"Hmm, this may be childish of me, but I really can't stand to miss what there might be waiting for me at the true end of the Water Substation," Elizabeth muttered.
During the last couple of minutes she studied the fourth Water Tablet Shard, the Water Tablet Shard of Harmony, she made two discoveries that had most contributed to her earlier frustrations.
The first and arguably most annoying discovery was that in the Water Tablet Shard of Harmony, there existed a second technique. It was a technique that she had all but given up hope of acquiring after getting kicked out of the Water Substation without having the time to properly learn it.
The second discovery was that after the Water Tablet Shard of Harmony there only existed a final fifth Shard for her to complete the set. The last Water Tablet Shard had been position far beyond the range of her perception, at the top of the Waterfall of Insight.
Her sight might have been able to pierce the ten-kilometer distance from the base of the Waterfall to the top where the final shard lay. But, the Substation's barrier that followed her from the start of the Trial barred both her Spiritual Sense and clouded the words on the shard to where she would only be able to read its contents after scaling the waterfall.
Before knowing that she could get a second attempt at the Substation, she had all but given up on studying the fifth and final shard, but now…
"Ok, this… this feels like I'm cheating," Elizabeth laughed psychotically as she browsed through Leviathan Sovereign's Sacred Water Scripture, the reward she had earned for getting her Understanding of Water to a hundred percent completion at a Rudimentary level.
[Cultivation Methods:
Name: Leviathan Sovereign's Sacred Water Scripture
Divine Grade: SSS
Description: A Divine Grade Water Cultivation Method of the highest rank. Created by the Leviathan Sovereign, a Godbeast of primordial origin, the methods contained within this holy text can carry mortals and non-practitioners to the height of Divinity through an Understanding of Water.
Unlocked Benefits: Spirit Realm Cultivation, Three-Times Refined Hell Trident Blueprint, Water Spirit Sense Skill, Flood Dragon Soul Sundering Strike.
Name: Leviathan Sovereign's Sacred Water Scripture's Spirit Realm Portion
Progression: None
Spirit Grade: SSS+
Description: Contains the portion of the Cultivation Method's instructions for Spirit Realm Cultivators. Allows a Cultivator majoring in Water to pass through all the Stages of the Spirit Realm, from Transcendent Foundation to Nirvanic Rebirth, without a bottleneck in sight. Guides a Cultivator to Eternal Affinity for Water and outlines goals to reach Divinity in the Spirit Realm.
Current Goal: 7/97 Spiritual Pillars]
Elizabeth almost coughed as she read that 97 Spiritual Pillars were required to complete the Transcendent Foundation Stage.
"What the fuck? How could you not need to be perfect in every sense of the word to reach Godhood?" She cursed, before drawing her attention to her other Divine Grade Cultivation Method.
[Cultivation Methods:
Name: Godking Gabriela's Book of Ice and Fire
Divine Grade: SSS
Description: A Divine Grade Fire, Ice, and Blazebreeze Cultivation Method of the highest rank. Created by a then-Monarch Ranked Goddess, Godking Gabriela, the methods contained within this book allowed a Heavenly Monarch to fight evenly with Divine Sovereigns, the highest of all Gods.
Unlocked Benefits: Spirit Realm Cultivation, Constitution of Ice and Fire Mystic Art, Blazebreeze Throwing Knife Blueprint, Blazebreeze Embers.
Name: Godking Gabriela's Book of Ice and Fire's Spirit Realm Portion
Progression: Minor Achievement with Ice at the Foundation Transcendent Stage
Spirit Grade: SSS+
Description: Contains the portion of the Cultivation Method's instructions for Spirit Realm Cultivators. Allows a Cultivator Majoring in Fire, Ice, or Blazebreeze to pass through all the Stages of the Spirit Realm, from Transcendent Foundation to Nirvanic Rebirth, without a bottleneck in sight. Guides a Cultivator to Eternal Affinity for Fire, Ice, and Blazebreeze, and outlines goals to reach Divinity in the Spirit Realm.
Current Goal: 7/99 Spiritual Pillars]
"It's still not perfect," Elizabeth mumbled, unsure of how she was supposed to feel. Neither the Sacred Scripture nor the Book of Ice and Fire required the perfect hundred Spiritual Pillars that had always been her goal.
"Oi Persephone," Elizabeth called, "You want me to outdo Gods when it comes to cultivation? Isn't that asking for a bit too much?"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Whatever do you mean?" Persephone responded as sarcastic as can be, "You're already pulling ahead of Godking Gabriella and her Cultivation Method is among the strictest of all time. When you reached 20 Divine Meridians and 108 Heavenly Acupoints in the Mortal Realm, you indisputably beat her achievements in the Mortal Realm."
