Then there was one.
It wasn't that long of a wait for Julie to come running into the dragon pond building out of breath. Like Valter this morning, Julie had chosen to wear the same rough clothing she had arrived at the villa. After giving her a few minutes to catch her breath, Collin had her begin selecting the flood dragons she wanted to use for her cultivation method. Every time she picked one Collin would use simple telekinesis to pull the little creatures out of the water and store them in his beast orb.
The truth was, Allowing Julie to pick what flood dragon she wanted wasn't necessary. All the flood dragons had the same 1st layer cultivation, and other than their color which represented their element, they looked almost the same. After the last one was chosen, Collin told Julie to go to the male servants' quarters. After she left the building Collin pulled an extra set of flood dragons from the water and stored them separately from the one's Julie chose just in case an accident happened and one of them died.
Walking into the servants' quarters Collin found Julie waiting for him and he also found everything had been cleaned. He was sure that Valter would clean up all the blood he dripped all over the array and the items Collin had let him use, but a part of him also thought Valter would just be happy that he had become a cultivator and ignore the mess. Kind of like how there was still a large pot filled with human piss, shit, and vomit in the guard house of the other villa because Collin chose to ignore it.
Collin took back the bowl and stirring stick but left the knife and the controller for the energy gathering array. After instructing her to it inside the array, Collin handed her a copper square with an array etched on to it. He also began to explain what was going to happen, even though she had been preparing for this since she chose the Nine-Desolate-Dragon's method, but there was a very cruel part of this method that he had to make sure she could do nine times to be successful.
"First you will need to cut your right hand, then place blood on the dragon's head after I remove it from my beast orb and hold it down with my cultivation. Then while holding the taming array I gave you with your bloody right hand, press it onto the blood on the dragon's head. Next hold the controller for the energy gathering array in your left hand and activate it, then while drawing energy into your body you need to push it out your right hand and through the taming array and into the dragon. The array will activate and tame the dragon and you will start to feel your connection to it in your mind.
Then comes the hard unpleasant part, remove the taming array then place your hand back on the dragon's head, flow the energy into the dragon's beast core. This will cause it extreme pain. It will start to scream in agony, you will be able to hear it with your ears and you will hear and feel it through your connection with it. You will need to push past the dragon's pain and misery and flow the energy through the beast core and along the path that your cultivation manual dictates till you form a connection similar to a magic treasure instead of a tamed beast to become a cultivator. Then, all you will have to do is repeat the process eight more times to use the Nine-Desolate-Dragons cultivation method."
Collin was expecting her to be a little squeamish at the thought of having to cut her hand or to cause an innocent creature pain, but her response was to pick up the knife and slice open the palm of her hand. Seeing this Collin asked what type of flood dragon she wanted to start with, pulling out the fire element flood dragon Collin used his cultivation to press the little creature onto the ground.
Everything was going as it should have except when Julie pulled her hand back when the first dragon started to scream in agony, but after being angerly told to continue by Collin she placed her hand back on its head and continued till it was done. When she completed the process she became a cultivator, if Julie wanted to, she could stop here and begin her life as a cultivator. But if she chose this route, she would have to choose a different cultivation method among the beast taming cultivation methods and she wouldn't have any of the perks that came with choosing the Nine-Desolate-Dragons method, it was only a handful of supreme-grade cultivation methods in the library.
Supreme-grade cultivation methods are sought after by almost all cultivators but are used by few. All cultivation methods have grades from low to supreme, that determine the efficiency of transforming external energy into one's own Qi. This relates to the speed of cultivation and the power of the cultivator. A cultivator at the 5th layer Qi Condensation using a low-grade cultivation method will most likely be at a severe disadvantage when fighting a cultivator at the 3rd layer of Qi Condensation using a supreme-grade cultivation method due to the strength of, and amount of Qi offered by using a supreme-grade cultivation method.
The only downside of using a supreme-grade cultivation methods are the very strict requirements to train them. The first reason is that supreme-grade cultivation methods are not that common and hard to find, as they tend to be hoarded by their owners and not sold to others. The only supreme-grade-cultivation method that is for sale to the public, is one that Collin is intimately familiar with 'The Heavenly Alchemic Cultivation Method'. But it is both an alternative path cultivation method and failure usually ends in death for the practitioner, and with the cost and difficulty of practicing alchemy most people avoid using this method.
The second reason is affinity, the supreme-grade-cultivation method that Viktor was studying to use, the 'Holy Dark Void Scriptures', requires a strong dark spiritual root to practice. It would be useless to anyone without a strong dark spiritual root, just as a supreme-grade cultivation method requiring a strong water spiritual root would be useless to Viktor because he has a normal water spiritual root. With the exception of some alternative path cultivation methods, it's impossible to guarantee which type of spiritual roots they will have when they become cultivators, let alone the stronger version of those spiritual roots. Even with the few alternative paths that allow one to pick and choose the element of their spiritual roots, they either need to be used with a specific cultivation method or material used does not produce a strong enough spiritual root to be useful.
Julie didn't find the process of harming the little flood dragon pleasant, but she steeled herself to continue with the other eight. But before going onto the next one, Collin handed her a beast orb and told her how to claim it as her own. Around a minute later the treasure disappeared into Julie's body and moments later the little flood dragon disappeared as well. From the Second flood dragon till the ninth, Julie showed no hesitation while she refined the flood dragons.
After all the flood dragons had been refined, Collin gave her the same some have none and some have everything speech he gave Valter before he handed her a large jar with a hundred beast pills that should last her a couple of months. He also reminded her that since she wiped out the minds and wills of the flood dragons, she was responsible for making sure the dragons took regular shits and pisses, and that the beast pills would serve as food, but she still needed to let them eat meat every so often and she would need to make them eat because they could no longer do it themselves.
They spoke a while longer before Collin left her to do some cultivation in the array, but not before telling her to pick a soul art, a body refining art, and a weapon manual to practice after she gets comfortable with cultivating.
As Collin walked towards his house, he thought today was a good day. Valter and Julie had become cultivators, now all he had to deal with was Viktor, and he was planning to get him thinking about it tomorrow.