Andrew Robinson Leinbach
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Chapter 200: New Apprenticeship
🕑 Added 2023-07-04 23:55:30 +0000 UTCAalam
Aalam thought about it for a few seconds, feeling the difference in his soul. There weren’t many specifics concerning B or A rank in any of the information he’d received from either Nana Xara or the inheritance of Steel Swamp Sorin, and now he knew why.
While it wouldn’t be that difficult to create an oath like he’d just done for someone at the peak of C rank, it was nearly impossible for someone as weak as him. First, they would need to personally gain an amount of primal energy normally only achievable by killing a powerful B rank. Second, their soul would need to be able to hold onto that primal energy without it leaking away. And, finally, third, they would need someone with much, much greater energy control to keep the special transformative energy of the oath from dissipating away.
More important, however, was that E ranks were inherently young. G rank souls could live at most for 144 years, F rank souls for 288 years, and E rank souls for 1,152 years. But C rank souls could live for 147,456 years. And, every time a cultivator advanced in rank, their brain would get a new chance for rapid development.
For a G rank human, the brain would fully mature during the late twenties, but for an E rank human the brain wouldn’t reach full maturity until the mid 200s. And this meant, throughout multiple times in a cultivator’s life, it would become easier for his or her personality to change.
Meanwhile, the nature of a B rank oath, at least from what Aalam could feel, would cause it to increase in power the more true it was and decrease when it began to match less. Someone at the peak of C rank would generally be at least mostly set in their ways, allowing them to find an oath they liked which was true to themselves, but E ranks were more subject to change.
Certain core aspects of an E rank, however, were less likely to become different over time, so the reason to not tell him about the nature of oaths was likely to keep him from trying to choose an oath he wanted and to instead guide him into making an oath which would be more true to the core of his being, one he’d be able to maintain and not become shackled by.
Still, before accepting the Alchemist of the Deep Woods as his master, it seemed right to ask. “Could you explain a bit more about oaths first?”
“Sure.” The alchemist continued smiling. “Just like D rank is about opening acupoints and C rank is about forming cores, the main addition to a cultivator’s power at B rank is oaths, and each oath generally provides around the same level of benefits as a class. But, unlike the additions to power at lower ranks, oaths come with limitations. And these limitations can be deadly.
“Take me for example. I have an oath the System calls Oath of the Honorable Businesswoman which greatly boosts the power of my contract skill, but, if I act dishonestly in my business, I’ll gain soul shackles I cannot remove.
“Forming your first oath at E rank, you’re gaining your first limitation very early, but you’re also gaining the benefits of an oath way before you should, which will likely be helpful. More important, however, an oath gained at E rank is less fixed. Whatever your oath is, it is unlikely to be its final form, and it will grow with you more than those you later gain at B rank.”
“Interesting.” Aalam accepted the invitation to become the apprentice of the Alchemist of the Deep Woods. Then he bowed slightly. “Thank you, master, for your help.”
The grin on the alchemist’s face grew wider and she laughed out loud. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
Aalam felt the suppression on his bonds fade away, his connection with Mila reestablishing as the alchemist continued talking.
“Now that you’ve accepted me as your master, the first thing is you shouldn’t share anything about your new power to any of your friends or business partners, for their own good. Do you understand?”
Aalam nodded.
“Okay then.” The alchemist started rubbing her hands together, even Aalam able to tell she was excited. “Now for the fun part.
“At D rank, you’re going for three sage classes, right?”
Aalam nodded again, a bit surprised at the alchemist knowing that already, so he used one of his minds to ask Mila about how his new master had learned about him to that level, quickly getting a rundown of what he’d missed while continuing his conversation.
“Okay then, what classes are you aiming for at C rank other than the Empyrean grade Sage?”
“Well, originally, it was a heavenly spark crafter line class, a heavenly spark psychic class, and either a class of the heavenly spark domain lord line or whatever more specialized class results from the skill I’m trying to merge.” From his telepathic talk with Mila, he’d already discovered the alchemist had guessed pretty much everything about his build, so he didn’t have any problem with explaining further. “Having learned more from the legacy of Steel Swamp Sorin, however, I’ve realized emphasizing psyforce so much is not a good way to maximize power even if I specialize in it, so I’m thinking of replacing the psychic class with that of a triforce warrior.”
“Hmm.” The alchemist looked thoughtful for a few seconds. “What type of warrior?”
“Swordsman.”
The alchemist just looked at him for a few seconds, her smile changing slightly in a way Aalam couldn’t really read. “You want to honor Epecteos?”
