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It seems that Leviathan worked very fast. I hadn't gone to check on him yet, but he was working hard and diligently. In just a day, he was already gathering me some Faith. He was a good worker. He was paying his sentence well enough. I'll let this Faith accumulate until I can use it again to upgrade my Divinity Tree.
I am fairly sure the next Upgrade might help my Divinity increase its rank or perhaps its stage a bit more. I would have simply not cared about these things before, but seeing how powerful a Divinity can be and seeing how it was something I didn't have before, which wasn't even present within the world of Murim, it is of vital importance to grow it.
I might have been fighting all kinds of weaklings until now, but I want to continue growing stronger because I know there is something out there capable of killing me. The Heavenly Will was not slain. I only escaped his grasp.
And if this cosmos is so vast as for dimensions and other realities to exist, the presence of beings that could match my power or even surpass it is not outside of possibilities.
Maybe I am paranoid or something, but after seeing how vast everything truly was after stepping out of an already vast world such as Murim, being ready for anything should be my priority.
Two gods have been slain, but there are at least a hundred more to go for; maybe some might not be the same as the others, and I might even ally with a few if their sins are not big enough.
But even then, the number of foes I must fight remains over a hundred, and each one will continuously have more incredible and strange abilities.
Growing stronger is a priority, so I can adapt to any situation.
I wish I could simply chill with my family, but unfortunately, the tower exists.
"Come here now; touch the tree. Yeah, just like that."
After the talk with the elder, I ended up taking a decision. I wanted every single member of this tribe to awaken their innate potential. Even if some weren't fighters, they could be useful in other ways for their tribe. So I opened a portal to my Inner Realm and let every person touch the Spirit Tree.
Just like that, after an hour and a half, all of the members of the tribe awakened Spiritual Hearts and gained their unique Spirit Abilities. Some were similar to Hekita, others could wield elemental spirit energies. Others could summon a single elemental spirit; some could summon spiritual weapons, armor, or other tools.
The possibilities for how the powers of the Spiritual Hearts manifested were almost endless. I was unable to form one myself, as this was a power of their bloodline and ancestry. I could try to imitate it, but I felt it was not really worth it.
Instead, I simply absorbed the Spiritual Energy and made it interact with my Mana and other energies, attempting to refine my Primordial Venerable Essence.
And it worked; the dew drops I often created rather slowly were now being made even quicker than before. At least three were fast. However, that wasn't where it ended; the new dew drops were formed differently than before, had a small rainbow-colored aura, and were loaded with spirit energy.
It persisted despite having been merely used as fuel, showing how interesting this energy is. Could it give new abilities or effects to already existing powers? I'll have to try them out later once I fight a slightly worthy opponent; a wild monster shouldn't really be something I waste my strongest abilities against.
"This is amazing…"
"Our latent power—we always had this within us?"
"I never thought this was a thing!"
"Woah, did I conjure some spirit flame?!"
"Mama, look! I made a bird out of winds!"
It would be an understatement to say that the people weren't excited about their newly discovered spiritual powers. My family had also naturally tapped into that. My mates, the twins, had touched the tree right after Hekita, and then even their grandmother, who didn't really want to fight anymore.
They awakened unique abilities that were somehow attuned to their cultivation. Their inner martial core fused with the spiritual heart and gained a crystalline cover around it instead of having two cores inside of their bodies.
This upgraded their cultivation to new, never-seen levels, as they had reached a pseudo rank, perhaps one between Rank 2 and Rank 3. But they were already clearly stronger than Rank 3 Cultivators, probably as strong as Rank 4.
Their elements received boosts to their power, and they gained the ability to conjure spiritual weapons and spiritual magic combined with the elements they could conjure with their cultivation abilities.
Merkite gained the ability to conjure a Wind Spear, and Urbosa the ability to create a Thunder Sword, both could be considered permanent, contracted Spirits to them, but they were born out of their cores, interestingly enough.
"These little guys are amazing; we can even make them float around and send them flying in a direction!" Urbosa said.
"I never thought we had such talent inside of us…" Merkite nodded. "More importantly, can they grow stronger?"
"I've analyzed how everything works, and yes. I believe the method of cultivating Spiritual Hearts is by letting the Spiritual Energy of your body circulate through all your Meridians constantly for many days or years. Also, you can slowly absorb spiritual energy from other sources to increase your maximum pool. However, that can be hastened now that your Spiritual Hearts have fused into your Elemental Cores." I explained.
"It is very interesting." Urbosa methodically analyzed it. "However, I was wondering if you could get something similar, dear?"
"No, I don't possess the same abilities as your bloodlines, unfortunately. But that doesn't really matter; I did gain more than you imagined. Seeing you two stronger is already a great joy." I smiled. "Now, shall we prepare? Next week is in two more days. Tomorrow I'll be going to the city to meet Peperina, and then we'll move to the second floor. Mom, Ruby, do you want to join?"
"Of course we're joining, Katherine. We're on this together, my daughter." My mother said, "After hearing that the God of the Second Floor was like that… Well, I kind of want to see it with my own eyes first."
"Me too; we'll see." I nodded.
