Arc's progression would be considered extremely slow even by this world's standards. But it was still progress.
By this point he had spent about a week cultivating, only taking breaks to practice standing, walking, and eating. He would exhaust himself by crawling around and building up balance against a wall, usually in the company of one of his overseers to establish that he was working towards upright posture. He would eat whenever Merri brought him food, and he would play with Zerrin and Kelvin whenever they were free. Other than that he was 'napping' while building up his Xan, soaking his neidan in it.
Arc found that the growth of the neidan was heavily influenced by the amount of Xan it was soaking in. The higher the concentration, the more it would absorb. Of course it was constantly taking in Xan, expanding his Nexus into a size similar to a grain of sand. This constant absorption coupled with his inability to cultivate 24/7 meant that it's growth was not steady, and he could never seem to get enough Xan to reach an equilibrium between addition and absorption by the end of his hours long sessions even with the seed's help. In fact it never felt close. The amount that was built up around his neidan was always greater than the previous day, so he was slowly getting quicker, but it still felt as if it was never quite fast enough.
It was still faster than what Bell and the others had expected though, due entirely to the presence of that seed.
"When do you think that you will bring him up for the Blood Infusion step?" The voice of Silvin was directed at the focused trio of Bell, Sirius, and Pherel.
"Most likely sometime between the next three to five years." Pherel's monotone response resounded in their heads. "Keep in mind that I am still unable to divine his future. This guess is approximated on the resources we know he has or will have access to. Given his current progress, he is already far ahead of my initial projections of eight years and three months."
"That would be thanks to that seed right?" This time it was Sirius making a conjecture. "The technique, which I suppose finally has a name, depends heavily on how much Xan the neidan is saturated in. That boost it's given him will cut off at least a year of time spent accumulating."
"True. Given the reactions of those around him in regard to that melon seed I wonder if it wouldn't be impossible for him to receive another..." Bell's predictions about the people surrounding him had been the most accurate thus far. "How much faster would he progress if he got even one more seed Pherel?"
"It depends on when he receives it. If he gets it tomorrow then it will decrease my estimates to about two to four years. If he receives it closer to his goal he will only cut off about a week."
They had agreed upon a level of progression in regards to his base that would make progress early on easy without spending too much time on building it up. It was hard to strike a balance between the two given the inherent nature of cultivation taking time, but they agreed that a certain level would make the rest of the first grand stage of cultivation progress much faster. The only disagreement was where to stop him.
Bell was of the opinion that he should be stopped a bit later in order to give him more experience in control of it, arguing that it would make his progression through some of the more complex stages faster.
Sirius' counter-argument was that those could be built up as he progressed through the less complex lower stages, and that he needed a base level of strength ASAP so as to protect him from minor threats.
Pherel's suggestion was the one that was agreed upon. Pherel had calculated a rough equilibrium point from which the benefits he got through increased control and the threat mitigation from a quicker advancement would be roughly equal.
Of course even after he reached that point they would need to wait for an opportunity to draw him back. It would be too suspicious for a child that young to be in a meditative state after all. They would wait for a sickness or accident before bringing him up.
Silvin had only asked for one answer though, when he would come up next. She could care less about how his neidan cultivation went.