It has been a week since Morbius bought his house. There are only 300000 silver coins left in his storage ring which is equivalent to 3000 gold coins. He furnished his house and that includes the kitchen area. Within the week, he practiced his cooking skill by preparing his own meals. Although he obtained his licenses, he did not open a shop yet nor started hunting.
After a week of practice, he mastered the fundamentals of cooking. He might not be a master chef, but he is still a chef who could use an adequate amount of salt and use ingredients to their full potential. With good recipes, he could open a restaurant. Creating his own recipe is still a pipe dream though. It requires mastery of ingredients, techniques, fire control, and experience.
In Morbius's VSU License, he is a chef. It might be true, but he is not planning to make a living from his cooking skill. He wants to learn to cook for himself. If he wants to pursue a career, he needs to know first what he wants to do. With his burly body, he could become a fighter, full-time adventurer, butcher, or blacksmith. He could also pursue knighthood, but his talent is so low to compete. He is not too passionate about being a knight or any form of a soldier to pursue it with his meager talent. For now, what he needs to do is explore his options.
"Being a chef might not be bad. I will include it in my choices. For now, I need to explore cultivation since my lack of talent only allows me this option."
For 3900+ years, Morbius never stepped out of the Foundation Building Realm. He doesn't even know the other realms above that. With his [Foundation for Dummies] book, he kept cultivating his foundation. Doing various stances every day for many years, his foundation became more solid. For how solid it is? He doesn't know. He did not become so powerful unlike people with talents above the norm.
Foundation Building is the phase in one's cultivation, wherein the foundation is strengthened. Cultivation is like a tower. Different energies have different kinds of towers (mana, qi, etc.). But, no matter how different the towers are compared to each other, the foundation is the same. Even though Foundation Building cultivators are weak compared to higher realms, this phase defines how high one can soar in the sky. That is the reason why Foundation is cultivated at a young age until one could breakthrough.
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Morbius was pondering. His knowledge in cultivation is low. The Belham Kingdom is not a cultivation country. Resources about cultivation are low there if not none. Now that he is in the Violeta Kingdom wherein the resources are greater, it is time to break through.
Cultivation Techniques in Misha City are not as good as in the kingdom's capital, but for the realm above Foundation Building, resources here are enough. He went to one of the only few marketplaces in Misha, Merchant Hall.
Elle Schultz informed him that cultivation manuals and other goods are sold at Merchant Hall. Meanwhile, ingestible resources are sold by pharmacists. If one wants to order pills and potions then an apothecary is the place to go. For now, Morbius needs a manual for the next realm. According to Elle, it is called the Energy Absorption Realm.
Above the Foundation Building realm, one needs to feel the energies in the air without the aid of an assessment chamber. Sensing these subtle energies is a tough task to accomplish. Once one could feel the Energy Particles in the air, one could absorb them to the respective vein or any energy circuit. As the cultivation progresses, a power source will be formed inside the body that stores the energy. The volume of that power source will widen as one cultivates. The maximum volume of that source will depend on one's foundation, while the cultivation speed depends on the compatibility of the manual to the cultivator. There is a case when the cultivation manual is for women and a man used it. The technique in that manual circulates the energies differently compared to men. With the wrong circulation, consequences may vary. The man still cultivated, but the energies went to the wrong places. It changed the man's appearance and preferences. In the end, he died of accidentally giving birth to himself. He impregnated himself due to the conflict of hormones and biological traits.
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"I think my cultivation is enough for a breakthrough. What I need is a proper Energy Absorption Manual, but the problem is... what kind of energy am I supposed to absorb? If I want to be a martial artist, I need to absorb Qi. If I want to become a magician, then mana. If I am indecisive, I could cultivate both since I got all the time in the world. Hmmm..."Cultivation is a money-burning pursuit. Money might not even be a solution in the long run.
Morbius took the next realm on the back of his head in the meantime. He needed to check the books he have. Maybe he could get an idea or inspiration.
He rubbed his storage ring and took out all the books. Aside from the books written in modern text, he checked the ones he got from the young merchant from Milleta. The text in these books looks like noodles. If a person of this generation tried to read this... never mind, no one would even try.
The books look so old and dust accumulated on the covers. Despite being dusty, the pages are in mint condition. Morbius flipped the cover and saw the title of the book. He read it.
"[Ancient Dragon Physiology] - this technique allows a peak Foundation Building realm cultivator to forcefully activate all the hidden pathways in his bones, internal organs, sensory organs, flesh, and skin..."
With this technique, before breaking through to the Energy Absorption realm, the user could unlock his physiology. The technique allows the user to absorb energy at the Foundation Building realm. But, instead of circulating the energy to form a power source inside the body, one uses the energy to burst the veins open allowing the energies to unlock the sleeping and hiding passageways for the energy. It could injure the user to some extent if the cultivation goes wrong. The final phase of this technique is to use the breakthrough to heal the damaged veins and reconnect them to the awakened passageways.
"Wow! What a wonderful technique. I don't know the effects of unlocking my Physiology, but it seems to be good. Hmmm... I should research a little more."