While Sasha was directing a complicated look at her little nephew, Anna came to the door and asked with some concern, "Sasha? Why do you look so anxious? Did something happen?"
With her brow furrowed, Sasha had to take a moment before sighing and replying, "I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a disaster, but it's happened, and now we need to deal with it."
As she spoke these words, Sasha couldn't help glancing back at Lucas as she imagined all the headache and trouble he had brought to them now. She wasn't blaming him, of course, as he had only acted out of goodwill and a deep trust in her and her family; but even so, just because there was no malicious intent behind an action didn't mean it couldn't bring great harm and danger with it.
Lucas, while physically just nine years old, was far more perceptive than his age would suggest, so he noticed the subtle meaning behind his Aunt Sasha's words and actions almost immediately. Even so, he wasn't sure what this was all about, or how he was involved.
Still, he figured he would know soon enough, so he kept his mouth shut as he walked over to his mother and kept his eyes down.
Although she was disciplined in her lifestyle, patience wasn't one of Anna's strongest virtues, so noticing the somber atmosphere and the hearing the non-answer her best friend had given her, she became slightly irked and asked in a blunt tone, "What's this about, Sasha?"
Knowing what her friend's personality was like, Sasha stopped beating around the bush and flatly replied, "Eris is in the middle of a breakthrough."
"Impossible!" Anna abruptly shouted before glancing around to make sure she had not drawn other's attentions and whispering, "That little girl only broke through to the Fourth Step 4 months ago, she couldn't possibly have broken through again in such a short time."
Lucas was now very confused.
Wasn't breaking through a good thing?
And wasn't it that the faster one could break through, the better?
In fact, the very first time his Big Sister Eris had broken through, from the First Step to the Second Step Body Tempering Realm, she had come flying over to show off her newfound strength and to celebrate.
Lucas vividly recalled his big sister not being able to fully control how much force she was using at the time and almost dislocating his arm when she dragged him around. It was an equally happy and frightening memory.
If his mother and aunt were so concerned about this though, perhaps something had gone wrong during his big sister's breakthrough and she had become injured? Thinking of such a possibility, Lucas hurriedly asked, "Aunty Sasha, did something bad happen to Eris? Was she hurt somehow?"
"Nothing bad happened to that foolish daughter of mine, it's just…" Sasha quickly allayed her nephew's fears, but then sighed and muttered, "It's just that she did something crazy and has now created a huge mess for us."
Shaking her head, Sasha spoke to Anna, "This isn't the place to talk about it. I'm sorry to do this to you when there's still another hour before you're supposed to start your duties, but I hope you, Drake, and Lucas can come over right now so we can all discuss what we're going to do."
Anna, understanding that something very serious must have happened, quickly nodded and went back inside to call her husband. In the mean time, Lucas lowered his head and asked in a small voice, "Did… did I do something wrong, Aunty Sasha?"
Taken aback for a moment, Sasha let out yet another sigh before rubbing her nephew's head and comforting him, "You did nothing wrong, Lucas. In fact, you've done a huge favour for us. It's just that we'll need to be even more careful about with 'gift' you gave us than we thought we'd have to be."
Hearing this, Lucas understood that this was all related to the Unarmed Foundations Martial Art he had been teaching his parents and his aunt, uncle, and big sister. Although he had known all along that this Martial Art was quite precious, a fact that all the adults had confirmed, it seemed that there was still more value to it than he initial expected.
Pursing his lips, Lucas nodded his head lightly before waiting quietly. Fortunately, he had only just started his morning exercises and wasn't covered in sweat, so he didn't have to go change his clothes and rinse himself off.
Soon after, Anna and Drake appeared at the front door to the house and the group of 4 set off for the Town Lord's Manor. As he wasn't certain how long he would be out, Drake put up a sign at his smithy saying he would be closed for the day, and given how serious the look on his wife's face was, he couldn't help thinking he had made the right call.
After entering the Town Lord's Manor and arriving at the private training room, Anna, Drake, Sasha, and Lucas were met with the scene of Charles watching over his daughter Eris complete her breakthrough; however, unlike what one would expect to see, the picture here was very different.
When one cultivated, they always maintained a comfortable seated position with their legs crossed and eyes closed. In this posture, it was easy to clear one's mind and focus on their Cultivation Technique, allowing them to draw in more World Qi from the environment to strengthen themselves.
There were naturally some extremely rare exceptions, but for the overwhelming majority of people, in the overwhelming majority of circumstances, cultivation and breakthroughs occurred in a still, meditative pose.
However, at this moment, Eris was slowly yet smoothly performing one of the Forms from the Unarmed Foundations Art.
With her eyes closed, she executed the movements and corresponding breathing exercises in perfect synchronicity like she had been taught. Lucas quickly determined that his big sister was executing the 'Dragon Swims Through the Sea Form' to a near perfect degree, which was a bit surprising since she had only learned it recently. It appeared his big sister really was talented when it came to moving her body.
Observing more closely, Lucas felt something akin to a gentle breeze blowing towards Eris from all directions, which he found odd since they were indoors and the windows were closed; but, other than that, everything seemed normal.
For the adults in the training room, however, something very different was going through their minds.
