11- Talk

-

'I'm not sure what that was about. After all, she spoke the exact same things... Could they have reincarnated?

No... Because of karmic laws, reincarnation shouldn't be possible, right...?

But... What if...?' Adel had that thought imprinted in his head, wondering that maybe... just maybe... he may meet his harem again in this life...?

'What would happen if I courted her?

But isn't she far too young for me?

I'll court her, but only until we both attain the age of 18 in our bodies...' Adel became concerned as he considered his developing feelings for her.

He shook his head, clearly anxious, but then chuckled inwardly, thinking, 'How long has it been since I've fallen for someone like this, eh? Ten years? Or was it more? 

Does it actually make a difference? After all, I do what I want, and whether or not others agree with me is irrelevant.

And besides, does love require maturity or logic to be meaningful? There were many ladies who were profoundly in love with their men, despite the fact that they were centuries older...' Adel shook his head as he realized he was being hypocritical, then sighed, wondering, 'Does loving someone really have to rely on age?' Adel thought about it, and the conclusion he came up with was...

No!

His views were bent around modern Earth! After all, he had been there for a long twenty years, receiving all of modern society's views...

Then again, love based on age was just words for mortals. It was true that no mortal lady would want to marry an eighty-year-old man who looked like one in the mortal world.

Love, in the case of mortals, did indeed matter for age.

In some cases, such as incestuous relationships, this may not be the case.

Though there was one thing that both the mortal and cultivation worlds had in common...

It was benefits! A female or male mortal might pretend to be in love with a wealthy eighty-year-old guy in order to enjoy a pretty lavish lifestyle...

Gender didn't matter in the mortal world, after all. While it was frowned upon in the cultivation world, it only applied to the most naive cultivators. A powerful cultivator who had feelings for the same sex would not be frowned upon. Who would want to upset a renowned cultivator over something as insignificant as having a partner of the same gender? You might as well court death! If they did that, they might have a chance...

Returning to the subject at hand. A fifty-year-old cultivator may act as if she is in love with a guy who is a thousand or more years old.

For the cultivation world, it was a question of whether the female cultivator used charm arts or the like to woo the thousand-year-old guy or not...

When love that is based on benefit is no longer helpful, the sense of connection will naturally go in the opposite direction.

That loved one in the relationship would simply become another person to them, possibly at best, a unique friend.

However, this does not imply that love that is not motivated by self-interest is also pure love. Instead, it may be even more unstable than benefit-based love.

Adel shook his head, unable to comprehend these thoughts, before being jolted out of them by a concerned Katrina...

"Ehh? Adel? What's the matter with you?" I asked Katrina in an anxious tone tinged with anxiety and guilt, assuming Adel was offended for what she said, but also concerned for his well-being because he hadn't begun cultivating yet...

'Right! Why would I bring Adel with me when he is still a mortal with no cultivation? That was a poor decision on my part!

It was preferable to gift the Faun's Fur that I had received from my father at the time! After all, I still haven't informed them that I can develop not just one cultivation system, but three!' The more Katrina thought about it, the more guilty she felt for sending Adel to such a dangerous place without even starting cultivation...

Then again, it was last year that Adel—the previous Adel, of course, who was still a mortal—saved Katrina from the beast.

It was a nudge in her life that prompted her to begin cultivating.

But once she met the new Adel, her cultivation rate would skyrocket...

Adel snapped out of his trance when he noticed the look on her face that was full of concern for him, making his pulse beat faster by the second.

So, rather than cruelly dismissing her emotions, he chose to take a chance with her...

He then watched her expression gradually transforming to one of guilt, so he sought to soothe her. He didn't know what her worry was, but he had a feeling it was related to him.

So he gently touched her face, even though they were only a few inches apart and could hear each other's breathing...

He coughed awkwardly before taking a few steps back.

He then gave Katrina a stern look before telling her: "Listen up, Katrina. I was serious when I told you before about taking full responsibility, and you don't have to worry about me because..."

