"WHAT!?" Thought Alrick.
He was once again astonished by Connor's words. Although Alrick was already quite accustomed to Connor's mad ideas, this particular statement surpassed all others! He said that he would cultivate the Soul Creation realm, and judging by the context, he wanted to cultivate the Soul Creation realm in 2 days only because he didn't want to wait for the Vermand to return! Unimaginable!
-Are you sure? It usually takes around half-year of daily diligent cultivation to reach the Soul Creation realm. It isn't easy to reach it.
Alrick tried to warn Connor, he thought that boy was overconfident because of his recent success in the middle of the blizzard, but Connor had other reasons for his confidence.
-I know what I'm doing. Let's go.
Alrick still didn't think Connor would achieve what he wanted in such a small amount of time, but he decided to support him. Even if this boy failed, he still was a precious clan member.
While climbing the stairs, man and boy talked.
-Have you ever been on the 100th floor of the tower?
Connor wondered.
-No, even in our days of glory, even the best cultivators lived on the 40th floor, so there was no need.
"They didn't even explore their home..." The young boy thought.
-Then why did you build such a massive tower? Is it just to show off?
It was a fascinating question, actually.
Alrick thought about it for a while and answered.
-We didn't build this tower. These towers were built many years ago, even before the capital.
"It makes sense now. Their clan couldn't build it with such technological level." Thought Connor.
-Are the city built around those towers?
Alrick again thought for a while and answered.
-Well, two thousand years ago, our clan and it's side branches, Virtanen, Jarvinen, and Nieminen, discovered those towers and settled around. With a flow of time, more and more people, even mortals and non-cultivators, started to gather around those towers, forming a city. Around a thousand years ago, this city became the capital of the Northran kingdom, so it would be more precisely to say that this city is built around three great clans.
Connor listened carefully as every bit of information about this world could be helpful for him in some way.
-Do you know anything about the creators of these towers? The creators of it must be pretty advanced people considering the height of the towers.
Alrick's mind started to get tired because of all of the questions, but he continued to answer on curious boy's question.
-No, we knew nothing about them, only that there is some kind of mechanism in this tower because there was a book in our library written in an ancient language and existed there even before our ancestors came here. Unfortunately, we couldn't decipher it in two thousand years. The only words we could translate were: "Beneath thy foot lies most wondrous array f'rmation, which..."
"Interesting, there is an array formation under this tower. Maybe I could learn something from it..." Thought Connor.
-By the way, how are you going to do it, I mean, cultivate?
Wondered Alrick.
A wide grin appeared on Connor's little face.
-You'll see everything. It's better to show.
Alrick nodded
-I'll see then.
They continued to climb through the staircase in silence. After another ten floors, Connor and Alrick finally reached the hundredth floor.
The top of the tower was a flat open space without anything. There were some short steel fences on the edges to prevent someone falling, or just for the decoration, most likely both. Although the hundredth floor wasn't exceptionally interesting, there was another curious thing.
Wind!
A powerful wind that could blow anyone out of the tower vertex!
-Hey, kid!!! Be careful!!!
The wind was so strong and loud that Alrick shouted. But Connor only smiled and proceeded to the center of the last floor. Alrick was silently observing him with a feeling of deja vu.
"Wait, is he..." Realization struck Alrick like lightning.
While the red-haired man was in the middle of astonishment, Connor sat right in the middle of the floor and started concentrating.
"Ah, cultivation, long time no see..."
Slowly, spheres of purple light started to appear around him. After their initial formation, spheres of Qi compressed themselves, and those smaller versions formed a wall. Connor deeply inhaled, concentrated, and suddenly screamed.
-SOUL CREATION REALM!!! I'M COMING!!!
After this shout, spheres immediately started to absorb all of the incoming Qi, which the wind helpfully brought. Around every sphere appeared a small vortex that sucked the Qi inside. It looked like a giant purple wall that stopped the incoming wind.
