Moving In

Prior to returning to the others' side, Theodore teleported outside and above the city, to the mountainside closest to it. Despite utilizing his senses and various techniques which he had picked up to the maximum, he could not make out any sign of the subterranean city whatsoever. However, this didn't discourage him. Instead, an intrigued smirk stole itself on his lips.

'Just as expected. There is no way that a location with an Energy concentration this high wouldn't already be occupied by the Hans if it was feasible to find it using 'ordinary' means. In other words, it's an ideal base of operations.'

Thinking of a possibility, his expression suddenly shifted, turning from mildly elated to cautiously pensive.

'The Energy concentration down there should perfectly coincide with the naturally occurring limit here in the first round's event venue. Therefore, the disappearance of so many Energy Veins from the walls of my base-to-be should be a result of either the Heavenly Dao or the Heavenly Empress removing them to keep things 'fair'. Then how come Faavi was left behind untouched?'

There was a nagging feeling in his heart, reminding him that he was missing far too many crucial pieces of the puzzle to make sense of everything. Perhaps, the number of Energy Veins automatically adjusted to their surroundings over a long period of time? For now, there were too many things that he simply couldn't tell.

Not wasting any more of his precious day, he teleported back to the temporary camp which the four women had set up. Seeing him return unharmed, even exuding an upbeat aura, they pretty much heaved a collective sigh of relief. However, it wasn't long before Vigdis spotted the glowing mist swirling around his right hand and lower arm.

"Excuse me, Theo, but what is that?"

Pointing at Faavi with a perplexed look on her face, she caused the other three to take note of Theodore's new acquisition as well. Here in the sunlight, the slight luminescence was completely 'overshadowed', with even the mist barely appearing differently from regular air.

"Oh, that? That's Faavi, my new Armament Spirit. Give me a moment, leaving her out like this might be fine while we're all by our lonesome, but it could bring unwanted attention in public."

Mentally giving her a few instructions, the mist soon receded into his body, making its way down some as of yet unused meridians and towards his Middle Dantian. Although normally, only Energy would be absorbed by them during the early stages of cultivation, later down the line, many an expert would store their weapons or treasures in there. And that was very far from the end of it when it came to Dantian versatility–it was merely the beginning.

"An Armament Spirit, huh? It's the first time I've seen one. I suppose they do have a default state when they're not already in the form of some sort of equipment, huh? I never would have guessed it would be mist-like, though."

Intrigued by the sight, Vigdis showed a small smile, storing away this information for the future. If she ever came across an Armament Spirit herself, this knowledge might come in handy.

"By the way, Faavi asked me to tell you all that she says hi."

With a bit of an awkward smile on his face, Theodore rolled his eyes. Never before had he felt like a messenger pigeon. If his mind wasn't so intimately connected to Faavi's, then he wouldn't even have considered playing this sort of role.

Fortunately, he didn't need to become her mouthpiece for long, as after the introductions were done and a bit of small talk had occurred, she wisely chose to exit the conversation, most likely because she had sensed his slight displeasure.

During this time, he had also given the others a general overview of what he had encountered at his destination, preparing them for the toils which lay ahead. Of course, the one most excited for the new residence that they were about to move into was Vigdis, who had continuously felt as if heavy shackles had been placed upon her ever since she had been unable to progress to the Soul Sculpting Stage.

"We shouldn't make fires down there to avoid a dust explosion, so we'll have to light the area up in other ways. Mei'er, please give me the following items from our Storage Ring..."

Listing a few handsful for Array materials, he had already formed a plan in his head. Admittedly, it wasn't a particularly difficult one–he would lay out an Illumination Array and 'program' it in a way to mimic a 24-hour day and night cycle. Naturally, there would be an option to keep parts of the lights on during nighttime.

Accompanied by the four women, who had again been warned to avoid creating any fires or sparks, he made his way back to the temple-like palatial structure in which he had come across Faavi a little earlier. With a few quick flicks of the wrist, the entire building was lit up as if it was daytime, for the first time in many eons dispelling the ever-present curtain of darkness.

The sight that greeted them was both desolate and oozing fascination at the same time. However, before they could closely observe the room which they had arrived in, the extremely high Energy concentration hit them like a truck.

"T-This is... amazing!"

Shivering in excitement, Xie Mei hastily sat down on the ground and entered a state of cultivation, having forgotten all about the exploration plans she had made earlier. Choosing to stay with her instead of running off alone, Han Junqiao also began to cultivate.

Only Vigdis managed to keep her cool, as she had grown up in an environment unimaginably more excellent than this one. Still, there was a relieved smile on her lips. With this spot secured, they absolutely wouldn't have to worry about keeping up with the rest of the contestants for the entire first round!

