Hearing his question, Danchun's slender body jerked like a white rabbit flushed out by a fearsome predator. Her hair bristling with fright, she swung her head towards him, staring at him with extreme apprehension on her face. But very quickly, her facial muscles relaxed and she countered by smiling innocently,
"Do you expect me to grow a certain plant or cereal, My Lord? If you've got the seeds, I do have the fundamentals of it even if it's not my field of expertise."
"Tsk, don't play dumb with me." Ikaris scowled with disdain. "Let me tell you what I think and you tell me if I'm wrong, okay? You must have been a decent cultivator in the world you came from. When you were in a pretty desperate situation, a white lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck you. Then you found yourself here, younger and deprived of your powers.
"The first thing you tried to do when you got here was to absorb the abundant energy you were using in your previous world and start your cultivation from scratch. What do you call it? Qi, Spirit Qi? Spiritual Energy? Douki? Whatever... Too bad, you didn't feel anything at all and now you are desperate. When Anaphiel killed that boar, you wanted to steal the Beast Core storing the precious energy you were looking for, unfortunately you didn't find it.
"Did I miss something?"
Danchun was speechless. She realized that he had seen right through her from the beginning.
"How?"
"I'm your Lord." Ikaris smirked. "I know everything about you."
Seeing her lovely face crumple, he didn't have the heart to continue teasing her and said,
"I'm just kidding. I know all that from an Appraisal Spell. I don't know anything about your past, but I have access to some of your specs. How? I don't know. It's magic after all. I guess your body must have a slightly different anatomy than the natives of this world."
Ikaris amazed himself with his ability to bullshit endlessly. After making a few more ridiculous points such as the fact that he could vaguely make out her meridians and other nonsense, she finally bought the story.
Now it was Danchun's turn to be intrigued, but not wanting to discuss this topic in front of everyone, she coyly walked over to him. Standing next to him while he was butchering the huge boar with great difficulty, she whispered,
"My Lord... Do you have a solution to my problem? If you help me, I'm even willing to teach you everything I know, including my most secret techniques."
The boy grunted, too focused on arching his body and contracting all his muscles to slice the chunk of meat that was resisting him. He was already covered in sweat.
'Damn it...' Ikaris cursed inwardly. I thought it would be easier after I cut it open, but this meat is more rubbery and tough than Kevlar. The knife cuts through it smoothly, but I'm the one who is lacking in strength.'
'I would have preferred you use your magic to practice your I Am Me Spell, but no choice.' Magnus suddenly stated. 'It's time to give you the foundation of a Body Sorcerer. How is your Divine Spark doing?
'0.004.' The teenager reported cheerlessly. This Divine Spark was really growing at a snail's pace.
'Don't complain about this. In your case, it's a blessing and we'll make the most of it. You're going to keep doing what you're doing, but you will use your Divine Spark to either give your arm a little more strength or your knife an extra edge. Rather than visualizing yourself with awesome strength or sharpness, imagine your strength or sharpness increasing by 1%, or even 0.5% if it's too tiring. We'll increase the intensity when your body can handle it.'
"Is that all?" Ikaris grumbled aloud, startling Danchun.
Ignoring the young woman who was still waiting for his answer and stamping her foot in annoyance, he followed the Vampire's instructions and clearly visualized his intention to give his stroke a little more strength. In addition, remembering his knowledge of anatomy and cellular biology, he pictured clearly how his body could become stronger, for instance by amplifying the nerve impulses.
When he felt ready, he reached out to his Divine Spark and cast the spell.
'Enhanced Strength.'
The flesh he was struggling to chop suddenly felt a tad more tender, but the difference was almost negligible.
'Now try to hold the spell. That's the main difference with instant effect spells. It requires constant focus.' Magnus calmly instructed him as he carried on cutting the meat.
After only a few seconds, the spell already came easier to him, which was a wonder only possible because of his superior Soul Strength according to the Vampire, but the Stamina cost was just as steep. Less than a minute later, he had to take a break dripping with sweat to catch his breath.
