86 Farewells

Lucian's eyes surveyed the bedroom to ensure none but he and Tess were present before leaving the warmth of the sheets. Tess and Delia shared this room, but it seemed the latter had not returned last night, saving him the embarrassment.

Tess watched from the bed as he put on yesterday's clothes, her hands holding the rim of the blanket high.

Moving to the bedside, Lucian bent down to kiss her, smiling.

"I have to leave at noon so make sure you show for breakfast."

"I'll be there." She replied softly.

Securing his swordbelt at the waist, Lucian left the room and moved in the direction of his own dorm. He had to change clothes before leaving with the prince, and he had unpacked a few things since his recent return that would need collection.

When he entered, Theo's snoring echoed loudly in the room and Lucian decided not to wake him. Collecting everything that was his into the Knight's badge, Lucian changed into a set of fine, clean clothes, and then left the manor to find his way to the roof, where he sat.

Closing his eyes, he felt for the immense lifeforce within the surrounding sunlight. With every drop of Trueblood, Lucian's control over both lifeforce and deathfog became exponentially greater, and his body was capable of absorbing far more than it was just one drop prior.

And yet despite that fact, the sheer volume of lifeforce projected by the sun was such that he couldn't hope to cultivate all of it in even a one meter radius of himself, it was too vast and too constant a stream.

That did not mean he wouldn't try though, and as Lucian cultivated, the light around him grew brighter and distorted. As he was now, he could amass a new drop of Trueblood every few days, and soon that would become even faster.

He had no idea how long it would take to turn every condensed drop of blood in his body to Trueblood, but he did know that he couldn't wait that long. He would advance to the 4th stage before finishing the 3rd, and then cultivate them both simultaneously.

The end of the Lifeblood stage was marked by the inability to sustain any more lifeblood, but that did not mean you had to reach that point to enter the 4th stage.

The further along you were in the 3rd stage, the easier it would be to succeed at breaking through to the 4th, but an average cultivator would only amass about 80 drops of lifeblood, and his trueblood, after so many months of cultivation in the Heavensfall crater, had reached a total of 95 drops, every one of them far greater than a single lifeblood. The more he had, the faster they accumulated at an exponential rate. Great talents would reach their limit at around 120 drops, but even if trueblood was broken down to it's weaker sum of parts, one pale and one life, they would reach 190 drops.

Ceasing his absorption of life, the surroundings returned to normal, and Lucian took a deep breath. He had planned to wait until he reached a hundred drops before advancing, but he did not know what the future would entail, and he had a moment of peace right now, so he decided to skip the wait.

The fourth stage of the Grand Life Tome was called the Soulbody stage, and brought with it one of the most incredible changes Lucian had ever read about in his study of the many cultivation arts.

Ordinarily, the soul was nothing but a mass of spirituality and a unique signature. It was only when housed in the vessel of the mind that thought, will, and personality could be channeled from it. For this reason, animals with lesser minds could not channel deeper thought like a human.

But for cultivators, this was a great flaw, as the mind became a fragile weakness. If the brain were destroyed, the soul would be left as nothing but a unique mass of energy without will. To his knowledge, daoists got around this by fusing their soul with a core in the dantian, and then shattering it, allowing the birth of a Daoist Soul, capable of independent thought and action.

For augmenters it was different. The Grand Life Tome in particular would forge nine spiritual anchors to tether the soul to the material body. Then, to complete the 4th stage, the soul would be completely fused into the flesh, becoming one whole. The defense of the body and soul were one and the same. Physicality and Spirituality would become a single whole in every way. That meant too, that the regeneration of flesh was at the same time, the regeneration of soul, something ordinarily incredible if not impossible.

But to reach that, Lucian had to first form the nine anchors and bind his soul to his body.

With his eyes closed, Lucian directed his trueblood in generating an incredible amount of power that rushed to his head, the center of his mind, where it coalesced. He kept this stream open as he generated more power and sent it to his mind.

He imagined a series of images to help grasp the feeling of his soul, and the act of binding it to the body, as gradually, an invisible anchor formed in his mind. The anchor would take on any form, it changed per person, but for Lucian, that anchor was like the sun, it's incredible life giving properties nourishing his soul as its gravity pulled on it, locking the soul in place and tethering it to his head.

