"...I don't get it."
'Yeah, me neither but it all boils down to two simple facts. You slept for a week and for some reason, you also broke through the Practitioner Realm.'
Ashton blinked and said: "...I mean, if you put it that way, I guess it is simple. But the why and the how is still unknown."
'Eh, does it really matter?'
"Uh, yes it does? This is my cultivation, hello? Isn't it normal for me to know how it happened and be in control? I slept for a whole and made a breakthrough, how does that suppose to make sense? You can't seriously tell to just brush this off or that I just lucky!"
Ashton really didn't know what to feel right now.
On one hand, he doesn't feel like complaining about it since, well he made a breakthrough this easily. It was painless and it happened during the longest sleep he ever had in both of his lives.
On the other hand, he couldn't help but think that this was risky. He's supposed to be in control of his own cultivation, it doesn't make sense for it to happen the way it did.
'But are you hurt though?' Aria asked, 'Do you feel any discomfort or something like that?'
That made him pause. He closed his eyes briefly to scan himself and when he opened then, he had a blank expression on his face.
"Not really. I feel stronger and my mana's denser. My reserves also expanded greatly." He said.
'Then you're fine.' Aria declared, 'Seriously, stop overthinking. What happened, happened. Just take it and run away with it. No big deal.'
"That's irresponsible, you and I both know that." Ashton sighed.
'But it doesn't change the fact that you're a Mage Practitioner now so suck it.' Aria chided.
Ashton sighed. Well, she's not wrong. But just in case, he decided to double-check his body. He just want to be sure that he didn't mess up here cause that could potentially be devastating.
He scanned his body again and even went as far as to scanning his own sub consciousness.
He checked his Mage Crest that had some changes along with his breakthrough...
If in the Apprentice Realm, Mages had to form a total of 9 magical circles around their Mage Crest, then at the first level Practitioner Realm they have to form a link that connects all the circles together. At level two of Practitioner Realm, they would start fusing the farthest magical circle to the one before it.
This goes all the way until there's only a single magical circle around the Mage Crest. A big one at least.
In Ashton's sub consciousness, his Mage Crest shone with an intense rainbow colored glow. He could see that all of the magical circles around his Mage Crest are now linked to each other.
There's an instinctual need for him to start reeling them closer but he's aware that he can't do that. His breakthrough was fresh and he's nowhere near ready to make another breakthrough.
Still, he could feel the increase in quality just by looking at it. He can't really make any comparisons right now since he's...well, there's nobody to compare to, but he can tell that the sheer volume of his mana could easily surpass his actual level.
He wondered how the refinements will work now that he's a Practitioner.
Well, he'd found out eventually, but since everything seems fine here, it looks like there's nothing for him to worry about.
For what it's worth, he'd still want to know how it actually happened but he really can complain. He had a long sleep and a clean breakthrough. That's it, plain and simple.
"Okay, whatever. I see no problem so I'll just take it I guess." Ashton stood-up and stretched for a bit.
He already ate something since that became his first instinct after he woke up from his long slumber. Now that his mind was clear and all, it's time to check how his shelter his holding up.
He walked around to help with his digestion and to also check the shelter. He inspected every talisman seal he placed, making sure that they're still intact.
Ashton also checked if there's any traces of infection seeping it and was relieved to not find any. The formation disc that he left is also still active so everything was perfect. It stayed the way how he left them before going to sleep.
Since his shelter held-up for this long without fail, Ashton decided to leave it be. No point in fixing what's not broken.
He warmed-up his body slowly. The long period of inactivity affected him somehow but it's nothing he couldn't deal with. Once he's done with that, he decided to practice some basic spells just to re-familiarize himself with them again.
Of course he didn't forget about the Staff Techniques he learned.
It's a pity that he didn't really get a chance to learn some more advanced Staff Skills (not that he knew if he could even use them to begin with because of the curse) but the basics should be enough so long as he get enough experience with them.
The current staff technique looks like this:
[Basic Staff Technique - Lv.5]
• Greatly increases Host's familiarity and finesse when using a Staff to fight.
• 50% attack potency increase when wielding a Staff.
• 25% increase in Host's Endurance.
It doesn't look much but honestly, given how fragile Mages are in terms of physique, this goes a long way.
Once he's done with his initial practice, feeling that his body was heated-up properly. Ashton sat down and immersed himself within the Simulation Zone to fight Imps again.
Now that he's had his breakthrough, he should have higher chances to defeat one at least...right?
Using the similar settings as before, Ashton started the fight.
He's no longer surprised by the sudden charge of the Imp. He's gotten used to it already.
Waving his staff, he parried the first thrust of the Imp and twirled his staff to deliver a counter attack. The other end landed square on the jaws of the Demon and Ashton clung into that advantage.
He stepped forward and weaved his staff with a fluid motion, hitting the Imp four to five consecutive times, aimed at the part where it would hurt the most.
The Imp snarled at him and tried to counter attack but once again Ashton parried it.
He discovered that, compared to the last time, he isn't panicking to respond anymore. In fact, thanks to his breakthrough, he could now anticipate how the Imp will attack. His perception processed information faster and it's being honed by the experience he's gradually accumulating.
Now, he even had time to weave spells in his onslaught which made things more difficult for the Imp.
After five minutes of confrontation, Ashton's staff struck the head of the Imp, piercing through its skull and promptly ending the battle.
Ashton released a sigh and sat down. He was panting and his face scrunched up in dissatisfaction.
'I'm already this tired after killing one? That's not good.' He thought to himself.
Ashton really couldn't bring himself to be happy with his results. It's far from desirable if he wanted to get out this place. There's hordes of Imps roaming above him, there's no way that they'd fight fair.
In fact, why is he even bother with fighting a single imp anyway? He knows that it's nearly impossible for him to confront just one since they move in packs.
He's better off fighting a pack to begin with. Fighting a single one is counter-productive since bringing a single one down doesn't really do much for him when there's going to be another one coming for him right away.
'System, playback the fight just now. I want to see how I can improve.'
He asked, and the system delivered. Just like what he was expecting, he could really do anything here. He should really take advantage of this more...
Ashton watched the fight closely. He even had the option to slow it down or down right freeze the fight so that he can look at it closely.
He criticized his own self. Groaning at every instance that he missed. He noticed several times where he could've ended the fight right then and there but didn't because he's trying to be so safe.
Again, there's no point in playing it safe when he's in a simulation zone. It's fine for him to die here...well, not really since he'd feel a phantom pain but still, there are ways to him to improve faster and he's not taking advantage of it.
He figured that now's the time to rectify that.
'Okay, so let's test things out.' He mused to himself, 'System, make a clone myself that has a maxed-out Basic Staff Technique please.'
Lo and behold, the System came through. Ashton suppressed the desire to sequel in delight upon discovering that.
'Okay, just to be clear. This clone has the same cultivation level as I am right now, correct?'
[Yes, Host.]
'Perfect. Let's have this clone fight an Imp in three...two...one!'
Boom!
Ashton blinked and the fight was over.
