Seeing the look of admiration shine in Elaine's eyes as she looked at me only tempted me to continue bragging while everyone else sighed.
"That is not all, Elaine; your outstanding brother was also born with a middle Immortal physique!" Stated Elif pridefully, showboating while everyone else watched with expressionless faces.
"Woah, amazing! But what's a physique?" Questioned Elaine while looking at Elif with starry eyes.
"Allow your knowledgeable big brother to enlighten you, Elaine. Physiques are similar to spirit roots as both are categorized using the same ranks, although physiques don't have a Mortal rank. The easiest way to understand physiques would be to think of them as an accessory; you don't need to have a unique physique to cultivate, but having one will enhance your cultivation in one way or another, whether it's your cultivating speed, your strength, your affinity towards a certain weapon, or if you're lucky all of the above." Said Elif scholarly, covering the bottom half of his face with a purple and black quạt tay that appeared out of nowhere.
"That's cool, but how do I determine if I have a unique physique?" Asked Elaine after having calmed down slightly from Elif's explanation but still feeling excited.
"It's quite easy; all I must do is pour some of my Qi into your body and allow them to travel throughout the meridians that inhabit your body, though it will most likely feel uncomfortable." Answered Elif as he gently touched Elaine's nape and poured his Qi into her body.
'Hmm, eighty meridians, not surprising; Elaine has always been great at hiding from my senses, so she must've been born with a powerful physique. Now I'm just curious what it is, probably related to hiding or blending in with the surrounding environment.' Thought Elif as he started recalling his Qi from Elaine's body before eventually letting go of her neck.
"Ugh, that's just not uncomfortable, brother; it felt like tiny ants were walking all over my body; anyways, what type of physique do I have?" Complained Elaine, quickly forgetting about it before focusing on Elif.
"You have a Middle Immortal physique, just like your big brother, though now we need to figure out your specific physique." Said Elif happily as Elaine quickly smiled in joy at the news.
"Quite selfish of you, Elif, hogging Elaine all to yourself when it's her birthday and only looking for us when you need help." Stated Tiana, as she, along with everyone else, merely sat in silence with annoyed looks on their face staring at Elif.
"My apologies; I was merely caught up in the moment, so if you could help Elaine determine her physique." Replied Elif, feeling slightly embarrassed since he had been monopolizing Elaine on her special day.
Grandmother just rolled her eyes before the ancient-looking book once again appeared in her hands; after flipping through several pages, grandmother stopped on one page and began reading aloud.
"Here we go, found it, the Void Physique. ~The Void Physique enables the cultivator to fuse their body with the surrounding space, allowing them to become untraceable while being able to reach any location. They can be everywhere yet nowhere. When the cultivator's body integrates with space, their body becomes shrouded within the Void. This physique also allows having full control over the surrounding space since that space became their body itself~." Stated Tiana before the book closed and vanished from her hands.
"I had an inkling it was the Void physique, but still, among the middle Immortal tier physiques, it is one of the most powerful, even slightly superior to the Myriad Immortal physique when it comes to strength, though it's inferior in versatility." Commented Tyler as he sipped his tea.
"The Void physique, hmm, no wonder Elaine was always so good at hiding from my senses; she had a physique attributed to stealth." Muttered Elif as he waved his quạt tay.
"Umm, I don't understand any of that?" Said Elaine, looking at Maria and Marcus for a more straightforward explanation.
"You'll naturally learn more about the capabilities of your physique as you begin cultivating, but basically, your physique allows you to blend in with the surrounding space and hide from our senses. This is merely the tip of the iceberg of what your physique can truly do, but as I said, you'll learn more about it in the future." Said Maria, explaining it as simply as possible to Elaine lest she gets even more confused.
"Well, now that we've finished determining Elaine's aptitude, we can now move on to the part where she learns the Royal Elven Cultivation Manual." Declared Marcus, snapping his fingers, which caused everyone to be transferred before the Erdtree.
I completely ignored the Erdtree and instead stared at Elaine, waiting to see her reaction when she laid her eyes on the Erdtree, and I must say, her reaction was practically the same as mine.
