Chirp–chirp–chirp.
The chirping of birds echoed around him as Mikael remained unmoving, hours slipping by without change, the moon rising, darkness falling, yet he still stayed there, locked in his meditative, depth-in-thought position.
Until—
Flicker.
A flicker passed in his eyes, the endless streams of data and calculation fading away as life returned to them, and if the firmness and determination that now burned there was anything to go by, then the decision had been taken.
"Ahhh…" he exhaled as he rose from his sitting position, "60 years it is, 60 years of suppression and then I break through…" he murmured as he left the clearing and walked toward the Cultivation Manor.
Ultimately the decision he had taken was to suppress his cultivation until he reached 90 years old (the very limit of his current Golden Period) before breaking through to the 2nd layer.
In this way maybe he would 'grow stronger slower' than if he broke through right now, but at least his foundation would be the strongest possible!
As for how he would handle the multiple problems his earlier musings had brought forth?
He already had a couple of solutions in mind, and he fully intended to put them into practice!
On that note he returned inside the Cultivation Manor, where he spent some lovely time with the girls.
Afterward he, strangely enough, headed into a lone room of the large building, a room that he had previously used back when he was conducting research on his 'crazy project' related to the fusion of six different energies into a single one.
The fusion of Aura + Mana + Mental Force + Vitalis + Anima + his newly changed Qi, Purple Lightning Qi, into a single energy that would merge the properties of each in a way that would give birth to something entirely new, something far greater than the sum of its parts.
To make this happen he had long since concluded that the best possible way was to attempt the fusion during his Core Formation process, a step that was still far in the future.
Weirdly enough Mikael decided that at the place of researching ways to make his current Cultivation Methods better, he would instead focus on this 'long forgotten project' and throw all of his energy into it…
It had been a couple of years since he had focused himself on his crazy goal, a crazy goal that back then had made good progress but in the end could still be considered in its infancy, which was especially true following Mikael's recent Thunder Vein Dew absorption.
Because of that absorption his Qi had changed, meaning that a large part of his previous research was now rendered useless and would have to be redone, and when this was coupled with the fact that he still had near zero progress on the Soul part—which meant Anima fusion—because of the near impossibility of finding anything truly related to the Soul within the Sect, the project's immaturity was even more evident.
All of this coming together made it logical to call this a project still in its infancy, an infancy that he fully intended to erase by pushing it forward in leaps and bounds, and if, by total coincidence, while researching this project he also happened to deepen his understanding of cultivation, research, and the various energies…
Something which was especially beneficial for his future research toward upgrading Cultivation Methods, he would be luckily doing two birds one stone….
On that note Mikael threw himself head first into research, he studied day and night about research, trying to find ways to make his own current research more optimal and faster.
He read other books of the Scripture Pavillion to deepen his theoretical knowledge of cultivation, research and energies.
He then did an incalculable number of practical experiments to try to confirm or infirm so theories he had, after all while his theoretical knowledge was monstrous it wasn't exactly the same for his practical one.
To remedy that he did numerous experiments with no one too crazy, he tried to use a QI Cultivation Technique with MANA which inevitably backfired, tried to fly using Vitalis, tried to temporarily fusioned two energies together to boost their power.
Tried to create a 'Cultivation Method' based on AURA, fusioned research and cultivation in a single experiment and more, oh so much more is what he did in his research.
He was truly relentless and worked extremely hard with no apparent limits to what he dared to do, and his results showed it!
Through relentless determination he rapidly progressed by leaps and bounds as time slipped away like sand through one's fingers.
Days blurred into each other with frightening speed until days became weeks, weeks became months, and months even turned into years!
***
3 years after Mikael had begun his research, when he was now 33 years old.
Tap-tap-tap.
A rhythmic tapping resounded as Mikael's finger repeatedly collided with the surface of a large wooden desk, a desk buried beneath dozens upon dozens of papers filled with sketches, formulas, theories, dense notes, experimental results, and the conclusions he had drawn from them.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound carried on as he continued the motion absentmindedly, his gaze seemingly fixed on a sheet covered in runic patterns, yet in truth his eyes were clouded, showing he wasn't truly looking at it but was instead completely lost in thought…
'Seems like theory 168–A isn't working, at least not with my current control. Maybe further control training could help… or maybe a change in the two fundamental energy blocks used could bring new insights?'
His gaze then drifted toward another paper, one marked with the title Cultivation Human Trial.
"Mmm." Mikael took the sheet in hand, a thoughtful glint flashing in his eyes. 'I should probably focus more on this one, it has already shown promising results, and at the very least it helps me deepen both my practical and even theoretical understanding of cultivation—hard to do better than that!'
'Who would have thought that human trials on 100% consenting people would prove this useful? I finally understand why so many mad scientists go all out with experiments on people in the name of science…'
Mikael's thoughts revealed a chilling fact, that in the research he had carried out over the last three years he had also captured people and done experiments on them!!!
