"What's that nonsense about enlightenment?" The lady realized she would be at a disadvantage if she didn't change the topic. That horny boy was too shameless in his approach.
"I don't know. I was lying here, enjoying how your butt felt against my hips when I was touched by a profound clarity, a vision transcending the bounds of mortal understanding. In that moment, I beheld the dance of existence—the earth spinning in harmony, a cosmos ablaze with stars, some bursting into brilliant demise while others were born anew, and in the cradle of creation, life itself began to stir."
"Huh?" Veronica gaped a little, unsure what the hell all that meant. "Is that… true?"
"It is," Theo nodded in confidence.
"Then… do you feel anything different?" she probed further. It did sound deep, but could a horny boy truly get enlightened by rubbing himself on a woman's rear? Why didn't she get anything for enjoying his dick, then?
"Yes, the world is much clearer. Try checking my talent, my instincts tell me they have improved greatly."
Veronica felt dubious, to say the least, but she never refused to do anything Theo asked of her. Of course, Theodor wasn't a brat, so he was quite sensible in his wishes. Thus, she quickly touched his glabella and checked his consciousness.
"Seventh rank?!" She exclaimed in shock. Earlier, he had upgraded his talent once more for the exorbitant price of 125 years. As for the sixth rank, he didn't have enough years anymore, and his heart bled when he looked at the total years left, which stood now at 294.
"Hahaha, amazing, right?" He laughed merrily, enjoying the woman's dazed expression. Growing by one tier would be considered a blessing, but by three tiers? That's unheard of!
"Yes, yes, yes, my Theo is amazing," she quickly agreed. No matter how cocky the boy might get, Veronica was too happy to care. His lack of talent was always burdening her heart. Even if she said he could have a good life in the mortal world, she wanted him by her side. After all, she had raised him all this time, even going as far as taking a Milk Pill to breastfeed him.
"No, I can't take all the credit for myself, it must be your butt, it's truly magical and blessed by the heavens, even capable of enlightening a man and improving his talent…" Theo nodded seriously.
"You brat!" Veronica, however, didn't get angry this time. She could only giggle uncontrollably. It was too funny to think that this guy went through nirvana by rubbing his dick against her bottom, a little chick reviving as a phoenix from the ashes.
'Was it really my butt?' a weird thought crossed her mind. 'No way, it must be the result of his long six years of training, all his accumulations and hard work were rewarded. I just don't know what acted as a trigger for those changes… wait, could my butt be the trigger?'
Her mind spun, but there was nothing else to explain the strange phenomenon!
Veronica even tried to conceptualize the image he had described earlier, that of the stars above spinning and exploding, but nothing came to mind. 'One can bring such a profound picture to life only by undergoing true enlightenment,' she concluded, then tried rubbing her butt with her hand absentmindedly.
"Um, what are you doing?" Theo asked, barely stopping himself from bursting into laughter. He had already made up his mind to improve his talent again when he cuddles her so he could claim her butt had superpowers. Once might be a coincidence, but what about twice? If that's not enough, he will do it thrice until she is convinced!
"Ah, nothing," she replied awkwardly and pulled her hand quickly. "Regardless of the reason your talent was improved, those are good news. You have the potential to become an elder in our sect one day now. Let's go to sleep," she quickly turned around and stuck her butt out, making sure it was safe and sound on the young man's lap.
"Mm, goodnight, maybe my talent will be at the sixth grade by tomorrow morning if you wiggle enough," Theo joked.
There was a moment of hesitant silence after which Veronica clenched her teeth in determination and wiggled her ass to grind against the mighty spear threatening to impale her. Well, if her butt truly had the ability to improve talents and give Theo a better future, how could she take the risk and not wiggle?
---
The two of them eventually fell asleep, and by morning, Veronica was gone when Theodor was up. She didn't want to wake up the birthday prince early, pampering him on this special day. His 'enlightenment' alone sufficed to make the sect leader beam for a whole week straight.
