Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 215 - 214 - Cultivation Continues.

Chapter 215: Chapter 214 - Cultivation Continues.

The next morning dawned with lazy sunrays poking through Arietta’s divine orchard, filtered by the translucent sky of her pocket realm.

Birds that didn’t exist in any real plane chirped melodies that harmonized with your spiritual frequency—one of those unnecessary divine features no one asked for but still kind of appreciated.

Raven sat cross-legged on a stone platform with a silver teacup balanced on his knee and the Soul Kiln Purification technique spinning in his core. Around him, his whole team was scattered across the vast ethereal garden like oddly placed lawn ornaments—all in various stages of deep cultivation.

Arietta hovered midair behind a floating tea table, sipping delicately while watching them like a hawk mom watching her unruly ducklings.

"Don’t slouch," she told Clara, who was sitting a little too comfortably with her back leaning on a mossy rock.

"I’m still circulating my mana," Clara replied, eyes closed.

"Yes, but you’re doing it like a vacationer with a piña colada."

To Arietta’s dismay, the group’s cultivation session had all the spiritual grace of a sleepover at a squirrel dojo.

But she remembered what Raven had told her to do.

He had asked her to keep an eye on everyone to see if they were using their power.

She didn’t know why he wanted everyone to first elevate their powers and then focus on stabilizing their powers, but he did say that it would be the most efficient way.

"If we cultivate continuously without testing our powers, then we won’t know how strong we are, and we would want to go on, but if we see the progress, we would start feeling accomplished."

That’s what he had said.

Everyone had agreed to it, and so, the cultivation continued.

...................................

A few days later.

Jake’s mana burst out like a silent wave.

His shadow power almost went haywire.

"Control it, Jake!" Raven’s voice echoed through the air as everyone woke up.

Arietta was the one who woke them up the moment she sensed that Jake was about to break through.

"I’m... trying," Jake replied.

He was doing it, but the problem was that his power wanted some action, and since his power was still not completely his, it was a little hard to control.

It had taken some time, but Jake finally took control of his powers, calming them down.

Soon, everyone smiled.

"Congratulations, Jake. You broke through." Raven smiled at the quietest member of the group, who nodded.

Alex immediately threw his arms in the air like a cheerleader on too much caffeine.

"Yo! My boy’s evolving like a Pokémon!!" He started making whoosh noises and fake explosion sounds. "Next stop, SHADOW GOD MODE!

Rufus followed with a grin. "Congrats, bro. You officially leveled up from ’walking hazard’ to ’slightly more stable walking hazard.’ Proud of you."

The others didn’t say much, and after congratulating Jake, they went back to their meditation.

After all, they also wanted to level up, and they could tell that they were very close to their next walls.

...................................

The next day.

A ripple of mana passed through everyone with Selena at the epicenter.

The next second, her shadowy devourer creatures had jumped out of her shadow.

Before anyone could even react, they jumped toward everyone, licking them.

"Haha, they are cute," Clara chuckled, petting one of them.

One of the beasts was even licking a tree, and Lia, standing not far away, heard the tree yell, "WHERE’S MY PERSONAL SPACE?!"

But she didn’t say anything.

"ARGH!!! Why is this one after my ass?!" Alex ran with his palms covering his backside as one of the devourers chased after him.

"It’s not you, bro," Rufus spoke from the side, smirking at Alex’s dilemma. "It’s after Nibbles. It wants to play with the little guy."

Nibbles, still above Alex’s head, squeaked in horror as Alex threw him toward Rufus, who caught the squirrel instinctively and then sighed. "Nice. I got you—"

Before he could complete his words, he realized something.

"Shit!"

The beast was now running toward him.

He quickly summoned his nanoparticle suit and shot toward the sky, only to see a flying creature made of Selena’s shadow right before him. "Yeah, fuck me."

With that, he was shot down.

"Call them back, or Rufus might actually die," Raven said to Selena, who nodded, calling the beasts back.

Rufus, who was about to get eaten, sighed in relief before both he and Nibbles rushed toward Alex, shouting, "TRAITOR!"

Clara, seeing that the wolf-like beast she was playing with went back into Selena’s shadow, sighed. "We’ll meet again, Madam Lickalot."

Raven and Selena stared at her.

"You named her?" Selena asked.

Clara merely shrugged.

Meanwhile, Jessy was glowing faintly with electromagnetic pulses. Her hair kept floating upward as if she were charging a supernova sneeze.

Every few minutes, her aura zapped a nearby bush, setting off random squeaks from hiding squirrels—most of whom were probably Nibbles’s distant divine cousins.

"...Jessy, if you fry another shrub, I will invoice you for ecosystem damage," Arietta said flatly.

"No promises."

However, by now, everyone knew that the next level up would be Jessy’s.

...................................

The next day.

