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“So how exactly do you know when it’s time to Rank Up our Cultivation, Katherine?” My mother wondered. “It often just happens out of nowhere."
“Yeah? I was wondering the same thing.” Ruby nodded.
“Well, it is simply the amount of maximum ki you possess. Once it reaches a certain point, you can already advance to the next Rank. Usually, a single Rank is divided into Stages. There’s Initial Stage, Middle Stage, Upper Stage, and Peak Stage.” I explained. “At Initial Stage your maximum Ki has only increased by ten percent; at Middle Stage usually by thirty percent; at Upper Stage, by over fifty percent; and at Peak Stage, it has doubled or more. Once you’re at Peak Stage, you’ll have enough energy to surpass your former limits and continue forging your body. This is the step where you’ll use all the accumulated Ki and obtain a Physique, which will enhance your mortal body and make it surpass a mortal’s limitations.”
“I see, and how did we even increase that?” My mother wondered. “It isn’t as if we sat down to meditate that much…”
“Your Ki can increase with two simple methods most often used by cultivators,” I explained. “The first one is through the cultivation of your Ki through meditation and similar techniques... The other is through exercise and the enhancement of your body’s strength, which then translates into more Ki. Get it now?”
“S-So, because we can Level Up our cultivation, is that super-fast?” Ruby wondered.
“Yeah, that’s right. Leveling up enhances your vitality, strength, and so on.” I explained. “Therefore, your body, as it gets stronger, will naturally produce more Ki.”
“That’s an incredibly simple explanation." My mother nodded. “Well, I get it now, I guess.”
“Now, let’s begin,” I said. “I’ve gotten some nice materials for the two of you, combining my inner realm’s resources with monsters we’ve hunted.”
I had already placed all materials within nodes inside a formation I created inside my Inner Realm. My mother and my sister were now sitting at the center of the formation, within two interconnected central nodes, or the core of a formation.
Formations were made by inscribing words from Murim and imbuing them with both Ki and other conductor materials. All these Murim "Runes,” as I call them, follow the basic rules of Feng Shui, but you can twist and transform them into many things, giving formations all kinds of usages and effects within a certain range of their own structures.
Usually, you can forge a new physique without any of these fancy things, but I wanted my mother and my sister to get strong quickly, so I decided to go all out.
“So what do we do?” My sister asked.
“Gather your Ki into your bodies and let it flow through everything as much as possible,” I explained. “The rest will be done by my formation.”
“Really? That easy?” My mom asked.
“That’s right. This is because I am a Great Venerable after all.” I giggled. “Now, now, enough chit-chat, mom, sister. Let’s begin.”
The entire process was flawless. My mother and my sister accepted the energies from the materials into their bodies as they meditated and let their Ki flow through as much as possible across their internal bodies.
Eventually, their core reacted, encompassing their entire bodies with elemental essence, which mixed with their Ki and the material's energies and components. All of this was being done inside my Inner Realm, right inside my great golden palace.
FLASH!
And once it was finally done, the materials and the formation were both gone, my mother and my sister having absorbed all they could. Their bodies have changed slightly. Because of their core’s abilities, their appearances had already changed enough, so once they acquired their compatible physique, their appearances didn’t change more than that.
However, I could tell that they gained muscle and some height. Both gained between three and five more centimeters, becoming much taller. Also, their muscles became even more developed than before. Not like a hulking muscle mass type of muscle, but they were very noticeable.
“Phew… Oh, is that it? I feel much- Woah, look at these abs!” My sister said this as she lifted her shirt, showing us her beautiful and perfectly defined abs.
“I-I got some really well-toned ones myself as well…” My mother nodded, looking at her own stomach.
“Welcome to the club!” I said as I showed them mine.
“Damn.” My mom said.
“You really got those well-hidden!” My sister laughed.
“My entire body is rather muscular; it's just that my robes cover most of my body, so it can’t be noticed at first glance…” I said. “Perhaps I should wear more modern clothes; leave aside my robes completely, maybe.”
“Maybe, though you do you, honey.” My mother said, patting my shoulders. “Anyways, is this it? What other ability do we get anyway?”
“Yeah?” My sister asked.
“Well, let me see… Ah, perfect.”
I was looking at their physiques. Their Meridians have been completely reforged, and they have gained Physique Runes across their bodies, or as some called them, Dao Marks. They’re marks of a specific Dao, minuscule right now, but that will rapidly grow and amplify in number as they let their own elements proliferate through their bodies.
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“Mother has acquired most likely the {Sunshine Mithril Sentinel Physique} and Ruby got the {Dark Blaze Demoness Physique}. The strongest ones you could get without... Well, without risking your bodies from exploding.” I said. “Both have extremely good physiques. Once you start fighting and practicing, you’ll notice you can do new things. The Sentinel Physique will let you grow large shields and scales of gold and silver metal over your body, mother. Once you perfect that, you’ll be able to cover your entire body in armor and even make your hair into metallic wires for attack and defense.”
“An armor, huh? That sounds rather interesting, I have to admit. I’ll have to keep training then.” I’ve never seen my mother so pumped up as she is right now. Despite her acting with modesty, she loved the feeling of growing stronger.
“And what about me?” Ruby asked.
“You can now become a pseudo-demoness. You might eventually be able to grow wings, long claws, horns, more eyes, and a tail.” I said.
“Huh?! That sounds…” She looked slightly conflicted, but then changed entirely. “Fucking wicked! I love it!”
“Maybe I should have asked you beforehand, though. Sorry." I apologized anyway.
“Nah, nah, it’s fine. You know what I like, big sis.” Ruby laughed out loud. “Anyways, what should we do now?”
