Chapter 70 - Advancements
Carrying Rexa’s unconscious body, Cale flew as far as his depleting reserves would allow. The merging of energies had drained him crazy, only ten percent remained. After covering dozens of kilometers, he landed onto a flat hilltop and carefully positioned her against the base of a tree.
He collapsed beside her, exhaling heavily.
"Fuuu... that was rough. Expert Stages are nothing to scoff at, heh. We only survived because that old man underestimated our escape options and didn’t unleash his final techniques."
He retrieved a healing potion from his spatial ring and poured it down her throat. ’Sigh, Emma could use healing magic, but keeping both of them in one location is impossible.’
A wry smile crossed his face. "Oh, the misery of being handsome."
Settling into a proper seated position, Cale activated Yang healing though calling it that felt inaccurate now. His body had undergone so many transformations that healing had become as simple as pressing a button when circumstances allowed. His energy began recovering at a steady pace.
’Man, I really do need some self-restoration skill.’
Half an hour passed.
"Ugh..." Rexa groaned, consciousness returning slowly.
Cale opened his eyes and took out a healing pill from his inventory. The effects were identical to the potion, but his stock was depleted. Searching her body for additional potions from her body felt... awkward. So instead, he placed the pill between his own lips and kissed her, gently pushing it into her mouth. This felt easier in some way.
She swallowed instinctively.
"Well, let’s push past my soul’s cultivation now," Cale murmured to himself.
His soul was on the verge of breaking through to Low Beginner Stage. He divided his consciousness, allocating nearly fifty percent to his soul cultivation while maintaining minimal control over his physical body. Maybe the breakthrough itself would yield benefits, helping them run away from here.
Another hour dissolved.
Inside the inner sanctum, his soul body finally erupted past the threshold.
The black ocean began moving violently, waters spiraling into a massive tornado. From the vortex’s center, another point of consciousness coalesced—a second dot of Cale’s essence taking form.
Slowly, its body manifested. Legs first. Torso. Arms. Finally, the face of an identical spiritual body, complete and whole.
Cale opened his eyes in the physical world, a grin spreading across his face.
"My guess was correct. Each soul realm breakthrough grants another body."
Now he could control two separate spiritual entities. But the truly revelatory part was that the second body didn’t demand additional Divine Consciousness allocation. Before, one soul body consumed thirty percent. Now, managing both required the same thirty percent. As his soul cultivation advanced, he’d be able to form additional bodies while maintaining the same consciousness investment.
"Though that’s a long way off. For now..."
His gaze fixed on the system screen:
[Congratulations host for breaking through to Low Beginner Stage of Soul Cultivation!]
[Rewards being calculated...]
[Race: Human: 41% → 50% (Awakened) | Elf: 32% → 44% (Awakened)]
[Cultivation Speed Multiplier: 4.5x]
[Sword Spiritual Root: Normal → Awakened]
[PRIMARY ENERGY: Primal Chaos Flame fully acquired and merged into Fire Spiritual Root]
[Chaos Flame Spiritual Root: Awakened → Perfected]
[+100 Blank Points]
Cale smiled broadly. "Well, if I receive things like this every major breakthrough, I might just cultivate for a century at home and come out as an immortal. Hehe."
His second soul body remained at mortal cultivation level, still he needed to keep both synchronized to maintain efficiency and avoid excessive mental strain. So he assigned his first soul body to alchemy practice (theoretical only) while the second cultivated, each receiving forty percent consciousness allocation.
His main physical body focused on cooking.
He prepared a simple soup, fragrant herbs mingling with fresh ingredients, the aroma filling the night air as he hummed absently. It had been quite a brutal few hours.
Rexa stirred within minutes of the food’s scent reaching her. She pushed herself upright with stiff, trembling movements.
"You should rest," Cale said. "I’ll wake you when it’s ready."
"No, I’m fine, Young Master."
"Are you really alright?"
"There are no major injuries, but I won’t be able to fight properly for the next few hours."
"That’s acceptable as long as you’re fine."
Over the next half-hour, he explained his newly acquired wings, the inheritance, the divine body, the capabilities he’d unlocked. Rexa’s expression shifted through shock, disbelief, and finally acceptance. She just thought maybe Cale had stumbled on some dead god’s inheritance at this point.
"Young Master, although I doubt such powerful inheritances could manifest on this continent, I believe you. But..." Her crimson eyes grew serious. "You must be careful. People will definitely want to know how you obtained these abilities. Your very life could become endangered."
"That’s true. But I’ll be far stronger by then, so don’t worry."
He stood, stretching muscles still sore from combat. "Can you take over the cooking? I need to enter meditation and recover my energy reserves."
"Alright."
Cale retreated into the inner sanctum.
His two soul bodies were engaged in simultaneous work. One practicing alchemy theory, the other cultivating relentlessly. He observed them with satisfaction and nodded.
"Good work, you two. Sigh, I’m not sure how to reward you guys."
[Host can enhance spiritual bodies by administering soul-enhancing pills.]
"Oh, look at you being a proper mommy system. But I don’t even know how to make them. Well, I’ll search for some later if possible it should accelerate cultivation slightly."
He turned his attention to his next priority: the page from the ’Book of Endless Refinement.’
’Heh, who came up with such a name? Endless refinement? I just watched those Ashes of Undying refined to their final stage. What’s endless about that? But it’s a free reward from refining and alchemy, well who’d refuse?’
He summoned it, expecting a single page.
What materialized was a hardcover book. Worn black leather, the same title embossed on its spine. He opened it carefully.
Almost every page had been torn away. Only a single page remained intact, positioned somewhere near the beginning—probably within the first fifty pages of a total that stretched toward three or four hundred.
"Heh, is this like a quest with checkpoints?" Cale mused, studying the mysterious tome. "Collect all the pages and the book becomes mine? Interesting."
He began reading the single remaining page.
’Well now...’