A week later John is cultivating as always. His leaves glimmer in the light of the rising sun. Dew drips off his tear-shaped leaves. He shook himself gently sending water droplets into the air. A rainbow forms in the mist causing the hill to look majestic.John projects his senses toward his hill mate Joe. Recently the demonic bull"s energy had been fluctuating. This showed that he was nearing a breakthrough.
The heavens had been showing signs of tribulations. The Bull was on the verge of moving into the next stage of demonic beast life. John wasn"t an expert on demonic beasts, but he surmised Joe was at the Counterfeit stage. Which meant he would soon be moving into the Contaminated stage. From what he"d been told, the stages names were based off how close the blood was to their great ancestors. Each large cultivation leap will lead to purer and truer blood.
John too felt his Seed Coalescing Core was starting to burst with energy. He felt within the next couple of months, he"d break through to Fractured Seed stage. This was pretty fast he thought proudly.
Of course, most plants won"t have intelligence at this stage. So it was unfair to compare himself to them. A normal plant would spend five years in Seed Coalescing stage. This was the simplest and fastest stage of plant cultivation. At the Fractured Seed stage, a plant starts to have basic survival instincts. Thus your average Foundation stage human cultivator would have a hard time plucking a plant at that level.
John could feel the energy that flows through him permeate the surroundings. It felt like he"d created a zone where he could perceive everything. It was a strange feeling it was like he was a part of everything in this sphere of influence. Even in the humans, the energy flowed through them gently.
He"d try to control the energy inside a blade of gra.s.s next to him to no avail. In fact, John had tried many experiments since he discovered that the energy seemed connected to him. Including trying to aid in Franklin"s training but all attempts failed to have any effect. John would be pulling out his hair if he had any.
John could somehow sense a vague feeling of respect from the nearby plants. Of course, they didn"t have sentience, so it"s hard to say what they felt. It was the first time in his life he felt someone or something respecting him. He felt like a king looking over his subjects.
"Brumph," the bull snorts at the bush. For some reason, he felt like it needs to be taken down a peg. "What how dare you say I look gross. I"m a majestic ruler of plants, a grand bush!" John retorts as he sent sparkles from his leaves.
Joe looks with disgust at the stupid plant. He chomps down on some weeds near him. With big mouth movements, he smugly looks at the plant as he eats its subjects. "Yeah, you showed me. No one thought that the big fat bull could eat." John says sarcastically.
In the Sunny Spring sect, Rosie Fire is painstakingly practicing her surgery technique on a dummy, created by her master. She has a book next to her with healing techniques. Every day Rosie would practice these medical techniques. She"d chased her dream to this small sect to become the apprentice of Catherine Lighthands.
The room is well lit by illumination inscriptions, three desks, and operating tables align the walls. They are used by the three apprentices of Catherine. However one has dust from long neglect. The desk only has a few oddities and a book on Treasure Zones.
Rosie"s short red hair was plastered to her head with sweat. She wore a thick pair of gla.s.ses. These gla.s.ses were often worn by apprentice healers with lower cultivation. They have a zoom functionality allowing the user to see even the smallest of veins. They also show energies the user may not have been able to see at their current cultivation stage.
Kendra Star a fellow, apprentice walks in her long golden hair flowing behind her. She has penetrating blue eyes almost looking like crystals. Her eyes were a great boon for healing. She didn"t have to wear bulky gla.s.ses like Rosie.
"No Elanor again?" She asks Rosie as she put down her books at her desk. "What do you think?" Rosie responded sarcastically without looking up.
"I don"t know why master just lets her do whatever she wants," Kendra grumbles as she opens one of her books. "It"s not our place to question her. At least we get more attention thanks to her absence." Rosie says as she finally finishes her work.
At that exact moment, the doors fling open. A bouncing curvaceous woman whose outfit is as colorful as a rainbow barges into the room. The three apprentices of Catherine, couldn"t be more contrasting. With the grimy hard-working Rosie with her plain clothes, the talented, well-kempt and majestic Kendra, and the well endowed, vibrant adventurer Elanor.
"Is master around?" Elanor asks her two fellow apprentices with a bright smile. Sighing Rosie responds, "She should be in her study." Kendra closes her book loudly and accusingly says, "Shouldn"t you do some work before bothering our master again?"
Elanor rubs her head awkwardly, "you know I"m not good with this stuff. I"ll just leave it to smart people." Kendra"s eyes flash with anger, "humph you"re just lazy. You always have some excuse to ditch lessons."
"Ha, ha, you caught me," Elanor responds with an upbeat att.i.tude turning to leave. Kendra nearly threw her precious book at the oblivious woman in rage. Rosie couldn"t be bothered to join in on this repeating farce as she cleans up her works.p.a.ce.
Catherine Lighthands is a woman, with gray hair and light wrinkles. She sits in her lounge sighing as she thought of her troubled apprentice. She"d only taken her in because she was friends with her mother in her youth. Now the girl only returns when she was hurt or needs creams to cover up scars.
"If the girl only put a fraction of the effort she puts into treasure hunting into studying." She laments shaking her head. "Oh, speak of the devil!" Catherine says sensing Elanor coming down the hall. "She"s more lively than usual." Normally she"d be limping and crying, worrying about scars.
Elanor stops in front of the door and straightens out her clothes, before knocking. "Come in." She hears her master from the other side of the door. She then enters the room with a bright smile. "Master you"re looking great today!"
Catherine immediately frowns, "what do you want now. You know flattery like that doesn"t work on me. What do I always say about looks?" Elanor pauses in her steps. "Um, I believe you said that a healer shouldn"t hide their age. Since a patient prefers age over beauty in their time of need?" She answers scrunching her nose and furrowing her, brow as if she needs the use of every brain cell.
"That"s right," Catherine nods sternly, "So don"t waste my time with drivel." Elanor smiles, awkwardly as if she"d just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Master you jest. It"s not like I only come here to ask for stuff." She says clapping her hands in a gracious way. "I also enjoy your company. Your vast wisdom inspires me to even greater feats!" Elanor says while shoving her fist in the air.