"Mmnhh!" groaned Aeron as he was stretching, in the dark cave without any light at all, except for the strange orb that illuminated the small cave. He sighed, Xander had done what he told him he would do.

Xander had brought him here to this cave in the last moment he was awake. He did not know how long he had slept. He might have slept for entire days.

Now was the last step.After he had learned elementary skills he was trying to do the next step, which he had to think about as this was a major turning point.

He had to condense his mana to form his mana pool. Right now mana was in gaseous state enveloping all of his body. He had to put it all to his dantian.

Human body had three dantians. Each of them had its own advantage, lower body for physical, upper body for magical and middle for both, but much more weaker.

"Status!" said Aeron.

Status ScreenNameAeron VictorLevel9Cultivation Points5400/5400Strength90Vitality120Agility75Willpower90

Grandfather told me that I should meditate in silence to breakthrough, but I can breakthrough this moment. I guess it is difficult to break through a realm. I should not get out for a while, but I have no idea when would be normal.

"So Sophia what is the advantages of each dantian roughly? By the way how long does a normal human needs to have a breakthrough to the beginner realm from elementary?" said Aeron furrowing his brows still.

Forming mana at upper dantian increases power of the spells by 25%. Lower dantian increases power of martial arts by 25%. Middle dantian increases power of both for 10%.

As for second question I have no idea master. But I suggest that you should go out in a month to be sure. If it is fast it would not be as fast as you are right now. It is better to wait a month than to inform him you succeeded in hours.

"Okay." said Aeron back to his own thoughts again. He decided to go with the plan that Sophia suggested, but he really did not know how difficult a break through could be.

For him there was nothing that limited his progress unless, he chose to limit that progress, it was not possible at all for him to be stuck.

He could just casually walk from realm to realm and rank to rank with nothing blocking him. If Xander had found out about this he would weep!

Breaking through whenever one wants? If this sort of knowledge got out every expert in the world feel that they had simply had wasted their lives!

Breaking through as it was called, was like besieging a castle; to besiege a castle one needed many more troops than the defender, thus they had to accumulate mana more and more.

Breaking through was also done like capturing a castle, that expert should also be able to charge endlessly without distractions, this was the reason why most experts often stayed somewhere safe with no distractions.

This also the reason why Xander had sealed the cave with a boulder, he also set up a formation to make sure nothing could get in. If one was distracted it was like giving up siege the halfway, he had to begin battle anew!

Of course somebody could breakthrough using other methods, breaking through with help of medicine for example. It was like getting mercenaries that boosted your army.

While in the short run using medicine was fast, on the long run it was slower because of your army being a ragtag bunch of mercenaries you could hardly call your own.

Someone's innate talent also decided how much they could rise, well someone with low talent was also able to rise high but the resources that person requires was far more than the resources of many higher talented people would need. So more often than not if one did not have enough talent they could only give up.

But young masters of high ranking families like Aeron were exempt from this rule. Even if they were born with absolute worst talent ever, he could become successful through use of resources.

Of course using that kind of resources on a person without talent would be seen as a waste but no one could protest if they decided to do so. After all, money was theirs to spend.

Even if they do not wish to practice they could get bodyguards. They also could enjoy a high position in the society and would not be ridiculed for something outside of their control. But they would be required to get a job and could not live like a lazy slob for the most part.

Even if talent was absolute worst it did not stop them from practicing also, it was just like castle example. His talent being low meant his army's quality was low, he could simply make up for it in quantity!

All in all there was not really people who could not cultivate, simply people who did not have enough willpower or enough luck to cultivate.

Aeron's dilemma had to do with not knowing the talent of previous Aeron and how long one needed to meditate until he can finally achieve a breakthrough.

Also he was rather conflicted because he did not wanted to forgo neither martial arts, but spells were more powerful than martial arts. He wanted to fight with martial arts, he did not wish to use spells.

Original Aeron would not have to think about that. He would choose a lower dantian because he lacked an affinity. But he had seven affinities out of nine affinities, which was divided into three groups.

Fire, water, earth and air, the elements of matter. Besides their obvious means, it also meant four states of matter itself. Solid state, liquid state, gas state, plasma state.

Light and darkness, the dual elements. These two elements are thought to be opposites, but were so strongly linked that lack of either one of them was the definition of other.

