Divine Beast Ascension

Blinking, Oli asked, “Then, Master Zelsh, can I ask you to go get me one while I’m training? I’ll pay for it, but-”

“I’ll think about it. But I don’t think you’re ready for that yet. Or have you already forgotten about the predicament with your dark essence?” Zelsh chuckled, giving Oli an obvious glance.

“Oh... I see. Do you think I’ll be ready for that kind of weapon after this qualifier?”

“That’s what we’re hoping for. But until then, you shouldn’t rely on a weapon embodied with dark essence, or it could actually stunt what you’re trying to accomplish,” added Zelsh. “And the rest of you don’t need to act so forlorn. All Oliver is trying to turn his dark essence into death essence, so he has to keep that in mind.”

Trenk and Trantor eyed Oli with jealousy. Trantor asked, “You mean... that’s possible?”

Nodding, Zelsh boldly replied, “Of course that’s possible! What is death essence but a unique variation of dark essence? If I wanted, I could’ve even trained my death essence into dark essence while I was young. And that goes for Freele and her light essence as well. With the right teacher, so long as it happens before the forming of her divine core, she has the chance to grasp life essence.”

.....

The couple shared an intense stare filled with longing. Swallowing his original question, Trantor paused while he thought about something. “... Master Zelsh, can you help me-”

“It wouldn’t be impossible. If that’s what you want, we can sit down and discuss it with your father after the Mortal Championship,” answered Zelsh. “And we can have the same discussion with Freele about her light essence. But that would be a bit trickier since we’d need to find her a suitable teacher.”

“Thank you, Master Zelsh!” Trantor dropped to his knees and prostrated to the king. “Thank you!”

Laughing, Zelsh accepted the praise. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s all get back and start cultivating. And no fires allowed!”

Freele’s excited gaze twitched but she expected the restriction.

“If you need assistance at first, just sit back to back...” Zelsh suggested to the couple as he reentered the inn.

Alone, the young cultivators chatted briefly before deciding where they all wanted to cultivate.

“Thank you, Trantor. That was a perfect test for my new abilities, and I greatly appreciate it,” Oli chimed in with a bow. “Maybe after I’m a low-elder you can actually go all out.”

“Well, maybe I’d be forced to if you did the same. You still held back on your soul arts, didn’t you?”

Shrugging, Oli answered, “Then I look forward to seeing you’re full strength in the Prefecture Qualifier.”

“Yeah... I hope I get to see you there.”

“Oh, you will. That’s a promise.”

As Oli walked into the inn, Yeter followed close behind. Trenk ended up leaving with Fulkar and the couple was the last to leave, still shaken by Zelsh’s statement about death and life essence.

Yeter was surprised to see Oli heading back to the bathhouse. “Hey, where are you going-”

“To the place where I can get acclimated the fastest. If I can train in the ice baths like it’s nothing, then I’ll be better prepared for the first round of the qualifier,” reasoned Oli, stripping and leaping directly into the water. Sharp shivers ran down Oli’s body but they soon faded. The moment Oli found a comfortable spot to sit down and cross his legs, leaving only his head above water, he entered a trance and the shivers lessened.

Amazed, Yeter carefully waded into the water, trying not to splash Oli like he did the last time.

“... Wow.” Time passed slowly for Yeter and the ice baths only made it slower. “... I’m surprised you’re so focused so quickly... How do you do it? ... Oliver? Oliver??”

Oli wasn’t listening to the stallion. He had entered his soul jade since the moment he sat down. Oli’s thoughts were simple. *If being in the soul jade was the fastest way for my body to process that formation, then using the soul jade here is the fastest way to get acclimated. And with the soul jade’s extended time, I cultivate a bit easier and even focus on my death essence... Sorry, Yeter, but you’ll have to endure cultivating on your own for a little while.”

A couple of things Oli made sure to take out before entering the soul jade were the peak-elder cores resting in Oli’s hands, hidden under the water. There wasn’t a natural abundance of earth and dark essence in the area so Oli needed to rely even more on cores for the fastest results.

While Oli focused on increasing his cultivation, Yeter could only further stabilize his cultivation. As a peak-elder, Yeter could only push his essence so far. He hadn’t yet reached the absolute limit of his mortal core but Yeter could still better stabilize and fine-tune his essence nature. The more stable and controlled the mortal core was during the divine breakthrough, the better the odds of success. Also, Yeter was training in bone-chilling water so he kept his cultivation simple as he circulated the essence through his body.

Yet when Yeter eventually got up to leave, Oli stayed still, motionless even. “Yo, Oliver! It’s time for some sleep! ... Hello-”

“Leave him be.” Zelsh walked in and patted Yeter’s shoulder.

“But-”

“He’s cultivating right now. Oliver’s not an idiot, so he’ll stop when he needs to. But for now, he’s totally fine. Oliver might not even leave that water for a few days.”

Dumbstruck, Yeter didn’t know how to take that information.

Zelsh laughed and led the stallion out of the bathhouse. “Come on! You’d better focus on yourself for now. If you don’t, you’ll get left behind again.”

“... RIGHT!” Yeter shouted, racing off toward his room. “Thank you, Master Zelsh!”

Waving and laughing, Zelsh glanced back at the bath now that he was alone. “... I’m curious who will acclimate first. You or Fulkar? Either way, I wish we could just hurry this up and get you to the finals. I need to see the look on Brak’s face when you pass his precious nephew with ease.”