Moments later, after Eira had freshened herself up, she informed Jarek that she was done, and he could return.
Jarek then took the opportunity to introduce Eira to the cultivation world by teaching her all he knew about cultivation.
It wasn't much considering he had become a cultivator not too long ago, but it was still better than nothing.
After explaining all he knew about unattributed and attributed qi, Jarek then proceeded to list options from which Eira could choose which laws she wanted to learn.
He also took the time to explain each law, describing it in great detail.
Eira eventually decided to pick Water/Ice, Wind, and Shadow laws.
He currently only had the shadow law diagram, so she would have to make do with just that for the time being.
Jarek also wanted to help her select a weapon of her choice, but he noticed that he didn't have one for himself, let alone the knowledge of how to use one.
He also gave Eira the mind law diagram, finding it necessary for both of them to cultivate this law.
He had a feeling that he should not neglect this law, as it would be very crucial to him in the future.
In the future, he would know just how right he was to make this decision.
---
Jarek was now back in his room inside the academy.
After he had finished instructing Eira on the basics of cultivation, they both returned to the town, where Jarek dropped her off at home, and he returned to the academy.
With Eira's situation now settled, it was about time he made a breakthrough to the next level.
When he arrived, he immediately started cultivating by accumulating the surrounding qi and gathering it inside his core.
After a few hours of cultivation, he was finally able to break through.
[Congratulations, host, for advancing to the Medium Level of the Advanced Stage. You are rewarded with 5,000 System points.]
Seeing that his points had increased considerably, he decided to spend 2,000 points on the Water/Ice law diagram.
A few minutes later—
[Congratulations, host, for comprehending the 1st Level Water Elementary Intent. You are rewarded with 500 System points.]
The ball of water floating above Jarek's palm then suddenly changed into ice and then into vapor at his command.
With nothing else to do, he went to bed and woke up the next day, ready for another day of learning.
A week soon went by in a flash.
Every student was hard at work, juggling their studies and cultivation.
By now, every student was an Advanced stage cultivator.
They were finally ready to take the next major step in their cultivation journey.
Jarek was now standing in front of a building with a sign that read 'Fire realm.'
Once inside, he saw three different doors that were separated into different grades.
He walked through the closest door, which read 'Advanced Grade', and he was taken aback by what he saw and felt as soon as he walked in.
He felt as if he had entered another world.
The world he observed had a red sky, and on the earth, flames occupied the land as far as the eye could see.
The air was also quite hot, making it impossible for a mortal to withstand this heat for a long time.
But it was indeed the perfect environment for fire cultivators.
Jarek couldn't help but wonder how such a huge world could fit inside such a small building.
He thought that it was pretty similar to a storage bag, which looks quite small but can fit a large quantity of items.
'Space laws?'
The rest of the students also had looks of amazement as they had also never witnessed such a sight.
It was then that a feminine voice spoke up to gather the students' attention, urging them to move towards her.
[
Name: Seraphina
Age: 148
Race: Fire Phoenix
Cultivation: Grandmaster (Peak Late)
Talent: High Grade (Rank 2)
Physique: None
]
"You can refer to me as Seraphina..."
As Jarek took a look at the red-haired woman's profile, he couldn't help but be relieved.
And why would he be so relieved? It was because of her cultivation.
He had been concerned that someone at the Empyrean level would be their instructor.
If that were the case, he would be at risk of being found out.
His concealment skill wouldn't completely work on an Empyrean.
The way this skill works is that it completely hides his cultivation from cultivators at the same level as him.
But if someone stronger than him insists on checking out his cultivation, then he wouldn't be able to hide anything from their senses.
The only reason he was confident that Seraphina wouldn't notice anything was because of the progress he had made throughout last week.
His cultivation had improved from the Medium Level to the peak of the Late Level of the Advanced Stage.
He now had the same energy capacity as a peak Grandmaster.
His cultivation was increasing by leaps and bounds.
It wouldn't be long until no one in this academy would be his equal.
He also noticed that both princesses were in this class as well. 'So they are both here too?'
After some thought, he found that it made perfect sense for both of them to be here.
One was a phoenix and the other a dragon—creatures always associated with fire.
It would have been weird if they weren't here.
Most students in this class were from these two races.
She pointed to the law diagrams stacked on the floor and instructed, "Each one of you will pick their fire law diagram, memorize the circulation pattern, and sit cross-legged close to a nearby human-sized flame."
"Once you have done all of that, circulate your qi according to the law diagram, and you will be able to produce fire qi. Now, I am sure each and every one of you by now has learned how to use [Create]. Once you have guided your fire qi towards your palm, you can then use [Create] to create a flame."
Soon, everyone was seated close to a blazing flame, and they proceeded with their circulation after memorizing the fire diagram pattern.
As Jarek sat in front of a massive human-sized flame, he couldn't help but think. 'I wonder what the other realms look like.'
He then began his circulation, and after easily completing the pattern, a reddish type of energy was produced.
He guided this energy towards his hand with utmost ease, and after applying [Create] to this energy, a small fire manifested at the palm of his hand.
[Congratulations, host, for comprehending the 1st Level Fire Elementary Intent. You are rewarded with 500 System points.]
Seraphina, who was observing the students, quickly noticed that Jarek was already able to produce fire, minutes after circulation.
She was utterly shocked. 'Hasn't it only been a couple of minutes? How did he do it so quickly? Does he have a fire-based physique? No, even that wouldn't explain this."
Seraphina, as an instructor who had worked at this academy for decades, had witnessed her fair share of talented students.
And they were all high-grade students, with some of them having very powerful physiques.
But none of them could accomplish what Jarek had done what Jarek had done in less than three minutes in his first try.
While it might look like a very simple process, creating fire is a very complicated process on one's first attempt.
First, one needs to form fire qi through pattern circulation.
On the first try, it takes quite the effort to move qi in that specific pattern.
And once you form the fire qi, one has to guide it towards the palm or where one wants the fire to be released.
Then comes the qi application of [Create], which will turn fire qi into fire.
One small mistake, and you have to start all over again.
Most people take an hour or so to get used to this process, and extremely talented prodigies only take about half that time, making Seraphina wonder whether this wasn't Jarek's first time.
If only she knew that Jarek took the same time to learn any other law, the woman might just faint due to shock.
Seeing that he was the only one done, he once again dived back into his fire cultivation again, this time trying to reduce the amount of time he took to do this entire process without applying [Create], saving Seraphina from experiencing another shock.
Fifteen minutes later, Brynhild was able to produce her fire, and Astrid was soon followed four minutes later.
There was even a student who was able to produce fire from his mouth, reminding Jarek of the stories he used to read where dragons usually spat out breaths of fire.
An hour later, everyone had managed to produce fire.
"Now that each of you has grasped how to create your flames, from now on, you will learn how to use your fire practically and turn it into an ability of your own. Like this..." Flames were immediately formed at the palm of her hand, and it soon took the shape of a ball.
With her hand held forward, facing another direction, the fireball flew from her hand like an arrow shot from a bow and exploded tens of metres away.
"Of course, none of you would be able to do that anytime soon, but in the next class, we will be going over the principles behind what I have demonstrated today."
Unbeknownst to her, Jarek could already determine the basic principle behind that ability when she used it.
'Hmmm. It seems like she is using [Create] to form the flame, [Manipulate] to condense it into the form of a ball, and then [Push] to turn it into a projectile.'
But even though he knew the basic principles behind it, executing it wouldn't be as easy.
When the fire class ended, Jarek went to attend his next class, the lightning class.