Moving

A few weeks passed since Shui became Nikolai's disciple, but he was strolling around Cyrus in broad daylight. He now had a one-star saint body and if he focused, he could draw basic inscriptions mentally, but not quick enough to be useful in battle. He was also in the third level in the Mortal Realm but none of this solved his current issue.

"To think he would have such a fragile ego."

It was only once, one time when Shui took a break from cultivating to read a few books on arrays, Nikolai came to him. Although he seemed to be diligently reading, Nikolai didn't know that Shui had already memorised these books in the Primordial Library. He, thinking that he would be a good master and help him with his studies, gave him a question related to the books he was reading.

The question was so easy to him that without thinking, Shui answered it, but his response was so good that Nikolai had to take a moment to comprehend it and realise that it was right. When he saw the shock on Nikolai's face, Shui realised that he had screwed up and waited for him to ask another question so he could say the wrong answer but Nikolai hadn't talked to him since. It didn't affect his training, but it did provide a slight worry for him.

"Boss!"

While on a stroll, Shui suddenly heard someone rushing towards him. Without even looking, he knew who it was so he stopped and waited for him.

"Hey, it's been a while."

Tin, looking refreshed despite the bandages on his face and limbs, came to Shui's side. Since Tin was more beat up than he expected him to be, Shui asked with curiosity,"What's wrong with you? How come you're getting beat up so bad?"

"Ah, well, the guys didn't really like how I stopped listening to them so..."

Tin rubbed his head and tried not to be bothered by it, but Shui was genuinely surprised by his choice.

"That's surprising, I thought you would go back to being their dog after I stopped coming."

Unlike before, even though Shui called him a dog Tin didn't argue; he even walked forward while lowering his head.

"Yeah, I thought about it, but after seeing you beat those guys, I wasn't afraid of them anymore. I tried focusing on my cultivation so I could beat them too, but it hasn't really been working out."

Tin tried to play it off as nothing, but it was still obvious that he was depressed that his training wasn't paying off. Shui used to think of him as some brat without a backbone, but this side of him changed his mind. During this trial, Shui was focused on getting stronger so he could handle whatever was thrown at him, but he thought it would be fine if he lended a hand.

Shui went in front of Tin and placed two of his fingers on his forehead for about two seconds before removing them.

"Did you get that?"

"This, that was a-"

"Shhh. Let's make it a secret between you and me."

Shui showed Tin a playful smile after Tin realised what he was just given. Shui had transferred his knowledge of a cultivation method that he believed would fit Tin perfectly. Tin couldn't even begin to guess how Shui had this cultivation method, all that came to mind was how grateful he was for being given the chance to get stronger.

"Thank you so much!"

After parting from Tin, Shui returned to Nikolai's mansion to cultivate. These days, he would make sure to take care of at least one scummy person connected to the Wright family during his nightly hunting. However, they were also becoming more wary of him so they started going home in groups. And so, in order to beat this group system, Shui knew he couldn't slack off. He had even taken a small amount of his time to absorb solar essence at noon, even though it wasn't much. In order to reach the next stage in the World Assimilation Art, he needed to absorb a certain amount of essence from three different types. He had already absorbed enough essence from humans but still lacked a lot from the moon and sun.

On his way to his cultivation room, Shui spotted Emily scratching her head while sitting down and reading a book. He had always wanted to ask her about the Still Heart state, so he took this oppurtunity to talk with her.

"Hey."

She jumped when he called her, but then swiftly turned around and glared at him.

"What do you want?"

"I should be asking you that. You need some help?"

"Hmph, like I would ask for help from you."

Emily seemed determined to act defiant but Shui wouldn't give up from just this.

"Then how about this? Let's make a deal."

She didn't respond to him but her silent gaze told him to continue.

"I'll answer your questions if you tell me about the Still Heart state. Deal?"

Emily looked back and forth between the book and Shui before nodding.

Shui said, "You ask first."

"Okay. I can only find four types of arrays in this book, but Master says there are six."

"Oh, the beginner books only tell you about the common ones. There are actually seven types of arrays: support, offensive, defensive, specialised, ritual, imaginary and foundational. Of them the foundational arrays were only seen during the Age of Gods and Divine Uprising so you probably won't find any books talking about them."

"Oh. Can you explain the ritual, imaginary and foundational arrays?"

"Sure. Ritual arrays are like specialised arrays except they're less precise and mainly work by providing an offering to a designated higher being and hoping that they respond. You can use it to cause phenomenon above your own power, but since its not dependable and a lot of ritual arrays use living sacrifices it's not very popular. Imaginary arrays work by combining the laws of the real world to the manufactured laws of someone else. These ones are really similar to cornas because with imaginary arrays, since the user is also a variable in the operation of the array, it can have a variety of effects based on who activates it. As for foundational arrays, you probably won't see one but just know that these arrays are on a higher level than the rest and were basically what the gods used to perform miracles that weren't under their Authority."

Shui was well aware that what he was teaching her was above what Nikolai could, but at his point he wasn't even worried that he might get banished from being his disciple. Shui had already tinkered with every array in the house so this mansion was basically his by now. He couldn't construct arrays, but now that his soul was strong enough, tweaking them was possible.

"Is that all? Then it's my turn."

"Okay, but I can't explain it very well."

"That's fine."

While trying to restrain his eagerness, Shui listened closely to Emily.

"Although I can enter that state at will, it only lasts for ten minutes at a time, and I haven't mastered it either."

"That's fine, I just want to know how you do it."

"Okay. When I want to enter it..."

"Go on." Shui said while beside himself with anticipation.

"I focus really hard on a task."

Shui waited for her to continue, but she didn't say anything else.

"That's it?"

"Yeah. If I enter it without any specific task then I can only stay in it for less than half the usual time."

'Damn prodigy!'

Shui could tell that she was being completely honest with her answer but that only made it worse. He could understand how focusing hard could unlock the Still Heart state, but if it was that easy he wouldn't be having any problems.

'I should have seen this coming.'

Although he wasn't sure if Nikolai could enter the Still Heart state at will as well, it wouldn't make sense for her family to allow her to leave if they could learn how to enter the Still Heart state from her. Especially since they were of high status in the place she came from.

"Well, thanks I guess."

"Yeah, Master asked me the same question once but for some reason he was really depressed afterwards."

"Is that so."

On this day, for the first time in a while, Shui went home. He had already told his big sisters that he was Nikolai's disciple so they reluctantly allowed him to sleep over there, but he had to occassionally come back home.

That night, when Shui was in his bedroom, Ali and Sally visited him.

"Shui, are you up?" Ali asked.

He was actually thinking about the hunt he would do so he was wide awake.

"Yeah, what is it?"

The two girls looked at each other before nodding and Sally spoke to him.

"We want your help."

Shui wasn't sure what his big sisters wanted from him, but he sat up and paid attention to their words. They wanted Shui's help in persuading Jeanne to leave Cyrus. Shui knew that Trey wanted to bring Jeanne back to his hometown but she was stubbornly refusing. When they reminded him of this, Shui thought about it for a moment and agreed with mixed feelings.

His emotional side that had experienced this life, didn't want to be parted from any of them, but his logical side had no intention of humoring that thought. What he had been doing so far was mostly harassment to the Wright family, but once he didn't have to fear anyone under Soul Realm, he planned on bringing it to a higher level. This revenge was his and his alone, and so in the case that they somehow found out his true identity, he couldn't have any weaknesses for them to take advantage of.