"Hydra leather. It doesn't offer much protection, if any, but it's extremely durable and won't get all torn up in a few seconds."
Shao Lin gave Gerald a black leather combat attire that kind of reminded him of a scuba suit. It was short, ending above the knees and without sleeves, but was otherwise quite tight and comfortable at the same time. Surprisingly the Hydra leather was quite stretchy so it didn't hinder his movements. That was so that even if his normal clothes were destroyed, he still wouldn't be completely naked.
After that, they went to make dinner and then went to rest. The next day training started early and Gerald did his best to land a hit on Shao Lin only for the latter to laugh and shoot him in the face with golden arrows. The day ended just as the one before where Gerald had to surrender after a few hours of arduous battle after running out of Qi.
The day after was just the same, as was the one after that, and the one after that…
***
Time passed and the autumn cold transitioned into winter chill. First snowflakes began falling from the gray sky on the sleeping forest.
The once nameless village where Gerald lived on the south side of the Sect, gained the name of Talonfall, and despite the disaster that befell it, the little village was recovering well. Houses were repaired, the ground smoothed out, and new lodgings built on top of the broken ones.
Wisps of smoke rose to the sky from the homes covered in a thin layer of snow as the Outer Disciples tried to ward off the cold wind and ice.
Only one house, made of rock, sat on the edge of the village, alone, and abandoned, its owner having moved elsewhere.
***
[How can there be such a disparity between us?] Gerald huffed, his body slick with sweat. He had been battling against Shao Lin for more than a month, yet he was still nowhere close to beating him.
He had long since absorbed all the Essence in his body and then some. His strength, speed, and agility all skyrocketed under the rigorous training they went through. Each day they ate Spirit Beast meat, Gerald significantly larger portions than his opponent.
"How the hell can you eat so much?" Shao Lin shook his head after Gerald finished a meal that was ten times the size of his.
Gerald burped out some black smoke and sighed. [What can I say? It's just so good.]
As his body absorbed more Essence, more and more Ether was bound to his flesh and blood. His Qi, despite being extremely dense already, gained another increase in capacity. He could hold close to 2.000 points of Nascent Qi. Only now it took him nearly 6 hours to completely regenerate it all, and that was in the Core part of the Sect. In the wilderness, he would most likely need twice that amount, if not more. The difference in ambient Qi density was that significant.
He had to go out all out against Shao Lin for a few hours if he wanted to completely drain his reserves, and because of his Golden Meridians, he didn't even feel too exhausted at the end. He only had to pant for a few minutes to regain his composure.
"You meant to say, how is there so little difference? I am already pushing myself as is. If you double your abilities once again, I won't be able to keep up anymore." Shao Lin panted on the ground beside him.
It was the first time he had to go all out to keep Gerald at bay. He shot out a dozen arrows per second and jumped around the arena like a wild monkey, yet Gerald somehow managed to always be just a step behind. Every arrow missed by the tiniest of margins, allowing him to close the distance between them.
It was crazy how quickly he went from tanking every shot with his face, to avoiding 95% of them. Of course, he still wasn't able to land a hit on him, but he was getting close. While Shao Lin could use his Golden Qi to create a barrier and tank all of his strikes, he was well aware that that kind of battle of attrition was not in his favor.
Gerald could already nearly outlast him, and that was even as he was extremely efficient with his use of Qi.
On the other hand, Gerald burned copious amounts of Qi to boost himself over the chasm of strength disparity. He was like an immortal bull with infinite stamina. Shao Lin already worried about what would happen in a few more months when Gerald would improve and be able to land a hit. When that happened, his loss would become inevitable.
That's why he pushed himself to improve faster than ever. He couldn't let a Junior overtake him so quickly when it took him decades to reach the height he was at. That would be too embarrassing.
That way the two were pushing each other, improving way faster than each of them could on their own.
