Just as his father commanded, Aron returned to his room and began to cultivate the manual that his father had given him.
Immediately, Aron noticed that this method was different from the one he had received in the simulation.
It was far more complex, but in return it was also far more effective.
Unlike the full month that it had taken him in the simulation, Aron already had the experience of detecting the world's Essence. Because of this, it only took a day for Aron to interact with the world and detect its Essence here in the real world.
By detecting Essence so early, Aron was already a step ahead in his cultivation. With the dozen years of experience he had from the simulator, grasping the basic qualities of this new cultivation method was quite easy for him.
Still, by the time that 2 weeks had passed, Aron still hadn't grasped the idea behind this new method. It was too complex. The progress he had made so far, though impressive, was not enough to start his cultivation.
"I see why father was giving me several months. It wasn't because he wanted to see which realm I could make it to, but that he wanted to test my comprehension abilities.
In all likelihood, he is watching me right now. As soon as I begin to cultivate this technique, he will appear before me. The sooner that I get this method comprehended, the better the rewards he will have for me.
It seems there is only one thing that I can do to maximize what I receive."
Then, with a simple thought, a line of text appeared in the mind of Aron.
[Weekly Simulation Remaining: 6]
[Beginning Simulation Process.]
[Weekly Simulations Remaining: 5]
[Generating Random Minor Talent for 0 Essence Stones.]
[Hosts' random talent Successfully Generated.]
[Talent: Quiet and Brooding.]
[Talent Information: The Host in the simulation is inclined to keep quiet. Host will only answer when spoken to. When in the presence of others, the Host will appear to be brooding, drawing the attention of everyone who sees them.]
"Well, that certainly seems useless. In comparison to the last simulation, there is a large difference in quality, even if they are both at the Minor level of talents."
Indeed, Aron did not think that the simulation was heading in a good direction.
While the last simulation had given him a talent that directly contributed to his growth, This talent seemed like it may even hinder him at times.
"Whether it hurts me or harms me, only time will tell. The main point of the simulation does not rely on the talent or my growth, but rather my comprehension of this method.. I should also direct the simulation to focus on the practice of the Core Consumption technique and Blood Essence Consumption technique. Even after upgrading my core in the previous simulation, I hadn't entered the First Step of mastery."
In his education from the Perch family, and even from what his master had taught him in the past simulation, Aron had learned about the extent of techniques and mastery. Offensive techniques, defensive techniques, movement techniques, and the more active techniques keep cultivators that are below a certain realm from practicing them.
Essence Refinement cultivators are limited almost entirely to White techniques. Once in the later stage, a cultivator at this level can utilize techniques in the lower and middle levels of Black techniques, but really only those at the peak or near the peak of Essence Refinement can do so.
Cultivators at the Meridian Establishment level are limited to Black techniques. The exceptional geniuses that are able to open over 80 meridians can begin to utilize lower and middle Purple techniques.
An Essence Core cultivator can use all levels of Purple techniques and the first two levels of Gold techniques.
Cultivators at the level of Essence Soul use Gold techniques and only Gold techniques.
Techniques above Gold—namely Human, Earth, Sky, Heaven— are reserved for cultivators in the final four realms: Soul-Body, Dao Seed, and two others that his master had not told him about. Each level of technique is reserved for the next realm of cultivation.
Different from these active techniques are method techniques. These techniques, Aron had learned, had no limitation on how high a cultivator must be in their realm, but were integral portions of the cultivation methods that they were a part of.
The Core Consuming and Blood Essence Consumption techniques were techniques that made the All Consuming cultivation method what it was. Without these techniques, the All Consuming method would not be as effective.
Aron had learned, however, that these integral techniques were able to be adapted with other methods.
Though they wouldn't be as effective, as the All Consuming method had perfected the interaction between method and technique, Aron would still be able to use these two techniques in conjunction with his family's cultivation method.
This was especially beneficial because the Perch method did not have any paired techniques.
The effectiveness of the techniques from the All Consuming method would change as Aron increased his mastery over them. He never had the chance to use the Blood Essence Consumption technique, but he could feel that the Core Consumption technique was on the verge of the First Step of mastery.
Once his mastery increases, even if only to the First Step, the Cores that he would need to absorb would be reduced to half the number.
The effects of the Core Consuming technique would be even more exaggerated as his mastery reached the level of Major Achievement.
Closing his eyes, Aron began to concentrate. His will was focusing on emphasizing the direction that he wanted to move forward in during the simulation. Whether his talent was trash or not, focusing on his comprehension towards the various methods and techniques buried in his mind was Aron's priority.
[Simulation Commencing.]
[Day One: After not having any success in the comprehension of the cultivation method that was given to you by your father, you decide to set aside all other forms of practice and focus solely on your understanding of the Perch cultivation method.]
[Day Seven, After a week of comprehension, you start to develop a better understanding of the method. Still, you are only through the initial pages.]
[Day Twenty, Now three weeks into the method, you have no further success. You begin to get frustrated, thinking that your talent is horrible.]
[Day Sixty, At this time, your father finally comes to check on you. When your father asks if you have had any success, you can only be honest and tell him no. At this point, you are not even halfway through the method, and even what you have read, you do not understand.]
