Level 1

Just over four hours passed before Mateus awakened from his meditation. With his Skill at following his chosen Cultivation Method at Level 50, he had essentially been given enough years worth of experience with the Essence of Water to qualify as an expert.

So, when Mateus checked his Status...

[!Status!

Name: Mateus

Level: 0 (1/6)

Cultivation: None

Class: Triple System Water Cultivator

Stats:

Strength: 10 → 12

Vitality: 10 → 12

Constitution: 10 → 12

Agility: 10 → 12

Energy Quality: 13.2 → 15.2

Energy Control: 10 → 12

Energy Reserves: 330/330]

"Hahaha..." Mateus laughed maniacally to himself as he swelled with self pride.

In less than a quarter of a day, he had cultivated his Stats to the point where he could perform a breakthrough at a whim, without a chance of failing nor ruining his foundation. It was insane, unnatural, evil, and against all logic…

"Beyond Demonic indeed," Mateus snorted mirthfully as he began to disrobe.

Cultivation breakthroughs tended to be rather nasty when one had yet to develop the magical abilities to disintegrate the foul impurities being refined out of one's body during the process. Thus, Mateus took off his casual and plain black robe, but kept his short pants and underwear on.

He initiated his breakthrough event by channeling his plentiful, albeit rudimentary, energy through his body and began integrating it with his skin.

As the purpose of the Mortal Realm laid with building a body suitable for higher levels of energy cultivation, for inborn human bodies simply couldn't handle the stress, the way to cultivate the Stages was by refining out as many impurities in one's body from its outermost layer inward; hence Mateus' inclination with integrating energy into his skin — the literal outermost layer of his body.

Apart from extracting impurities and molding one's body closer to the ideal of perfection, the Mortal Stage served more imminent benefits. For one, the simple act of clearing any impurity would make one's body more conductive to their energy. Mateus' control wouldn't necessarily increase without his Energy Control Stat increasing, but the speed that he could summon said energy and make use of it certainly one.

Beyond that, the completion of the Mortal Stage would highlight the importance of building a solid foundation right from the start of one's journey through cultivation. However, Mateus wouldn't have to worry about that until he reached Level 5 and stood at the peak phase of the Mortal Stage.

Currently, he was grinning inwardly after breaking his concentration for the slightest instance to look at his outstretched finger. Beneath it, a small pool of foul smelling black goop was collecting as Mateus's proficiency in the Essence of Water Cultivation Method had reached a point where he could ascribe the properties of Water to his rudimentary energy source.

By making the energy he integrated throughout his body "impurity-soluble," he could effectively dissolve the impurities into his excess quantities of energy and guide them through the meridian pathways in his body without consequence. Guiding them to his finger tip, he didn't have to worry about the impurities being refined through all the pores in his body; making them come out like black, tar-like sweat everywhere…

"I can't even begin to imagine how big of a mess that would be to clean up," Mateus muttered to himself as he felt like he had dodged a bullet for some inexplicable reason.

He shook off any distracting thought and continued his breakthrough event to his conclusion.

[!Alert!

Breakthrough Detected

Level: 0 (1/6) → Level: 1 (1/6)

Cultivation: None → Beginner Phase Mortal]

'Great, I just need to do that four more times and I'll be done with the Mortal Stage,' Mateus thought as he washed his hands in the sink he'd been dumping and draining out the impurities being refined out of his body.

'It sure is convenient that this science-lab-esque table sink just so happened to be installed here...' Mateus shrugged his shoulders as he ensured his hands were scrubbed beyond the point of questioning their cleanliness.

He walked over to the room's appraisal mirror and placed his hand on its surface.

"Cultivation Base Detected… Calculating… Calcula… Cal…" For a second, Mateus thought his mirror might have been bust, but then it suddenly began to write again, "Energy Signature: Derived From The Essense Of Water Cultivation Method… Quality: Outstanding (Comparable To Average Martial Warrior As A Mortal)... Talent: Beyond Array Appraisal."

"Outstanding? Beyond Appraisal?" Mateus hummed, "I like the sound of that."

"Seriously, kid, are you sure you came from a secular background?" Monte somehow found his way behind Mateus without his knowledge again. "Beyond Demonic Affinity for all the Elements, and now you perform outstandingly as a Triple System Cultivator. You're already more than living up to all my expectations."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Mateus hissed under his breath. He did not like the feeling Monte "gifted" every time he nearly scared him out of his mind.

"Now you just need to finish the final Assessment and we can be on our merry way as master and disciple," Monte posed by pointing his finger at Mateus.

"There's more?" Mateus muttered as he tried to recall what else the Ephemeral Slipstream Sect might want to test him for.

"Of course!" Monte changed poses, "Cultivation alone can only take you so far. Even the most talented cultivators can't just passively cultivate to reach immortality! I mean, really, can you imagine being locked up in a room for all your life just to have the smallest chance at attaining immortality?"

Monte failed to wait for Mateus to answer, "Of course not! No normal person could live like that, if it could even be called living in the first place. Listen, the name of the game for cultivation," Monte gave Mateus a pat on the shoulder and looked him right in the eyes seriously, "lies on being proactive."

"You don't just sit down on any random patch of dirt and cultivate for all your life! Instead, you search for the best damned environment. Even then, you don't just stop at optimizing your environment. You have to make use of all the resources available to you, and to do that," Monte grinned, "you must be able to get them in the first place, and know how to use them."

"Ok?" Mateus obviously didn't follow.

"To get more cultivation resources, you will need to fight more often than not," Monte continued. "In a certain sense Cultivation is more about fighting than actually cultivating, since you'll pretty much be fighting against everyone. You'll be competing against fellow disciples within the Sect, and everyone else beyond the walls of our heartland."

"So, the next test is about testing my aptitude for Martial Arts or something?"

"Bingo! It will test your aptitude for Martial Arts as well as which Secondary Occupation will best suit you."