"Can we bring Juan? Do you want to come and get carried?" Ruby asked Juan shamelessly.
"G-Get carried? No, no, I would never!" He said. "Sorry, but I wouldn't be able to bring myself to be so shameless… Just please take care of Ruby."
"You're not coming?! Come on!" Ruby complained.
"Sorry, Ruby, but I think it would be unfair if I came with you and leeched off your sister and your accomplishments. Unlike all of you, I am rather weak…" Juan sighed. "I'll go to work and make money as usual. Once you come back home, I'll have you something tasty for dinner."
"Geez…" Ruby sighed. "You're shaping yourself to be a good house husband, huh?"
"E-Eh?!" Juan blushed a bit.
Honestly, I guess he wasn't half bad for a man. Yeah, he was alright. He genuinely cared for and loved my sister. And he was a humble man; he didn't want to leech off our success. That was something I could respect.
"Hahaha! You got all red like a tomato, dude!" Ruby laughed, patting his shoulders. "It's fine, it's fine! Make sure to grow stronger then; you have yet to reach the max level, right?"
"Hmm… If you prove yourself worthy and reach the max level, I will let you accompany us through the path of cultivation." I told Juan. "For that, I will not give you any aid other than the armor everyone got before."
"R-Really?" Juan wondered, gripping his fists tightly. "T-Then, I will! I will grind on my own and show you that I mean it when I say I care about Ruby, Katherine!"
"Hmph, you better prove your worth, young man." I smiled.
I noticed Ruby looking at me rather angrily.
"Big sis, did you have to give him such a trial?! His Class Level is 200! He won't be able to reach it any time soon on his own." She complained. "Can't I help him at least?"
"No," I said. "You are not allowed to help him, Ruby. He must do it on his own. This is his trial and the path he chose to walk through. What is his class anyway?"
"My class is Flash Spearman," Juan said. "It is a spearman that specializes in fast movements and consecutive strikes. I've read online that I can learn a Blink Skill eventually and another Skill named Consecutive Strikes, that's why I took it despite the high level it needs to be maxed." Juan said. "And yeah, I'm not an Avatar."
"I see, interesting!" I nodded. "A spear is a good weapon with good range. It keeps you safer, as you can always have some space between your foe and yourself. If you're precise, you can strike a weak point and deal massive damage. However. It can also be easily overpowered. A strong strike into its handle can break a spear. Here, let me give you one. Take this." I gave him a pitch-black spear with a red jewel at the end.
"T-This is…?!" He was shocked.
"I am not gifting it to you… I am renting it to you." I smiled. "It is a spear made with the black scales of a powerful dragon. That jewel is the core of a Blazing Ogre, it can let you release some flames with each strike." I said. "That's all you'll get. This spear shouldn't easily break."
"Thank you, sister-in-law." He said with eyes full of admiration.
"Who are you calling your sister-in-law?!" I roared back. "You're not getting married to my sister! Now, show me you're worthy of doing that."
"Yes!" He nodded. "I'll get going once you move to the second floor."
"Good." I nodded. "Ruby?"
"Y-Yes?" She wondered, looking at me while half-expecting some reprimand from me.
"He's good." I nodded at her.
"Eh? Ah…" She quickly realized what I meant.
"Sorry for judging him badly before. He's an alright man." I patted her shoulders, as Juan had already walked away. He began practicing his spear techniques with the other warriors of the tribe. I've seen him spar with them sometimes.
"Oh, it's ok…" She said. "Did you have bad experiences with men before, big sis? I know you're lesbian, but you never really were this wary of guys."
"Maybe… It was a long life, full of hardships after all." I sighed. "It was a world completely and utterly dominated by men that treated women as nothing but tools, materials, or... just slaves to satisfy their libido."
"Ugh…" Ruby sighed. "D-Did something bad happen to you? Did you…?"
"No, nothing like that." I smiled back at her. "I fought tooth and nail for them to never do anything to me in that regard. But I still had bad experiences in other forms: beatings, being tricked, being betrayed... Women had barely stood in that hellish world; despite being able to grow stronger themselves, it was a society made around discriminating against and using women."
"Sounds worse than fucking Earth, Jesus." Ruby groaned, patting my shoulders. "Did you... you change that world, right?"
"Of course I did." I smiled. "Once I took over it, all such traditions, all of such beliefs. They died alongside all the old men who commanded them. I tried to create a world where both genders could stand on equal terms. And where bloodshed and destruction weren't daily occurrences that you had to get used to, I protected that world. Despite hating it deep down, there was also a part of myself that grew to love it."
"…" Ruby gasped, looking into my slightly sorrowful eyes. "Do you miss that world?"
"Not at all, haha." I laughed. "There were very few good memories about such a world, but I do think about it sometimes. If not always, anyway, let's get this over with. You and Mom are getting to Rank 3 now."
"That fast?!" Ruby asked.
"Indeed. Now follow me." I said. "Mother, please come with me!"
"Huh? Katherine, what is it?" She followed me.
As we entered the tent, I decided to finally let them take another step into their cultivation journey.
It was time for Rank 3 to let them forge their own Physiques.
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