Aalam nodded.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but Isaiah was Epecteos’s apprentice, right?”
Aalam nodded.
“And Isaiah is a spear knight?”
Aalam nodded.
“And, if I have my facts correct, Epecteos put out several legacy items, one of which is likely how you first heard of him, and in almost all of them the AI was programed to suggest people away from the sword?”
Aalam yet again nodded.
“Did Epecteos like being a swordsman?”
Aalam thought about it for a few seconds and realized the alchemist had a point. “I don’t think so.”
“I watched a recording of his final fight.” The alchemist became a bit more serious. “And, while his swordsmanship was impressive, it wasn’t what he was best at.”
Aalam felt himself grow interested. “What do you think he was best at?”
“Energy control.” The alchemist smiled again. “Even with a terrible foundation, he was able to weave three Laws together at a time to create four different fighting styles, and that was why he could fight beyond his rank.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re much better at energy control than swordsmanship?”
Aalam thought about it for a second. Sure, he wasn’t naturally talented with the sword. Even Epecteos had said that. But he’d gotten a lot better once he’d gotten over disliking it just because he wasn’t good at it.
And it wasn’t like he was particularly good at energy control either, at least compared to Mila or his sister. Even with his higher tier cultivation technique, both were noticeably more skilled.
“If you’re thinking you’re worse at energy control than me and Diana,” Mila, completely unprompted, sent over their connection, “do remember we have been getting direct tutoring from one of the best in the entire universe on the subject since the time of the tutorial, yet you’re keeping up with us.”
“I seem to be better at energy control than swordsmanship.”
“Then might I suggest the path of a triforce adept? That class line is all about energy control. And, with your many Laws and some skills which are specifically designed for Law infusion, like those Epecteos used, I think the results could be rather awe inspiring.”
Aalam seriously considered it. The adept line of classes made manipulating energy and making use of multiple Laws at once easier while sacrificing the stat effectiveness boosts of most combat classes, but Aalam already had enough things increasing his stats, so boosting his energy control would likely provide a larger increase to his overall power. Sure, there were no powerful adepts in the history of the universe, at least as far as he knew, and, sure, the adept line classes were notoriously difficult to advance in, even more so than the sage line, but for Aalam the class would be his fourth, so the lower power didn’t matter much, and he was cultivating following the Twelve Element Primal Code, the best cultivation technique in the universe, so the advancement requirements of needing to be able to merge several Laws at once would be relatively easy for him to meet.
“Alright. I’ll need to give it some thought, but that does seem like a better way of honoring Epecteos’s legacy.”
“Okay.” A big grin appeared on the alchemist’s face. “But, no matter what, you’ll need to work on your energy control, as it will boost everything else you do. And you’re now the apprentice of one of the top five A ranks in the universe when it comes to energy control, while your current level of control would have others at my rank laughing at me.”
The alchemist summoned out a ring from seemingly nowhere, meaning it likely came from another spatial storage device, but Aalam couldn’t tell which of the small artifacts on her person even had spatial storage capabilities as her aura was too strong.
“In here are twelve anonymous account chips for the universal soul net with preloaded profiles and limitations, each only allowing for the use of a single element and a single fighting style. You are to use them to compete in the soul net program Universal Arena, and for all twelve you’ll need to make it to the fourth tier out of twelve for E ranks. Each account will only allow for one of your minds to make use of it at a time, and I expect you to have at least half your minds competing at all times you are awake.” She tossed him the ring.
“The ring also contains a whole lot of E and D rank raw materials. Before you come spend your full time on this world, I need you to set up a high grade Territory relay on Earth. While you are anywhere other than a planet masked by the System, it is unsafe for you to have your connection to the lands governed by the Heavenly Spark Soul King go directly from those Territories to you, so you’ll need them to instead go to the relay and then have your connection only be to the relay itself.
“I assume you have a blueprint for a relay better than any of the ones I’m in possession of?”
Aalam quickly analyzed his memory for such relay blueprints. “I have three which are Fabled grade.”
“Alright. Tell me if you need any other materials. Building that relay should be your highest priority. Then, when you come back here, I’ll have a detailed training plan ready for you.
“The main thing I’ll be focusing on is making adequate use of the fact you have multiple mental forges, giving you multiple full minds, so, while you can plan on always having two of your minds to do what you want, I am going to keep your other minds busy. From looking at one of the artifacts you’ve created, I can tell you’ve skipped some foundational training most cultivators in the universe have to go through to learn how to better make use of their high Spirit stat to multitask, and that’s the first thing I’ll be fixing. Even if you have multiple minds, each should be able to perform to their best ability.”
