Tempering the Soul

Shui stood in the centre of the room and began.

"From top to bottom, harmonization, protection, concealment, protection, spirit gathering, protection, reflection, recovery....."

As Shui started listing out terms, the core students were confused but that didn't stop them from laughing at whatever he was doing. Emily was also confused at first, but as she listened to him, her eyes went wide in surprise. The array master was the first one to realize what he was doing and nodded approvingly.

"...protection, levitation."

"Well done, well done! To think I would find two gems on this one trip. It seems I won't have to worry about having a successor. Come here and tell me your name child."

"It's Shui."

While watching Shui, who went by the side of Emily, who looked like she ate something bitter, the three core students were in shock. So much so that one of them forgot who they were facing.

"What?! I can't accept this! How can you choose him instead of me?!"

Although the core students agreed with him, as they saw the smile on the array master's face turn into a frown, the other two core students slowly backed away.

"You dare question me. Who do you think you are! Emily can enter the Still Heart state at will, and Shui named every array engraved on my personal items, what can you do? Do you think your age and cultivation qualifies you to be my disciple more than them?"

Immediately after his outburst, the student regretted his decision, but now he could only awkwardly stand there as the array master denounced him. His explanation made them realize how stupid they were for not seeing why Shui was chosen, but it was too late for that.

Once he saw that all of them understood how foolish they were, he motioned for them to leave with his hand and sighed as they quickly escaped.

"Really, who taught those three. Not even able to see that much."

Both Emily and Shui could understand how the array master felt because they had the same thoughts. However, in Shui's case, it would be hard for anyone to replicate his feat. If he had his soul cultivation then it would be easy to look at the array structures, but Shui had to rely on a more difficult method. He read the flow of energy around the array master by concentrating his martial intent on his senses, which made him more attuned to the natural environment. He basically never had to use it in his original body, but he was familiar enough with it to use it here.

The man looked at Emily and Shui and continued.

"You should already know this but I am Nikolai Nien of the Staile clan, ninth on the Alterna Array Master Minor Ranking. From now on, the two of you can call me Master."

Shui only knew that an array master would be here to pick a disciple so the fact that he had a prestigious title was an unexpected plus. Even if it was only a minor ranking that didn't include array masters who could form arrays powerful enough to affect Sky Realm experts.

After he introduced himself, the two children went down on one knee and paid their respects.

"I am grateful to be under Master's tutelege."

"Good. Stand up and receive this gift."

Both of them got on their feet and put on the light-blue silk coat that Nikolai handed to them. The coats were baggy at first, but once they put it on it shrunk to match their body size. On the upper left part of the coat, there was a drawing of a small spirit gathering array behind a five-pointed star. This array didn't actually work but there was a hidden functioning one engraved on the coat.

"Shall we head to my residence to begin your studies?"

Shui and Emily then followed behind Nikolai as he left the school and arrived at a majestic building that was nearby. He told them that it was a gift so it was even more impressive that it was given to him. There were no servants inside the building because Nikolai could maintain the state of the house with arrays and only ate occasionally. However, Shui and Emily wouldn't have to worry about food since their coat alone would allow them to eat anywhere they wanted for free.

After talking with them and getting a better understanding of their abilities, Nikolai gave his instructions.

"Emily, you have a lot of potential but lack knowledge, so for now I'll focus on teaching you arrays and the requisite theory."

Emily tried to hide it but it was obvious to anyone that she didn't like the sound of having the study, still she obediently nodded.

"Shui, honestly, your knowledge of arrays is almost as good as mine. To find the notes of a deceased array master, your luck is truly astonishing! For now, you can just continue cultivating and reviewing using the books in my library. When you've reached the peak of Mortal Realm I'll start helping you get some hands-on practice."

Although it was a bit unbelievable, by purposefully acting like he only had a surface understanding of most arrays Shui explained that his knowledge of arrays came from the notes of a deceased expert that he coincidentally found when he was little. Since Shui didn't mention anything surprising, Nikolai only had a faint interest in this deceased expert's notes. And even if he asked for them, Shui could simply say that it got too tattered over the years and that he would need to rewrite the content that he remembered.

Shui didn't want to show off so much of his knowledge at first, but the benefits he got from doing so made it up to him. Nikolai led him to a room with a spirit gathering array and heaven and earth harmonization array along with a space expansion bag containing spirit gems.

"Use it as you see fit."

Shui now had two entire arrays to himself so he was naturally very happy. Since he recently entered the second level in the Mortal Realm, he took some time to consolidate his cultivation. After doing so, instead of taking advantage of his new environment to cultivate further, Shui chose to train something else. Although he was gaining awareness of the rich transcendent force inside of him, without a certain level of physical training he wouldn't be able to properly breakthrough to one-star saint body. And so, it was time for him to focus on the last aspect of his cultivation.

Shui settled his nerves, regulated his breathing and began drawing the basic inscription of 'Light' in his mind. Outside the trial, Shui could instantly draw this level of inscriptions mentally, but now he was struggling to do even a single line. However the purpose of doing this wasn't to complete the inscription, but to temper his soul by enduring the heavy drain on his mind from trying to draw it.

Since he couldn't rely on spontaneous enlightenment to reach nebula one-star, he had to temper his soul to make it stronger. However, if he was careless while doing this, it could result in him overdrawing on his soul and end up mentally crippled, so this method had some risk associated with it. But the risk wasn't enough for him to give up on improving his strength.

"I, guess that's enough, for now."

When it was the evening, Shui was so exhausted that he could barely keep his eyes open. He then took advantage of the comforting feeling provided by the arrays in the room to relieve his mental fatigue before stepping out. He went to report to Nikolai that he was done for the day, but he was told that he could manage his own practice. Despite her young age, Emily was already in the fifth level in the Mortal Realm so Nikolai was planning on getting her up to acceptable standards first before helping Shui. However, since Shui was the one with worse talent it would make more sense if he was the one given a higher priority.

As a teacher, it was a bad decision, but since this was his first time and he didn't need help, Shui simply tied it up to his own luck. He had people who would worry about him, so Shui went home for the day. He didn't want them to feel like they had to throw another feast for the second day in a row, so Shui took off his coat and hid it in the space expansion bag that he got.