A week later, Spark sat in front of stacks of paper.
He skimmed through them with familiarity and experienced quickness. Taking notes and making comments when he encountered specific passages or having an entertaining thought, he was done after about two hours.
He leaned back in his chair with a complicated expression.
"...To think I'd be that wealthy after only two weeks on this planet."
"That sly Silver Hawk surely had lots of assets and a couple profitable businesses."
Gazing out of the window, he had a beautful view over Monsoon City and its baroque architecture.
Right... he had moved to the Inner City, alongside his family, the tailor's family and Joey's family. And of course, not to forget, a dozen brats!
Silver Hawk had amassed quite the wealth over his time as a merchant. Probably not through rightful and conscientious means, but still... it was quite a lot.
He had dozens of Spiritual Crystals, dozens of Spiritual Herbs, hundreds of gold coins, real estate, many other resources, and a couple of Cultivator shops generating about 10 Spiritual Crystals in profit each week.
After obtaining 50% of his belongings, and paying for the damages that ensued because of the fight, over 350 gold coins, 35 Spiritual Crystals and a massive mansion were in their joint possession.
Not even including the worth of the small Cultivator-shops and their cashflow.
The shops often only received a small fee from the sold products, which are either brought by and mediated, or bought from Cultivators and Gatherers.
It depended on the price of the product, and the willingness of the customer.
... Spark knitted his eyebrows and murmured:
"Why the hell would that fool risk all this for a measly ring?!"
Some people were beyond helping! Greed was a dangerous thing indeed!
Spark stood up and left the room, his office, as he called it, and descended the stairs, which were dressed in a red carpet.
An enormous foyer, decorated with chandelliers and the most exquisite taste came into view, and Spark crossed and opened the door to a bright room with a giant wooden table standing in the middle.
Joey's family, Terry's family, his family and the kids were all gathered around the table, preparing to have dinner.
Right... they all moved together in this mansion! Each family more or less occupied one of the three seperate wings of the building, and luckily, there were enough bedrooms to fit every single kid into a single or shared room.
At this point it could be called a community!
By now, everyone has settled in and familiarized with the new way of living.
After they shared a delicious meal, prepared by the women and the kids, Joey guffawed in a ringing laughter:
"Gahahaha, I still can't believe I'm living in the heart of the city! Would anyone believe me if I told them that I lived in the outskirts to save money for Awakening?!"
Spark creased his eyebrows:
'So that's why you were living in the outskirts!'
He should have seen it coming...
'Joey, to make money, you need to move to where the money is! Why the hell did you move to the poor district?'
The young man lampooned inwardly, not mentioning anything to not sound demeaning. After all, not everyone was familiar with the endless struggle of wealth creation.
He limited himself to a smile and replied:
"Fate truly works in mysterious ways."
"You're absolutely right! And I didn't think I wouldn't even have to lift a finger to enjoy this luxury! You should keep on doing all the organisation hahaha, you're quite gifted at these things, it seems!"
Joey gave Spark a brilliant and innocent grin.
'Was it really this fellow who slaughtered the Mad Dog Celas and the evil-doer pack of Silver Hawk?'
Spark was incredulous of Joey's easy-going character. But at the same time, he was fine with this development. Professionals should assume this kind of responsibility.
With the amount of seed-money he obtained, he could definitely do wonders! But first... he would focus on Cultivation.
It was kind of stifling to have a pot of gold in front of your eyes, but sadly enough, to not have any access to it!
After all, he was still only in the Body Foundation Realm!
He really shouldn't stand out too much, or else it would attract unwanted attention.
While managing the assets of Silver Hawk, he had tirelessly kept on studying and cultivating the Clear Cloud Circulation Arts, devouring Spiritual Crystals and herbs one after another.
It shouldn't be long until reaching the Peak Stage of Body Foundation.
...
Thump Thump Thump
Three loud noises interrupted the lively conversation in the dining room.
...Someone used the door knocker outside the mansion.
