"Who are you, Grandpa? What are you doing in my Tower?" I asked directly as I moved inside the Heavengaze Tower world, and beside the bored ghost locked in my Tower.
The ghost turned and measured me with glazed white eyes, probably scanning me from the inside out with advanced Divine senses that I didn't even know the name of.
"... I am Yuan Heavengaze, a mildly famous Artisan from the Pearl Sea Starfield." the ghost answered after a long glare battle.
"Hmmm. My time artifact is also called the Heavengaze Tower. Quite a coincidence." I mused in a chipper voice, showing off my 8 years old wisdom.
The ghost blinked, then looked away towards the distant horizon.
"You are an orphan, right?" the ghost asked in a far-away tone.
I don't think I said anything about my family yet. Did this guy scan my karma relations somehow? "My Yuan Clan was mildly famous for their Artisan skills too, in the Stillwater Village. A bad man killed them." I answered instead.
"And yet you did not break, and kept cultivating. Even reaching Xiantian Realm by yourself." the old ghost mused with a short glance above my head.
"Did a bad man kill you too?" I asked to make sure. He could have died from other causes, but he wouldn't linger in the Tower in most cases.
The ghost blinked again, then sighed. "Pretty much. I focused too much on crafting in my life, instead of becoming strong. A bad man wanted my Tower..." he explained in simple words.
I nodded and sat down to eat my Spirit Feast. "You must have been decently strong anyway, to construct this Tower. At least in the Divine Realm, I bet." I declared in a convinced voice, then began eating like a famished 8 years old.
The ghost examined my self-replenishing food chest for a few minutes, while I ate. "You have quite a wondrous artifact here, child. Rarely seen outside major sects." he said with a flat voice, not very impressed.
"This ghost body of yours...is it still as strong as a Divine?" I asked instead, and actually curious.
A ghostly hand patted me on the shoulder and passed through, barely interacting with my body at all. "My ghost body, not at all. Maybe as strong as 5 ants combined." the ghost offered with a sad smile.
Ants were pretty strong for their size, but 5 ants couldn't even carry a sheet of paper, even if combined. "Being dead is bad, at least for the body. What about your Artisan skills? You still remember them, Artisan Heavengaze?" I asked with interest.
The ghost eyes' glowed for a second. "Directly to the point, eh? I can see why you survived your clan's demise." he answered in a roundabout way.
"I am not asking from idle curiosity, Grandpa. If you still have those skills, you can teach me. Your ghost body might be too weak to hold a hammer, but I do have mine. I'm not very strong either, but my body will grow up." I explained with saintly patience.
The ghost stared at me for a long minute, then sighed. "I never liked children, you know? Loud and obnoxious, doing stupid things and making a mess everywhere."
I looked down at my child body and small hands. "I envy those children. They have the luxury of freedom and playing. I don't." I said with a sad voice, then took out my Iron Eagle Feather spear and began practicing my Houtian combat techniques.
With my new cultivation realm, the 10 kilos spear still felt lighter, like a normal spear, perhaps. I could train for 2 hours before the strain became too much and would damage my growing body.
"You have reached Mastery with your techniques...that's quite amazing, for a child." the ghost mused out loud, as I stopped to rest and meditate.
"I get the feeling that if I keep practicing, there is another level beyond this, Grandpa. You call it Mastery, but I don't feel like a real Master. Better than a beginner, but still not there." I answered in a steady voice, as my breath regained its calmer rhythm.
Much later, I opened my eyes and came out of meditation, to find the ghost staring at me. "You are correct about your spear moves. If you keep practicing them, you will reach Transcendence. At that point, even those Houtian moves can compare with stronger Xiantian techniques."
I nodded while thinking about his words. It should be the poor man's option, then. Or poor village clan's in my case. Why spend a fortune to buy Xiantian techniques when you could polish your Houtian moves until they reached the same level?
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"Good enough for me, then. I guess 2 or 3 months will get me there." I answered as I stood up and went walking around to explore the Tower on foot. The main building, at least. The whole Heavengaze Tower was a world-sized pocket dimension, possibly an entire planet kidnapped by the artifact's creator to use as a base for the Formation.
To my mild surprise, every room and chamber in the Tower was perfectly empty, not a single chair or bed, not to mention precious items. Damn stingy ghost! At least there were some waterfalls and floating platforms to serve as elevators.
"You seem disappointed, child?" the ghost asked after I finished my hours-long tour and sat down to eat.
"Not really, no. The construction is solid, and there is water and such. Good enough for me. I won't invite anyone else to live here, not yet." I said with a careless voice, while moving my hand to the side to drop out a few materials from my vault, wood and silk and feathers, mostly.
Perhaps too precious to use for furniture, but the materials from the vault would replenish anyway. I could start using some of them.
The ghost flew around the pile of materials and examined them with keen eyes. "Wasteful, if you intend to make furniture. Why not bring cheaper materials from outside?" he asked in a reasonable tone.