They had this kind of training every day. Four hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon. They ate and rested in between, usually in the form of studying in Elder Li's grand library. Over the long decades and centuries of his life, the man gathered countless books on Cultivation, philosophy, math, Formations, and even Alchemy and Spiritual Herbs farming. Every branch of knowledge was thick with books and scrolls, enough to read for a lifetime.
Gerald devoured the pages, sinking into the stories and facts they presented, deepening his knowledge and solidifying his understanding of the world.
The library also contained countless Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts Manuals of all kinds, most of which required a special mindset, body composition, or external stimulus to practice. Naturally, he read as many as he could, if just to expand his horizons.
He found, in the old scrolls, skills that could augment his body's natural regeneration by deepening his understanding of himself. A medicinal record of all the correct steps to make what was once broken, whole.
As it turned out, Cultivators could indeed burn Essence to heal, even use it for a short burst of energy, but that was just giving up power to repair the damage, gradually weakening themselves in the process. And the process was not fast. It was slow, incredibly so, but it was efficient.
Only the minimal amount of Essence was wasted if the technique was mastered, allowing the Cultivator to recover even from mortal wounds and return to his peak, given enough time.
Gerald didn't have time to waste on slow regeneration, but he did keep in mind the steps required and augmented his own burning regeneration so that it didn't require completely recreating the flesh, and instead only fixed what was damaged. It became much more efficient. A ten times decrease in Essence burn rate.
Having combined it with a few extra steps from other techniques, he gave it a name. Fire Mending. It was a play on words from an old show he used to watch as a kid where people would control the four Elements. It brought him pleasant memories he didn't even know he had.
Fire Mending. To mend his flesh and broken bones. To bring his enemies to despair as an immortal Phoenix rising from the ashes to fight again.
His hand flared up, glowing white from heat. He observed it closely. He wasted no Essence having done so, only Qi. There was no damage to repair, and there was no pain, only power. Ultimate power. The old ghost was right, he truly had a talent for Fire.
Gerald let his flesh cool and returned to normal. No more hard, gray, scaly skin. That wasteful process was long gone. And of his blazing glory, not even Shao Lin, his closest Brother, knew a thing.
***
As the days grew longer and winter came, so did the stronger beasts. There were changes in the Sect. The Inner and Core Disciples became restless, going out into the wild more often to hunt, to kill, and to grow stronger. It was a rare opportunity to have so many resources come to their doors.
Of course, there were casualties, but most people didn't care. Nature itself was weeding out the weak and hot-headed, while those wise, slow, and thoughtful gathered the goods and grew wealthier.
The land of the Sect covered a large area, yet it soon became clear even that was not enough. A thousand kilometers of wilderness separated them from the Brilliant Sword Sect, yet after years of peace, the two clashed. Small skirmishes where the two territories mixed quickly turned into outright conflicts between the Disciples of the two Sects.
The older generations of Core Disciples traveled in groups and took potshots at each other unless one side had vastly superior numbers. A real fight would never break out if the two forces were roughly equal, as even a trapped tiger was still a tiger.
Even if one side could prevail, they were all seasoned warriors with countless tricks and skills up their sleeves. Nobody would get away unscathed if they fought.
That way small groups killed lone Cultivators, big groups came after smaller groups and large gangs came after them.
Over the weeks and months, the skirmishes threatened to escalate to a full-out war between the Sects that would ravage the border between the two.
The conflict was still considered small-scale as less than a hundred Disciples were badly hurt or outright killed. Still, every loss of a Golden Core Cultivator was a heavy blow that nobody wanted to take. Young Elders were dispatched to stabilize the border and bring an end to mindless robbing and murder.
Having lived in the Core part of the Sect for so long, Gerald came to realize how things worked up there.
The lives of Inner and Outer Disciples were mostly subsidized by the Sect. They provided little value while consuming many resources. But, that was how investments worked, as in a century or so they would become those that provided more than they took.
Each old generation provided for and nurtured the young one.
