Johnny's Potential

"Alright then, now that that is out of the way let's talk about that boy you brought back. Firstly, I will say that from now on you can't just bring back anyone to the Garden, okay? Only if you can fully trust them and treat them as family, alright? Once you reach second tier you will unlock the clan building sector that I installed to teach you about your future responsibilities, so those ordinary people that you trust and want to make your subordinates will go there only. Only close family will be taught by me and your mother, the rest you will have to teach yourselves. Also, you can only use the resources you get by yourselves, in other words you can't use the techniques from the library but you can use the herbs and fruits you farm yourself in the agriculture hall. You should have Delilah admit herself into the system in the cultivation rooms main formation and then she will be able to open the room since she has already reached the second tier. Now then, you should bring that Johnathan boy here so I can check his body and start his actual training!"

"But dad he's just been through a traumatic experience, are you really going to train him already? Shouldn't we at least let him grieve for longer?"

"No, currently he's lost in his own pessimistic thoughts. You need to bring him out of the pit of despair that he is probably in. Furthermore, I'm only going to check his elemental affinities, choose a cultivation technique and then cleanse his bodies of impurities for now. None of it is taxing work, and in fact the cleansing is really relaxing instead. Showing him a future were something like that will never happen to him again is better than letting him wallow in his sorrows. Okay?"

"Hmm, I guess that does make sense. Okay, I'll go bring him here!"

"And I'll go admit myself to the system like uncle said."

Lucius and Delilah left the Arena, both heading in separate directions from each other. Lucius reached the nursery and knocked on Johns door. He didn't really know what to say but he knew he wanted to look John in the eyes when he said it. Soon after, John opened the door thinking it was Delilah with his meals but instead was surprised to see Lucius. To Lucius' surprise he immediately ran up and hugged him with all his strength. Lucius was prepared to be scolded, sworn at or even attacked but he didn't expect to be hugged.

"You're okay! Thank God! I was so worried when you were asleep for so long. Even Big sis Delilah said she couldn't help you so I was worried you wouldn't wake up again."

"It's okay Johnny, I was only sleeping because I reached a breakthrough in my body cultivation so it took some time to re-forge my body. B-but Johnny, aren't you mad at me? I failed to save uncle Jack and aunt Milly"

"No, it's not your fault big bro, it's my fault for being so slow. If I had reached you quicker they might have survived!"

"No! You can't blame yourself Johnny! It's my fault for letting that bastard prince and his lackeys go with a light beating. If I had killed them the first time then they wouldn't have plotted to kill you and your family."

"Haha, if you say it like that then it's our fault for letting my sister get away with everything. Big sis Delilah told me that she found records that that retched sister of mine had helped set up the poison and everything so that her husband could kill us all and take your riches. She was so jealous of you big bro, it's so stupid."

"Jealous? What an idiot, if she was nice to me like you and your parents I would have helped her willingly. I could have brought you all to the peak of the universe with me. What a shame! But John, we can't be hung up on what ifs. Come with me, my father will test your body for your affinities and pick out a cultivation technique for you. Once you start training under my father, you won't have to worry about protecting anyone in the future!"

"Okay, I'll follow big bro. My parents would've wanted for me to become stronger. I'm going to make them proud!"

The duo then made their way to the cultivation room were Delilah was currently at. The test for elemental affinities would be done in a side room in the cultivation hall. Delilah had already finished signing in to the Gardens main formation so she followed them into the room, patting Johnny's head on the way. Over the five days that Lucius was asleep, Delilah cooked and cleaned for Johnny. She also listened to his stories and his crying, hugging him and consoling him through the grief he was feeling. She had then gave him a basic introduction to the Garden and where he was and who Lucius and Delilah were.

When the trio got to the side room, Orion was waiting on the side of a formation that was spread out in the centre of the room. It was multicoloured in a spiral manner as opposed to a rainbow manner. It was almost hypnotising as it sucked in ones gaze and attention. It was like an optical illusion as although the formation was stationary, the trio felt that it was spinning. John looked to Orion and admired his great figure and handsome visage. He was surprised again and again by the beauty of the people in the Garden. He stumbled awkwardly and bowed to him, showing his respect for his elders.

"Hahaha, you don't need to be so nervous you know. You're Johnathan White then? Good good, I can already tell that there is an air of wood elements around you, you probably have a wood elemental constitution. Come to the formation and sit in the middle."

