Chapter 158 - 15% Increase in Cultivation Speed!

As much as Kaelen felt cheated with the paragraph the butler had given him on cultivation, he wasn’t far from the truth. When Kaelen jumped on the bed and went into a lotus position to circulate and absorb the evolution spores in the air, the effect was instant.

The difference was as clear as night and day compared to when he cultivated on the trip to the ruins of Akkad.

Back then, the evolution spores were sparse and looked more like absorbing dust particles. But now, using his spiritual eye, Kaelen was surrounded by what he initially thought were fireflies that began moving towards him like moths drawn to flame.

That was when he realized each and every one of the golden particles were evolution spores that didn’t need to be actively sucked in before they moved towards him.

As soon as the first few touched his skin, Kaelen felt a cool sensation as they melted into him and were absorbed into his spiritual veins that began circulating them around his body. They weren’t just piling up. He could feel subtle changes in his body as they made their way to his evolution points storage.

The process was so relaxing that he almost missed the first notification and forced his eyes open to see how much he made in that split second.

[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]

[You have received 150,000,000 Evolution Points]

Kaelen’s pupils dilated as he stared at the numbers.

"150 million per second?!" He was beyond astonishment.

On the trip to the ruins of Akkad, he barely made 10 million a second on average. 150 million was a whopping 15% increase rate, and the total of that for the next 24hrs was already over 10 trillion evolution points in a single day.

He almost laughed out loud, but every second he spent thinking about it was 150 million evolution points wasted, so he immediately forced himself to focus and shut his eyes.

Unlike the previous times, he felt like he could do this forever without eating or having to step out of his room for anything. But he quickly killed the idea, the reason being that evolution points weren’t the only thing he needed for the grand tournament.

If Felix’s information turned out to be true, he could only make use of just one ability out of his entire skill set. He was yet to decide which one would be best long-term and in versatility, but in the meantime, he wanted to train his mind and body.

Kaelen was a slime, and had spent most of his journey to the top being a mischievous slime. There was no place for that at the grand tournament where Kaelen had competitors such as Felix, who was a Colossal Titan—and that was only the tip of the iceberg compared to the other young masters of superior races from powerful families.

If he wanted to have a shot at survival, he needed to pick up a skill real fast. A weapon.

Swinging a sword was different from knowing the way of the sword. Kaelen could swing a sword, but had no idea about the way of the sword or any techniques outside the basics.

The Primordial Tier swords he’d used the last role against had come with an innate proficiency skill that greatly assisted Kaelen, so he believed he should have more weapons like that in his Treasury, and planned on utilizing that to train himself in swordsmanship.

In order to fit all this into his day, he had to make a strict schedule he was going to follow till the grand tournament, and as time ticked away until dawn, Kaelen had come up with a plan.

He jumped out of bed at the first crack of sunlight and did 10,000 pushups and sit-ups till his muscles ached, before stepping outside the manor.

The estate was almost as large as a football stadium, so he began at the doorstep and ran all the way to the entrance gate, before making a sharp turn and running along the perimeter of the estate.

He didn’t have any specific amount of laps in mind, but the plan was to break himself, and so he ran around the estate at moderate speed without stopping for anything.

The guards and servants who spotted him had a look of surprise and confusion, wondering why he was running around the estate, but he didn’t bother to explain.

By midday, he was completely out of breath and a complete wreck, but forced himself to keep going until he collapsed on the pavement. He rested there for a while, before he dragged himself up and returned to his room to wash up.

Then he went to the kitchen to order a buffet of meat and protein, and after stuffing his face, he returned to his room to cultivate till evening. That was the time he planned to train his swordsmanship, so he went through his loot hauls for the weakest weapon with the innate proficiency skill.

He picked two for his training, as he planned on training his right hand as much as his left.

He found the butler from before and asked for the nearest training ground he could easily access, when the man took him to the backyard.

It was an old training ground with a few worn-out dummies. The butler claimed it was one Emir used in the early days of her lordship, back when her domain could barely pass as a village.

He was surprised to learn from the butler that Emir was a swordsmaster, but thinking about it now, she was clearly called the War Demon and couldn’t have gotten that title from hiding at the rear of the battlefield. She had to be one who charged head-on with her army behind her.

This made him satisfied with the old training ground. As long as the dummies could hold their weight, he didn’t have a problem coming there every evening.

So he began.

The innate proficiency flooded his mind with information about the sword. As long as he held the sword in his hand, Kaelen could move like a true swordsman. So instead of blindly relying on just that, he began learning and taking notes of every swing and technique.

For the next few days, this became Kaelen’s routine, and when he felt he’d hit a roadblock, he wasn’t shy to find a guard for tips and often requested a spar with dummy swords where he used just what he’d learned to fight.

During that period, he barely saw Emir, and when he did, they barely reacted and simply walked past each other, going about their day.

Kaelen’s reason was simply because he had nothing to discuss with her. One morning, he had met her at the kitchen and greeted her. Her reply was as dry as his sour throat after his run every morning. So he stopped caring as well, though often times, more often as the days went by, he could feel someone watching him from a window upstairs.

When he looked, there was no one there. When he asked, he learnt that was Emir’s study room where she spent most of her time.

He didn’t dwell on it and focused on the fact that he had made ample improvement in his training. During his last spar, he had managed to corner his spar partner, whom he instructed not to hold back. He had gone from not getting a single hit and getting swept off his feet seconds into battle, to holding his ground and pushing his opponent back several times.

He reached out a hand to help the guard up, which he gladly took.

"You’ve made great improvements, Sir Kaelen," he praised.

"It’s all thanks to you, Knight Kendrick," Kaelen replied humbly.

They both laughed heartily.

"Oh, I’ve heard rumours spreading around that tomorrow is the day for the grand tournament," the man said with a serious expression.

Kaelen was surprised. "Is that so?" He mumbled and fell into deep thought.

"There’s nothing to be worried about, Sir Kaelen. If I’m being honest with you, after our first spar, I was honestly confused about how you managed to catch Lady Emir’s eyes with such embarrassing moves," Kendrick said bluntly.

Kaelen’s lips twitched, but the guard wasn’t far from the truth.

"But after spending all this time sparring with you, I finally understand now. Lady Emir didn’t choose you for your strengths. She chose you for your resilience and growth potential. You might still be weak now, but you have the ability to adapt fast. You have both the direction and speed to become a formidable warrior as great as Lady Emir in her prime, except you might not necessarily need an army to achieve great feats and conquer your enemies. Before you go, I’d like to give you a present that should help you in the grand tournament."

"Oh," Kaelen was pleasantly surprised. "I’d appreciate that, Knight Kendrick," he said with a warm smile, when he felt the eyes that had been on his back suddenly disappear and he tilted his head to look up at the closed window with its curtains drawn.

What’s her deal?