Force, aether and nether the primordial elements usable only by true gods or elder gods. Needless to say, he had light, darkness, fire, water, earth, air and nether.

Primordial elements were strange. Force could manipulate all that existed. Aether could bring something into existence from plane of non-existence. Nether could remove something from existence to non existence. Force, aether and nether could all be used to modify the reality in their own strange ways.

He actually could not understand nether all that much yet, and there really was no one whom he could count on to learn something. If he wanted to learn to use nether, he needed pay for it in CP. But price was likely to be ridiculous so...

Do not worry master if you meditate you will gain ideas on how to manipulate nether!

"Oh? That's nice." said Aeron who was still thinking on whether to take middle or upper dantian. He finally decided to say screw it all and go with the middle dantian as he wished.

He first released all his senses and pulled all mana in his body into his middle dantian. He also used [Energy Absorption] to focus more easily.

Soon gaseous clouds of different colors formed in his dantian that were drawn to the center by the nether element which looked like a black hole. It was also releasing pulses that drew more and more mana in him.

When everything was complete there was a mix of all six elements that were standing still in his dantian and there was nothing that showed any nether element being there.

Aeron thought this was surely what was implied by the word nether after all, it could not be seen but it could be felt. He felt it all over his body, constantly absorbing mana with small amounts from the outside world.

Then nether element slowly crept back into his dantian enveloping all other elements stopping them from mixing with each other. Restraining them and absorbing them - forming nether elements.

Right now that he finally had formed his mana pool's humble beginnings of gaseous clouds, he could practice martial arts and was able to spend mana adequately!

"Status" said Aeron smiling.

Status ScreenNameAeron VictorLevel10Cultivation Points0/17200Strength162Vitality216Agility135Willpower162

"HOLY! What the hell? How am I going to get 17200?!" said Aeron corners of his mouth twitching. 17200 was almost more than what he gained over this training!

Higher level mobs? Kill more mobs? Kill bandits? Kill innocent travelers? Burn down cities? Annihilate kingdoms? Kill everything that moves or does not? You can also eat them after!

"Hmm... That's sensible... I heard of places where magical beasts gather and bandits are plenty on the imperial road. Thanks!" said Aeron, trying to not tell her she did not need to answer that question.

Glad to serve master!

Aeron sighed, he had learned how to conceal some thoughts from her. With zero life experience she thought he really asked that question.

Anyway, I am curious at the martial techniques here. This should be a fairly high rank technique or else I would not have to learn it. Since I am a prince, I guess grandfather must have given me a good one.

I do not think it can be compared to my own techniques though, but if I use them I would expose myself. Sun Tzu in Art of War says this:"Appear weak if you are strong, appear strong if you are weak." and it is a principle employed by many animals.

If it was wrong this principle would not be employed by nature! By watching nature one can understand many aspects of life and many aspects of battlefield. Nature eliminates the weak methods while allowing the ones with strong methods to survive!

So there is a certain truth to these words. But it does not mean I will not practice them and keep them as my ace in the hole! I think they would be equal to high rank techniques here.

I think if I showed just one of them to grandfather, he would not be able to collect his jaw from the ground before he was filled with sand!

Aeron straightened and let out a hearty laughter and smirked as he picked up a book named [Giant's Might] that was known to be rank 4, but once mastered it would be only slightly lacking compared to the rank 5 techniques.

According to Xander, this was one of the best technique he could hope to learn at this time, of course there were stronger techniques but he was not allowed to bring them out.

Forget about commander-in-chief, emperor himself could not bring them out of there and could not get Aeron in there. So Aeron could only rely on himself to learn those techniques.

This was one of the best techniques he could learn because it also could improve one's strength since technique was about using the might of a giant.

There were giants in this world, considered not one of the "civilized races" and were considered like magical beasts, wild savages and barbarians.

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But they were also known to be strong enough to send a practitioner - those who are at level 30s - flying many meters with one move, swatting them like bugs.

No one would go deep into a giant territory, if someone were found by these giants, he would end up in a stew even his bones would not remain.

Perhaps from a giant's side of view they were the strange weak creatures who dared to trespass into giant's homes.

Armies would also dealt with trespassers in the same way so to Aeron it seemed really hypocritical of "civilized races" to say giants were savages.

They were also very thin blooded cousins of the colossi. Their size and might was nothing compared to the colossi, but colossi were not seen in this world for a long time.

