Death… And Me



The next day, Roan spent his time watching the Sun Urpins cultivating while asking more questions. Sometimes, he would touch their ethereal bodies during the process. Other times, would make contact directly with their cores. His Spiritual Sense, aided by his Peak Divinity Realm Soul, watched every millimeter of their bodies.

'Hey, need you, come here,' Roan suddenly called Rean over.

Rean quickly arrived. "What is it?"

"You are better with Yang Energy than I am," Roan explained. "Groui here is cultivating. Touch his core and tell me if you see more than thirty channels inside. Then, repeat the process with Seebis and Nitil."

"Channels?" Rean was puzzled. "Do Spirit Cores have channels?"

"Just do it." Roan didn't explain.

Rean shrugged and followed the orders. Immediately, he felt the channels Roan was talking about, much to his surprise. "Oh! There are really cultivation energy channels. Perhaps that's the reason some cultivation techniques work for them even though they are still Spirits."

"So?" Roan insisted.

Rean closed his eyes and paid more attention. "Exactly thirty-three channels in Groui's Core," Rean answered. "This might interest you. These channels aren't present in his core alone. His Ethereal Body also has them. It's just that his form makes it very difficult to notice."

Roan nodded, satisfied. "I already expected as much. Check Seebis and Nitil as well."

Rean quickly checked the other two Sun Urpins. Seebis was a Stage Four Sun Urpin, while Nitil was at Stage Two. No doubt Klifon chose these three Spirits because they were at different stages. "Alright, Seebis has 44 channels while Nitil has 22. Seems like they gain eleven new channels every time they break through."

Roan pondered a bit and went to see Klifon. A moment later, Roan returned with a pensive expression. "Klifon let me check the Stage One Urpins. Indeed, they have only Eleven Channels."

"Will that be a problem?" Rean asked although he had an idea why it could be.

"You probably guessed it already, but the main difference is truly the number of channels," Roan explained. "The humanoid races all go through th Body Transformation Realm, and then they open their Meridians. Once the Meridians are open, they are settled. You won't open more of them for the rest of your life, and it wasn't different for us. Most techniques work around these Meridians and their numbers. Sun Urpins, however, gain more channels, which are similar to Meridians, at every stage."

Rean could see the problem. "No wonder cultivation techniques that work for Sun Urpins are rare. You would need a cultivation technique that is adaptable for every stage and the number of channels in their cores during that time."

"Precisely," Roan confirmed while still with a pensive expression. Finally, he faintly smiled and looked at the Sun Urpin. "Seebis, I'll pass to you a technique for Yang Energy and Fire Element. I just need to make a few changes, so get ready."

Roan sat on the ground and closed his eyes. Everything he learned until now passed through his mind as he modified the technique. Finally, he opened his eyes again and used his Spiritual Sense to give Seebis the technique.

"This..." Seebis was taken aback. The technique was weird. It did use the channels of his core, but at the same time, it required him to close some of his channels at specific moments. Seebis always cultivated with all his channels open. If this technique required him to close a few, wouldn't it be worse than cultivating without any technique? "Are you sure it is correct?"

"Stop wasting my time and try it already," Roan insisted.

Seebis could only do as Roan asked and followed the steps of the technqiue. At first, he was able to absorb Fire and Element and especially Yang Energy from the sunlight. It's just that it turned out to be slower than he thought it would.

During the process, Roan checked his channels with Rean's help. Rean basically shared his memory with Roan of it. The more Roan watched, the happier he became. "Good. This is exactly what I expected. You can stop now, Seebis. Nitil, Groui, you are up. I'll pass the same technique to you two. Rean, you keep checking their channels."

The event repeated itself with Groui and Nitil until Roan was satisfied. "You can stop already. Give me a moment."

Roan once again sat down and went silent. It's just that he kept like that for hours.

At some point, Rosa and Klifon also arrived. Klifon, naturally, was the most curious. "What is he doing?"

Rean shrugged. "He should be building the technique in his mind. As to how it will turn out, I'm not certain." It took Roan many trials to get Luan's Space Affinity Cultivation Technique to work, and Luan was a humanoid race member, so how many trials would Roan need for the Spirits? It was anyone's guess.

In the end, Roan went through the night in that same position. Sometimes, he would shake his head. Other times his expression turned dark or relaxed. Roan only opened his eyes again the next day at the start of the afternoon. "This should be more or less it. Hum?" Roan noticed Klifon was there. "Good, you can give it a try first."

Klifon was taken aback, but before he could talk, Roan already transfered the technique to his mind through Spiritual Sense Message. "This thing..."

Roan crossed his arms. "See if it works. Rean, check his core while at it."

Klifon quickly nodded and put the technique into use. Immediately, the Yang Energy and Fire Element provided in the sunlight rushed into Klifon's body like a vortex. It far surpassed anything had done in the past. "Incredible!"

Roan narrowed his eyes, though. He saw the process through Rean's memories. "What a piece of shit. Sure enough, cultivation techniques for Spirits aren't easy to create."

Klifon felt like crying. If that was a piece of shit, then how good would be a perfect one? "Can you make it... better?"

Roan nodded. "Your attempt just now showed several flaws. Give me a moment, and I will fix the worst ones. That should be enough to use for trade."