Spark went for the door and when he opened it a lank person with shoulder-long brown hair, dressed in a clean white robe, accompanied by a corpulent person with short black hair, dressed in a tight-fitting brown robe came stood in front of it.
Spark gave them a cordial smile before asking:
"Did you take care of the matter?"
Milo cupped his fists as a sign of respect and nodded.
"Yes, persuading him was easier than I expected..."
Spark just smiled and waved them in, before calling out for the kids and ascending the stairs to enter an empty room.
The dozen kids followed them up the stairs and got seated on the ground.
Everyone entered the room, his parents included. Joey also walked into the room and lingered next to Spark.
Then, the young man started to preach about the basic parts of the Cloud Circulation Arts.
Right... Spark had decided it would be best to maximize efficiency and hold lessons for everyone at the same time.
Even though he himself was not an expert of the technique by any means, he had already managed to cultivate it with relative success. Joey would also give his recounts of circulating Spiritual Energy, even though he was a bit reluctant to do so with Milo and Bilo in the room.
Spark included information he picked up from the books Joey gifted him to consolidate his own knowledge. Joey, who was much more experienced, would often help out and add valuable comments and further information.
In the evening, when the lesson had ended, Spiritual Herbs would be cooked into a soup and distributed, and everyone would do their best to practice the Clearing Cloud Arts.
This routine of Circulation training would happen every day, and every single kid was very excited to do so. It was like a dream come true.
Even Jessie, Terry, Sona and Robert were incredibly eager to do these exercises.
And the most important thing was that... they could actually afford it!
Life slowly oscillated to a steady rythm. Another couple of days passed like this.
...
Spark was once again in his office. He slowly breathed in and out, beads of sweat dropping form his face.
The energy inside reached a new peak, and slowly settled on a new median.
The young man opened his green-anthracite eyes and looked at the runes in front of him.
[Théo Floga's Soulslate]
[Cultivation: Peak Body Foundation]
[Elements: ? , ? , ? , ? , ? ]
[Spirit Bond: not acquired]
[Soul Bounds: not acquired]
[Skills: Foreign Being , The Favored Prospect , Cochlean Implant, ? , ? , ? , ? , ?]
"As expected... there are still just shown as question marks."
"But..." Spark smiled joyfully, "I finally reached the Peak Body Foundation."
If anybody heard about this speed of Cultivation, they would have a heart attack!
Even though, he jumped from the Lesser Body Foundation to the Late Stage with the help of the Divine Awakening and the Golden Leaf, he still needed less than 3 weeks to reach the Peak Stage of Body Foundation Realm from being a normal youth.
That was simply unheard of.
Three weeks were barely enough to enter the Body Foundation at all! And even that would be considered a wondrous achievement!
This reminded him of one of his books 'How to reach the Body Foundation Stage in 7 days.'
It was a book describing a hypothetical scenario, postulating an abundance, or even unlimited resources, coupled with strong talent and arduous training.
Spark lampooned inwardly:
'It seems like I can write the sequel: How to reach the Qi Realm in a Month.'
All jokes aside, Spark was more than satisfied with the speed of his progression. Cultivating felt smooth, and all Spiritual Energy he cultivated was absorbed by his body like a dry sponge. He could only thank the Bone Marrowing Pill for opening his meridians and allowing smooth and unrestricted flow.
Concluding his exercices and the consolidation of the peak realm, he stepped out of his office, and left the mansion after some small talk with Berenya and Sogel, who he had met on the stairs.
It was late afternoon, and the sun began falling down the horizon. The spring air scent tingled his nose, and Spark felt wonderful.
After a leisure walk through the Monsoon City's streets he halted in front of shop.
A smile crept on his face as he thought:
'Finally'
The shop he stopped in front was still closed, and would only open in the coming weeks.
The sign hanging above the door read in cursive and beautiful font:
"Clothes Maketh Men"
A black felt-hat sat on the wording like a soft cloud...
Spark nodded in satisfaction and strode through the door.