When one of the spheres filled up, it flew directly to Connor's mouth, and the boy swallowed it quickly. And then another sphere does the same, and another...
Yes, you guessed right, Connor used the exact same method as in the blizzard, the strong wind carried Qi, and the only thing Connor needed to do was catch it.
"Hm, can I call myself an eco-friendly cultivator?" Connor thought.
He was already used to the process, as always, when he absorbed the Qi. First of all, he compressed it inside his dantian.
"Oh, finally this feeling, I somehow missed it."
When the sphere inside his dantian expanded to its limit, his body automatically started to compress it even further. As in the blizzard, Connor used it to compress even more Qi inside his dantian.
And finally, when the sphere once again expanded to its limit, it blew up inside Connor's body! Right after it, energy nourished his muscles, bones, inner organs, and everything else. It meant that he increased his cultivation level!
"Stage five of body refining realm... One done, four left!"
Once again, a young scientist felt this wonderful feeling of breaking through, a truly gorgeous feeling!
He enjoyed it for some time and then created even more spheres around him, not only making the wall wider but also taller. There was some balance in his cultivation method, his ability to collect Qi increased accordingly to his needs. It was pretty helpful!
After some time and some absorbed spheres, his body once again started to pressurize the sphere inside him crazily, which means stage six was not so far!
Finally, the Qi inside him erupted, and he officially stepped into stage six of the body refining realm!
"Two done, three left!"
With that thought in mind, he continued his cultivation!
Once again, he advanced! Stage seven!
Now, his breakthrough could even shatter the tower! Alrick felt a slight vibration around him.
"Stage seven, yes! Only two left."
Right now, the number of spheres in the wall was hard to count, so much he could create! But, unfortunately, he also needed an overwhelming amount of Qi for every breakthrough.
Thanks to the insane wind, the number of Qi he could accumulate was only limited by his absorption rate! Right now, he couldn't imagine a situation where the Qi in the atmosphere would run out!
Because of it, he increased his cultivation level by one once again shortly after the previous breakthrough!
"Stage eight feels good! Only one left!"
With that thought in mind, he expanded his wall to the extent that it would be equal to the diameter of the floor!
Alrick, who observed it from some distance, couldn't believe what he saw.
This nasty child did it once again! And he only did all that because he didn't want to wait for his master! Is such arrogance even legal!?
But Connor didn't think about any of that. He discovered one of the world's laws and used it as much as possible. It was the power of knowledge! The power of science!
The young scientist's body once again exploded with Qi. If someone lived on the middle floors, he would feel the vibration created by his breakthrough! Wonderous!
"Stage nine! I'm finally here!" Connor shouted inwardly. He was overwhelmed with joy. It felt like adrenalin replaced his blood. The excitement he felt was extraordinary!
-What do I need to do next?! I'm already on stage nine!
Connor shouted his question to Alrick.
-Cultivate further! When you fill your dantian once again, heavenly tribulation will begin!
Replied the red-haired man.
"Oh, so I need to cultivate once again, well, not a problem!"
With that thought, the wall made of spheres appeared once again, and Qi rushed to it, only to elevate the young boy's cultivation!
The sphere inside his dantian started to form once again. It started with a size of 1% of his dantian but hastily expanded further!
5%....
10%.....
20%.....
50%....
75%.....
90%.....
95%....
98%....
99%.....
When Connor absorbed the last ounce of Qi, he felt some change in the atmosphere. The clouds were gathering around him, thunder soared, and a bolt of giant lightning slowly formed above him. It looked like a dragon who hid before the attack.
But, unfortunately for the dragon, Connor waited for that exact moment.
He raised his hand and started to form a large sphere of purple Qi, compressing it from time to time. But even with his compression, the sphere still was the size of a tall and fat man!
When the sphere was completed, the lightning also started to move more actively in the sky.
-It will strike soon, beware!
Alrick shouted with all his might. In response to it, only a grin appeared on Connor's face.
"Try me! You're just a bunch of electrons! I don't fear you!"