"You said that there are no threats here, right? May I take a look around?"

Standing at Theodore's side while he was laying out a basic Cleaning Array in the building, Vigdis had a spark of curiosity in her eyes. Just like him, she did not recognize the civilization which this ruin had originally been a part of, so she wanted to take a look at the city herself.

"Go ahead. When you return, I'll likely be cultivating, so we'll talk again during dinner."

Looking up at her as soon as the Array was finished, he gave her a reassuring nod, then activated his newest creation. Amidst the surprised gasp of Li Shuying, all the dirt and dust which had stained the structure, as well as many broken parts of it that had piled up in its halls, were smoothly transported outside. It was as if there was a protective bubble around it which kept it clean, preventing any dust from entering it, even when Vigdis' footsteps stirred it up.

There wasn't much renovation necessary, as the building was remarkably intact–especially its core area, which they were in. He would leave it all to Xie Mei, Han Junqiao and Li Shuying to figure out, because all he needed was a safe place to grow stronger. As for the aesthetics, he would leave them to those who actually truly cared about them.

For today, there was nothing else on his plate, so he sat down next to his lovers and started his own cultivation session. It was his longest to date, taking an entire ten hours! It was relatively close to midnight by the time he finished. Fortunately, cultivators like them didn't need a lot of sleep–in fact, he could already technically subsist without any of it. But he still enjoyed resting, so he allowed himself four to five hours of it on most days.

The reason for his prolonged period of cultivation was that he planned to kick it up a notch starting tomorrow. With no need for excessive hiding any longer, his power would have to grow faster as well. He couldn't slack off as much as before.

'The 34,201st realm of the Body Refinement Stage... that's good enough. Let's stop here for today.'

Compared to before, his cultivation speed had increased by about 50 percent. The reason for this was the increase in Energy concentration. If it hadn't been for his extremely high Endurance, it would have been impossible to improve it by this much, as his body wouldn't have been capable of handling being stuffed to the brim with all of this Energy. But luckily, this was one worry which he did not need to take into account.

By the time that he opened his eyes and sensed his companions nearby, he realized that he wasn't the only one who had made some progress today. Naturally, this didn't come as a surprise, but it still put a small smile on his face.

Xie Mei had just broken through the Elevation Realm, while Han Junqiao had made it to the Tri-Core Resonance Realm. Despite having been busy making their new residence look pretty and a joy to live in, Li Shuying had still found the time to cultivate as well. Any day now, she would break through to the Muscle Refinement Realm!

Lastly, there was his most capable subordinate, Vigdis. With her shackles lifted, in the short hour or two since she returned from her stroll through the city, she had entered the Soul Sculpting Stage!

'Once Mei'er and Qiao'er make it to the Golden Core Realm, it'll be high time to explain the Soul Sculpting Stage to them. I could just leave it to Vigdis–or rather, Vigi–but I'd prefer doing it myself. It feels a bit akin to a tradition, and one which I'd like to keep.'

With that decided, it was high time to work on other plans for the immediate future–as well as to eat. Standing up and comfortably stretching, he walked to an adjacent chamber which had been turned into a dining room. There, the four women were chattering away whilst keeping his portion of today's supper heated.

Once he had eaten his fill, he brought over some maps which they had gathered up until this point, as well as a pencil and a few sheets of paper. Discussing with primarily Han Junqiao and Vigdis, as they were the only two who had a decent chunk of knowledge about the settlements of this world, he drew up his own map.

None of the ones that they had got were complete, with them all missing various cities and towns which the others displayed. This didn't come as a shock, as the maps usually only showed the immediate surroundings of whatever city they were made in. And when it came to the ones which presented a part of the big picture, very often, many prefectural capitals fell by the wayside.

After all, there were hundreds of them, and dozens of provincial capitals. Those aside, there were still other major cities in these regions, although they were lesser in scale–however, a regular city on a provincial level could sometimes rival a prefectural capital!

Cross-referencing all of the many maps that they had, as well as supplementing it all with additional info which Han Junqiao was privy of, a very detailed yet not entirely complete map of the Qinglong State eventually took shape. It would likely take a few more weeks for it to be sufficiently finalized for Theodore to be happy with it, but it was a good start.

As the bathroom had already been cleaned up by Xie Mei, Han Junqiao and Li Shuying earlier, and was now usable, he could wash himself without an issue. Despite going to sleep with both of his lovers, he didn't indulge in them for once. Instead, he chose to get some proper rest tonight, as he would be very busy starting the next morning.