Once he began to read the book he began to use his imagination. He saw himself as a giant, with one step he could go three or four meters, with a casual wave of hand he could swatter a human like a bug.

He could crush boulders with one punch, he drew his strength from the earth beneath him. Strength traveled from the earth to his feet, then to his ankle, after that to his legs, waist, shoulder, wrist and finally hand.

He flatten rocks with one step for he himself was more heavier than any rock. He was the child of earth, durable, powerful, solid and very tall.

Like a mountain he was sprouted from the very bones of earth, his hide was thicker than stone, any one who hit him could as well hit a hill, he would not even feel it.

"Hmm... Writer of this technique was a man without vision! How can giant strength be the end of this technique? One can advance to colossal strength then titanic strength!" said Aeron furrowing his brows.

He really found it odd how man could not continue this technique for after giant strength one only needed to think "bigger" and mightier to achieve colossal strength! This could even go until titanic strength!

"This technique is not bad considering it was written by a man who lacked so much. Could it be that this is the only first volume of the skill?" said Aeron, while caressing his chin and sighing, shaking his head.

If the words he just uttered was heard then everyone would be shocked. Because this would be one of the best a beginner could learn, or more like, even learning this was seen as a privilege to many practitioners!

"[Giant's Might] - [Giant Pushes the Boulder]!" said Aeron and he then began practicing the technique he stood like an immovable mountain, and threw a palm which went out with a very quiet voice of explosion.

Aeron had already understood this skill's foundation after all. It used power that came from earth and made one extremely strong. However it merely gave strength and vitality, it's weak point was that it did not have speed.

He had better techniques but still, it did not hurt to learn this even if it is for the side benefits of increasing one's strength. He could also advance by making a colossal might or titanic

He then began practicing his own techniques as there were so many that it would take him about two months to master first forms.

*****

Aeron stood perfectly still. He first decided to train his agility techniques and escape skills. Right now he was gathering enough mana and turning it light attribute.

When it came to the escape techniques nothing could compare [Flower in the Mirror, Moon in the Water]. Like flower in the mirror's appearance was real, like light from moon was real, attacks from this form of clone was real.

When attacking it was real, when defending it wasn't. when moon is reflected on surface of water it still gives off real light of moon, but none can catch it.

Of course he could not use clones in this way yet, he could only use them as an afterimage. Like mirage, looking real, but is not, looking fake, but is real.

Capturing light on oneself to replicate it into an after image or distorting light and making him appear in the place where he was not was this skill's first form.

Forming a clone was this skill's second part. But his clone could not interact with the world and he would disappear once it was slashed.

Forming a real clone of himself was third form. He often would use this with throwing daggers and hidden weapons. weapons were real, even if the clones were not! Clones had the ability to touch the material plane and had his full power, their bodies were just ethereal so they would not be hurt.

But of course nothing was free and this ability burned a lot of mana and stamina. Back on Earth for each minute he stayed like this he had to sleep an hour to restore himself.

Aside from that this technique had only two more weaknesses, he himself was one of them. If he died all of the clones would die with him too. If he was injured all the clones would be injured.

Also he could not control many minds. Think of receiving all forms of sensory feedback from ten people. He absolutely could not handle it.

He closed his eyes and split into four, then came back into one piece that was actually three meters further than his real body.

Once someone saw his enemy splitting into four he would think he was among them thus would attack clones while he was not among them at all.

He just manipulated and distorted light, he could distort and manipulate light coming from the area to form an illusion to camouflage himself. This [Flower in the Mirror, Moon in the Water] was a spell he had made from combining western spells and ninjutsu!

This was also one of his most useful skills! There were many ways to use this skill beyond escaping, but he rather would not use this skill if he was not desperate, one hour of sleep meant he was defenseless for an hour.

In the future he hoped with manipulating nether attribute, he would be able to take it another step further and make it more useful.

*****

Aeron was now in the [Energy Absorption] pose preparing to perform [Celestial Stride]. This skill was his agility technique he had developed.

This agility skill worked well with [Flower in the Mirror, Moon in the Water] because it was absurdly fast, thus allowing no one to get away or allowing him to get away to safety in an instant before sleep kicked in.

However doing his absolute best with this technique also put an incredible strain on his body, mind and mana. Thus not really necessary.

