The way light worked inside the Rift space was indeed strange.
In the outside world, morning gave way to afternoon. And simultaneously inside the Rift, the brightness of the ambient light also gradually increased.
Saya faithfully protected her Young Master as he felled one beast after another. At this point, she just wasn't shocked by the things she was seeing. She was already used to it, at least that's what she told herself.
It is worth mentioning that she did have to save his life multiple times, especially when Caelum was attacked by multiple beasts simultaneously. But that did not decrease the admiration she felt for him.
Caelum's combat strength kept steadily increasing, allowing him to challenge stronger and stronger foes.
The first Windfang Lupine he had faced had cultivation corresponding to the 1st stage of the Qi Gathering realm.
But that was just the beginning. The cultivation of the magical beasts Caelum faced off against kept increasing.
Each one of Caelum's fights took a considerable amount of time because they always turned into battles of attrition.
He was already challenging himself by taking on enemies far stronger than what would be considered normal for his stage. Finishing off his opponents was particularly difficult unless they ran out of Qi or made a terrible mistake.
Caelum's unusually strong physical body allowed him to tank several attacks from the beasts, something most cultivators couldn't hope to do. Using [Devour] at the end of each fight helped him recover from his injuries, making him ready for the next battle.
By afternoon, Caelum had already entered the Marrow Cleansing stage of the Qi Gathering Realm—the final stage. The only task left now was to increase his cultivation progress to 100% and break through to the next major realm.
But Caelum wasn't done for the day. His excitement had reached its peak.
His Madness was manageable due to his extremely selective usage of [Devour] since entering the Rift Space.
'I can do this. There's a chance I might even reach the Qi Gathering Realm today itself.'
With determination burning in his heart, Caelum pressed on.
Saya, who had been observing Caelum's fighting style, couldn't help but wonder, 'Could it be that Young Master's Heavenly Gift has something to do with Body Cultivation?'
Unlike regular Qi Cultivation, Body Cultivation did not follow any set realms. A person could temper their body at any time.
However, most cultivators ignored this path. The primary pursuit of cultivation was a longer lifespan, and Body Cultivation didn't offer that benefit. Moreover, it was an extremely expensive process. Even with wealth, finding someone selling the rare materials needed for body tempering was no small feat.
'I feel like, purely in terms of physique, Young Master is already stronger than me. I wouldn't stand a chance against him in a fight without using Qi!'
This realization shocked Saya.
Oblivious to Saya's thoughts, Caelum carried on. Time passed, and the ambient light within the Rift began to dim, indicating that evening had arrived.
Caelum's cultivation progress had already reached 100%.
At that moment, Caelum plunged from the air, driving his sword directly into the head of a massive magical beast that resembled an anaconda's bigger, meaner sibling.
Once he devoured this beast, he would step into the Qi Gathering Realm.
The beast, which had momentarily lost sight of Caelum, couldn't evade his attack. It let out a final, guttural roar before collapsing lifelessly.
'Devour!'
[You have successfully devoured your target.]
[The devoured energy is insufficient for breaking through the bottleneck.]
[Your strength has increased by 2.]
[Your defense has increased by 1.]
[Your dexterity has increased by 1.]
[You have accumulated Madness.]
'Devoured energy insufficient for breaking through??' Caelum was perplexed by the notification he was seeing for the first time.
He tried to focus his thoughts on it, hoping the system would provide an explanation. This time, it did.
[You need to devour a single sufficiently strong foe to cross the threshold between major realms.]
After seeing that message, Caelum's mental exhaustion finally caught up to him.
The prospect of reaching the Qi Gathering Realm on the same day had kept him going, allowing him to take on one tough fight after another. But now, he faced a final hurdle that wouldn't be easy to cross.
'Phew. That's enough for today. I'll think about this tomorrow. I just want to sleep.'
And so, Caelum decided to postpone his advancement to the Qi Gathering Realm until the next day. The day after tomorrow was when his city outing with Lyra was scheduled.
Before leaving the rift, Caelum took one last look at his system interface.
----------------------------------------------------
[World Devouring System]
***[Basic Stats]***
[Cultivation]:
[Realm]: Body Tempering Realm
[Stage]: Marrow Cleansing Stage
[Progress]: 100%
[Health]: OK
[Qi]: 0 / 0
[Strength]: 43
[Speed]: 40
[Defense]: 43
[Dexterity]: 27
[Regeneration]: 1
[Qi Regeneration]: 0
[Dao Comprehension Talent]: 60.0 (max 100)
[Devourer's Madness]: 20.0%
[Madness deterioration rate]: 0.97% / day
***[Affinities]***
Wind: 10%
Fire: 5%
Earth: 8%
Water: 2%
Wood: 10%
***[Elemental Sources]***
None
***[Abilities]***
Devour
Beginner Swordsmanship
Beginner Cooking
Gale Steps
Wind Burst
Vine Growth
..
..
..
***[Equipped Heavenly Gifts]***
Current Superimposition Limit: 1
[Physiques]
None
[Bloodlines]
None
[Special Body Parts]
None
----------------------------------------------------
At the same time Caelum was inspecting his gains using the system interface, Saya undid the technique she was using to conceal her presence and jumped down from atop a small tree.
She had barely taken a single step toward her Young Master's direction when a voice interrupted her.
"Was Caelum the one who defeated that beast? No way, right?"
"!!!"
Saya immediately turned around and raised her guard.
'Who is this person? Why wasn't I able to sense his presence?'
An average-looking, unassuming young man stood before Saya. He was the type of person who would blend right into a crowd.
"Hello. Sorry if I startled you. I was just wondering what a man who only awoke from his coma two days ago was doing inside a rift like this."
Saya's brows furrowed, her suspicion evident in her expression.
She tried to recall if she had ever seen this man somewhere on the Goldheart Estate. Someone strong enough to easily sneak up on her like this… she should have some impression of him.
And yet, there was none. This heightened her suspicion, and she put some distance between them, deliberately stepping to block Caelum from the man's line of sight.
"Who are you? I don't recall seeing you among the members of the Goldheart family before."
The man appeared slightly surprised by Saya's caution. He had hoped to extract some information from her, but the straightforward approach clearly wouldn't work.
The subtle smile on the young man's face faded as he spoke. "Right… right… who am I? What is Caelum doing here? All these are irrelevant questions at the moment."
"I have something more important to discuss with you."