Clara’s cultivation looked like a watercolor painting in motion. Air vibrated around her like dancing koi in a void pond. She was silent, focused, and poised—

Until Siris, sitting beside her, leaned just a bit too close and whispered, "Hey. Hey. Bet you five gold that Raven’s thinking about Graye’s thighs again."

Clara’s brows twitched as the air around her trembled.

"You’re disrupting my enlightenment."

"You were already enlightened," Siris smirked. "You saw him shirtless for ten seconds and glowed like a lamp."

Arietta cracked her knuckles, watching the aura fluctuations start to spiral. "If you fight during cultivation, I will send both of you to eternally screaming plants."

Clara and Siris instantly turned into statue mode.

...................................

The next day.

Graye had taken to cultivating in her new Omniweave armor, which at the moment was styled like a glittery onesie with high boots and unnecessarily large shoulder pads that sparkled with each breath.

"I FEEL POWERFUL!" She roared, flexing mid-meditation as a mana ripple was shot out from her.

"Stop yelling while cultivating!" Raven barked from across the garden.

"But I just felt like three more abs popped out spiritually!"

Behind her, Lia sat quietly in a bed of blooming wildflowers—her aura softly glowing like the world’s most peaceful plant Wi-Fi router.

Tiny trees were growing at her feet in fast-forward. A tulip opened its petals and whispered, "Ask him if he liked floral perfume."

"No, I’m not asking him that," she mumbled back to the flower.

The tulip flopped sideways, muttering, "Coward."

...................................

Two days later.

Raven opened his eyes and exhaled. A dark mist of impurity fled from his pores before vanishing into divine light.

He had been trying to purify his body, which was already fine, while also cultivating, and he had realized that his body wasn’t perfect.

He had heard that Dragons didn’t have impurity in their bodies, so he thought that maybe he would be able to use his Voidborn form for longer if his body was purer.

He didn’t know if his conjecture was correct, but he did know that his body was now cleaner and his cultivation speed had increased.

The only reason he hadn’t been able to break through until now was because he was focusing on purifying his body to a higher degree.

His cultivation had now deepened—the Soul Kiln Purification was now cycling faster and smoother. His body felt tighter, his senses sharper.

He knew that once he started cultivating, he would jump levels faster than anyone else.

Every member of his group had already leveled up at least once and taken a huge step forward in power—though no one had tried using it yet.

The breakthroughs were building up like pressure in a tea kettle.

Arietta was beginning to worry the realm itself might start cracking.

But before Raven began the next cultivation session, which would be longer—at least for Raven, as he wasn’t going to get up until he had reached his goal—he decided to take a break.

"Okay!" Raven stretched, shirt somehow off again. "Break time."

"Again?!" Lia squeaked.

"Blame Arietta. She wanted to see me bare-chested when she heard that everyone else had seen me like that." He shrugged as Arietta landed next to him, tracing his cuts.

"She didn’t say that she didn’t like it," Siris pointed out, making Lia turn her head away.

"No girl would hate seeing him like that," Clara said, coming from Raven’s other side.

Then she glanced at Arietta and mouthed, ’Thank you.’

’My pleasure,’ Arietta mouthed back, only to frown after realizing what she had done.

’Why am I getting so involved with all of them?’ She wondered, holding Raven closer.

Everyone, on the other hand, began standing, some shaking their legs, others yawning like bored dragons.

Graye flexed again. "Okay. Be honest. Who wants to spar with me?"

Everyone: "No one."

But then, Jessy flicked a stone at her.

Graye, hit by the sudden sneak attack, turned toward Arietta, who was still lost in her thoughts.

"She cheated!" Graye rushed to the goddess, complaining. "It doesn’t count if she cheated, right?"

Arietta turned slowly toward Graye, and looking at her pleading eyes, she sighed. "Yes, it doesn’t count."

"Yay!" Graye hugged the goddess. "I knew you were fair and just!"

...................................

That Evening.

As twilight set across the sky-dome of Arietta’s realm, everyone sat around a large table, enjoying a rare dinner break.

Food manifested from nothing because of divine cheat codes.

Raven looked around at his team. Each of them was stronger. Sharper. More dangerous.

They hadn’t gotten used to their new levels yet. They hadn’t even completed the cultivation session yet.

But once they did...

They’d be monsters.

He smiled quietly.

Clara glanced at him. "What are you grinning about?"

"Just imagining all the demon generals crying themselves to sleep soon," he replied.

Graye raised a toast. "To power-ups, muscle pain, and my love for Raven!"

"No one’s going to toast to that." Jessy shook her head.

Graye pouted, huffing before she started eating her food.

Then, after a short silence, Raven raised a toast.

"To progress," Raven smirked.

"TO PROGRESS!" Everyone agreed.

Arietta just sighed. "Please don’t blow up my orchard tomorrow."

Their training was still in the starting phase, but they were already stronger.

What would they be after the whole month of isolation? It was something the world wasn’t ready for.