"Besides," her voice darkened as she seriously said, "you've exceeded my expectations and outgrown the need for my guidance. I no longer want to limit your growth to that of a mere God."
"Wh—" Elizabeth squinted and gestured, unable to comprehend what her Sponsor Goddess was saying. 'Becoming a God is no longer good enough?! Fuck!'
She grumbled for as long as her time-obsessive heart allowed before returning her focus to the Meditation Chamber. With her Understanding of Water being the highest of all the energies she studied, the Sacred Water Scripture, and ten Water-type Spiritual Pillars ready to be claimed, it wasn't a question as to what energy she would cultivate first.
However, Elizabeth didn't immediately spend her Gold Ticket. Instead, she used twelve Twinkling Comet Yellow Tickets when selecting an environment dense in Water Energies to cultivate in.
She wanted to return to the Water Substation and make the most of her second attempt, but the Understanding of Water Laws and the Skills she could gain from studying it were still viewed as supplemental in nature. Her current priority kept in mind the fact that she would be spending most of her effort later, cultivating Time and Chaos.
Thus, the room began to transform. The altar Elizabeth sat on transformed into an island while the rest of the room began to fill with water. One second, the room was entirely devoid of spiritual Energies, and in the next, Elizabeth almost felt like she was at the brink of drowning from how dense it was.
'There might be even more energy being produced in this space, than by the Cultivation Arrays Jane made on Earth to house my Supreme Duality Spirit Vein,' Elizabeth thought.
She quickly accepted the 10 Water-type Spiritual Pillars from her Quest Function's Rewards and began cultivating with the direction of the Sacred Water Scripture.
…
"Miss Jane…" Ygny voice lacked energy as he said, "At this rate, we're not going to be able to accompany you much further."
Jane's group which consisted of Ygny, Kirou, and herself were currently taking a break from progressing in the Trial of Ice. In the close to two days that they had been together, Jane had quietly subverted her two companion's idea of what it meant to be talented as she ironically blazed a path through the instances of the Ice Trial.
Jane shook her head and said, "I already said you didn't have to. Neither of you Major in Ice, to begin with, so wouldn't you guys be better off in the Lightning and Water Trials?"
"You know we can't do that," Kirou said while panting. She was just as exhausted as Ygny if not even more so, due to the gap in their Cultivation Base.
She added, "What if some Foundation Collapse Stage Cultivator with a hatred against humans went after you?"
"Not to be rude, but you guys are already performing worse than me. If someone with a higher Cultivation and Understanding of Ice attacked us now, I'd probably be better off alone." It was blunt, but it was also the truth.
"If I were anyone but my father's son that indeed be the case, but at least with us around, no one in their right mind within Agrian territory would try anything," Ygny said, not taking offense.
Jane shrugged her shoulders, "Do whatever you want, just know that I won't give up this chance. My goal is to reach the end of the Trial of Ice."
Exhaling a heavy sigh, Ygny said, "If only our culture was less hateful of humans. I guess we'll just have to part ways when the time comes."
With that point brought up, Jane's curiosity was piqued. She asked, "Why exactly do the Demihuman Agrians and Human Irelian territories hate each other?"
"It's all a competition for talent and resources," Kirou responded, "At first it started out as a natural competition between sentient races vying to secure the most suitable land for Cultivation. Tens of thousands of years ago, Endrin wasn't even split up into three territories. Humans and Demihumans formed Sects, Guilds, and Factions of every type under the sun together, only caring about talent."
"But around nine-thousand years ago, a branch of the Midnight Sun Sect claimed a third of the planet's territory and used their influence to create the hostile environment we see today," Kirou concluded.
Ygny elaborated, "As a branch of the Midnight Sun Sect, they promised that every hundred years, the strongest and most talented Cultivator would be allotted the chance to enter the Sect. As a branch of one of the highest-ranking Sects in the Shadow Realm, every Cultivator on the planet drooled at the idea of potentially entering the Sect, so the already existing competition ramped up."
Ygny continued, "Unfortunately, not all races are born the same. Demihumans, who could be born with special bloodlines, were more often than not picked than their basic human counterparts and after a couple dozen centuries, the tension built up to the point that the humans retaliated against their perceived injustice."
With a sigh, Ygny concluded, "Genocides were waged and the world became split into the three territories we know of today. Our Agrian territory was named in remembrance of a clan of Demihumans that were at one point the strongest on the planet. They died fighting in the wars launched by humanity. The Irelian Empire was named after the family that still holds control of the Dynasty. The same family that instigated the genocides and wars all those years ago."
"So, the humans got jealous of the demihuman's talents and resorted to committing atrocities? Typical," Jane commented.
As a victim of such realities, she could easily understand how the humans of this world might sink to such a level. After all, humanity didn't have the greatest record, even on Earth.