"Ah, you woke up."
A frown appeared on Astaria's face as she sat up and heard a familiar voice.
Her eyes then fell on Nux who was sitting on a chair and her expression changed,
"You are back."
"Of course I am," Nux replied.
"Wait…"
Astaria furrowed her brows…
She then grabbed her head which was aching, her eyes then fell on Skyla, who was lying right next to her on the bed, unconscious. She then looked around and noticed all her sisters were lying there as well and she was the first one to wake up.
Astaria finally recalled everything…
"Our battle…"
She muttered.
Nux just smiled and gave her time to clear her head.
"You became a King Stage Cultivator…"
Astaria glanced at Nux and spoke.
"Mhm, that is correct."
"But you are stronger than before…"
"Well, that's not entirely correct but not entirely incorrect either."
Nux replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I am not stronger than before, I actually got weaker than before, since I cannot directly move the Mana as freely as I could when I was an Emperor, so my strength is affected a little, however, in exchange, my control has increased tremendously.
My movements are much freer than before, I am faster, and I now have complete control over everything I do.
You can say I exchanged a little bit of my strength in exchange for high-level control."
Nux explained, he didn't know if he was explaining things properly, however, since it was Astaria, who was trying to achieve something similar with her own Sword Aura, she could understand what Nux was talking about.
However,
"I still don't understand,
The Sword Aura, I understand, I can actually control the output, but how did you manage to regress your cultivation, I have never seen or heard anything like that."
However, as soon as her question ended, Astaria realized,
"The reward you got from the System…"
Nux nodded,
"You are correct,
That was a Cultivation Technique.
That reminds me of another thing."
Suddenly, Nux's expression turned serious and he replied,
"You remember the Body Cultivation Techniques I gave you all?"
"Of course I do, although we are currently not making much of a progress, I am sure it will be our trump card in the future."
Astaria nodded, however,
"Stop cultivating it."
"What do you mean…?"
Astaria frowned.
"Rather than your trump card, those techniques would become a burden for you all in the future, so stop cultivating them."
"Nux, I don't understand…"
Astaria frowned.
"I don't know how to explain this all to you, I do not know much about this as well, however, just know that the Cultivation is not as simple as we were making it out to be.
The most optimal way to cultivate is to cultivate both Mana and Body at the same time, however, this does not mean one can just simply cultivate Mana first and then work of Body,
It does not work like that.
You had to do it side by side but you all have already missed that chance, so the best choice for you all right now is to…
Stop cultivating your body and focus on Mana."
Nux spoke and hearing those words, Astaria frowned.
She didn't like that…
It felt like she was…
Compromising…
"But wouldn't that make us weak in the long run?"
"You are not in a position to think about 'the long run' in the first place. Remember, the System already hinted that there are levels as high as 13 Star…
Cultivating the body is like a slow poison for you all, if you start it, it will 'eat' up your potential, making it harder and harder for you to grow.
I am sure you can already feel those effects, aren't you?
Mana Cultivation aside, even the Body Cultivation is ridiculously slow.
You got the CUltivation Technique more than a year ago, some even got it 2 years ago, but none of you had even become an Apprentice Stage Body Cultivator.
It should not be this slow, and you know it as well."
Nux explained in the best way he could.
He didn't know much about all this either, the things he was talking about, he only learned by them understanding the Technique he had learned. He was no expert, but he knew that cultivating body was not the best option for his women right now.
"Is there really no other way…?"
Astaria, however, wasn't willing to accept this.
As a warrior, the fact that she will be completely abandoning one of the ways to get stronger bothered her.
Seeing the look on her face, Nux decided to be honest with her,
"There is."
"What?"
"Revise your Cultivation,
Rebuild your Foundation.
Start everything again,
From scratch.
Just like I did."
"…"
Astaria turned silent.
Start everything again…
Her more than 300 years of journey, she was being asked to abandon it…
It was definitely not a simple decision.
"Of course, it is not as simple as it sounds. Rather, it is actually impossible for the current you."
"What do you mean?"
Astaria frowned.
"You cannot just rebuild your foundation just because you feel like it, it is something that goes against the very nature of the cultivation.
Without a proper technique, it is simply impossible.
And the problem is, I have searched everything, but even the 13 Star Cultivation Techniques in the System Shop does not have something that can help you change your foundation."
"…"
Astaria turned silent.
It seemed like in the end, she had to give up on-
Suddenly, Astaria's expression changed,
"Wait, you said I had to rebuild my Foundation and Restart just like you did."
"Yes, that is correct."
"Then this last year, that was what you were doing, rebuilding your foundation, that is why your cultivation fell, correct?"
"Well, that is not entirely correct, but yes. You can say that." Nux nodded.
"Then that means the technique you received as a reward can be used to rebuild our foundations as well, can't it?"
Astaria questioned with an excited look on her face.