Sasha, Anna, and Drake had all reached the Vein Opening Realm, had their bodies reinforced with Spirit Qi they personally refined, and even had faint traces of Spirit Qi flowing through their partially opened meridians.
On top of that, they had all been cultivating for decades now, so they were experienced with feeling the movement of World Qi. For them, they could just barely tell that World Qi in the air was being absorbed into Eris' little body, strengthening it rapidly. It was like they could feel a subtle movement around her figure that should not be there.
Charles, being the only Core Formation Realm expert present, was even more sensitive to the situation and could more accurately sense the flow of World Qi around Eris, akin to light wind blowing towards her, which was why he had stayed behind to monitor her condition while Sasha went to call Lucas and his family over.
Since Lucas had yet to begin cultivating and was thus only in the First Step Body Tempering Realm, the starting point all Humans were born at, he had no experience drawing World Qi into his body and shouldn't be sensitive to it at all. However, he was actually the one who felt the movement of World Qi the clearest; it was just that he didn't understand what he was feeling, leaving him confused.
What the 4 adults were witnessing right now was something they had never even heard of before. Cultivation that involved not just breathing, meditating, and silent chanting one's Cultivation Technique's Mantra, but also movement.
Not daring to distract Eris while she was in the midst of her breakthrough, everyone in the training room kept silent despite all of them having so many questions they wanted to ask.
It wasn't until half-an-hour later that the young girl finished exercising a specific set of Forms and assumed a neutral posture, almost as if she had fallen asleep while standing up. At this moment, even Lucas could tell that there was something different about his big sister.
She still looked the same, and it wasn't like he could judge a change in her behaviour as she wasn't doing anything, but the air lingering around her was somehow heavier.
What Lucas could understand, the adults in the room could naturally sense as well as the residual World Qi which Eris failed to absorb into her physique after her breakthrough was being released from her pores all at once, giving her a kind of weighty presence. This was a fairly typical result after a breakthrough, and signified one had advanced successfully to the next Step, allowing Charles, Sasha, Anna, and Drake to all breathe a sigh of relief.
Soon after, Eris opened her eyes and a smile formed on her face. She was just about to cheer and celebrate when she suddenly noticed 5 piercing gazes on her and involuntarily shrank her neck.
Charles and Sasha immediately pounced on their daughter, checking her over from head to toe, while Anna and Drake also moved closer in order to inspect Eris.
Seeing his aunt, uncle, and parents all acting so anxiously, Lucas felt like he too should rush over, but realizing he had no idea what to do in this situation, or even what was wrong in the first place, he pushed down his worries and stayed put.
It was only after a thorough investigation that the adults took a step back and nodded to each other, seemingly concluding that they had found nothing wrong.
Eris also felt relieved for some reason and was about to speak up when a fist landed on her crown, causing her to cry out, crouch down, and hold her head tightly.
"Mom! What was that for?" Eris pouted through teary eyes.
As a tomboy and frequent troublemaker, Eris wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of punishment, but the punch she had received this time was much stronger than usual, and the fact that her doting father only wore a stern expression and didn't say anything in her defence told her that she had really done something bad this time.
"What was that for? What was that for!? You dare ask me that young lady!?" Sasha fumed as she scolded her daughter.
Just as Eris was about to try to explain herself, though she didn't really know what for, her seemingly furious mother suddenly collapsed to her knees, hugged her tightly, and began weeping. It wasn't long before her father also joined in and embraced his wife and daughter as his lips visibly trembled.
"I… I'm sorry…" Eris didn't know what she was apologizing for, but seeing her parents act like this, she felt she had to say something, and that was all she could think of.
"What you just did was very, very dangerous Eris," Anna spoke in a serious tone, knowing she had to educate her niece about just what kind of risk she had taken.
"There's a reason we only practice Cultivation Techniques in a stationary, meditative pose. If you become distracted, your breathing becomes uneven, or your mind wanders and you fail to circulate your Cultivation Technique properly, the World Qi you've absorbed may not be refined into Spirit Qi properly, or could even run wild and seriously damage your body, which is why complete focus is an absolute requirement."
"This is especially true when you're breaking through because you need to take in significantly more World Qi when you advance from one Step to the next. There are many examples of people ending up permanently crippled because they make the tiniest of mistakes when breaking through to the next Step."
When Lucas heard this, he shuddered in fright, only now realizing why his parents, aunt, and uncle had all seemed so anxious with what Eris had been doing.
Eris too turned pale when she heard these words. After she turned 10 and had her Innate Talent evaluated, she had been taught by her parents and Teacher about how to properly cultivate in order to advance through the Body Tempering Realm.
She knew she had to always keep a calm and clear mind when she was circulating the Cultivation Technique her mother gave her, but no one had mentioned to her to not move about while she was doing so.
This wasn't because Charles, Sasha, Anna, and all the other adults around her were being negligent however, it was just that from their perspective, sitting in meditation while one cultivated was common sense. Trying to do any kind of physical activity while circulating a Cultivation Technique should have resulted in one being unable to draw in any World Qi at all, which would lead to them immediately stopping.
Now, however, Eris had accomplished a feat they all thought impossible, so it their shock and concern were perfectly justified.