There was a constant tension as Lucian felt his body shaking. It was like trying to arm wrestle yourself. It was only when that tension abruptly vanished that Lucian's shoulders sagged and relaxed, his lungs filling with one large breath, before exhaling.

Opening his eyes, Lucian was met with an incredible amount of information. His senses had improved tremendously, and his mind moved at a faster pace. This was not the awakening of another attribute, he still had not awakened another after Reflex, his fifth physical attribute.

No, this was a sign that his spirituality had increased tremendously. He had succeeded in forming an anchor that served also as a bridge between spiritual and physical, allowing part of his cultivation to flood into the soul and nourish it.

A content smile spread on his face as Lucian considered his progress so far. Most of the Helpers in the estate were low-mid 4th stage cultivators. The power difference throughout the 4th stage was massive, as illustrated by the difference between Helpers, and Instructors who were mostly at the higher reaches of the 4th stage, but nevertheless, he too had reached that realm now; even if he was at its lowest rung.

Hopping down from the roof, Lucian made his way to the dining hall to enjoy his final breakfast in the estate and his final meal with friends, for a while at least.

When he entered, Theo was already seated, dressed in clean, expensive clothes acquired outside, no sign of his sloppy sleeping habits present. None of the others were here yet, and so Lucian received his food and sat across from Theo.

"Good morning."

"Morning Lulu."

Lucian's eye twitched, but he ignored it with a shake of the head.

"Do you know where Delia went last night?" He probed.

"You mean did she go back to her dorm at an inopportune time?" He asked with a straight face, excluding a cocked brow.

Not wanting to give his friend the satisfaction of an awkward response, Lucian intentionally schooled his face and replied seriously. "Exactly."

Theo froze for half a second before giving a single chuckle and waving his words away with knife in hand.

"Relax. When I left, she and Tyr were practically absorbed in their own world. I doubt she returned."

'It seems someone has become awfully comfortable with this.' Lucian still remembered that Theo, or Nine as he had been at the time, was quite awkward regarding matters of sex and romance when they were young.

He used to put unnecessary distance between he and Tess when the three of them slept in a room on missions or in a tent, and had become flustered at the mention of sex. Perhaps Nine had grown up a bit faster than the others, as Lucian had no thoughts on the matter when he was that young.

At that moment, Tyr entered the hall alone and sat next to Theo with a beaming face, speaking little until he finished devouring his food. The three long finished eating and became engrossed in conversation by the time Delia and Tess entered together, and then continued to talk as a group while the two women ate.

It seemed Tess had recovered quite a bit from last night as she spoke animatedly and cheerfully as usual, no longer dwelling on her separation from the group. Occasionally he caught her gaze flicking to him, and was caught a bit off guard when her quiet voice called from his side.

"You're staring."

Realizing she was right, he laughed and apologized as he joined the conversation between the others.

Like this, the morning passed happily until an hour and a half before noon, when Delia stood from her seat.

"Sorry guys, I have to go now."

At her words, every one of them stood with her, giving hugs and farewells.

"Goodbye Delia, do well out there and we'll see you soon."

"Good luck Lucian" She said before whispering in his ear "And don't worry about Tess, I'll keep an eye on her."

His eyes widened as he realized what she meant. Delia was heading to Toubia! She should not have told him that, but…

"Thank you" He said with a smile.

After Delia departed, the group started to walk the halls as they spoke, and soon, Theo too had to leave.

"Have fun little bro, I'll see you later." Lucian said with an embrace.

"I'm a year older than you Lulu, stop ignoring that."

Twenty minutes after Theo left, it was time for Lucian to go too.

He gave Tyrius a hug first, wishing him luck in the battles to come. He hoped to see this big brother of his often, but who knew what the future held in store.

When he turned to Tess, he hugged her tightly and spoke softly. "I think we've said everything there is to be said. Just be safe Tess, and we'll see each other soon."

"You too. Don't go chasing trouble, just do your duties and live."

"Me? Chase trouble?" He chuckled as he loosened his embrace. "Surely those are words meant for you, no?"

Tess shrugged pridefully. "I'll be fine either way, I just don't want to return to find my trophy all banged up."

Lucian laughed as he let go, and with one final look, he bid his farewell.

The cheerful feeling dimmed with every step he took, but Lucian did not let sadness take its place. Only determination and ambition were allowed to fill that void as he advanced towards the future, one step at a time.