After eating with Hela and sleeping through the night, Eon was awakened by Zerle at dawn. He had stayed the night at Zerle’s home as he was still healing. Eon had healed from his wounds enough to lightly exercise and move around. Currently, Zerle was teaching Eon how to use qi perception, by forcing him to focus on orbs of qi that he released and quickly cycle qi perception on and off. He would smack Eon's head when he messed up, explain what he did wrong, and help him expand on what he did right. If he found Eon was cheating the pain with bodily revelation, he would use a mental attack much worse than a mere smack. Eventually, Eon was able to lower his activation time down to five seconds of partial focus or 2 seconds of complete focus. It was at this point Zerle decided to fill Eon in on this world's history to make Eon more knowledgeable so he could understand what he needed to do.

"This world is called Aggamoren. Some 550 years ago, it was filled with the native species who were still in a tribal stage of development, having only recently gained sentience. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the progenitor came around 500 years ago. He was of the third tier of cultivation, qi condensation, and he brought his servants with him. We don't know why he came here, but he did. He set up a grand imperial palace with countless outposts looking for useful resources across the planet. He also integrated the natives into his servant body, teaching them the immortal art to reach body tempering. Oh right, I never taught you the difference between the different arts. Mortal arts are those that don’t harness true qi, at least directly, to provide strength, and those who practice them are called martial artists. You are currently considered a martial artist, but the strength of martial artists is quite limited, at best to about half of what an entry body tempering cultivator can achieve. The upside to martial artists is that they are relatively easy to produce compared to cultivators and still are somewhat useful even if one does start cultivating. Unlike mortal arts, immortal arts directly harness and strengthen true qi for usage, those who use immortal arts are called cultivators. One uses immortal arts to increase their cultivation tier and strength. Your bodily revelation appears to have actually mixed both, which is why I am hopeful that I will be able to alter it to be closer to an immortal art. The problem with the immortal art that the progenitor left behind is that he didn’t leave behind a method for advancement beyond body tempering. He died around 80 years after his arrival under mysterious circumstances, leaving a bunch of body-tempering cultivators with no route to advance. In such circumstances were 200 years of wars waged, where mortals and cultivators alike shifted the powers of the now open world, causing much of the previous historical documents and structures to be destroyed or lost. We aren't even sure where the progenitor's palace is anymore. Still, time moves on, and new power replaces the old. The remaining body cultivators formed sects, eventually devising a way to reach the foundation tier by passing their experience on to their descendants. I myself was one of the earlier foundation cultivators of this world and was born only 243 years ago. But I am not telling you all of this for no reason. While the progenitor might not have left a way to advance past body tempering before his death, he did leave behind a great number of books and anecdotes about the greater universe that have been recovered through countless hours of archeology, and with my personal involvement in these expeditions, I am likely the leading authority on our history. Eventually, we devised a way to reach the foundation using our ancestor’s experiences alongside the fragmented knowledge left behind by the progenitor. The problem is that these techniques to reach even body tempering are reliant on meridians, so they are of absolutely no use beyond a reference for you. Luckily for you, I am your master. I was crippled some 190 years ago in a battle with another sect while saving the sect master’s life soon after my advancement into foundation, permanently damaging all of my meridians, giving me the title ‘Lost Elder’, as I had lost my ability to cultivate right after my breakthrough to foundation. As a reward for saving the sect master, I was given this lodge and a constant stream of resources. For many years following that, I spent many sleepless nights researching to find a way to heal myself. While the result might not have bore fruit for me, my understanding of meridians and the properties of blood qi are unparalleled by anyone in the sect. Most cultivators don’t value knowledge, as knowledge is largely unnecessary to use or even form techniques. But if everything goes to plan, my ‘useless’ knowledge may serve to give you a path forward. But that alone won’t be enough. It will be a very difficult path to walk even if the technique alteration goes to plan. In the end, it will rely on your ability, your will, and your luck.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Eon nodded, his understanding growing of the actual difficulty of the path ahead. It took countless cultivators more than 250 years to learn how to reach the foundation stage even with the bits of experience from the progenitor. Who knows if he could even reach a level where he could contend with body tempering? Still, Eon felt that he didn’t have all that much to lose by trying.