Way Of Cultivation(3)

"Blacksmithing, in essence, is the craft of forging weapons and artifacts," Grizzle began at a deliberate pace. "So, the first step in forging is to study how to craft them. It's the same principle as any ordinary blacksmithing endeavor; you have to comprehend and study how weapons are shaped, what constitutes the ideal form of a weapon to bring out its maximum power, how to forge different weapons and their unique characteristics, and so on."

Alvin nodded thoughtfully and asked, "You mentioned there are differences between weapons crafted by normal people and cultivators. If the steps are exactly the same, how could the weapons that come out be different? Do we add some special materials or use unique energy to refine them?"

He had heard about cultivators and magicians in folk tales using special materials or their unique chi to craft divine weapons from his previous world, so he thought the same principle might apply here as well.

"Indeed," Grizzle replied. "At the starting level, beginners like you are called mortal level blacksmiths. Currently, you are only capable of creating mortal-level weapons, just like any other normal blacksmith in this world, regardless of whether they are ordinary people or cultivators. But the differences in weapons start from the apprentice level. While the fundamental steps of forging remain the same, the disparity lies in the approach and resources."

"What is the apprentice level?" Alvin asked curiously.

"Well, if we want to discuss that, we have to delve into the various levels of cultivation first. We can talk about it this evening. For now, let's concentrate on forging," Grizzle replied, once again sidestepping Alvin's question. However, this time, Alvin had no intention of backing down.

"Hey, Grandpa, you can't always leave me hanging on the edge. Since you brought up that topic first, let's talk about it. Otherwise, I'll continue to dwell on it and won't even be able to focus on forging," he insisted on hearing more about cultivation.

Grizzle sighed and said in a helpless tone, "Fine then, today I will tell you more about cultivation. We can continue forging tomorrow."

Alvin nodded enthusiastically; finally, he was going to study cultivation. When those thugs tried to harm his mother and sister, Alvin deeply felt his own powerlessness. He wanted power, not to stand at the top of the universe as the strongest, but to protect his mother and sister from anyone, even if it meant facing the strongest person in this world.

Seeing the eager expression on Alvin's face, Grizzle chuckled and spoke in a clear voice, "As I said, after you reach the Initiate Realm, there are two choices in front of you: the body path or the spiritual path. The body path cultivates vital energy, whereas the spiritual path cultivates spiritual energy. In both these paths, the Initiate Realm is again subdivided into 9 levels. When you create your first divine seed in your body, you will become a 1st level Initiate Realm cultivator. And as such, when you have 9 seeds, you will be a 9th level Initiate Realm cultivator."

"What comes after the Initiate Realm?" Alvin asked.

"After cultivating nine seeds within your body, the next step is to combine these nine seeds to form the Divine Essence Wheel. Once the first divine Essence Wheel is created, you will step into the Awakened Realm. Following this, you have to continue the steps like in the Initiate Realm, creating nine seeds again and combining them to form the second Divine Essence Wheel, thus stepping into the Radiant Realm. Progressing in this manner, with each new wheel, you will ascend into the Legendary Realm, Ascendant Realm, Transcendent Realm, and beyond," Grizzle said.

Hearing this, Alvin was puzzled. According to what Grizzle had said, if a person could create nine seeds in just ten days and combine them to form a Divine Wheel, then in the next ten days, they would create their second wheel and so on. Cultivation seemed to be surprisingly easy if it was truly that straightforward.

Alvin couldn't help but question, "If all it takes is creating nine seeds and forming a divine wheel to ascend to the next cultivation realm, wouldn't the difficulty remain the same in each realm?"

"Hahahaha..." hearing Alvin's words, Grizzle laughed out loud and said, "If it were that easy, in the 400 years I've lived, I would have long become a immortal."

Then, without giving Alvin a chance to respond, Grizzle continued, "When you create a Divine Essence Wheel, the energy in your body will undergo both a quantitative and qualitative change. It will become more powerful and vast. Thus, if you want to create a Divine Seed, the difficulty will be more than ten times that of the previous level with the addition of each divine wheel."

Alvin, now understanding the implications of Grizzle's words, couldn't contain his excitement. "When can I begin cultivation?" he asked eagerly. He was really excited and had an urge to immediately start cultivation.

"You first have to reach the Initiate Realm if you want to cultivate. There is a long way ahead, kid, so stop bothering about it. Now, I will tell you about the different levels of blacksmiths and how they are linked with each cultivation level." Grizzle stopped him from continuing to ask questions about cultivation and redirected the conversation back to blacksmithing.

Alvin nodded and didn't ask any further questions. He listened to Grizzle wholeheartedly. After all, Grizzle had said that a blacksmith would never lack money, and Alvin was head over heels for any way he could earn money from the age of 10 due to his circumstances.