Cultivators in the Spirit Realm produced Spirit Stones, and each of them had a tax to pay to the Sect to remain living in it. Formations had to be maintained and the soldiers paid. It wasn't much, each of them only had to pay a small portion of what they could produce, allowing for little conflict and relatively peaceful lives in the Sect.
But, of course, they weren't simply lazying around because of that.
Only those of Earth talent could ever hope of reaching the Spirit Realm, and so they were the only ones that could remain in the Sect after 30 years of age. Every single Disciple thus strived to bring out his all and achieve that.
A technique existed that could boost the talent, or better called potential, of each Disciple that was desperate enough to use it.
At the peak of Spirit Accumulation, just before stepping into the Nascent Soul Realm, the entirety of gathered Cultivation could be burned off and sacrificed for a chance at advancement. 50% of those that decided to do so would have their Cultivation drained back to almost nothing, but their Soul would be purified and they would gain a chance at achieving the Spirit Realm in their lives. The rest would, unfortunately, lose their lives as their weak Souls shattered, or they would be crippled for the rest of their lives.
It was a high price to pay, but something that many were willing to do.
Those of Mortal talent would forever remain stuck in the Golden Core Realm, never to produce a single Spirit Stone in their lives.
And the Sect didn't need people like those.
For that reason, at the age of 30, if the Disciple had Mortal Talent, and didn't undergo the dangerous procedure, he would be asked nicely to leave the Sect. If that didn't work, he would be kicked out. Rarely was anyone killed because of this.
A Sect offered safety, a community, Cultivation resources, and most of all, a safe haven to raise a family in.
Beginning at the Golden Core Realm, a male Disciple could marry and begin making a family. The same didn't apply to female Disciples for a simple reason. Fertility declined sharply as the Cultivation Realms rose higher.
It was almost as if the world itself limited the spread of Cultivators. While it was bad for a man if his fertility declined by 90%, that could be easily fixed by repetition. The same couldn't be said for women.
The second reason, and also an important one, was that while at the beginning the two sexes were about equal, women actually outnumbered men as they went up in age.
It was simple. Men often took on dangerous tasks and jobs, and were more willing to push themselves. They were also the ones that died in wars and internal conflicts while the women didn't.
Often, by the age of 100, the women outnumbered men 2 to 1. Not to mention that some men never took a wife, it was not weird to see a single lowly Elder having 5-10 wives. Of course, they rarely showed themselves in public as they had enough work taking care of their home and family.
The richer a man was, the more wives he could afford. That's because, once a woman was married, she became solely her husband's responsibility.
And, while the men were forced to abandon the Sect at the age of 30 if they had Mortal talent, it was not so for women. The Sect always needed more people, and though a Mortal-talented woman could never pay back the investment of the Sect, her child might, and so they were allowed to stay as long as they were married and had a capable husband to take care of them.
It was the same for the children. If they were born in the Sect, their family was the one responsible for them. Though, with each offspring, the taxes they had to pay decreased. Not enough to cover the child completely, but it was good enough.
It was not unusual for rich men to have a dozen young wives and double that number of children.
No exceptions existed for these sacred rules. Whoever didn't follow them was punished and had to pay a harsh fine, and if they couldn't, banishment was in order.
The Sect provided an environment for Cultivation, and anyone not willing to follow its rules was not welcome there. At least that's how things worked in the Myriad Beast Sect.
Gerald finally understood why it seemed like the women were so rare in the Inner Sect despite apparently being half the population. The great majority were already taken and had families to take care of in the Core Sect or higher. Personal pavilions, like those of Elder Li, were apparently full of women and children, far away from prying eyes.
After founding that out, Gerald just shook his head in disbelief. It was too different from what he knew from his previous life. Dozens of concubines? Rules and laws for who and when you could marry? What was that? People of Earth did whatever the heck they wanted. Well, most of them anyway.
It was an entirely different system, one that wasn't based exclusively on survival and accumulation of power.
He shrugged. Different world, different culture. He would have been more surprised if it was the same as that of the modern world.