"W-W-What is that!?" Asked Elaine in utter shock as she stared at the Erdtree in absolute astonishment.
"It's just a tree, dear sister; calm down." Replied Elif with a cheeky smirk.
The way she looked at my face in pure bewilderment almost caused me to lose my composure and laugh; however, I managed to hold myself together, if barely.
"Brother, that is not JUST a tree. That's a MASSIVE tree! The biggest tree I've ever laid my eyes on!" Said Elaine, almost yelling at Elif in shock.
"Ok, dear, I believe you've gawked at the Erdtree enough, and close your mouth; you're a Princess, have some etiquette." Said Tiana, chuckling at Elaine and also at having remembered that she said the exact words to Elif as well.
As we made our way to the royal library, Elaine didn't say anything as she seemed too preoccupied with the Erdtree in front of her; she only took her eyes off it when she noticed the large double doors.
"Are we going insi-" Said Elaine, after having stood there for a bit. However, she stopped talking as she noticed a ripple appear directly in front of the large doors before Charles eventually stepped through, making the same entrance when Elif first visited.
"Oh my, I get to see my children twice within one-hundred-thousand years; heaven must've blessed me." Commented Charles with a large smile as he noticed a little girl standing beside Elif.
"Are you going to be that petty father? with our long lifespan, one-hundred-thousand years might as well be a few seconds." Said Tyler, annoyed at Charles's pettiness.
"Hmm, I guess you're right, so in that case, I should ignore your presence for another one-hundred-thousand years and focus on something else; how about my great-grandchildren? Welp, from that interaction, I assume you've figured out I'm your great-grandfather, Elaine; the names Charles, by the way." Said Charles, ignoring Tyler and focusing on Elaine.
"Those are some rude thoughts you have about your great-grandfather, don't you think so? No, I didn't read your mind, ok" Said Charles with a smile as he shook his head from Elaine's shocked expression.
"Are you sure you didn't read her mind, great-grandfather? You did say something oddly specific." Commented Elif with doubt laced in his voice.
"Oh please, Elif, it was written all over her face; she practically wanted me to know what she was thinking. Now going back to you, Elaine, as it's your fourth birthday, I'll take you to where you'll learn the Royal Elven Cultivation manual, so follow me." Said Charles, turning around and walking into the royal library after having bantered with Elif shortly.
"Hmm, what's everyone doing? Didn't great-grandfather say to follow him?" Asked Elaine after noticing no one was walking alongside her.
"We can't, dear; it's a tradition that the Prince and Princess must learn the Royal Elven Cultivation manual by themselves. So until you finish, we'll be waiting here outside." Stated Marcus, as everyone else, agreed with him.
"Besides Elaine, you'll easily breeze through it." Said Elif, hoping to encourage her.
Realizing we weren't going to be with her, she sighed before quickly turning around and slowly disappearing into the royal library, all to begin her first step on the cultivation journey.
"So, are we just going to stand here and do nothing?" Said Elif, having stood here for a while before pulling the quạt tay out of his storage ring and fanning himself with it.
"Well, that depends; do you have anything better to do than waiting for your beloved sister while she's undergoing something incredibly important in her life?" Answered Maria as she looked at her firstborn with knowing eyes.
"Touché."
'Still, I can't believe Elaine's already going to become a cultivator; it seems like just a month ago that I, myself, started cultivating for the first time, and now my little sister is doing the same. I suppose time really does fly once you start cultivating.' Thought Elif with a smile as he began reminiscing about everything that had transpired over the last two years.
'Over the last two years, nothing interesting has happened; at least nothing interesting for me. Marley, along with the rest of the strongest nobles, have managed to successfully step into the Divine realm after having survived their Heavenly tribulation. However, I heard that even after over a year, only Marley has been able to advance one minor realm. Nonetheless, I'm not one bit worried because even though they're in the Divine realm, I, myself, have just recently reached the peak of the Half-step Divine realm, meaning I'm just one step away from advancing into the Divine realm. Once I do that, I'll officially be the strongest among the younger generation, and by a wide margin at that.' Pondered Elif as a smirk adorned his face, though his quạt tay covered it up.