What this technique did was not making him fast. If he could go from point A to point B in three seconds, it made it so he could go there in one second for example.

It did not made him fast, if he was fast like that he would be torn apart from his own speed. It just reduced the space he had to move. Instead of three steps he needed to move just one step.

This was possible because of the abyss or netherworld which was in the center of all realms. It was like taking a detour, instead of going through the normal route going to there outside the normal route which is faster.

He made a casual step and his image blurred moving very fast towards the cave's mouth. He then stopped at the mouth of the cave, closed by the boulder.

He took another casual step and his image blurred again leaving after images towards the end of the cave. He could reach to it in three seconds.

*****

Now he should train his fighting skills. He first decided to get the first moves of [Divine Dragon Art] and [Dragon Slayer Art].

He had used concept of western dragon to eastern concept of divine dragons. He also used western concept of dragon slayers as slayers of eastern dragons.

"I also should train myself in other's too for more variations." said Aeron. His interest in martial arts was great and he was the type who would get every single technique because they might proved effective. It was better to have more weapons after all.

He wanted to know them all. All martial arts had a certain wisdom in it. If one could not comprehend it, one could not use it. This could give him more insights and would allow him to be stronger or make a stronger technique.

"[Divine Dragon Art] - [Divine Dragon's Claw]!" he moved his hand and his hand turned like the claw of a dragon. When he removed his claw hand from the wall there was a mark left by dragon's claw.

"[Dragon Slayer Art] - [Throw Dragon Back to Sea!]" he immediately looked like someone who had caught a moving target and spun and released the a blue water-like dragon about thirty centimeters wide which roared and rushed forth, resulting in a very deep hole opening in the stone floor.

"[Rukh Claw Art] - [Giant Rukh Shows His Wing]" he now moved his claw like hand up how a bird would show it's wing. A violent wind issued forth and hit the wall then dispersed.

Aeron then used [Energy Absorption] again. There was a dragon vein, not really thick but it would do. From now on he had to constantly practice, remaster his arts and increase his mana pool.

*****

"So this is the Granite Bay?" said Aeron with eyes wide open. A great bay and upon it was found a great city. It seemed like most cities in the empire was built on already existing rocks as a consequence of living in the desert.

The bay was the city. He looked at the market which was now filled with stalls and people screaming about what they were selling and haggling customers.

There were also merchants that looked rich and they had a long caravan with many servants and guards. Merchants would haggle with some stall owners and would sell or buy things.

There were women hired by stall owners or shops to draw customers to it and they often would flirt with them a little while showing a begging expression.

They were showing a lot of skin and more often than not a male would be distracted by the little brain to haggle or just by showing a little more skin everything would be handled.

These women are pros! They are very good at what they are doing. Well, testosterone is man's number one weakness. It makes all the blood that should go to brain go to another one instead.

I guess there is a red district somewhere around here too. Why does no one care about the... unforeseen consequences of that act?

Besides is sex even worth paying for? While my body is definitely not a virgin at all, I myself am a person who has long surpassed sage rank already!

I really do not feel an urge to have sex or something actually so I cannot judge them I guess. I think at least condom should be invented or some form of poison. Maybe they make women infertile?

Anyway, why do they even feel the need to have sex with someone? I myself did not really have sex in my entire life and I do not think I missed anything...

Aeron walked around wondering. He looked at the inns, why wasn't Xander going into an inn already! He was not really civil in appearance and did not have a dime to boot.

"Hohohoh... Not bad, not bad at all!" said Xander looking at an inn, or rather looking at the waitresses in front of the inn which made Aeron roll his eyes.

"So when you finish checking out every women here are you going to buy me a bed and bath finally, so I can at least get rid of that camel's stink?" asked Aeron in annoyance. He was really smelling like a camel. But then again most people here were.

"No we are not going to stop here. We are going to an island called Hakoqi. It is much more interesting than this city. It is popular throughout the world." said Xander waving him two tickets with the stamp of a boat.

Aeron frowned, he did not hear about any ships or sea traffic at all due to beasts simply being numerous at the seas. Was his information outdated? Then it was a serious problem he would have to remedy.

He now understood the reason when they reached docks. Island was not very far and could be reached by a boat. There was not many boats either.

"Whatever..." said Aeron and followed after Xander who was going towards a boat.

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Thank you for comments, votes and any kind of feedback!

Going to post a glossary later!