Mage And Wolf
Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Chapter 230

Yes, little Lycan, we got full notes on everything you just did, as insane as it looked." The Nephilim King laughs, patting my head.

"I thought cultivation was supposed to be a decades long spiritual journey to find yourself and gain enlightenment." One of the volunteers says as if it were a question.

"It is, but that part can come later, once the basic foundation of your power is built. You see, what we’re doing here is nothing more than preparing the body for the later stages of cultivation, where increased mental strength and Divine enlightenment are the goals and objectives. Instead of spending the entirety of your youth developing a body capable of sustaining an enlightened form is it not more efficient to simply speed up that process?

The Seraphim are born with a fully formed core. Before they can walk they can cultivate Divine energy. Giving young adults of other species a little boost surely isn’t anything too extreme when you look at it from that viewpoint." I explain my logic as well as I can.

After all, this won’t help them to actually attain Immortality, it will get them close, but the last few stages are entirely up to them, and from that point on very little external influence of any kind will really affect their journey towards divinity unless it cripples their body.

This attempt at explanation seems to have set their minds at ease, which is a good thing, considering that they’re going to undergo a very similar experience and they need to keep their wits about them.

"As your cultivation level increases, I want you to focus on increasing your integration with the Elemental Shard that we will provide you. But first, we must determine your Elemental Affinity, so we can get one of the correct aspect and not waste the experiment." Karl informs them and Beta John sets out a row of little crystal fragments.

"These are generally inert and safe to handle, it’s only with a specific spell and an Affinity for their element that they will activate and start gathering power." John says, looking down at them. They’re quite pretty, if they weren’t so valuable I’d want one for a piece of jewelery.

They don’t all seem inert though, one inky black one is vibrating when I go over to look at them.

"Hey, is it supposed to do that?" I ask, pointing at the shard.

But before anyone can answer it has turned to pure energy and disappeared into my Spirit Ocean. Everyone stops what they’re doing in shock, looking at me for an explanation. But I really don’t have one. I close my eyes and focus on the shrine in my mind, looking to see what has become of the Elemental Shard. It’s not hard to find, it’s bouncing around the shrine like a puppy that just saw the world outside the den where it was born for the first time.

"I’m guessing that was a Death Elemental Shard?" It’s in the shrine of my shrine soul going insane looking at everything."

"It wasn’t supposed to be. According to the ones that labeled them, it should have been a crystallized Demon Magic Shard. It’s used by Mages who want to cultivate curses and the like. Can you interact with it at all?" The Nephilim King says, looking at the table John set the shards on.

I try, but it’s far too hyper. Forget trying to merge with this thing like the Mages have done, simply trying to get its attention is impossible.

"It’s too excited right now, It can’t focus on anything for now than a quarter second at a time. I’d return it, but I have no idea how." I say and I can feel it respond, grabbing tight to a tree in the shrine as if afraid to be evicted.

"As long as it wasn’t the one either of the subjects needed, just keep it. They’re not exactly popular in the Divine Realms, even the demons don’t use them for much, and they come from Demon Worlds." John shrugs. That seems to have put its mind at ease and it returns to exploring at a frantic pace. So it does have awareness of the outside world, not just my intentions.

The two volunteers have moved forward to look at the shards, seeing that I’ve come to no harm from interacting with them. Elder Song casts a spell that is supposed to show which they have an Affinity for and they reach out over the table to see if anything responds.

There’s a wide variety, and multiple of each basic type. According to Karl they’ve all got their own unique signature, so finding the right one for you matters. A few seconds in, one of the Earth shards shivers under the hand of a volunteer, and Karl has them pick it up. Soft bronze light begins to glow from their hand as the Shard activates, gathering Elemental energy from the surrounding world.

It’s growing in intensity at a pretty good rate, so Elder Song has me take her aside to start the growth process. I start with the Soul Forging and Core Forming pills, then the new one for cultivating varied energies. That lets her start utilizing the Divine energy trapped in her body and the Elemental Shard starts sinking into her body.

"Remember to cultivate that technique you learned to strengthen your foundation." I say to her as I begin to work. Having just done this process by trial and error on Hui’Jin, I’ve got a pretty good idea what I need to do to avoid the pitfalls that plagued the test subjects for the pill development. Don’t focus on doing things in the proper order of cultivation, do them all at once.

I start circulating the Elemental along with her internal energy and that fun the pills. As expected, the Shard soon starts absorbing the cultivation pill to strengthen itself, so I add another. This Shard isn’t gaining power as rapidly as the fire Elemental Shard, perhaps because her Affinity is lower? but the beginnings of a core are forming now, the soft sack that usually forms in the Condensation Realm. There is a bit of hesitancy to merge with it from the Earth Shard, but once I get it started, it continues to progress smoothly. I can feel the nature of her cultivation change, from using only internal to accepting external energy, a good sign that she has in fact processed into the Condensation Realm, even as her body is still developing the basic strength that is usually done in the Fortification Realm.

The technique she’s using is forming a strong foundation, despite the speed she’s progressing at, and the Elemental has begun helping with that, strengthening her roots as it merges with her core, as if it knows what is necessary to build a strong cultivator. Most of what she is lacking seems to be Mental Strength, which shouldn’t surprise me, she’s lived a lifetime as the lowest level of servant to the pack, a strong will wasn’t exactly a benefit to her there. More Soul Forging pills are added to the mix to make up the lack, and the Merger with the Elemental starts going more smoothly.

It seems the Earth Elemental doesn’t want to take over, it’s more about balance. So it was waiting for her to be ready. Hopefully the others get such a cooperative Shard.