Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

She said something to Giles and Virginia, and the two soon left, leaving her and Liam alone.

"Get your mana back quickly. I'll stay here with you," she said to him, curious to feel how much mana he really had.

There was no way to hide one's powers during cultivation. Even if one could hide the power of their aura, there was no way to hide the mana that entered their essence. And it was possible to judge their mana levels during meditation with great precision.

Liam looked at her and did what he had to do, not having the option to complain or deny. He was exhausted, and needed to replenish his mana if he wanted to continue his day with a minimum of safety.

As soon as he began to meditate and felt the effects of doing so after successfully inscribing Second Class runes for the first time, he felt the benefits of a breakthrough in understanding.

The mana in the environment became more accessible to him, while he felt his magical senses heightened.

As Ann watched in shock, understanding he had already reached the third realm, Liam felt his mana reserves fluctuate. Not only did they recover the mana he had used, but they also increased in quality and quantity, developing in many directions.

He meditated for 20 minutes under Ann's watchful eye when his cultivation finally showed signs of stabilizing at the peak of the 1-Star of the Spirit Earth Realm.

'It's good that I made this breakthrough in my profession. Otherwise, I would have been in the terrible situation of having a Spirit of my level meditating uncontrollably in my soul space.'

He thought about the incubus, and once again, he got enough distance from the creature's cultivation to breathe a sigh of relief.

'On the other hand, now I can let Thal'Korr cultivate more than I had planned. He'll advance to the third realm faster!'

As he opened his eyes, feeling ready to get on with his day, he saw Ann looking questioningly in his direction. He didn't need to ask questions to understand. She should be shocked at the speed of his progress!

In just under 7 weeks, he had closed a 4 stars gap with Ann and had become 2 stars stronger than her, even after she had moved up a level in the meantime!

Such a progress rate was by no means common, even among good talents in the sect!

"I don't want to sound like an annoying person asking questions about your secrets, but how did you get to this level so fast?" Ann didn't hide her doubt.

It wasn't good to ask Spirit Masters questions like that. But she and Liam had been together long enough that she didn't see a problem with it.

She added, "If I didn't know that you only learned a concealment technique after I warned you, I would say you've been hiding your cultivation since the first day you came here. But that's clearly impossible."

"I'm afraid if I told you the truth, I'd have to kill you," Liam joked with her in the same way she had joked with him a few times before. "But maybe you'll find out in the future, hehe. If you become my woman, of course."

She almost dropped the subject when she heard Liam's usual flirting. "Aren't you going to give me any hints?"

"I got my advances by taking advantage of the typical Spirit Masters opportunities." He smiled, even though it was the truth.

His dual cultivation had probably given him a full three stars in the past few weeks at the headquarters. But he had also used cultivation resources; benefited from the blue star in his soul space; improved because of the evolutions of his Spirits; improved with his progress in his profession; and been pushed by the pressure he had been under recently.

All his experiences had made him grow meteorically and reach a level that few outer disciples reach before completing their first year in the sect!

She watched him with her mouth open, tempted to hear more about these 'typical opportunities', but she didn't go beyond her limits.

"I see. You really are an interesting guy. Keep working and studying. If you complete our agreement, I'll have dinner with you. I hope to hear more about it then." She turned and left, leaving him to follow her.

"But Senior Ann, you must keep this secret for me," he said as he ignored the many people coming and going through the entrance area of the hall. "I don't intend to leave City Thirteen right now. Please, keep my advance a secret."

She stopped when she heard this, realizing something she had missed. 'That... He really is under 20! If the Records Hall hears about it, they'll promote him to the inner wing of the sect!'

Her heart beat faster as she thought about her bet. If he left, she would no longer guide him, and she would lose the bet that now she had an almost 100% chance of earning one thousand merit points in less than ten days.

However, even though she was interested in earning those points, she couldn't help but ask, "You don't have to worry about me talking about your advancement, but can you tell me why you want to stay in town longer?

Going to the inner wing of the sect will give you much better opportunities, a wage ten times better than what you have now, and given your talent, you'll probably get a special reward."

Liam knew all this and looked forward to the day when he would make his promotion to the inner wing of the sect.

"That's all incredible, Senior Ann. But what's the point of me getting all this and then becoming the weakest in the inner wing? I've had so many problems these past few weeks, and now I can finally have some stability. Does it make sense for me to just give it up and go through all these dangerous experiences again so soon?"

Liam wanted to go to the inner wing of the sect more than Ann could imagine. Only then could he develop his escape plan. But he knew that even if he went to a new city tomorrow, he wouldn't be able to escape so easily. With a low cultivation level, he would become the weakest Officer right after his promotion and would be under pressure from all those stronger than him for a while.

She thought about what he said, not knowing about the possibility of his dual cultivation, but was still certain that he would have a hard time going straight to the inner wing of the sect now.

'Disciples who become inner members before the age of 20 are rare. Cases like his are unusual, usually seen once or twice every decade. If he goes to a city on the other side of the fjord now, he'll be the weakest Official until he becomes at least a 6-Star Spirit Earth cultivator. Until then, he'll have to put up with the difference from his seniors.'

Outer disciples usually became inner disciples through the Promotion Exam. However, since the number of seats was limited, only the best arena ranked cultivators could usually pass the test. As for recommendations, they were hard to come by and were usually given to disciples with influence—who also had above-average cultivation.

Generally speaking, by the time an outer disciple entered an inner city, their cultivation level was between the 3-Star and 6-Star of the Spirit Earth Realm.

As soon as they arrived in one of the inner cities, they would rapidly improve their cultivation, not because of the ascension reward, which was not much for ordinary disciples, but because they usually had accumulated merit points and resources before their ascension.

Ann understood his decision and said, "What you have in mind makes sense. But when are you going to leave? It won't be long before they notice your current cultivation, and by then, even if you don't want to, they'll promote you to be an Officer."

"There are a few things I want to finish before I leave City Thirteen, so I don't have a specific time. I'll try to improve as much as I can in the meantime," he said vaguely.

"Sigh! All right. I'll keep quiet. Good luck."

Before she could move away, he continued after her. "Senior Ann, I have another question I'd like your opinion on."

"What is it? I promised to have dinner with you, but I don't have all day, Liam." She gave him the same look as always and returned to her usual manner. "Just as you have to train, cultivate, and complete obligatory activities, so do I."

"I know, don't worry, it's quick." He reassured her and followed her down the street to the Runes Hall. "In one book you gave me, I read that it's possible for higher Runemasters to see runes in enchantments. But how does that work? Can anyone with a certain level of cultivation see it? Or is there some other requirement?"

She smiled as she shook her head in denial. "Seeing the runes of their enchantments is something any Runemaster beyond the third realm can do. But seeing the runes in other Runemasters' enchantments is much more complex and requires a high level of understanding and cultivation.

I've never heard of a Runemaster who can see the runes of other Runemasters, but I've never had the chance to study Runemasters above the Fourth Class," she said with interest in her tone.

"Even if a Runemaster could see the runes of third-party enchantments, they would probably only be able to see runes of a much lower quality than their own level. The reason runes are so important is because it's difficult to read other professionals' runes, which protects those enchantments.

If you could just see all the runes of other people's incantations, you could potentially destroy all the enchantments you come in contact with," she said with a funny look on her face, raising this absurd hypothesis.

"Is that so?" Liam asked with a strange smile, remembering how he had seen third-party runes before. "It really would be disastrous." He kept his secret to himself before thanking her and saying goodbye.