Chapter 435: Project Ascension – Part 1
Sure enough, neither Celestina nor Lucas showed any reaction, a silent acquiescing to her words and actions.
On the other hand, Audrey was again confused for a moment before realization struck her and her eyes went wide.
Clasping her hands to her mouth, the young girl gasped, a look of joy filling her face.
Audrey wanted to rush over and hug and congratulate her favourite grandma, but she somehow managed to restrain herself and simply gave a polite noble bow, "I will be sure to inform the Count about this wonderful news, Supreme Elder."
"En," Elizabeth nodded before standing up elegantly, her previous noble demeanor now fully back in place, and walking out to inform the servants about the change of plans.
Audrey had a mountain of questions she wanted to ask now, but even in her excited state, she could tell that she wouldn’t be getting any answers from anyone in the kitchen, so she forced down her curiosity... for now.
This must be some really big, really important secret! If I want to learn what it is, I have to get stronger and raise my status first!
With that thought in mind, Audrey was now even more eager to return home.
Being in Misty City, together with Tina and Eris, had been so much fun, whether it was touring around a new place, sparring with the girls, eating delicious foods, or even getting lessons from her idol, Audrey had thoroughly enjoyed her stay in the South-East Province, but she also understood that here, she was just a guest.
She was treated extremely well, better than she had been even in the Royal Capital, but her actions were ultimately still limited. Only back in Iron Rock would Audrey be able to recognize her full potential as only there did she have access to all of her family’s support and resources.
.....
Once the ladies from the Carlson Family had left, Sasha turned to her grandmother with a slightly knit brow, "I didn’t realize you and Lucas were currently working on this, or that you had made so much progress."
"We actually haven’t made much progress, which is the problem," Celestina acknowledged before scratching the back of her head in frustration, "That’s mainly my fault. I haven’t been able to dedicate the time I wanted to, to this because of all the other matters that keep popping up."
Flashing a grin, Celestina continued, "However, with Pauline out of seclusion, I should be able to dump... I mean, hand off most of my responsibilities to her and focus more on Project Ascension."
"How long do you think it will be before the new method is perfected?" Christina, who might just be the most eager to see Project Ascension succeed, asked with a faint urgency in her voice.
"Perfected?" Lucas chuckled wryly as he shook his head, "Years, decades, maybe even longer."
Hearing this, Christina slumped, a look of distress filling her face.
"However," Lucas followed up, "With Senior Elizabeth now joining the project, I would estimate we have something preliminary to work with within a few months."
"Assuming I don’t take on any more projects," Lucas quietly grumbled to himself.
*Whack!*
"Ow! What was that for?"
"For teasing your Junior Sister!" Christina snorted angrily.
Lucas let out a few more inaudibly grumbles while the rest of the kitchen crowd laughed at his and Tina’s antics.
Soon after, Celestina took her leave, figuring she had given her eldest daughter enough time to cool off, prompting Eris, Christina, Sasha, and Lucas to also head to bed.
It had been a long day for all of them, and it looked like tomorrow wouldn’t be any less eventful, so they were all eager to rest while they could.
.....
5 days later, inside the highest-level training room in the Balfour Family’s Misty City Manor, with all the sound isolating and privacy Spirit Arrays activated, 2 people had gathered together to work on what might just be the most important project in the Rockwell Kingdom, maybe even the entire Blue Sky Continent.
Currently, Celestina and Lucas were going over a set of notes they had taken from their last session, picking apart what went right, and what went wrong.
It was a long and arduous process, but one neither of them felt wasn’t worthwhile.
As the Master and Disciple were arguing over a particularly difficult issue they had been struggling with for the past few months, a chime sounded.
"That must be Elizabeth," Celestina got up and cracked her neck before moving over to the entrance and unlocking the door.
Sure enough, Elizabeth Carlson was standing there.
When the Carlson Family’s Supreme Elder entered the room, Lucas glanced over and couldn’t help marveling at the wonders of cultivation once more.
A simple brown, long-sleeved training shirt, with a similarly simple pair of loose pants and a pair of comfortable flat shoes.
The outfit reminded Lucas of the standard martial arts training robes from the other universe. Perhaps a bit less refined and a bit less functional, but similar none-the-less.
The clothes, however, weren’t what impressed Lucas, it was the woman who was wearing them.
Elizabeth was an old lady, there was no getting around that fact, but while her face might have a few wrinkles, and her skin wasn’t as supple anymore, her physique had barely deteriorated at all.
The Supreme Elder of the Carlson Family had always stood straight, without the slightest hunch in her back or slouch in her posture, but in her usual conservative clothing it was impossible to see the actual lines of her figure. Now that she was in more form-fitting clothing, Lucas could tell that this Elizabeth’s muscles were still firm, taut, and filled with power.
She wasn’t burly or bulky in any way, but there was an undeniable strength that exuded from her form, one that was not to be underestimated.
In other words, the only thing ’old’ about Elizabeth was her face. If 20 years were taken off of her visage, she could probably still be counted as an alluring beauty, a mature one no doubt, but a beauty none-the-less.
This only re-affirmed the idea in Lucas’ head that all True Cultivators, those who had reached the Grand Spirit Realm, were naturally attractive.
Lucas had already had such a thought when he first met his Master back in Redwood Town, and he had found no evidence to contradict his theory thus far.
Shaking off these irrelevant thoughts, Lucas quickly gave a polite greeting before swiftly sifting through the pile of books, papers, and crystals on the massive table in front of him, eventually digging out a rather large stack of loose papers that had been roughly joined together with a metal ring.
Smiling somewhat fondly at the first ’cultivation manual’ he had ever written, Lucas couldn’t help feeling a bit nostalgic, despite the fact that it had been less than a year since he had put this guidebook together.
True Unarmed Foundations Art v1.0