After all, it had already been said that Mikael had 'no limits' when it came to his research, and this was nothing more than one example among countless others that proved it…
Fortunately for the nearby population Mikael didn't take random civilians for his rather painful experiments, he only captured bandits and similar criminals.
He could have easily captured civilians instead, and it would have even been slightly easier for him, after all bandits were far less common than an ordinary person but…
He didn't, because he found it… distasteful, so he kept himself to bandits, even if it meant taking longer, he still did it because… this was what he wanted!
Knock, knock, knock.
A light knocking sound at the door pulled Mikael from his thoughts about potential further human experimentation.
Sensing the recognizable aura of the one standing outside, a gentle smile appeared on his lips as he exclaimed, "Enter."
Crrrk…
The door creaked open and revealed the magnificent sight of Amelia as the beauty stepped into the room.
Her long, silky black hair cascaded in waves down the length of her back, framing the piercing emerald eyes that locked onto Mikael with unwavering love.
Her figure, graced with curves in all the right places, moved with effortless elegance, yet beneath that elegance lingered a faint trace of predatory precision.
Every step carried the weight of her warrior's disposition, as though beauty and battle-honed strength had fused into one.
"Amelia~" Mikael simply pronounced her name and nothing more, but for the two of them, who had known and loved each other for so many years, there was no need for anything else, for they understood each other perfectly.
Step, step.
Amelia closed the distance separating them before leaning forward as their lips met in a short, chaste kiss, one that felt more like an 'old couple's' greeting than anything else.
Rustle.
After this silent greeting Amelia took a seat just beside Mikael, letting her head fall against her beloved's shoulder as her gaze fixed itself on the desk covered in papers.
"How are things going?" she inquired curiously.
Mikael's hand rose and began to gently caress her silky black hair as he answered, "Good, pretty good even. Since the last time we talked about it, I've progressed further, and I would say I am nearly 'finished.' A lot of parts can already be considered as nearing 'completion.'"
"Completion!? That's soon?" she loudly exclaimed, the shock in her voice palpable, but even though she was startled her head didn't move as she continued to bask in her beloved's embrace.
Mikael gave a small nod.
Then the room fell into silence, not an uncomfortable or awkward one, but the kind of silence born when two people were so at ease with one another that words became unnecessary, and simply being in the other's presence was enough.
That silence lasted for a while before being broken as Amelia spoke, "And the soul part of the equation? When are you planning to begin to make moves for it?" she curiously inquired.
"Mmm… that's hard to say, I don't have an exact timeline so I can't say precisely, but my idea is to bring all the other parts of my research—except for the soul—to the point of 'Completion,' so I would say 1 year at the least, 2 years, 2 years and a half at the latest, and only then will I truly begin focusing on the soul!"
"And you, how is your cultivation going?" asked Mikael as his hand caressed the archer in his 'arms.'
"The same as always, 2nd layer of the Spiritual Foundation Realm. After all, your idea to suppress our cultivation until reaching the end of the Golden Period was really great, it's just—"
She raised her head, her emerald eyes meeting his emerald–purple, galaxy-like eyes.
For a moment she froze, struck silent by his handsomeness; it wasn't the first time she had seen his unreal beauty, but no matter how often, it always left her breathless.
After regaining her bearing she continued with a playful undertone, "I just hope that my Mikael~ will still love this lady when she becomes an old lady~" She said it on a lighthearted note, but Mikael could see that it wasn't as much a joke as it was an insecurity lingering within her.
Which was normal, after all, Amelia was from Dirarnia and not a cultivation world, so reaching 90 years old and beyond was, for her, a sign of becoming 'old,' and even though she 'knew' it wasn't the case with cultivation existences and all, a part of her still worried about it…
Seeing through it Mikael let out a small laugh as he pulled her head against his chest, "This 'old man' will always love his 'old lady.' We'll make a beautiful old couple, don't you think so~" he declared in a lighthearted tone.
Amelia let out a small giggle as she nestled her head closer against his chest, her worries dissolving with his words, "Sure we will do…"
On that note both the extremely handsome man of unreal beauty and the ethereal fairy remained silent, simply basking in each other's presence for a while longer before Amelia was the one to break it.
Author Note:
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We finally have the 'timeline' in which Mikael will breakthrough!(at least that's the plan but whether it will be followed that's to be seen…)
As you probably know from the chapters you read, I wrote a lot of Mikeal training and growing stronger in the same realm because this is what make sense to me!
Like in other novels with cultivation elements, it's really rare when protagonist take the time to truly understand their own cultivation systems and grow stronger in it at the place of 'mindlessly increasing their own realm'.
And this is something that I always found illogical, so with Mikael we see the absolute opposite and what I personally found to be the more logical way of cultivating.
———
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