Time Flew By

A month had passed. Joe and Amelia had been spending this time wisely, with Amelia slowly absorbing the knowledge in the Scriptures, and Joe learning from a trainer.

The training was also a part of Joe's reward, paid for by Katto and the woman he worked for.

"Come on now Joe! Hurry up and gather those elements!"

The voice belonged to Arkan, standing in front of Joe, who was gathering elements. He had been told to gather multiple elements at once, to strengthen his control.

Several minutes passed by, with next to nothing happening. Joe suddenly let out a deep breath, before sinking downwards.

"I can't do it Arkan. It's like I'm playing a complicated piano piece."

"Don't worry Joe! That's normal! This also strengthens your control of your body too. Double benefits don't you think?"

Arkan attempted to cheer up Joe while the latter put on a wry smile.

"I don't think it'll work out. My potential value is low all the same, so I'd say the most I can get to is low Great Mage."

Arkan put on a bitter smile.

"Come on now, cheer up. You shouldn't get down. I'll have you know, the Wizard path is nearly limitless. I heard that, once you become a Sage, it's the end of the road for everyone. But, since Sages can control every element upon their sublimation, they use the spatial element to compress their memories, stopping them from bursting out of the confines of their minds."

Joe's smile turned from wry to joyful in but a second. He stood up, with renewed hope, and spoke to Arkan enthusiastically.

"Well let's give this control thing another try shall we?"

…

An hour passed before Joe's mental power was exhausted. Arkan spoke to Joe, exhausted on the ground.

"Well Joe, I'm sorry to say this, but your free rent ends here. The people who paid for your stay aren't here to renew your credit, so you're gonna have to pay on your own from now on. You'll have to head to the lobby to get some work to do."

Arkan spoke slightly sternly, before turning around.

"Of course, that also means this training is no longer on the house. You'll have to pay me if you want anymore."

Arkan turned around with a slight smile. He waved at him.

"I'll be seeing you. You ought to head back to your room now."

Joe nodded before turning his head and standing up. He left the underground training room before heading to the elevator and inputting his floor number.

'Sages use their power of spatial manipulation to stop their Wisdom from bursting out. Huh. Can I do that too once I reach my limit?'

About a month had passed, and Joe had already gotten a good understanding of the powers on the Artificial Continent. The Cultivator Union and the Wizard Assembly were the strongest powers on the Continent. They were not specifically hostile, but there were occasional resource disputes.

There were the occasional factions that split off from the main factions and rebelling, however. An example of one of these factions would be the Immoral Wizard faction. Most, were wiped out quickly, except those with exceptional strength.

Cultivators referred to the kinds of cultivators who used spiritual energy, and those people who often vomited blood in Xianxia novels.

Wizards however, were a whole different bunch. There was nothing Joe knew that were similar to them, other than those martial arts in Xianxia, where you had to be a eunuch to cultivate them.

Wizards focused on purity of the mind and body, to harmonize with heaven and earth, and manipulate the elements. External and Internal Wizards focused on the mind and body respectively.

Upon inquiring more about the Continent's history, he learned some more as well. Wizards and Cultivators used to live in harmony and secrecy on Earth, but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. A great war broke out, and there were many casualties on both sides before a last ditch effort was made.

A Wizard above the Saint level made a move, sacrificing his body and soul to heaven and earth, to turn back time to before the Fire Nation attacked. The people's memories remained, and so, several Perfected Immortals that remained on the Cultivator side decided to make a move for the furthering of humanity.

The Perfected Immortals gathered the Saint realm Wizards, while the Perfected Immortals gathered earth and dust from space, while the Saints shaped it into an artificial continent. It was a tough job, but after several weeks, it was complete.

Once the structure was complete, the Saint realm Wizards used the spatial element to squeeze the Artificial Continent into a pocket dimension they made. However, this wouldn't stop the Fire Nation from attacking.

They knew the Fire Nation was after resources, so they deported the elements and spiritual energy on Earth.

Gathering all the elements on Earth, they squeezed it down on the Artificial Continent's pocket space, before the elements engulfed the place. However, there was not enough elements for the entire continent, so the remaining Saints used their life to speed up time to encourage the breeding of the elements.

The remaining Perfected Immortals immigrated all Wizards and Cultivators into the Artificial Continent, before the Fire Nation attacked.

Fast forwarding several centuries later, the Fire Nation had begun to invade once more, resulting in the decreasing amount of Saint level experts. There were no details on the Fire Nation, nor how the war went however.

Joe had reached his room now, and walked inside. Amelia was there, sitting on the bed. The Wizards had moved in another one, as it would be awkward and dangerous sleeping in the same bed.

'It would probably be a lot more expensive getting a whole new room for her...'

Joe thought in his head.

She had reached the basic Wizard stage. Joe gave her some Wisdom increasing fruits to increase her realm to the point of the foundational Wizard stage. She had gained a basic fire element, and had already reached the Third Compression.

She was reading Vol. 2 of the Virginity Scripture since she had already become a Wizard. The second volume was much thicker than the last, and so this book should take much longer to read through.

"Hello Amelia. It seems our rent free days are over. Arkan just told me our credit ran out, so we're going to have to take on some tasks to continue staying here."

She merely nodded at him, before turning away to study the book. Joe sighed before assessing his own level of power.

He still only had his Second Compression complete, partially due to the scarcity of the space element. He completed his Second Compression after returning, but he could still barely gather any elements.

Even after an entire month, he had only gathered three particles, only enough to sit at the bottom of his heart. His Wisdom had increased to a 52 after the month. He got the extra points from eating the leftover fruits that Amelia didn't eat.

Joe sighed once more before laying down on his bed. Amelia only glanced at him for a second before turning back to her book. Joe went to sleep with the light on for Amelia's reading.

…

When Joe woke up, he saw Amelia hugging the book in her sleep, before getting up. He walked over to Amelia's bedside before shaking her.

"Wake up. We've got things to do today."

Joe sounded quite groggy since he had just woken up. Amelia tumbled around in her sleep a bit before grumbling at Joe.

"Can't we go later? I wanna sleep some more..."

Joe's dazed expression slowly became serious before he replied sternly.

"No, we can't. We might just get evicted if we don't accept some kind of task before afternoon."

Of course, Joe didn't really know if they would get evicted in the afternoon, but it still got Amelia up. They then both walked over to the bathroom, did their business inside, and walked out slightly fresher than before.

The two of them walked into the elevator, inputted the lobby floor, and walked out. They walked to the lobby as per Arkan's instructions and spoke to the receptionist.

"Where can we get some work to do?"

The receptionist, whose name he'd heard was Josh, pointed him toward the door behind him. After thanking him, the two of them walked over to the back door before pushing it open.

Rather than a brightly decorated hotel, the room seemed more like a dark castle. The hall had brick walls, with little ventilation. They walked down the hall, and into a large room.

The room had a wooden board with several people, seemingly receptionists, standing nearby. The wooden board had several papers on them.

Joe and Amelia approached the board and took a look at the papers.