'Let's check the Void Absorption manual,' Theo decided. Last night, he noticed how his natural body reactions disturbed Veronica's rest, and knowing he couldn't stay still when exploring his system, the young man ultimately opted to fall asleep with a beauty in his arms instead. It wasn't like his life was in danger and the breakthrough had to happen right away.
'Learn the Void Absorption manual!' Theo instructed in his mind, eager to learn the new price.
[Learn the manual to practice level – 15 years]
[Learn the manual to understanding – 45 years]
[Learn the manual to perfection – 150 years]
The numbers made Theodor frown. The improvement was not as great as he initially expected. There was a drop of 75% from the unranked talent to the ninth, but only 40% from the ninth to the seventh.
'Looks like what matters most is the corresponding talent grade to the stage. Since the corresponding stage to the ninth grade is the Qi Gathering stage, getting there gave me a huge boost in my comprehension ability while the later improvements only allowed me to be somewhat faster.'
It was safe to assume that the next upgrades in his talent would result in even smaller improvements. That didn't mean upgrading his talent was useless. It meant that when it came to the first stage, there wasn't much difference between the seventh grade and the first grade. Such differences would show later in the cultivation journey.
'Let's practice,' Theo decided, still lying in the sect leader's bed. He quickly clicked the perfect learning and 150 years were decreased from his panel, leaving behind only 144 years. His wild dreams about reaching the top in one sitting had gone down the drain.
The next moment, Theo spent 150 years straight learning the majestic manual of Void Absorption. He tested it in many positions and conditions, memorized it to the smallest detail, and contemplated every word for many minutes, sometimes hours.
The years passed quickly as Theo enjoyed the sensation of constant learning. His understanding of cultivation itself deepened beyond measure, and the Qi Gathering stage hardly had any secrets to hide from him now after he familiarized himself with a Supreme Heaven manual better than its creator.
What thrilled the young man the most was how efficient he was during those 150 years. They were years of pure research with zero time spent on food, sleep, hobbies, or daydreaming. By real-life standards, those 150 years equaled 500-600 years of research as a bare minimum.
That amount of time was inconceivable for others. The lifespan of a ninth-stage cultivator didn't even reach a thousand years, and calculating the time they needed to get to that stage, they didn't have that much time left in their hands.
Overall, Theo believed that if he claimed his understanding of the Qi Gathering stage was second on the Living Continent, nobody could claim to be first.
But learning the manual was useless if he didn't practice it, so Theo sat down in lotus pose and started circulating the Qi according to the instructions in the manual with slight differences to make it match his constitution perfectly as his comprehension dictated.
*Ding!*
[Cultivation detected. Does the host want to spend cultivation years on cultivation?]
'Yes,' Theo agreed without even looking for the yes/no button.
[Spend 1 year on cultivation to advance the host's cultivation to the primary phase of the Qi Gathering Stage?]
'Yes.'
*Ding!*
[Cultivation detected. Does the host want to spend cultivation years on cultivation?]
'Yes.'
[Spend 2 years on cultivation to advance the host's cultivation to the intermediate phase of the Qi Gathering Stage?]
'Yes.'
*Ding!*
[Cultivation detected. Does the host want to spend cultivation years on cultivation?]
'Yes.'
[Spend 3 years on cultivation to advance the host's cultivation to the advanced phase of the Qi Gathering Stage?]
'Yes.'
*Ding!*
[Cultivation detected. Does the host want to spend cultivation years on cultivation?]
'Yes.'
[Spend 4 years on cultivation to advance the host's cultivation to the pinnacle phase of the Qi Gathering Stage?]
'Yes.'
The experience made Theo chuckle as it reminded him of spamming 'ok' buttons on new games or 'skip' during tutorials.
The only difference was that after each click, he'd sink into years of cultivation during each he connected to the void and absorbed pure Qi directly, avoiding the polluted energy of the continent.