Chapter 636: A Momentous Occasion – Part 3

Chapter 636: Chapter 0636 – A Momentous Occasion – Part 3

In a word, it was expensive.

In two words, it was very expensive; however, if the end result was a new Low-Rank Martial Adept, it would completely be worth it.

On the Blue Sky Continent, there were other methods to break through one’s limits and ascend to a higher realm without the use of an orthodox Cultivation Technique.

Certain rare resources, medicines, or pills could, for instance, achieve such effects.

However, if one had the option to break through ‘naturally’, they would almost always choose to do so that way rather than using unorthodox means.

Why?

Firstly, such resources were rare and difficult to obtain, not to mention prohibitively expensive for most people.

For Mortal Realm Practitioners, it might still be possible for those who came from wealthy merchant families to acquire and afford ‘breakthrough resources’, but as soon as one tried to ascend to the Spirit Realms, only noble houses or others of the same socio-economic status could access them.

At that level, it was no longer just a matter of money; connections and influence also became important.

If that was truly all, though, many people would probably still choose to use breakthrough resources to speed up their cultivation, but there was a second, much more problematic reason that those who possessed even modest Innate Talent and ambition refused to take this kind of short-cut.

Cultivation was a gradual process, one that required both time and patience. Even breakthroughs, which were comparatively abrupt events, still required one to reach the very limits of their current Realm, then prepare adequately for an extended period before making a slow and steady attempt.

Breakthrough resources skipped over that entire process, but mostly did so in a very violent and forceful manner.

Not only did this decrease the odds of success significantly, with ‘ordinary’ breakthrough elixirs or pills perhaps having an average 10% chance of working, they also tended to cause significant damage to one’s foundation and their Internal Qi circulation paths, leaving permanent scars to the meridians, bloodstream, and nervous system.

In general, among Spirit Realm Cultivation, only those who had completely exhausted their potential and saw no hope of ever breaking through again in a traditional manner would resort to using breakthrough resources.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything.

There were some gentle breakthrough resources that had high odds of success, even for those trying to break through to the Master Realm; however, unless you were able to shell out hundreds of millions of Spirit Crystals, one shouldn’t even dream of touching such treasures.

Compared to those outrageously expensive resources, ones that nobles from the Large-Sized Nations fought and killed each other to obtain, the method Supreme Elder Elizabeth was currently using was dirt-cheap, and if it proved effective, it would represent a big step towards revolutionizing all of cultivation on the Blue Sky Continent.

If it worked.

…..

For the first two days, 48 hours straight, nothing much happened.

Elizabeth Carlson cultivated, progressing through 219 of the 284 Forms of the True Unarmed Foundation Art before starting over again.

Why only 219 instead of all 284? Because the other 65 Forms would have forced her to sink too low into the pool for too long, cutting off her ability to breath and thus disrupting her rhythm.

These omissions weren’t ideal, but nothing about this situation was.

As for everyone else? They just watched silently.

Those in the Mortal Realms had to leave occasionally to eat, sleep, or… take care of other bodily functions, but Celestina Balfour and Louise Rockwell remained in place, like rocks, staring at the pool, monitoring the situation closely.

Such was the difference between Mortals and Cultivators.

When Lucas arrived on the morning of the third day, approximately 56 hours after they first began, however, he immediately noticed something had changed.

It was subtle, but the flow of World Qi in the pool was different now; more active or perhaps turbulent in some way.

This immediately brought a grin to his face, as it was a good sign.

Nothing about the experimental setup had changed, so the World Qi flow being altered could only be the result of something happening with Elder Carlson.

Glancing over at Christina’s big sister, First Princess Louise, he received a big, fierce smile from her that very much reminded him of the ones First Queen Marianne had showed him in the past, which was all the confirmation Lucas needed.

Doing his best to not cheer out loud, Lucas quietly made his way over to where his Master was sitting and handed her a large basket.

Inside were a dozen breakfast sandwiches made from lightly toasted bread, cheese, ham, and boiled eggs mashed with a bit of butter.

There were also a couple bottles of milk and water.

The gesture earned Lucas a pat of approval on his head from his Master, and a pinch of appreciation on his cheek from Louise.

Given the cold weather, something hot like porridge probably would have been better, but Lucas didn’t want to fill the room with the scent of food, lest that distract Elder Carlson.

Lucas’ plan had actually been to simply deliver the food then head over to Project Revolution’s building to check up on Braxton and Marco who were supposedly on the verge of their own breakthrough.

Apparently, Marco gained some kind of inspiration while in Torren Ridge about how to better seal the steam engine’s pistons. If his idea proved useful, it would help them improve the engine’s efficiency and power, which was just what they needed to complete their latest model, the LBM Mark 2.

They still hadn’t come up with a better name.

Now, however, Lucas felt that could wait.

Finishing the second-generation steam engine was certainly important, but observing Elizabeth Carlson’s breakthrough obviously took priority.

Pulling out a small notepad from his pocket, Lucas scribbled down a few questions before passing it to his Master.

Licking the last bit of butter from her fingers, Celestina accepted the booklet and hurriedly wrote down a few answers.

Normally, Celestina would have just used her Soul Qi to send a message directly to Lucas’ ear, but at this critical stage, she didn’t dare to do even that for fear of disturbing her old friend’s concentration.

Passively monitoring the area with her Soul Sense was still possible, but the pulses needed to actively send a message actually created a much bigger disturbance, so Celestina chose to do things the old-fashioned way.

Quickly reviewing the answers, Lucas nodded.

The change in World Qi flow had apparently begun in the middle of the last night and had steadily become stronger with each passing hour.

There was no need yet to increase the output of the Spirit Tools, as most of the World Qi they were releasing was still being lost to the environment rather than being absorbed.

Finally, and most importantly, if nothing unexpected happened, Celestina estimated that Elizabeth would achieve her breakthrough sometime in the next 10 hours.

This was wonderful news, as not only did it prove the validity of this new method, it also meant that the old Supreme Elder would be gaining a whole new lease on life.

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