The Hundred Flowers Cultivation method was a special one. Special in the sense that unlike other cultivation methods it didn't have any direct benefits. One of the most popular cultivation methods in his country back in the old world was called the Blazing winds cultivation method and is only introduced to those over 18.
That cultivation method allowed those with little mana to quickly increase their capacity as well as gain access to the ability blazing winds, which it was named after. One could form a protective layer of fire and wind around their bodies to protect them and use this layer to counter attack.
This wasn't particularly strong, but there was a more powerful version called the Blazing Storm cultivation method where one not only had access to the blazing winds, but could also cultivate what is known as an origin artifact, which was a more powerful version of a normal artifact but was more closely tied to the user.
While the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method allowed its user to cultivate an origin artifact, there wasn't much else to it initially. But what it lacked in direct power, it more than made up for in potential.
Following this cultivation method, one had to form a flower, either by directly harvesting one or forming one yourself, and grow this flower to maturity to gain access to its power. In the old world where the most use a flower could do was to be slightly poisonous or have a minor effect on health this might not be all that useful, but in the new world a flower is much more than that.
As an extreme example there is a flower that takes a few hundred years to fully grow, but when it does it can revive the dead. This isn't a complete revival and it needs to be done within an hour of death, but bringing back the dead is bringing back the dead.
While rare and prohibitively expensive, the fact that such a flower exists should prove that the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method is not as useless as it might seem at first glance.
The ability to grasp any and every power as long as you are willing to put in the effort is not a privilege that everyone has access to, and such a powerful cultivation method was created by none other than Itroth himself.
"I am even more happy that I chose to take the soul and not the cultivation method. Otherwise I would have lost out on even more than I thought."
When he decided to go for the soul, he was truly hesitant. If Itroth's soul was decayed more than it was and he couldn't get any useful information out of it, and he passed up on such a powerful cultivation method then he would have to live his life in regret. As an f rank he wasn't even allowed access to the blazing winds cultivation method, much less the blazing storm cultivation method which was preserved for the upper echelons of society.
They wouldn't even allow him to buy it as it would be seen as tainting it!
But when he searched for information on the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method in Itroth's soul, not only was there the complete method, but as the creator he had insights into it that someone who simply cultivated it normally wouldn't have.
Even in the demon flute which sealed away Itroth's power at the time only had the fractured method. If he went for that then he would be forever stuck at 10 flowers created by Itroth himself, and while he would immediately have a much needed power spike his growth would be stunted.
Unless he was willing to claim Itroth's soul after the fact and risk being hunted down by Itz'tal he would have no choice but to switch to a more complete method if he wanted to grow past that, even if it was guaranteed to be weaker.
Itroth stood at the top of the world in his time using his cultivation method and Ray would be foolish to assume that he would be able to find one on par with it, not to mention something that could be more powerful.
"If I am understanding this correctly, then the most optimal origin artifact for the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method is not a flower, but actually a tree! But it needs to be the seed of the tree as I have to cultivate it from the beginning."
To an onlooker it might be strange for the most optimal origin artifact for the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method to be a tree, but with insider knowledge Ray knew why this was the case.
When creating the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method, Itroth used 3 other methods of his creation as a base. The Elemental Wheel cultivation method, the blossoming lotus cultivation method, and the most important part, the Infinite Divine Forest cultivation method. Of the three the Infinite Divine Forest cultivation method was the most powerful and the only one that had access to an origin artifact, and as such the Hundred Flowers Cultivation method took after that.
"Technically it doesn't matter what tree I use as I can improve it as I go, but the better the tree I start with the less work I have to do." He looked for the tree that Itroth had used, but as he had also cultivated the Infinite Divine Forest cultivation technique to completion he used the same origin artifact, which was a normal tree known as the gerp tree. It is one of the most numerous trees in the new world and as he could improve it as he went, he didn't really care as to which tree he chose.
Naturally Ray wasn't going to settle with such a useless tree, but what he was going to go with was the question.
"Unfortunately Itroth wasn't that well versed on trees in general, he didn't know much to begin with and he stopped looking into them after forming his origin artifact. I will have to do my own research on it."
Fortunately for him he didn't need to form an origin artifact to start to cultivate. While other advanced cultivation methods might have such requirements, the hundred flowers cultivation technique doesn't.
Such cultivation techniques are often very methodological in nature and have a strict step by step process. While undeniably powerful, they were oftentimes much too complicated and after centuries of refinement from previous users, whether that be from the same sect or academy or from a publicly sourced method, it is extremely difficult to make any modifications.
The hundred flowers cultivation method was extremely simple in theory and it was built to make modifications easy. Itroth oftentimes had a period of enlightenment and if his own cultivation method didn't allow him to capitalize on them then he would be beyond a fool. He had seen many lose out on opportunities because their cultivation method was too strict.
Like a fire mage not being able to learn an exceptionally strong water spell because of the pure fire element nature of their cultivation method and they fall into obscurity.
So much so that one of the first cultivation methods that he created was the elemental wheel cultivation method, which allowed him to learn anything and create anything he wanted with no restrictions based on element. He had made hundreds of cultivation methods since that point but the only time he switched away from it was when he made the infinite divine forest cultivation method.
It was even a major part of his most powerful cultivation method, the hundred flowers cultivation method, which is to show how much he valued freedom in choice, even if it left him weaker in the short term.
As such he would never allow such a requirement as forming an origin artifact to start cultivating to make it into his cultivation method.
"Because of how free it is, I am having trouble understanding where it should start. The instructions that I have are on how to create a flower and how to cultivate it to maturity."
He looked into his memories and saw that the most common form of flower that Itroth formed was based on an element, so he was going to follow in his footsteps.
"Thankfully I know just enough about a few elements, otherwise I would have no starting point."
He looked over to the body of the wyrm and seeing that it was fully striped he rapped its skeleton around another one of the mountains.
At his command the other two started to be stripped and he sat cross legged. He didn't need to divert his full attention to this and with how high his intelligence was he had no troubles keeping up.
He raised his arm and flipped his palm as a blazing flame appeared.