Orion spoke gently to John and directed him towards the formation. Once Johnny sat down, Orion did some hand signs as he directed his qi into the formation. The formation lit up in a glow as multiple strands of multicoloured light, erupted from the formation and attached to Johnny around his body. The strands attached to his head, shoulders, chest, stomach, hips, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles. They then travelled through his body as they illuminated his body, it glowed in different colours in different areas, signifying which of the strands was travelling were. After 5 minutes of roaming his body, the strands finally exited his body and condensed above his head into a page of writing.

[ Fire = mid, Water = peak, Metal = high, Earth = high, Wood = divine ]

"Ohhh, a divine rank affinity! This is great, this means you will be able to reach tier 9 a lot quicker than usual."

"Dad, can you explain the affinities for us please. We don't really know what they mean."

"Okay, basically, the ranks for the affinities go from zero, low, mid, high, peak, legend, saint, holy, divine and then emperor. The divine rank is seen as the greatest one can achieve as the emperor rank is only achievable at the tenth tier. Most divine rank affinities correlate to a special constitution that allows the cultivator to blaze through the ranks at a pace far beyond what others can do. Having a divine rank affinity almost guarantees that one will reach the 9th tier. How about you and Delilah test yourselves and then I'll explain further."

Johnny wasn't entirely sure that he understood what it meant to have a divine rank affinity but he knew that at least now he would be able to keep up with Lucius and Delilah. He was excited from the bottom of his heart and felt that it was his extreme fortune to meet and befriend Lucius.

"Okay dad, Delilah you should go first."

"Thanks Luci!"

Delilah followed the same process and sat on the formation. The lights swirled and the affinity list appeared above her ivory white hair.

[ Fire = high, Water = mid, Metal = peak, Earth = divine, Wood = peak, Gravity = high]

"As expected of a genius from the divine earth clan, you have a divine rank affinity for earth and peak rank affinities for the similar elements. The gravity affinity is there because the divine earth clan was founded by an emperor class that had trained in the gravity primordial rune."

Next was Lucius and soon enough a list appeared above his silver and purple hair.

[ Fire = high, Water = high, Metal = high, Earth = high, Wood = high, Mind = legend, Chaos = legend]

"Just as expected, you have a uniform affinity for the 5 classic elements. The Mind element is from the Lazarus bloodline and the chaos is from the Basil bloodline. You don't have to worry though guys, your elemental affinities will go up as long as you train in their respective primordial runes. The primordial runes are far superior to regular elemental runes because of the fact that they can develop and increase your affinity to an element! Delilah will be able to increase her elements to match her divine earth affinity while Lucius will be able to bring up his 5 classic elements at the same time in accordance to the Cosmological Art. Johnny will also be able to bring up his elements but he probably wont be able to increase his fire affinity that much. As one that has a wood focused constitution, fire would be detrimental to him. In Delilah's case it would be the water element that will be hindered. Now then let me check John's constitution!"

The trio all began to understand that the affinities weren't a set in stone thing that was decided by the heavens but instead something that could be worked on and upgraded step by step. Having a divine rank affinity at birth was merely a shortcut in the end.

Orion then went on to check out Johnny's body, feeling out his muscles and stature, his meridians, veins, arteries and even capillaries. He then conducted a few simple tests and was able to deduct what his constitution was. Normally for someone of Orion's rank something as simple as determining a constitution could be done with a glance but a divine ranked constitution was a different thing. It took him half an hour to figure it out in the end, but he rubbed his head in embarrassment since if it was Acacia checking instead she would only take around 5 to 10 minutes to check even divine rank constitutions!

"Johnny, your constitution is currently clogged up greatly. The same way how mortals that get too fat can clog their arteries with fat, your meridians have been clogged with impurities from birth. That's why even though you have a divine rank constitution your cultivation speed so far has been only so-so. In fact if it weren't for your divine rank constitution you wouldn't even be able to cultivate in the first place. Now it is even more important that we cleanse your body thoroughly! Anyway, your constitution is called the Towering Wood body! The Towering Wood body is a top tier divine constitution, I'll explain it in greater detail in the future. For now Lucius needs to go prepare some things for your body cleansing. In the mean time Delilah will go to the Library and get the World Tree Guardian Scripture. This is a divine level cultivation technique that goes well with those of divine rank wood affinity, it's on the 9th floor, second shelfs 3rd column."

The duo left to prepare the things Johnny would need to embark on his cultivation journey and utilise his entire potential!