Chapter 9 - Becoming an Unofficial Official Personal Disciple

"Long Ren, Do you want to become my personal disciple?"

Xing Lao suddenly asks Long Ren.

While Long Ren had already decided to become Xing Lao's personal disciple yesterday, he did not expect to be asked about it so soon.

He expected he needed to further prove his worth to him by doing some quest Xing Lao assigned to him, or reach a certain cultivation rank in a limited timeframe!

Either way, Long Ren was fine with it. Sooner or later, they were gonna be in this relationship anyway, the faster it happened the better it will be…or not, only time will tell.

"I am willing….ugh, how do I address you now then? Master Xing Lao?" Long Ren asked, rather unsure.

His 2 years of memories in the village didn't teach him that much about common sense after all.

What about his 17 years of memories in another world? Well, seeing as he doesn't compare d*** size every time he met with others, he assumed the common sense and courtesy he learned there won't be of much help in this specific situation.

Xing Lao once more petted his beard and thought, then answered, "I guess Master will do, I have never had any disciple before and I'm fine with however way you want to address me." Xing Lao solemnly nodded, content with his disciple's answer

"Anywho, now you are my, Xing Lao's personal and only disciple." After Xing Lao finishes his sentence, Long Ren then asks,

"Uhh, Master, do we not need to do some sort of ritual first or fill out some sect forms?" Long Ren felt like this is too anticlimactic.

Long Ren felt Xing Lao is too chill about it, not that he minds it, in fact, he liked it, but still, from all the novels he had read, the students usually kowtow towards the teacher while reciting some phrases and the like.

"Un, I was about to get to that, You would need to formally become my disciple by registering it in the place we went to before, but that can wait, also, on that note.

Long Ren, why had you not gone out to attend any of the academy's lessons? I believe I've provided the class schedule in your storage ring. Although the class isn't mandatory, at least not anymore since you're now my disciple, you should get to know your clansmate." Xing Lao inquired with a questioning look

As Long Ren heard Xing Lao's question, he realized that he indeed had forgotten about something, The Academy!

He then remembered about a paper he used to wipe his peaches with after doing the deed….

'Welp gotta get a new one if I wanna attend their classes.' Long Ren thought to himself and answered with a wry smile on his face

"About that, I actually kind of forgot since I've been cultivating all day long, and I might need a new schedule as I've seemed to lost it."

"Well, No matter, for I am free right now. You are my first disciple and probably my last, hence I will go all out on teaching you. Now, first, order of business, how far have you gotten with that manual?"

Hearing the conversation shifting towards the cultivation manual, Long Ren immediately focused and removed any unnecessary thoughts.

He had always been like this, if he isn't doing anything important, his mind would always wander around, getting sleepy most of the time, but, when discussing a topic he is into, he would not spare his thoughts for idle things.

The same applies to sleeping, when he is sleeping, he would focus 100% on the comfort of his bedding. But that is a topic for another day.

"Yes master, I've skimmed through the manual for a few hours yesterday and tried following its words, and my cultivation speed has increased greatly!" Long Ren answered enthusiastically

Xing Lao nodded at Long Ren's answer, then says "That's to be expected, your spatial affinity is quite good after all. If you didn't experience any changes, then it would be odd."

As they talked more and more, Long Ren and Xing Lao started discussing more complex, at least for Long Ren, topics.

Their discussion mainly consists of Long Ren reading the manual while Xing Lao gives his own insights.

Whenever Long Ren did something wrong or inconsistent, Xing Lao would correct them. This cycle repeated until Long Ren did little to no mistakes

But, as Xing Lao did not personally cultivate this manual, He could only give pointers according to his experiences with various spatial cultivation techniques as well as his discoveries when he read this book a few years ago, so, in a sense, both of them are learning together.

As the title for the cultivation manual is unnaturally long, both Long Ren and Xing Lao decided to just call it henceforth [Space Clickbait Manual], courtesy of Long Ren of course.

But, what is actually[Space Clickbait Manual]? Well, it is a cultivation manual made to be used as the cultivator's primary cultivation technique.

What this "Primary Cultivation Technique" means is that this type of technique requires more effort to learn and perfect to gain the maximum effect as compared to other techniques that are meant to be cultivated on the side.

These techniques that belong to the Primary category are usually techniques that lay the foundation for the cultivator to then branch out into other "Side Cultivation Techniques" they want to use.

For example, this [Space Clickbait Manual] helps develop the cultivator's body to better accommodate spatial attributes inside his own body, making it easier for the cultivator to both:

Execute spatial skills, increase its power, decrease its costs, etc, and the most important benefit,

Increasing the cultivator's cultivation speed when cultivating, and that's not all, if the cultivator cultivates near spatial elements, be it the natural environment or nearby powerful spatial artifacts.

Although this cultivation manual is made to be used as a primary cultivation manual, it does include some side cultivation techniques in it that the cultivator can learn if he chooses to.

These types of "2 in 1 deal" are actually pretty common in the world as when both techniques are created by the same person, their synergy and efficiency will naturally increase.

But, learning other side cultivation techniques is also important to do, as just 1 manual can't possibly encompass everything after all, well, not at this level.

"Side Cultivation Techniques", as the name implies, is something that helps the cultivator fill a specific role on one of his sides, such as offense, defense, support, etc.

These types of techniques are usually quite quick to learn but can't be used that efficiently without the foundation built by the cultivator's primary manual.

In conclusion, A cultivator usually cultivates one primary cultivation technique to lay their foundation and find several other appropriate and compatible side cultivation techniques to increase his/her power.

Anomalies can appear of course, such as cultivators who cultivate two primary cultivation techniques at a time, usually increasing their efficacy, but that is another matter altogether.

After both of them were done discussing each of their findings, Xing Lao told Long Ren that he had a surprise for him.

As Xing Lao had already known of [Space Clickbait Manual]'s unique speed-increasing capabilities, He brought with him several space affinity-related items with him, each of them ranking above the 10th rank!

Long Ren felt grateful once more and said his big thanks, which only makes Xing Lao pet his beard even more haughtily. Then, Xing Lao proceeds to take out 10 spatial artifacts, all way above rank 10, and placed them near Long Ren.

"Now, try to cultivate as we've discussed." Xing Lao said, only to receive a nod from Long Ren as a response as Long Ren started focusing on cultivating

5 seconds in…10 seconds in…15 seconds in…2 minutes in…

'It's faster! It's actually able to increase my cultivation speed by more than 50% again! God!! How OP is this manual!' Long Ren thought to himself while cursing happily

...

(A/N: a bit of an info dump, sorry, the plot, if you can call it that, will progress faster for now on [probs], hopefully…Timeskip-chan will do her debut in the near future :3)