He then applied some of his energy pressure on her in a gentle rather than a violent manner.

It washed over her soul as she felt her own being cleaned, before she formed a startled expression on her face, thinking that this feeling was somewhat familiar...

-

She was capable of cultivating three cultivation systems and had already achieved the Second Step in the Soul cultivation system...

That's correct! She was merely 16 years old when she reached the second stage, which is why she always kept an artifact from her parents...

This was also the reason for not marrying her to another clan heir.

Nevertheless, who would want their daughters to be stepping stones for others, or a genius daughter married to some son only to exploit her as a baby maker, producing outstanding sons?

The cultivating world admired the strong! And even if she had the talent to go to the next step, what good would it be if she didn't use it?

Despite ther cultivation at the other two cultivation systems remaining a little behind, she was still a genius nonetheless.

To advance further along the body cultivation pathway, one had to rely on natural treasures to temper their bodies.

As such, the more tempered a body, the stronger the foundation laid for future steps.

Her body cultivation level was in the middle of the First Step.

However, it was a difficult cultivation system in which one had to endure excruciating pain in order to advance along the pathway.

And the higher they broke through into the pathway, the more their bodily structures changed, something she didn't desire... That is, for the time being.

Only until she's certain that Adel won't mind her changing will she begin cultivating the body cultivation system...

Adel wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry if he knew her thoughts, but he wouldn't use mind-reading arts on her simply because he felt like it.

She was in the early stages of the second step of soul cultivation.

It was certainly amazing for someone to advance so fast on the soul cultivation pathway—in just a year—which, of course, her parents were unaware of because she usually lazed off, until what happened last year.

She was nearing the early stage of the second step in the Energy cultivation pathway when she decided to stop and reinforce her foundation.

After all, the toughest cultivation pathway was the soul cultivation path, followed by the body cultivation path, and finally the energy cultivation path, which was the easiest.

As for how she was able to improve so quickly, every time she slept, she would get advice from an unknown woman who appeared breathtaking and powerful, with a charm that even made her jealous!

She taught her a cultivation technique that consisted of three parts: soul cultivation, body cultivation, and energy cultivation.

She knew she couldn't compete with the woman since she was just too beautiful. But for some reason, she noticed certain similarities between the two of them...

The woman informed her that if she continued to follow her advice, she would be able to convince anybody, even her unrequited love, Adel, fall in love with her in the future.

She assured her it had something to do with Charm arts that would further progress into the Charm Law, but she didn't want to continue any further...

She didn't trust her at first, but she gradually won her over until she relented and accepted her approaches...

Of all, just because she traveled to see Adel once a year didn't mean her parents would ditch her without any artifacts.

It was just her overprotectiveness of Adel and her refusal to use her clan's items in order to prevent any signals that might link her to him. After all, she didn't want to endanger his life with clan-related things.

-

Katrina blushed as she remembered Adel's words, thinking he wasn't lying about what he said...

However, the actual reason she was surprised was because she could detect other energy seeping out rather just only Nao energy, implying that he developed all three cultivation paths rather than just one, like she did!

Adel just released his three-step cultivation for her, regardless of whether she could feel it or not.

After all, how could he know she'd cultivated the three pathways if the artifact was locking up all her energy and concealing them from him?

Katrina laughed foolishly as she reflected on how many similarities the two of them shared, only to be shaken awake by Adel, who quickly gripped her shoulder with a serious look on his face...

-

{ Author's Note:

1k words from this chapter onwards...

This chap 1.7k words though, so it doesn't apply.

by 1k I mean between 1k minimum to maximum 1.6k words.

*cough the word count reached 27k words at this chapter...

So first 10 chapters are quite long...

Anyway, thanks for reading, and please drop a review if you like the novel!

If this novel gets popular, and you guys want me to write more 2k word long chapters, let me know down in the comments.

But readers mostly get annoyed when a chapter exceeds 1k words... So I'm not sure about that.

Anyway next chapters might seem shorter if you were to start reading after this...}