'Rest for fifteen minutes and take the opportunity to eat some of that meat you cut up. With your Vitality, you should recover very quickly.' Magnus told him in a teacher's tone. 'From now on, I want you to use every moment of your day whenever your stamina is at its highest to practice these two spells of Enhanced Strength and Sharpening.'
Gurgle!
Ikaris realized at that moment that he still hadn't eaten because of the dopamine rush brought on by the Magical Beast's attack and the summoning of his first villagers. Once his appetite kicked in, he suddenly felt famished.
Indifferent to Danchun's vexed looks, he unwrapped a piece of meat he had just chopped and took a ferocious bite out of the raw flesh, his irises giving off a faint golden glow as his pupils narrowed to a slit. The dancer and former cultivator recoiled, but she could not help but watch him eat with fascination.
The piece of meat weighed at least 5 kilos and was devoured within 3 minutes. As soon as he finished his meal, the boy felt his body overheating as if he had an excess of energy.
'You shouldn't have eaten so much...' Magnus chided him sternly and Ikaris could almost picture him facepalming in his ring.
'Ugh... I was too hungry, I couldn't control myself.'
"Are you okay?" Danchun asked alertly as she could hear his heart beating at 300 beats per minute from where she stood.
"I... I'm fine.' Ikaris replied unconvincingly, regretting that he was unable to scan this meat with his Appraisal skill.
Even dead, the beast's Magic Defense was still active, though the resistance didn't seem as strong as before. Figuring that he had to get rid of that excess energy to avoid clogging his arteries and suffering a heart attack, Ikaris picked up his knife and started spamming his new spell once more.
This time he felt the difference. Not only had he regained all his power, but he was nearly inexhaustible. Without waiting for Magnus' approval, he doubled the power of the spell, directly increasing his strength by 2%.
It was only after this adjustment that he felt his stamina drop again. But even when he had to take a break a few minutes later, he only needed 3 minutes to do it again.
'Truly a Crawling-Thrall!" Magnus praised with envy. 'That digestion ability is the stuff of legend. But a word of advice from one gentleman to another. Don't let the distressed beauty languish too long...'
Ikaris, who had not forgotten Danchun's query whose patience amazed him, resumed butchering the boar, but this time he took the initiative to talk to her,
"To answer your question, I can't solve your energy shortage problem, but that doesn't mean you can't Cultivate like you used to. You just need to use your Divine Spark to create a spell that mimics your Cultivation Technique. Fake it till you make it. After a while, even without absorbing any Qi, you may very well recover the same abilites and cultivation realm. You can also choose to create a Divine Spark converting the air, heat, or other energies available around us into the one you want. The result will be the same. It will be laborious and it will take time, but in time you should be able to achieve it."
As he explained the workings of the Divine Sparks and its limitless possibilities to her in greater detail than when he lectured to the other villagers, Danchun silently drank in his words. She was eager at first, but once she understood the difficulty and the risks, she knew that it would be a rocky journey.
If she tried to cast such a spell now, the stamina cost required would kill her. She had to grow her Divine Spark and develop a few auxiliary spells before she could attempt it.
Laughing wincingly, she sighed in dismay,
"In the end, it's the same as it was in my world before. Before we can begin to feel Spirit Qi we must train and refine our bodies to the very limits. Here, I must hone my body and mind to increase the power of my magic and optimize the growth of my Sparks."
Danchun bowed with sincere gratitude this time, then with a decisive expression stepped towards him and held his arm cutting the meat. Ikaris met her crystal blue eyes with confusion, but not letting herself be fazed she proceeded to correct his stance, slightly adjusting the posture of his elbow, shoulders, wrists, and knees.
"Your technique is not good." She informed him in a soft voice. "You're wasting the meat and wearing yourself out for nothing."
The young woman had promised to assist him as best she could by teaching him her techniques. That was what she intended to do.
