Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Liam had already used several minutes of his two-hour stay in his cultivation room on the fourth floor of the temple.

Thousands of sect disciples highly coveted the Lotus Temple in each of the fjord cities. There were fewer rooms than there was a demand for them, which meant that as soon as someone paid for their places, their contracted time would begin.

Liam lost more than he would have liked with Felicity, so he cleared his mind of thoughts related to her and the previous conversation, picked up the Mana Mask book, and began.

He began to read the 19 pages of codes as he focused his mana in his eyes and brain.

As he began to read, he felt the meaningless text in front of him take on a different feeling, and he understood some passages.

It was said that mastering a new technique took time, dedication and patience. But at the first moment of contact, even a person with minor talent would understand many details of a technique.

The most talented people would progress from an amateur level to a level where they could use the technique in a matter of minutes, hours at most. But even the slowest could start using techniques, especially low-grade ones, after a few days or weeks of study.

In Liam's case, his talent was far superior to the Mana Mask's rating.

In 40 minutes of studying the copy of the technique, he understood 3 of the 19 pages, enough to make colored mana points appear around his face.

'Thal'Korr, can you tell if this technique has any effect?' Liam asked his Spirit.

'No, at least not where I am. Maybe when I get out of your soul, I can,' the Spirit said in his usual cold, dry tone.

Liam didn't hesitate to summon the Shadowfiend, keeping the Spirit still while he tried to use the Mana Mask technique.

Thal'Korr watched his master in silence, noticing a subtle change in Liam's magical fluctuation.

"I can feel it. There's a slight difference, but nothing too significant. It's like your cultivation fluctuates between 5-Star and 6-Star."

Liam smiled as he understood the feeling he was getting from using the Mana Mask.

'So this is what the technique looks like...' He stopped moving his mana in the pattern required by the technique and let his cultivation fluctuation stabilize again at 6-Star.

'Right now, I haven't reached the first level of mastery, so I can't hide my cultivation from a Spirit at my level. But even without reaching the first level of mastery of the technique, I can still show fractions of its characteristics.'

He allowed Thal'Korr to continue outside his soul while he turned his attention to continuing his training with the technique.

Aside from understanding the text of the technique, which was necessary to know how to activate it, one would also need to practice using the technique, repeating the commands to learn from their own mistakes.

Learning a new technique did not differ from learning to cook. There was the theory, there was the recipe, and there was the practice.

Just because you've seen a recipe from someone who knows how to cook a particular dish doesn't mean you'll get it right the first time. Only by testing, using your own experience, and refining the process of preparing the dish would you reach a good level at it.

And even with a good recipe and a minimum of understanding and effort, there was no guarantee that you would reach a high level.

Some people simply had a talent for it. They either learned quickly or reached a top level through training. But there were also those who would never get far, no matter how hard they tried.

It was the same with techniques. Sometimes you had to adjust the commands to your own characteristics, balancing the elements, the amount of mana, and even the speed of your mana in the process behind the operation of a given technique.

Liam progressed relatively well in the three attempts he made in the time he had in the room, and by the end of his two hours, he had successfully hidden one of his cultivation stars from Thal'Korr.

'If this works with everyone of my level, I'll be able to advance to 7-Star level and use the Mana Mask to impersonate a 6-Star Spirit Lord.' Liam smiled to himself, happy with his result today.

'I just have to test it on Mary later to see if the mask is obvious to her. Thal'Korr said he saw the mana distortion on my face, but he's connected to me.

From what the technique text says, it's normal for the Spirit Master to feel and see some of the distortion of the mask. That's how they know they are using the technique. So maybe Thal'Korr can see it because of our connection.

If Mary sees nothing, then it means I can use it without worrying about attracting attention.' He clenched his fists as he left the room, heading for the temple entrance to return the room key.

'I can also test this on Ann. She's stronger than me, so she'll be able to help me more than Mary. Since she herself suggested I learn such a technique, she shouldn't make it difficult for me.'

Along the way, he also decided that once he mastered the first level of the technique, he wouldn't use it to wipe out his entire cultivation. Doing so would reveal to others his ability to hide his cultivation, which might raise doubts in the minds of his enemies.

His plan was simply to use the technique to appear to be at the 6-Star Spirit Lord while he would continue to advance to higher levels.

Until he had mastered the first phase of the technique, he also didn't want to use it to make sure he wouldn't be seen using it when he still had little control over it.

'I just have to be careful when I meet disciples in the third realm. Someone like that will sense my true cultivation.'

After leaving the Lotus Temple, Liam enjoyed the night view of the city from the main staircase, sighing for another 'won' day in the sect.

Now it was time for him to return to Mary, cultivate with her, and then rest for a new day. Tomorrow, he planned to fulfill his week's responsibility with the Beasts Hall, while leaving it to the Battle Hall at the end of the week.

He was almost certain that the next time he went to the Battle Hall to perform his duty, he would have problems, so he wanted to prepare well in advance.

Members of the Battle Hall were required to fight in the battle arena once a month, which could be brought forward or postponed depending on one's luck and influence within the hall.

'I will use the next three days to get stronger and master the basics of Mana Mask. After that, it will be time to face my demons.' He thought to himself as he approached two weeks in the sect, when he would have to risk going out of the city to hunt for Arcane Crystals.

But he hoped Felicity would give him a target before he left to hunt for the 30 Arcane Crystals he needed to collect by the end of the month.

If his theories weren't wrong, having a new partner could take him to the next level quickly!

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