart University’s recruitment neared, Ain fell into a consistent training routine. Before noon, he consumed Aether Recovery Pills to persistently practice Aether Shield and Spectral Blast. Although he succeeded in casting the spells on the first day, sufficient training was required to execute them appropriately during combat. Using his battles in the hidden realm for reference, he trained his battle sense by determining perfect moments to use these spells. He even practiced the incomplete Temporal Blitz, creating faint shockwaves in a secluded corner of the training room.
Hugo Ravenfall, the young spirit master he’d met, was often in the training room, greeting Ain every day. Occasionally he would come over for a chat as well. Since the first time, he hadn’t brought up the request to form a team. Instead, he talked about various interesting things he discovered on Cyberspace. After a few such instances, Ain didn’t mind Hugo’s company. The latter was quite tactful, chatting only during the breaks.
After the morning session concluded, Ain usually spent the remainder of the day in his room, meditating for various lengths of time. Curious about the Spirit Cultivator Tome, he attempted to study it a couple times before setting it aside. With this brief study, he learned that alchemy was essential to becoming a spirit cultivator. The first part of the tome focused solely on alchemy. This was reasonable. Spirit cultivators had to concoct special elixirs, whether to aid in spirit pet training or induce evolution. Alchemy was naturally a prerequisite. It was said that while not all alchemists were spirit cultivators, all spirit cultivators were alchemists.
To avoid distractions before the recruitment, the plans to study the Spirit Cultivator Tome were postponed until after joining Arcane Heart University.
This brief study did, however, add to his concerns. He learned that the fire aspect was recommended for alchemy. It wasn’t impossible without it; the process would just be torturous. As implied by Sage, it was possible to use fire spells without contracting a fire-aspect spirit pet, but the effectiveness would be diminished.
Therefore, aside from the time aspect he desired, the ice aspect demanded by the quest, he now also had to consider the fire aspect. This was a messy conundrum. Which aspect should he prioritize? As he still wished to rely on the second aethercore’s blank state to meditate using the Chronarch Precept, this decision was also postponed.
Amidst his busy routine, three weeks elapsed like a soothing stream down a gentle slope.
During this period, although he achieved no qualitative breakthroughs, Ain made substantial progress in his training. Since obtaining the Chronarch Precept, he wasn’t allowed sufficient time to study it until now. Previously, he only memorized the aether circulation pathways for his training. Now, he had studied the section for Rank-1, attempting to make sense of the intricacies within.
His efforts were rewarded as the significance of Rank-1 finally became apparent.
In Rank-1, the physique was the primary focus. Through the circulation of meditation techniques, spirit masters experienced a gradual metamorphosis, integrating aether into their bodies, adapting and strengthening it over time. Rank-0 Spirit Masters still possessed a mortal physique, albeit slightly augmented, but Rank-1 was a gulf that differentiated them as a higher life form.
Aside from this, Ain also discovered the divisions in Rank-1.
After condensing the first aether ring, one would’ve reached Initiated Rank-1. Once a contract was formed, a spirit master had to polish and strengthen their aethercore for the branding process, where the aether ring was gradually constricted onto the aethercore, ultimately fusing into the aethercore. The aethercore could potentially shatter during this process, hence it was essential to strengthen the aethercore. After completing the branding process, one reached Branded Rank-1, welcoming a qualitative breakthrough in power. At this stage, spirit masters had to nurture and strengthen their physiques to a certain point, finally reaching Perfected Rank-1 for another qualitative leap.
Perfected Rank-1 was the limit of Rank-1. Another step forward was Initiated Rank-2.
After discovering all this, Ain summarized the information before applying it to himself. Despite his second aethercore, he was still at Initiated Rank-1. To reach Branded Rank-1, he had to sufficiently strengthen his first aethercore before branding it with the aether ring. Next, to reach Perfected Rank-1, he had to augment his physique. These could only be accomplished over time through a meditation technique.
Seated on a chair, Ain pondered, “It’s difficult to reach Branded Rank-1 with my present conditions. The strengthening of my first aethercore is progressing at a snail’s pace with the mismatched meditation technique, and I haven’t even contracted a spirit pet for my second aethercore.”
“However, I’ve been strengthening the second aethercore for three weeks. Once I’ve finally contracted a spirit pet, it won't be long before I could initiate the branding process for the second aethercore. Of course, it’s better to wait until I join Arcane Heart University to decide on the aspect.”
Thinking up to here, Ain glanced at the city painted red by the sunrise before using Scan on himself.
[Name: Ain Weisman]
[Species: Human]
[Rank: Rank-1]
[Rank: Rank-1]
[Innate Talent: Wisdom Root]
[Heavenly Whispers: 5]
[Description: With Arcane Heart University’s recruitment just around the corner, you are preparing by persistently training yourself. You have achieved Rank-1 with your second aethercore but are indecisive of your next aspect. A seal has been placed upon you, restraining the passive time fluctuations.]
Gleaming through the information, Ain remarked, “Twice… It seems my rank is stated twice because of my second aethercore.”
Aside from this, nothing else surprised him. The seal was mentioned in Sage’s letter as well.
Regardless, now aware of the divisions in Rank-1, he did find the information from Scan lacking. “Scan doesn’t include the subdivisions in Rank-1. I should be at Initiated Rank-1 for both aethercores.”
His own rank was not a problem but inaccurately judging a potential enemy’s rank could be detrimental.