Cultivation

Ezequiel sat down on the floor, ready to cultivate using the technique from the Scripture of Existence and Reality.

In the past, when he cultivated, he absorbed Divine Energy from his surroundings, often increasing its amount and potency with Faith Points to speed up the process. He would then circulate this energy through his body.

This method allowed the energy to be absorbed into his flesh automatically, strengthening his body. As the energy passed through his head, some of it would be absorbed by his soul, enhancing his consciousness and intelligence. This basically just meant that his processing power was increased drastically, he could solve more complex problems and tasks in a shorter amount of time. Even handling several problems at the same time would eventually be possible.

However, the technique in the scripture was different. The first major difference was that he had to compress the Divine Energy outside his body to an extreme degree. The level of compression required was something no Demi-God, no matter how talented, could achieve. Fortunately, the scripture provided a special method that allowed him to purify the energy beyond what Ezequiel had thought possible.

Learning to compress the energy took him an entire hour before he could finally start absorbing it. Although he had already mastered the scripture theoretically, putting it into practice was a different challenge, so it took some time.

But once he succeeded, he was amazed at the purity of the energy he had condensed. It felt like it contained at least ten or twenty times the amount of energy compared to what he usually absorbed to cultivate.

The second unique aspect of the scripture was the need to chant a strange mantra. It was so complex and long that Ezequiel would have taken years to memorize it if not for his earlier state of enlightenment.

As he continued gathering more energy and chanting the mantra simultaneously, something about the energy began to change. It felt like it had entered a completely different state of existence. The energy seemed to merge with the environment in a way it hadn't before. It was almost as if it interacted with the fabric of reality around him.

‚Is this because of the Existence and Reality part of the technique? Somehow, the Divine Energy—if it even is Divine Energy anymore—seems both extremely present and nonexistent at the same time. Maybe ruling Existence also means ruling Nonexistence,' he thought.

After examining the properties of this new energy, Ezequiel finally began absorbing it.

The main difference from normal cultivation was that he had to focus on each individual cell, infusing them with the special Divine Energy. As he did, he noticed a drastic change.

‚It feels like my cells are being tempered at least 25 times faster than before. But that doesn't mean I'll break through 25 times faster. It also feels like I can go even further, tempering my body and mind to higher levels,' he realized.

Based on his initial estimates, Ezequiel figured he could temper each cell about 50 times more than before. Additionally the tempering would be even more flawless since he focused on each individual cell. This would make him more than 50 times stronger compared to typical Demi-God in the same realm. It really wasn't a fair world.

‚Even if I gave this technique to someone else, I doubt they could cultivate it. It feels like it was made just for me,' he mused.

What Ezequiel didn't realize was that another change was happening inside his body whilst he cultivated. In addition to his faster cultivation speed and increased limits, his body was also beginning to adapt to the properties of this new Divine Energy.

The more he absorbed, the more his body became attuned to this energy. Eventually, all the energy in his body might turn into the one he was currently working so hard to produce.

‚The only downside is that it will take me twice as long to reach the Demi-God Realm. It seems like reaching the next realm this year will be nothing more than a dream. But that doesn't matter. All this effort will be worth it if I can increase my strength this much,' he thought.

Ezequiel continued cultivating for another six hours before finally turning his attention back to Marie, who had been cultivating next to him the entire time.

"In the future, you should only use this technique to cultivate. It will help you get stronger than anyone else—except for me, of course," Ezequiel told her with a smirk on his face.

Marie nodded, her expression showing she understood everything. She wasn't about to let such a valuable gift slip through her fingers.

"It seems like the Devil Slayer Bureau has a lot of benefits. You should definitely go to your management lessons tomorrow. You might learn something new again. You know what? I'll come with you tomorrow," Ezequiel decided.

Although he was somewhat interested in what new information he might gain, the main reason he wanted to accompany Marie was that she would be receiving her yearly Faith Liquid the next day.

He didn't want her transporting it home by herself in case something happened. So, he planned to go with her and maybe keep a small part of it for safekeeping. That way, Marie wouldn't be able to spend it irresponsibly. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

Ezequiel continued to cultivate for the rest of the day, nearly intoxicated by the feeling of growing stronger. It was just too addictive. The satisfaction of feeling his power increase was overwhelming.

The next day, he went to the lesson with Marie, which was still held in the building on the floating island. This time, their instructor was a fat old man who didn't have much of a scholarly air about him, but he still gave them some pretty useful tips.

Though the lesson wasn't as groundbreaking as the cultivation technique he learned the day before, they still learned important things to watch out for when conquering foreign planets, internal management strategies, and ways to maintain high faith among their believers. The last part wasn't of much concern to Ezequiel, though.

In the end, Ezequiel decided that he wouldn't attend the next lesson, thinking it would be a waste of time. He would be better off using the time to cultivate, and so he did. Whenever something truly important came up, Marie would write it down for him so he wouldn't miss anything even while at home.