Damovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.

Demian's P.O.V.

Two days later, in the early morning, Demian found himself standing in the Gym room where He and Bryn had their usual spar together. A few meters away were the three girls standing together with their gazes aimed in his direction. The worry visible on their faces made the young man feel warm and prompted him to claim. “No need to be nervous, girls. Even if my body gets an upgrade like Big Sis, with my physical perk, it should be able to control the changes to make them entirely beneficial to me.” His words made the tension gripping their bodies slightly lessen, however, it did not vanish completely. If Demian was honest, the memory of what his oldest cousin went through when she broke through made him sympathize with their current feelings. Nonetheless, he was truly certain about what he just advanced and thus was not really worried. After all, if his perks could not even help him resist the changes brought by reaching the first cultivation Rank, then the Entity would not have gifted those same perks to the young man.

Nodding his head to the three, he announced before closing his eyes. “I’ll start now.” Letting out a deep breath, he then started to regulate his body to make it reach its optimum state. After a few minutes, he felt that both his cultivation of Peak Body Strengthening and his mental state had reached their absolute limits, and the only way to improve upon them was to breach the ‘barrier’ shackling him. Unlike Bryn who was halted at that precise step for years due to a lack of direction, he knew exactly how to proceed to destroy that particular roadblock. Having made up his mind, he then started to use the Basic Technique to stimulate his body. As his movements became smoother and smoother, his mind plunged into its habitual state of forgetfulness.

Nonetheless, this time was different than his previous practice. His body and unconscious mind started searching around him for what he knew was the key to reaching a higher Rank: Spiritual Energy. As time passed by, his senses started brushing against something. The sensation was vague at first, however, it grew more precise with every second spent trying to seek it. An unknown time later, his senses finally captured the energy close by. A feeling of joy surfaced in his heart, disturbing his concentration and almost bringing back his progress to zero. Thankfully, he reacted quickly enough, regaining his calm and starting the next step of his breakthrough.

Focusing his willpower on the invisible gaseous substance around him, he began moving it closer before absorbing it through his opened spiritual channels. Most people failed during the following part of the process consisting of breaking open their Dantian, which was a sort of inner space located slightly below one’s navel. It may even result in lifelong injuries and death if serious enough. The number of reasons for failure was incredibly numerous. If it was because of the Dantian, it may be because the latter was too weak, too polluted, injured, etc. It was the same thing with one’s spiritual channels. The density of Spiritual Energy could also be too low and thus lead to insufficient power to break open the inner space.

Those pieces of information came from the thin brown book that Sergei Von Anrepov gifted him a few days ago. Speaking of which, Demian was truly grateful toward the man as it helped him and the three girls understand the basics of cultivation that most cultivators are aware of, helping them avoid obvious pitfalls they may encounter in their future path. From a preliminary examination, his spiritual channels seemed to be fine, removing some worries he kept in his heart. He thus focused his mind solely on guiding the energy through the former to his Dantian.

Once the young man felt it arrive near the latter, he temporarily stopped its forward momentum to let it accumulate until his channels reached their limits. At that point, with one strong mind push, the energy collided with the barrier around his Dantian. Under the incredibly powerful blow, that same barrier crumbled instantly, letting the gaseous ‘Chi’ penetrate it. As soon as his Dantian opened, some illusionary shackles seemed to have disappeared from his body. Right after, a reaction was triggered around him as the density of Spiritual Energy was increasing at breakneck speed. It was then automatically absorbed by both his Inner Space and Body, refining his entire being to improve it while removing the impurities weighing him down. He was finally reaching into a higher level of existence, or in other words: Becoming a true cultivator!

However, the process was not as smooth and painless as he initially predicted. With each wave of energy coursing through his entire body, his flesh, muscles, organs, and bones started transforming, growing stronger, more efficient, and... bigger. The latter was the most obvious change he could feel! Indeed, his frame kept growing in size as time passed, which unwittingly triggered the memory of his older cousin's troubles a few days prior. ‘I’m gonna end up naked, aren’t I?’ A thought briefly surfaced before disappearing as his entire focus was aimed at succeeding in his breakthrough. After all, the fact that his Physical Perk would help guide the transformation did not mean that he could just idle away and expect his transformation to be successful. No, he had to concentrate, and, in the process, understand his own body more thoroughly.

What the young man was most interested in was his spiritual channels as, unlike his ‘normal’ body parts, his senses were previously too weak to be able to examine them. Moving his mind, he first examined the number of channels usable and felt a mix of pleasant surprise and slight disappointment at the result. ‘Three Main Spiritual Channels. If I recall correctly, it means Peak Mortal Grade Talent, or in other words I’ll be able to reach Peak Foundation Building if I get the right resources... I hoped for something better but I guess it could have been worse...’ As the energy circulated through those three canals, Demian’s mind carefully investigated their current state. From the descriptions he read in that brown book, he could tell that they seemed strong and flexible. Feeling satisfied with his findings, he opted to wait until his physical changes stopped before doing any further investigation.

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The process lasted for around an hour and was agonizing at first. However, as time passed by, the sensation of pain abated greatly until it ultimately turned into a mild inconvenience he could easily ignore. The second thing was that, as both he and Bryn expected, his bodyframe grew too much for his clothes to resist. Their fate was similar to his older cousin’s: Being ripped into scraps currently lying on the ground around his body. Fortunately, with his impressive appearance and mental growth, the young man did not experience much shame being naked in front of the girls. In any case, Seraphine was his lover, and blind for that matter, while Bryn and Adeliya had already seen him naked when he was younger, so why should he bother about it?

