Arthur had decidedly left the beautiful area as it could no longer satisfy him. The desire to grow stronger has become more apparent knowing that this world is full of magic. After reading portions of the gifted book several times, he understood a lot better of how this world is. The history, concepts, and magical items here are bizarre.
To be honest, this world isn't much different in that the strong prey on the weak. In this world, everyone has the potential to be like those powerful heroes and creature in the books he used to read.
Arthur could feel a light pressure from the heaven's constantly, which is said to be normal. There's the existence called Dao which the heaven's are made of and are said to be perfect. To advance, one must accumulate understanding of the Dao or take copious amounts of magical medicines. The Dao is naturally in the Qi but it takes the talent of comprehension to understand them and advance.
As I watched from the back of my head, I began to understand how deep in quick sand the Immortal Realm is currently in. I also felt the heaven's, but it's pressure and presence was so weak that only saint realm cultivators could possibly feel it. I could only because of devour. The amount of Dao contained within must be so meager because I didn't even know until the magic book. I've only been advancing by devouring.
Back to the story. Even if one had great talent for cultivation, it'd be useless without the ability to comprehend. The only way to advance would be to consume copious amounts of medicines which would harm them over time.
There's also various powerful kingdoms called clans, sects, or empires that dominate the lands. Although is location is unknown, it would nice if he could enter one of those.\
But as he left the area, the heavenly pressure became stronger and the Qi became more dense. The creatures also became very fierce and powerful, emitting more Qi. Even variants of plant life became more visible.
The gifted book mentioned the existences of different type of plants that are beneficial to oneself, called spiritual plants. Trees produce Qi, but spiritual plants or trees emit fragrances which means they can be very beneficial to oneself.
It was because of this information that he began eating all the types of spiritual plants available. Unfortunately, most of it passed through his body while the rest just settled deep within.
Arthur went deep enough but had to take off his sword and armor because it was extremely easy for them to break. Dragging them along, he became increasingly proficient in fighting and utilizing his Qi energies. He met unknown creatures that he had never seen before and always came out with injuries from minor to severe.
Six months later...
It wasn't until he finally managed to escape the depths of the forests with dirt on every spot of his body. But his eyes were clear and his pupils were jet black. His cultivation had unknowingly reached the peak of post-xiantian realm by following the procedures of the gifted book. It was only accomplished by eating the fierce beasts and drawing out all his potential that the medicines were reabsorbed and boosted his cultivation.
All the dirt on his body fell off to reveal a clean, healthy boy full of vitality. With extreme proficient control, this was nothing hard to do. Arthur cut down his hair again until it was only a few inches since it was annoying.
But this was the extent of what he could reach in cultivation. After peak-post xiantian, one must comprehend the Dao to advance into xiantian. But he had no way of doing that. He still doesn't even know what exactly Dao is even though it's been mentioned. He was just an ordinary knight trying to live his life several months ago but got thrown into this place. Even though the gifted book is very useful in every aspect of cultivation and knowledge, it lacks information of Dao.
Thus, his journey through the forest came to an end upon grasslands and a man-made trail that went through. He silently chose the left direction and wandered down the path as he put back on his knight armor. The weight of it is as light as a feather including his equipment, but the feeling is still nice.
It wasn't until a few days that a carriage behind him caught up that he silently moved to the side. Upon looking, he realized it was three carriages in a line with each emitting faint traces of Qi. The first looked very royalty while the other two looked fearsome like they had ran over countless people with them. Their driving force looked like an entire animal different from horses, but they looked fearsome.
The carriages passed by silently but they all peeked through their windows to curiously look at him. But their gazes quickly turned to contempt and scorn upon seeing his armor. But all their carriages came to an abrupt stop because the royalty one in front stopped abruptly.
A woman with black hair came out in a dress. She was very beautiful even if her bust size and proportions wasn't all that great. Even Arthur couldn't help but be stunned. But her gaze was weird as she looked at him.
"You... why are you wearing a hunk of metal?" she asked dumbfounded.
"It's not a hunk of metal, it's my fathers inheritance," he said with an unhappy look. But he surprisingly spoke the same language as them with no problem. But others seemed to laugh at him but he ignored it.
"Your cultivation is the same as me, but you care about a mortals inheritance. That's strange to see," she said shaking her head.
"Carry on your business and stop caring about mine," he said with a glare as he walked off.
He had just been fighting with his life on the line for the past few months and had been on edge. Even though he had originally a lovable and caring character, this had gradually disappeared since his mind was constantly on edge. Coupled with the fact that people are looking at him with those gazes and the girl called his fathers inheritance a hunk of metal, it was a miracle that he hadn't lost his temper.
"Hey! You dare disrespect Senior Olivia?!" yelled a middle-aged man who came out of the carriage. His face was cold and sinister as he glared at Arthur.
"I give a shit less about you all. Go piss off," said Arthur as he spat out those words slowly. He was truly on the verge of fighting them if they continued to talk. His original mentality of peace had changed after being so long in a horrible forest.