"Outside? Right outside is the Noxious Swamp of decay qi, recently burned by a volcano. And around it there is the Heaven Basin realm, filled with dangerous spirit beasts. And outside this realm, it's a huge sect on a mountain that pierces the sky and a wheel spins around the peak. I'm 8 years old, Grandpa!" I exclaimed outraged and rose my hands in 'what can I do?' manner.
The ghost blinked again. "That sounds a bit...dangerous. Especially that spinning wheel. Celestial crafting is the hallmark of a void travelling sect. Spirit Ships that can travel to other worlds." he explained at my blank face.
Yeah, I kinda figured that part out, with the gravity wheel space station. You don't build that in outer space unless you have ships docking on it.
"First things first, Grandpa. Help me build a bed?" I asked in a milder voice.
The ghost sighed, and waved his fingers in the air. Sigils and runes flew around, acting like a thousand hands and tools. In a minute, the pile of materials transformed into a high-quality bed, with silk sheets and feather pillows.
'Artisan-crafted bed, high quality, worth 1.2 million spirit stones.' I discerned with my eye skill.
Hmmm. Perhaps this old ghost wasn't so useless as I first thought, thinking about his ant strength. Formations were a good substitute for muscle power.
I stored the new bed in my ring, and nodded towards the ghost. "You do have some Artisan skills left, Grandpa! That was a Formation Array!" I exclaimed in child exuberance, then ran towards the nearest waterfall to get clean for bed.
The next day, I met the ghost at breakfast, and chatted a bit more. Then went back to training.
The third day, the same.
And 2 months later, I reached Transcendence with my combat skills, giving me a real edge for when I planned to leave the safety of the Tower.
"Young Pef, now I am sure you are a genius." the ghost said as I sat down for dinner.
I kept a calm face, and waited for the rest.
"I also notice you don't cultivate anymore. Is it because you lack a cultivation method?" the ghost asked, a bit rhetorical.
"Yes, Grandpa. I am waiting for the Heaven Basin to open, and cultivators from the big sect outside to come in for treasure. It should be in 2 or 3 months. The next part is less certain..." I whispered in a lower voice.
"Wait for someone to die fighting those beasts, and steal their cultivation sutras?" the ghost proposed in a curious tone.
Ack! My flawless plan, seen through so easily?
"It might work..." I muttered in a sheepish voice.
The ghost glared at me, in shaming silence.
I just shrugged and triggered my Concealment Skill, vanishing from his eyes and other senses. This was my hidden ace, a skill that allowed me to hide from other cultivators, as long as I didn't intend to attack them. Which I didn't. Pef means peace in a dead language.
"Hmmm. So you're not a fool, just misguided." the old ghost hummed in a low voice, while another Formation formed around and caught me like a fish in a bowl.
My Boundless Freedom perk activated at once, and I jumped outside the trapped bowl, but the meal was cooked long ago.
"They wouldn't know I'm there. I'd be an invisible ghost, looting dead bodies." I complained at his unfair cheating.
Another Formation locked me instead, and I escaped it again. That CYOA Boundless Freedom perk was kinda reality breaking, I admit. Useful, but also kinda cheating.
"A Heaven's Chosen ability? I haven't seen one of those in the last...3 kalpas. And only 5 in my entire life. Even in my fallen state, my Formations are still at Soul Severing Realm." the old ghost exclaimed in a surprised voice.
My Perfect Memory ran a cycle to find the meaning of the word. A kalpa was 4.3 billion years. This ghost was even older than 12.9 billion years? Much older than the universe I came from, not that time had the same meaning when immortal cultivators flew around.
"You're cheating, Grandpa! I can already beat 5 ants, even combined!" I growled in a childish voice, and pointed accusingly at the old ghost.
The ghost smiled sheepishly, and dropped the new Formation he was crafting.
"Being stronger than an ant isn't an achievement to take pride on, child." he answered in a wise voice.
"Five ants!" I argued louder. Acting like a child was fun.
The old man sighed in defeat and turned away. "Fine! You can go try your plan. When it fails, I will have a new one."
The last 2 months were spent crafting things, like an anti-decay void suit, and lave-proof boots, as well as test runs for these items outside, in the toxic environment of the Noxious Swamp. If I get stronger, I would rain this swamp just from spite, but for now I would endure.
The silver lining of having both the swamp and the volcano at the exit meant that those spirit beasts also kept away, which made mapping and testing a bit safer.
Not completely safe, since puking blood and treating my burned feet wasn't fun, but eventually my suit and boots were finished enough that I wouldn't be in environmental danger, the second I shifted outside the Tower. Also, every step outside moved my dimensional exit closer and closer to the edge of the swamp, until there was a single jump left, by the time the Heaven Basin opened.
My loot senses were tingling, since beyond the swamp there were also rare herbs and various plants and trees that I wanted to collect, but for now I abstained. Changing things might be detected by smarter cultivators, better stay safe for now.