Chapter 61: Breakthrough cultivation & meeting old friend
Waking up on the morning of the new day, Rain stretched and was about to get out of bed as usual, but he felt an inexplicable strength in his whole body. His body seemed lighter, and his movements were no longer restricted.
Chasing away the remnants of sleep and focusing on the changes in him, Rain realized that he had broken through to the next stage!
Now he was no longer in the Spiritual Adept realm, but had advanced to the Inner Balance Expert realm!
However, there was something that was stressing Rain out.
The day before, he hadn't done anything to increase his cultivation. No, he hadn't cultivated at all since coming to this world, as it required time, and due to the constant events, Rain didn't have any.
People could spend years to break through from the Spiritual Adept stage to the Inner Balance Expert stage. Even Rain with his talent, without the help of the system, needed at least a month to do so.
But now he was suddenly, overnight, able to make a breakthrough without any repercussions?
Rain was pleased as much as wary.
[You can thank Aelorian for that. During the night, your body finally assimilated the life force she gave you, allowing you to break through.]
Hearing the system, Rain immediately focused on himself to feel the change from yesterday.
Soon he actually found that the life force that had been bubbling and overflowing through his body, literally overflowing over the edge, now diminished and became calm.
That life force had helped him more than once yesterday, so Rain was a little sorry that the breakthrough had consumed most of it, but he recognized that it had been worth it, for strength was paramount.
'And yet, it's still hard to believe that there's such a cultivation method.'
[As I said before, people usually have a limit to what they can absorb, so they can't use this path. But your body doesn't seem to have this disadvantage and can absorb this life force without limit.]
Besides the system's words, there was something else that made Rain clench his fists in excitement.
Despite the abrupt breakthrough to the next realm, his foundation was completely stable!
Rain hadn't increased his cultivation before because the system had warned him that even with her help, any sudden increase in his cultivation would take time to stabilize.
But now he was able to easily bypass that restriction? How valuable was this opportunity?
The corners of Rain's lips crept upward as a wide smile appeared on his face.
'Aelorian won't be restoring that energy anytime soon, which means...'
"Nari, which of the elves has the largest reserve of life energy?"
[...usually the more talented, stronger and older an elf is, the more life energy they can gather and store within themselves. As far as I know, there is no one who has surpassed the Elf Queen in this at this time.]
"I'll have to ask Aelorian to introduce us."
Rain checked the state of his cultivation once more, sitting down on the bed and starting to circulate energy in his body, and soon received another piece of good news.
Not only had he broken through to the Inner Balance Expert stage, he also felt that he didn't have much left before breaking through to the Ethereal Disciple stage, where he would be able to condense and transform his internal energy into ether, giving him another significant leap in combat power.
Feeling unusually satisfied, Rain dressed quickly and left his room.
It was now morning and soon it was time to head off to the academy, but before that Rain had one more thing to do.
'I'll be a bad nephew if I don't visit my aunt after all this time.'
Rain thought, heading straight for Celestia's office. He had many vivid memories of their first meeting, so Rain perfectly remembered the way to her office.
Stepping out into the hallway that would lead him to her, Rain raised his eyebrows slightly.
'What's he doing here?'
Outside Celestia's office, Rain noticed a familiar face that belonged to her obese husband, Kevin.
Kevin stood next to the door and stomped in place as his hand went up to knock several times, but just as quickly came down.
With curiosity, Rain stepped closer and found Kevin holding a sealed envelope in his hand.
Kevin didn't notice the young man as his mind was in a state of confusion at that moment.
'I'm obliged to give it to her, but how do I do it?'
Kevin frowned at the door in front of him that separated him from his wife.
'It feels like ever since the day that brat Rain convinced me not to go see Celestia, she's been even colder to me and looking at me with complete indifference.'
Kevin raised his hand again to knock on the door.
'Maybe I shouldn't have turned back then and should have just stood my ground... No! What the hell are you thinking?! My safety always comes first! What would I have done if she'd actually beaten me up then?'
Shuddering at the thought of it, Kevin thanked his foresight. But it made his desire to knock on the door even lower.
"Do you need help?"
Shaking slightly in surprise, Kevin turned around at the voice and saw the young man.
"I can give this to Aunt Celestia."
Rain offered, glancing at the envelope in his hands.
Rain had already guessed from his demeanor why Kevin had come here and was willing to gladly ease his burden by taking on both this envelope and his wife.
Although Kevin had mixed emotions about the young man, he didn't like him overall, especially now that he saw his face with the faint smile on it. But the desire to get this case over with as soon as possible tempted him to hand Rain the ill-fated envelope.
Seeing that Kevin was still struggling with himself, Rain added.
"I'll be sure to tell Aunt that it was you who asked me to pass this on."
That proved to be the last straw for Kevin, whereupon he quickly shoved an envelope into Rain's hands and warned him.
"This needs to be given to her by tomorrow."
Having said that, he was relieved and walked away from that dangerous place.
Forgetting about Kevin at once, Rain knocked on the door, not wanting to delay it for a second. But his knock was only echoed down the hallway.
Rain knocked a couple more times and, when nothing changed, turned the knob and stepped inside.
Neither her butler Ekos nor Celestia herself were in the office.
Her office was still strictly decorated, which in Rain's opinion didn't really fit with her kind and somewhat naive personality.
His gaze immediately fell on the luxurious sofa upholstered in expensive fabric, which had recently been drenched in his white paint, but had now returned to its original red color.
'She cleaned the place up pretty good after last time.'
Rain sat down imperiously on that couch, wondering when Celestia should return.
"Since she's agreed to be my woman, she should be fine with me waiting for her right here."