Why Don't We Try Both?

Even though Aiden arrived in this world only a week ago and wasn't really accustomed to some of the things that occurred, he still knew that he would grow stronger.

Whether Ariel helped or not, there was no way he was going to stay weak forever.

This was why he was slightly surprised when Ariel suggested this deal. She wanted to train him to become stronger so she could regain her memories?

No, Aiden knew things weren't as simple as they seem. He was pretty sure Ariel was intentionally hiding something.

After all, she could have waited and even hidden the fact that growing stronger recorver her memories. This would somewhat give her an advantage if she really wanted to leave her.

Aiden knew this. He even asked her if she was hiding something. However, the reply he got was negative. He had tried scanning her mind but for some unknown reason, he wasn't able to. This made him more assured about the fact that Ariel was definitely hiding something from him.

********

"Sigh, you still don't trust me, do you?" Ariel's helpless sigh entered his ears.

"Don't worry, what I am hiding from you won't do any harm to you," she said, "Now, come here so, we can start your cultivation journey!"

Hearing Ariel's voice, Aiden just nodded and decided to go long with it. He knew that she was hiding something but he decided to trust her just this once.

During on his bed, he closed his eyes again and imagined going to his spirit space. What happened next could only make Aiden curse Ariel was tricking him.

The moment he imagined entering into his spirit space, he felt his body jerk all if a sudden. Of course, it wanstm his actual body but his soul, something that he would only come to realise a second later.

He started falling again. Aiden felt a feeling of nostalgia hit him. He had been here before. It was the same place that he passed through when he wanted to get out of his spirit space.

Aiden made sure to take a mental note of this place. If he was always going to fall, he had to make sure that he got rid of his mild acrophobia.

*Blud!*

With a slight thud, Aiden landed on the ground. He immediately stood up to inspect his spirit space when he saw Ariel watching him with a strange look.

"What?"

"Sigh, you didn't scream this time," Ariel's disheartened voice echoed in his ears.

Hearing this, Aiden wanted to walk up to Ariel and give her a mouthful of beating. However he restrained himself and snickered instead.

Just like he had guessed Ariel had tricked him, yet again. However he wasn't really worried as this had no effect on him.

"How do we start then?" Aiden asked.

Ariel just smiled and pointed at him,

"You have already skipped the first step in cultivation!" She said.

"First step?"

"Yeah, the first thing you are supposed to do is to enter your spirit space." Ariel said.

"Hmm," Aiden just nodded. He didn't know if what Ariel was saying was true but he decided to go along with it.

"What is the second step then?" He asked a second later.

"You have two choices!" Ariel said.

"Two Choices?"

"Yes! You can either train your body to absorb mana or train your soul to absorb mana!" Ariel said without glancing at him. She then continued,

"Unlike what you are thinking, cultivation isn't easy. You were expecting to be giving a golden cheat since you transmigrated right? Well, sorry to say this but you aren't the cool main characters in novels or the movies you watch. Just like everyone you are going to suffer!"

"This... "

Aiden was speechless. That was indeed what he was thinking.

When he first realized that he had a power source, he thought he had found his cheat. However, later on, he realized that he couldn't use it.

What was the use of a cheat that you couldn't use? Or maybe his cheat was Ariel.

'Nah, that can't be possible!'

Aiden shook his head profusely. Every cheat he knew about was either overpowered or useful.

They were either old grandpa that are super strong or some kind of power. None of them were annoying.

He didn't want his cheat to be Ariel who was by the way, ANNOYING as fuck!

*******

"Hmm.. Mhmm" Ariel nodded when Aiden seemed to have understood.

If she knew what Aiden was really thinking, she would have smacked him to death by now.

"Just like I said earlier, you have two paths to choose from. Either the body or the soul. The body is probably the easiest to do. You will just have to learn how to absorb mana to strengthen your body so you can create a storage later.

"As for the soul training though, it is more difficult. Not only that, it might even prove to be fatal and it might kill you. Cultivating your soul is impossible for most people but I think you can do it. So tell me what you want." Ariel said.

"I will choose soul cultivation," Aiden said immediately.

From Ariel's brief explanation, he could tell that cultivating his soul was very dangerous. However even though he knew this, he still chose it.

Why?

Simple. It was because he beleived in the fact that hard work pays. He was a firm believer of this and he knew that since soul cultivation was difficult it will most likely bring about more benefits.

That wasn't the only reason why he chose soul cultivation. The other reason was because of experience. From the countless hours that he had spent watching anime and movies, he learnt one thing.

'The most difficult method was the strongest.'

"Soul cultivation?" Ariel pondered. "I don't think I will allow that!"

"What do you mean?" Aiden asked. Aiden was sure that cultivating his soul would prove beneficial to him and Ariel at the same time. Si what would she resist?

"Cultivating the soul only is boring! What about we try both?" Ariel's asked.

"What the fuck?"

[A/N: Thanks to poor_soul for dropping 1 power stone. It helps alot.

And as always, folks, remember to vote. The power stones are free after all.

]