“You two should go train your abilities; maybe spar with Merkite and Urbosa? They’re eager to train their abilities themselves. Both are getting closer to Rank 3 as well.” I said. “But thanks to their Spiritual Hearts, they should be even with the two of you.”
“Sounds alright; I guess we can do that, yeah.” Ruby nodded. “Hehe, I’m going to show Juan that his girlfriend’s pretty overpowered.”
“Then we’ll go.” My mother nodded. “Are you staying behind?”
“Yeah, I need to do something first; I’ll catch you up for dinner,” I said.
“Alright, take care.” My mother said this as the two of them stepped out of my Inner Realm.
Now that I was alone, I sat down over the throne of my Golden Palace, sighing in relief.
“Poyoo!”
A little pink slime with tiny arms greeted me, leaping over my head.
Little Kirby had been hiding inside my robes for a while now, and he finally woke up.
“You’re awake, little one? Are you hungry perhaps?” I wondered.
“Puwooo!” He started bouncing.
“Alright.” I nodded. “There’s a Martial Beast wave incoming. It seems these beasts are proliferating a lot inside my Inner Realm. So you can eat them all if you want- Oh, there they are.”
In the distance, right in front of my palace, within the Endless Peaks, there was a giant wave of millions of Martial Beasts, most of them within the immortal ranks, which were fairly weak compared to primordial or venerable rank beasts.
Kirby leaped off my head and then floated like a balloon through the air, inflating his body. He was really like that video game character, but slime-like.
“Rooarr!”
“Graarr!”
“Awoo!”
The beasts approached rapidly. I could easily end them all with a mere thought. But that would not be fun, and it would not feed my little pet.
“Go on, it’s all yours.”
I waved my hand as Kirby went all out.
He started siphoning everything, opening his mouth, and increasing its size by at least ten times.
“Puwaaaahhh!”
FLUOSH!
It was as if he had a black hole inside. Okay, maybe not an actual black hole, but something very similar—a void, an endlessly hungry stomach.
The beasts were not even able to fight back; the siphoning force absorbed them all, lifting them off the ground and then forcing them to get towards Kirby.
They were swallowed, falling into the black void inside Kirby's stomach.
He kept slurping everything until, after just a minute, the two million Martial Beast were completely gone.
None were left!
“Phew! Burp…”
Kirby sat down on the floor and burped while patting his belly, which only looked an inch bigger than before. Wherever his food went, it wasn’t something within this physical plane.
I think he probably had some sort of dimension inside, a pocket dimension with an incredibly vast size, where all food was stored and digested rapidly.
I sensed something from him: an Aura of void. It was the color of dark purple, with small bits of gray and black mixed in between.
Although I have been unable to study or comprehend the Dao of the Void myself, I now have a pet that was born within it and naturally possessed it.
I could see it, endlessly shining within him; that was definitely the Dao of the Void, of the highest order and rarity.
“Kirby, dear. Would you let your master channel that power of yours?” I asked him, sitting by his side and giving him head pats.
“Puwah! Poyo?” He wondered.
“Ah, I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say…” I sighed.
“Puwah!” He quickly walked towards me and sat down over my legs, rubbing his cute little face on my stomach, and then touched my hand with its tiny little hands. “Puwah, puwah!”
And then, the Void Essence Aura he exuded, rushed towards my body, slowly.
“You’re giving it to me willingly! Such a precious little thing! Thank you so much.” I kissed his little head as he allowed me to channel his powers.
I felt the Void Essence rushing inside, just like the first time I tried channeling.
“Ugh…! Argh!”
Pain!
I felt immense pain.
This was not something normal for a Venerable such as me.
And the reason?
Void was an all-consuming and all-encompassing Dao.
It was actually made of several incredibly rare Daos.
However, the three Daos that composed this Cosmic Dao were the Dao of Space, the Dao of Destruction, and the Dao of Null.
I had only barely comprehended the Dao of Space, while I mastered the Dao of Destruction, but the Dao of Null was something I could never find anywhere.
Nobody ever cultivated it back in Murim.
Therefore, perhaps due to my lack of knowledge or Dao Comprehension, the Void Essence becomes unstable inside my body and soul.
And therefore, it causes tremendous pain as I try to cultivate it.
It is not, however, as hard as trying to absorb, assimilate, and cultivate Cosmic Energy.
As long as I can understand and decipher the Dao of the Void, the path towards achieving the Immemorial Primordial Void Realm should open!
I have to do my best.
“Ugh… L-Let’s do this! Argh…”
While gritting my teeth and feeling my entire body destroying itself and regenerating constantly, I decided to “cheat” this method and make things, perhaps, slightly easier.
“I’ll need some assistance. Didn’t that god wield the Void Element a bit? Now it’s a good time to use that Skill, right, Kirby?” I giggled. “{Undead God Summon}: [Tower God]: {Lord of Deep Darkness}!”
FLASH!
A mass of darkness, shadow, and death essence suddenly materialized in front of me after my command, slowly taking the form of the small skeleton of a child, wearing shadow robes, and with his empty eyes glowing bright red.
“Huh? Where… Where am I?” He spoke with the voice of a child. “You… You’re the one that killed me. Why… What’s happening?”
“So you keep your memories, huh?” I wondered. “This is really interesting... We might as well call your sister while we are at it, hm?”
“Sister…?” He was still wondering what was happening.
FLASH!
A bright flash of golden and white light appeared by his side, almost making the little Lord of Deep Darkness fall to his knees, though I protected him with a barrier.
And then, from the condensed light, a girl with pale white skin, bright yellow eyes, long blonde hair, and only wearing a white dress appeared.
“Huh? What the- Eeek! Y-You! Uwaaagh! Noooo! Have you come to kill me again?!”
I expected such a reaction, quite honestly.
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