[Hearing you say this, your father smiles instead of being angry.]
[Your father tells you that the method that he had given you was not a method that is given to the most talented of the family. Instead, your father tells you that the unnamed method is one that one of your ancestors had found on their journey to surpass the Soul-Body realm. The method is one that is only passed down from patriarch to patriarch. Up to now, no Perch has been able to comprehend the method to the level of being able to use it.]
[Hearing this, you are relieved and all of the frustrations that you had developed over the past month vanished. If it was a method that not even the most powerful Perch ancestors could comprehend, then he was in no rush.]
[After your father described to you the history behind this unnamed method, he took out a new method, the Sun-Moon Essence Method.]
[According to your father, this is the best method in the Perch family that does not focus on a single attribute. Instead, the method focuses on absorbing the Essence that is developed during the hours that the sun and moon are the highest in the sky.]
[Grateful, you take the method and set it to the side. Next, you ask if you can hold onto the unnamed method. You think that if you were to be able to comprehend the entire method you would have an immense advantage.]
[Your father allows you, saying that though he hadn't comprehended it, he had long memorized every detail]
[Grateful, you nod your head. Before you get a chance to say anything, your father vanishes.]
[THough you are a little upset at not receiving any gifts or resources from your father, you get over it quickly, understanding that you hadn't shown any results and thus had not earned any resources.]
[Day Seventy, after meeting with your father, you decide to ignore the unnamed method for now and focus on comprehending the Sun-Moon Essence method.]
[Day Eighty. In contrast to the several months without any progress, you are able to comprehend the Sun-Moon method within two weeks. Though the method is only effective during two specific times of the day, you discover that the pace that you are cultivating is still relatively fast. As fast as it can get for a Minor Core.]
[Day 100. With the Sun-Moon method completely comprehended, you begin to comprehend the unnamed technique once more. When the Sun and the Moon are at their highest, you cultivate, and during every other second, you focus on understanding the secrets of the unnamed method.]
[Day 200. By now, you have reached the 2nd level of Essence Refinement. With your body now being conditioned to cultivation, you ask your father for the movement technique that you had practiced to the level of Perfection.]
[Though your father does not know where you had heard the name of the Butterfly Evasive technique, he agrees.]
[Day 300. At this point, you have reached the 4th level of Essence Refinement. On top of that, you have shown your father that you have comprehended the Butterfly Evasive technique to the level of Minor Achievement. To do so in less than 100 days is truly impressive. Though the true level that you have reached is that of Perfection, your father doesn't need to know that much.]
[Pleased with your progress of cultivation and level of technique mastery, your father presents you with a pouch. While you are confused by its size, your father clarifies that it is a spatial pouch. By using the world Essence, you can open the pouch and access the contents that are stored within a spatial compartment.]
[You don't show the shock on your face and immediately do as he had described. Upon investigation, you discover that there are 300 Essence Stones within the pouch and several bottles of pills that will help with your cultivation. As you thank your father, he disappears.]
[Day 700. It has been two years since your father handed you the unnamed cultivation method. Despite this long period of time, you have not made any progress in understanding any of the secrets of the method.]
[With the help of your father's resources, your cultivation has jumped to the 7th level of Essence Refinement. After such a long period, you exposed your Perfection level movement technique to your father.]
[Instead of resources, he saw that you were still interested in the unnamed method and decided to give you his own comprehension of the method. When he finished, you were inwardly shocked at how little your father understood the method.]
[All his thoughts were vague and obvious. The shock disappeared as contempt began to form in your mind. If those were the thoughts that generations of patriarchs had developed towards the unnamed method, you were certain that you would only need a decade to complete your comprehension.]
[With your mind clear, you began to completely ignore your cultivation. You knew that it was only a matter of time before you comprehended that unnamed method, and with the difficulty of comprehension that comes with the method, you understood that it would be leagues better than any of your family's cultivation methods.]
Aron nodded his head in reality. The method of cultivation could change at any time throughout the course of Essence Refinement. But the method that one uses to break through into the Meridian Establishment realm would stick with that cultivator for their entire course of cultivation.
If a cultivating method only went to the Core Essence realm, a cultivator practicing that method would have to either expel their entire cultivation once they found a method that would allow them to advance further, or spend years attempting to comprehend a path forward with their current method.
Such a thing was part of the reason established organizations and families were so powerful in the world. Their ancestors had already spent generations developing their cultivation methods to levels at the Soul-Body realm and beyond.
If Aron were to make a guess, the unnamed method that he was comprehending in the simulation was likely a method that goes far beyond the level of Soul-Body.
Furthermore, with the confidence of himself in the simulation and the lack of comprehension from his father and ancestors, Aron had made the guess that the cultivation method had something to do with the Dao and Dao Seeds.
After all, from what education he had received on the previous generations of the Perch family, none of them had ever made it to the realms beyond Soul-Body. None of them had a Dao Seed in their body and none of them would have experienced the comprehension that comes with having a Dao Seed.
Thinking this, Aron sat in disbelief. Currently, both in reality and in the simulation, he was unable to put the Dao Seed in his body to use. If the cultivation method is truly about Dao Seeds, then his own Dao Seed is likely contributing to his understanding of the method.
With his hopes high, Aron turned back to the simulation.