635 Cultivation

The two returned to the throne room, finding Sherry and the others a bit bored. They couldn't be blamed as Alex and Zekhram took more than half a day. 

"Atlas, we are done here." Zekhram raised his hand, shouting with full vigor. He wasn't like someone who was tired even though his face already showed such symptoms. 

Atlas nodded before coming closer to Alex. "Congratulations."

Alex smiled and pointed his finger to Zekhram. "Thank you. It's Elder Zekhram's efforts."

"Since you have finished creating your weapons, will you cultivate right now?" Atlas asked. He purposely didn't ask anything about the weapons as to prevent Alex from thinking he had ulterior motives. 

"Yes, if possible."

"Don't worry. The Soul Altar isn't that brittle. You may bring your friends together with you." Atlas then turned to Zekhram. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going back to my territory to speed up the process back home. We want the spaceship to be ready as soon as possible anyway. Mind take me home?" Zekhram asked.

"Sure." Atlas nodded and turned to Alex again. "That's the situation. You can use the Soul Altar first with your friends. In the meantime, I will bring Zekhram home before observing your cultivation to ensure the Altar has enough energy to self-destruct."

Alex thought for a moment and said. "We will wait for you here."

He was still in Atlas's home, so he felt it was a bit rude just to use it like that. 

"I understand. It will take less than ten minutes anyway." Atlas turned to Zekhram and said, "Let's go."

Both of them went outside by using Atlas's Teleportation Rune, leaving Alex and the others in this empty throne room.

"Congratulations, Young Master." Nelson smiled. "Now, we won't be afraid of the Black Devil Sect."

"We are not afraid, but we still need to be careful." Alex corrected him. "Though I wish to learn about Igor's technique first, and I also need to condense another Phoenix Seed. At the same time, I am going to learn the Fire Authority first before attacking their base."

"It's fine. We have calculated that the Black Devil Sect won't come out within a year. On the other hand, Young Master still has more than six months before reaching that one year mark." Nelson nodded.

"Alright." Alex nodded before turning to Sherry, who still felt guilty for taking his Phoenix Fire. He simply patted her head like usual, albeit it was harder for him, considering their height didn't have too much difference now.

Not long after, Atlas had come back through the portal. "I have finished sending him home. Now, you can begin your cultivation."

Alex didn't have any objection and followed him. The rest also walked right behind him. 

Alex thought for a moment and asked, "Can I use Gathering Array for this? I mean, it is an array to increase your absorption speed."

"You don't need to, I guess. There is already a rune that has a similar function, so you can be at ease. At the same time, I'm also not confident what will happen to the tower that was full of Runes got intruded by Array. I'm sorry." Atlas shook his head in disappointment.

"Sorry for the idiotic question."

"No, no." Atlas waved his hand left and right, telling it wasn't the case. Alex might know something about Rune, but it didn't mean he was a master in this area. There were many things he needed to learn about it, so it was normal if Alex didn't know something.

Awkwardness filled the atmosphere, so Atlas decided to end it by changing the topic. "Alright. Since you are here, you can go to cultivate."

As soon as he said those words, he disappeared from the Soul Altar, leaving Alex nothing to do other than cultivating. They were inside the workshop from earlier, but all the forging equipment had been taken back by Zekhram, so the room was empty. He exchanged looks with Sherry and the others and nodded before sitting down in a lotus pose.

When Alex began absorbing the energy around, the blue lines appeared again and spread from the ground to the Soul Altar's wall. The top of the tower didn't release a white wisp of soul. Instead, it released something that couldn't be seen, AKA Spiritual Energy. The density of the Spiritual Energy became a few times denser, and Alex felt the Spiritual Energy was easy to absorb.

This was the first experience for him to have absorbed the Spiritual Energy so easily, making it look like a dream. 

'This must be the rune Atlas talking about.' Alex answered the doubt inwardly while picking up the speed in his cultivation. Sherry also worked on it with a pace only slightly lower than him, considering her fire had become Pure Fire. 'Should I get another set of medicinal herbs for Sherry? She should be able to cultivate Undying Fire Body now…" 

[Of course. You can do it, Host. Let her know the pa- Ahem, I mean, the pain will make her stronger.]

This time the system answered him by talking directly into his mind like the usual. However, Alex shook his head helplessly, not knowing whether he should be happy for Sherry or not. The pain was truly unforgettable, and he didn't want Sherry to get traumatized by it. 'I will ask Sherry after this… After all, I feel that her body alone is equal to me since she is a beast.' 

After finishing his train of thought, Alex began his cultivation and absorbed the energy like a black hole. In fact, Sherry and Alex were sucking sixty percent of the rate of Spiritual Energy production by the Soul Altar. Stina and Kyle only got forty percent. Albeit, the time Alex and Sherry spent together, they used it to cultivate. This was why Stina and Kyle could be a little bit stronger than them, so they didn't really mind about taking the less portion.