At one point in time, the spiritual energy started decreasing around him, followed by the automatic absorption halting and his physical transformation slowing down until it finally crawled to a halt. Taking a few deep breaths, the young man felt exhausted from the ordeal. Knowing the effect of spiritual energy on the body, he thus elected to cultivate briefly in an attempt to boost his stamina recovery. As his strength started coming back, his mind began to register the foul smell invading his nose. Opened his eyes swiftly to check its origin, he noticed a light grey substance covering his entire body. A frown full of disgust surfaced on his face, while he recalled something similar happening to Bryn after her breakthrough. The only difference being the intensity which could be attributed to his strengthened sense of smell.

Shoving that thought to the side, he decided to go take a shower since he could hardly bear the stench any longer. Standing up swiftly, his train of thought was disturbed by a few startled exclamations. Turning his head toward their origin, he noticed Bryn and Adeliya staring at him with a stunned expression on both of their faces, while Sera had a thoughtful look on hers. While his mind unconsciously noted the difference between their heights and his had changed, he swiftly followed the two oldest women’s gaze and finally remembered his current naked state. The small amount of embarrassment quickly disappeared as he hid his private parts with both hands, something necessary, as his genitals seemed to have followed his body when the latter increased in size.

Faking a cough, Demian remarked helplessly. “I understand the appeal, but could you... maybe turn around? I feel weird with the two of you staring at me like that.” His words awakened the two from their dazed state before the two moved their body to face the other way. Tilting her head toward Seraphine, Adeliya commented in a half-joking, half-serious tone. “Being able to take one that big... I’m really impressed!” Demian could feel his lover’s confusion as she asked. “What? What do you mean?” Rolling his eyes at her sexual joke, he decided to simply ignore her and instead focus on something else more important. Indeed, as soon as his mind stopped concentrating on his transformed physique, he quickly realized the fact that he acquired two new 'powers’.

The first one should be the Divine Sense described in the brown book. From what he understood, it was essentially one’s mind power used to ‘feel’ what was around the cultivator. The stronger one’s sense was, the further and the more details one could detect. Of course, Demian would need to practice with it later if he wanted to wield it perfectly as, after all, human beings were not exactly used to having more than five senses. In any case, what interested him more was the changes in his Love Bond. The latter previously gave him a vague understanding of Sera’s well-being, while now, he was capable of experiencing her emotions as long as he focused on her. He was not sure if there were any other improvements, though. ‘Does that mean I’m an empath now?’ He thought amused before adding. ‘I guess not. I can’t feel anyone else’s emotions and I can’t influence them. In any case, I like the direction the Bond is evolving toward...’

Pushing those thoughts away, he declared. “I’ll go wash myself. I... I really stink.” His words made the women giggle before the petite redhead asked, unsure. “Babe, do you...?” Despite her not finishing her sentence, he understood what was in her mind and responded. “Yep! My Perks improved with my breakthrough! Or, at least, the Love Bond did. But if you don’t mind, we can explore the difference after I stopped smelling like I’ve been living in the sewers for months?” His light joke brought an amused smile to her face before she replied. “Sure. Go then.” As soon as he was assured that none of the other two were looking in his direction, the young man started walking quickly to the entrance before moving quickly to the bathroom. Despite his impatience, he was extremely careful with his movements, especially when it came to closing the door. The reason being his sudden strength’s increase.

Indeed, feeling the power coursing throughout his entire body, he was aware that a slight miscalculation and the door handle could break in his hand, for example. Once the door was closed, he let out a breath of relief before mumbling. “So far, so good.” He then walked to the shower, carefully turned on the water, and started washing the impurities staining his otherwise smooth skin. It took around 20 minutes for him to remove every last speck of dirt covering his body, after which, he switched the water off and exhaled a satisfied sigh. “Being clean feels amazing.” With a small grin on his face, he walked toward the washbasin where a hefty mirror hung on the wall, without paying attention to the water flowing along his incredibly muscular frame.

Once in front of the glass, he started examining his physique. Despite being mentally prepared, he could not help the feeling of amazement flooding his heart at the view. What greeted his sight was objectively the physical representation of a male God. With shoulder-length jet-black hair, a similarly colored short beard, and striking blue eyes, his face, which was altered slightly from his pre-breakthrough looks, exuded a potent charm, that balanced strength and softness. Moving his gaze down, rippling muscles met his eyes everywhere he looked, changing his previously lean physique and turning it bulkier, although never to an extreme point. Whether it be a pure lean physique or a pure bulky physique, none of them suited his taste as he considered them too unbalanced. Only something in between fitted his idea of a perfect body.

Thankfully, his current looks met those standards of perfection he had in his mind, bringing a delighted smile to his face. ‘In terms of appearance, I should be similar to those Greek Gods, right?...’ Pausing his thoughts for a second, his eyes were attracted to his genitals before adding. ‘...Except for that part. Thank God!’ Amused at his joke, he then mumbled absentmindedly as his eyes kept staring at his reflection. “What about my height?... Maybe around 2m10? Somewhere close to that, I think. I’m still shorter than Big Sis, though.” He thought helplessly before deciding to accept that he would never be taller than his oldest cousin. Satisfied with his ‘investigations’, he swiped his body quickly before wearing a towel on his waist and exiting the bathroom, his mind full of expectations for his future.