After Arc finished eating, Kelvin picked him up and carried him back to his room. Arc thought that his rather cool skin was not uncomfortable, but not really comfy. He really couldn't form an opinion. He did know that the baby voice that Kelvin was using made him VERY uncomfortable. You might imagine his relief when he was returned to the bed and coaxed to sleep by him.
By coaxed I mean he played along. He was getting really good at this acting schtick.
Once he was sure he was asleep Kelvin returned to his panther form, curling up alongside him on the bed and taking a nap himself. Of course Arc wasn't actually asleep.
Arc still had a job to do.
Slowly, very slowly, Arc began to let some of the world's energy into his body. The very first thing he noticed was that it wasn't as pure as what Bell had provided for him. He was told that it would be different, but he didn't know what way it would be different. What he found mixed in with the natural Xan was a bunch of different energies and presences. He assumed that these were those toxins and elements that Bell had told him about, but once again he couldn't be sure.
The first thing he did when letting that relatively low quality and quantity Xan was look towards his Nexus. He noticed that it was smaller than before, and that it wasn't as developed, but he supposed that that wasn't as big of a surprise. He was told that that wasn't his body after all, it would be natural for it not to have affected him.
'How long is it gong to take for me to get to that level again?' He wondered. 'With the rate this is filtering into my body, forget half of my maximum speed, I won't even be able to reach a tenth!'
It was true. Due to this being the lowest world, Bell had seriously overestimated how much Xan it really had on a base level. To her that might not have been a big difference, but to him it was huge. It couldn't necessarily be considered her fault though, trying to get an accurate measurement of the Xan levels at a place with so little was a lot like trying to judge how tall a tree was by only looking from the top down. The branch's width might be a good measurement, but sometimes shorter trees cover a wider area. It could be argued she had done a phenomenal job as is.
Yet the fact remained that it shattered Arc's expectations, as well as answered some of his questions. He now knew that it was going to take longer than he thought to progress, and with this realized why people might trade the quality for speed. They might not be strong to their fullest, but they would gain strength far quicker. It really was a no-brainer, at least with this level.
Regardless of his disappointment, Arc still had a job to do, so he dutifully got along to absorbing and refining the rather weak Xan.
Rather quickly, he noticed something odd around his points. Those toxins and other elements were not being absorbed by them. He had expected that but it was still a surprise to see.
It was still slow though. The lower level of Xan meant that he would be unable to draw it in as fast because there was less of a repulsive force. The upside is that it was safer, but it still meant he was moving at a pace that made a snail look like a falcon.
Sometime later, once there was enough Xan in his points and he began to draw it towards his neidan, he noticed something peculiar about those pathways that were carrying it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they seemed like they were connected to something in his body. He pondered this for a while, trying to figure out just what it was that they moved with.
It wasn't his muscle, those did not span certain points where there was definitely movements. It wasn't his skin, the movement was mostly internal. It certainly wasn't his bones, he was moving it through his stomach after all.
'Could it be my blood?'
It wasn't correct but it was certainly close enough. The veins and arteries all throughout his body served to transfer Xan around. They're nature of being insulated from Xan made them powerful, but also vulnerable. If the flow of Xan was too strong across them and it ended up tearing them, it would create internal bleeding and create an exit point for Xan.
It was this property of the body that many combatants used to disable and incapacitate their opponents. By generating a 'strike' of Xan and hitting somebody with it you would be able to tear blood vessels and stop the flow of Xan around wherever was hit. If you got strong enough just a simple pulse of Xan might be enough to knock someone out, if not kill them outright.
It should be known that bones and cartilage also exhibit those properties, but not to the degree of blood vessels, also making them targets to damage.
It was this discovery of his 'blood' being the path for his Xan that he stopped calling them paths and started calling him vessels, a word which was far closer to the truth than he realized.
It was no accident that Bell didn't tell him either. As important as it was for him to be taught the basics, there were things he needed to find out for himself. The only reason he hadn't put it together until now was because he had not known that in Anima Operantium he was only a soul. There was no flesh and bone to speak of.
He chugged along while 'napping', slowly but surely building up the amount of Xan surrounding his Nexus, condensing it at 100% purity at a colossally slow pace.
-----
Arc's antics were not hidden from Kelvin's view, not that he had a way to anyway. Nor did he need to, Kelvin was a Sturvish Lion, the rulers of the mountains of the Zen Gin Peninsula. Their young naturally pulled in the world's energy when they were born. It was no surprise for one he considered related to him to be talented enough to cultivate from birth, even if he wasn't his blood.
He knew that human children needed techniques to cultivate, but he didn't care. As far as he was concerned, his darling Marlev's only child was the most talented and special child in the world, even if that wasn't the truth.
If only he knew how close to the truth that was.
He was the protector of this region, and he one who had requested the Scattered Stars Sect allow him to create this neutral and protected area. He was one of the strongest existences on the continent, having lived almost on thousand years at this point. Initially, he had only wanted to protect his race, often hunted by outside cultivators for their precious cores and fur. It was the appearance of his self-declared daughter Marlev that his goals had changed.
Previously he had only been keeping the peninsula peaceful for the survival of his species, but her presence and dreams made him want to make it peaceful for a different reason. So that may none under his protection have to live the way she and her brother Zerrin did.
Of course they were taken in by the Scattered Stars Sect and weren't living the worst of lives, if it hadn't been for his connection to that sect then he never would have met them. But he still thought that every child needed their parents. That was what his race believed as a whole.
When he returned from a meeting to the news that his daughter had died, he was devastated, but this little bundle of joy alleviated his depression. He would give his kin anything he wanted.
For now he determined himself to set up a gathering array in this room to help increase his progress.