…

One week later,

The first spark of energy came from Stina as she reached 3-Star Martial Monarch. The second came from Kyle, followed by Sherry and Alex.

Even so, they didn't stop absorbing the energy since Atlas had yet to warn them. Only after another day, Atlas finally came to them and activated the blue lines on the tower. These blue lines went to the top of the tower by climbing the wall, and the production of Spiritual Energy gradually became lesser and lesser until there was nothing more. 

In the meantime, Alex also tried to create another Fire Phoenix Seed but to no avail. Every single Fire Phoenix Seed was destroyed by his Pure Fire as if it was revolting. The Pure Fire told him that they didn't want to get inside that inferior seed and burned it into ashes. 

Alex couldn't comprehend this. He remembered how Maxwell helped him create the seed, and there wasn't a single restriction. Yet, his Pure Fire was revolting against him right now. 

There was only one possible reason he could think at the moment. Considering his Pure Fire was barely awakened in the lower world while this one had even evolved, Alex thought the Phoenix Seed also evolved with him. It was the reason why Sherry could activate the Phoenix Seed and released his Evolved Pure Fire. It even regenerated the Pure Fire.

Whatever the reason, Alex had one thing clear. He couldn't hide his Pure Fire anymore. Alex thought for a moment and resigned to his fate. The Fire God Clan already knew about his Pure Fire anyway, so he didn't mind as the information would surely spread like a fire. 

The only problem was how to convince Sherry to make her not feel guilty about this. He couldn't come with a single excuse other than telling the truth, so he would just face it when the time came.

It was the time for Alex and the others to wake up. Alex immediately rose from the floor and clasped his hands respectfully. "Thank you for your help."

"Your welcome." Atlas nodded. "What are you going to do now?"

"I will be staying in Igor's place for a while before training for another few months. Then, I will leave this realm to finish our business." Alex nodded.

"Do you need some help to go to Igor's place?"

"No. I can do it with my Teleportation Array." Alex declined.

"Alright then. I will begin constructing the Rune Stones that you need." Atlas nodded. "See you later."

Atlas then disappeared while Nelson appeared right before Alex. "Young Master. Considering we have finished most of our business in this realm, I wish to ask for your permission to go to the outside world and start helping others."

"Granted. I'm leaving the outside matter to you. Don't forget that we need more information about this battle."

"Understood." Nelson nodded before turning into light. 

There was no need for Alex to bring him back to the barrier since the spirits could just summon him by using this card that contained a special Space Magic.

Alex then turned around and asked. "So, what are you going to do? I'm going to train with Igor for the time being and maybe practice my Fire Art elsewhere. I am afraid the fire will burn that tree down."

The tree he was talking about was the portal tree. Although the accident would be low since the fire could be controlled, this technique came from that Fire God, Phitrus, who managed to create this evolved Pure Fire. His technique shouldn't be a pushover either; hence Alex chose to stay away. 

"I and Stina will cultivate in that barrier again. I will need to use this time to overtake Master once again since I won't be much help to Master if I'm weaker." Kyle made a pure smile while Stina nodded in agreement. 

"What about you?" Alex looked at Sherry.

"I will be with them. I don't know how long Master is going to learn the Sword thingy, so Master can just bring me when you have finished." Sherry smiled.

"Alright. I will do just that." Alex nodded before telling others to enter his body again. After that, he created a Teleportation Array again and dropped them off inside the barrier before going to Igor's place.

He stopped using his teleportation when he arrived in front of Atlas's Rune Stone and proceeded by using his Spatial Gate. Not long after, he opened the gate once again as he had arrived in Igor's house.

"!!!" Igor, not far from that spot, felt the change of energy and thought someone must be in his house. He called out the only person that could create something like this. "Alexander Sirius?"

"Yes. I'm here." Alex said out loud. 

After confirming the person, Igor then appeared in front of Alex. *Gasp—!*

"To think you reach 2-Star Martial Monarch this fast. Do you use the Soul Altar to boost your cultivation?"

"I have finished borrowing it today. Only for one star, though."

"Only one star? You do know that the Soul Altar has too much energy, right? Although you won't be able to absorb all of them, reaching 5-Star Martial Monarch should be easy for you."

Alex then began explaining the thing that Atlas told him, and Igor could only sigh. 

"Anyway… Considering you are here, you must want me to teach you…" Before he could finish his words, Igor was stunned, his jaw dropped to the ground, and his eyes widened. The feeling of sharpness combined with heat brushed his skin, making him notice that Alex already became a Sword Saint.

"Congratulations…" 

"Thank you. It's hard work." Alex nodded. 

"So, you want to apply this technique right now?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded. He already lost the Phoenix Seed, so he needed this to make himself look more normal as to avoid problems. 

"Alright. You can follow me to the grassy plain a bit farther from this place. No one knows about that place, so we can train peacefully." Igor nodded before pointing in a certain direction. "It's this way."

Alex understood his intention and snapped his finger, creating another Teleportation Array for them.