Tia's weapon was a beautiful bronze longbow with golden details, Lana's was an intricately carved white wooden staff, and Logan's a sword. He was also wearing a helmet and holding a kite shield, both made of metal. He positioned himself closer to Aaron, while the others kept some distance.

"You!" cried Logan. "How dare you attack your own unit?! I knew we couldn't trust a Rogue!"

Lana was wide-eyed, dumbfounded by Aaron's "betrayal", while Tia had furrowed brows as if pondering how likely it was for Aaron to have attacked Alys. Regardless of her thoughts, she nocked an arrow in her bow and aimed it at Aaron's general direction in an intimidating way, without aiming directly at him.

Aaron smiled, his hands still resting on his weapons. "I attacked no one. The shockwave you experienced came from Alys. She attained enlightenment when I was talking to her and started cultivating. She just became a Four Star Shaper."

Everyone's eyes widened so much they looked like they were going to pop out.

"What?!" exclaimed Logan.

"Impossible!" said Tia.

"Really?" Even Lana, who had kept silent all the time except for when Alys fainted, couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Really," Aaron replied.

"Where's she?" asked Logan suspiciously.

Aaron's smile disappeared. "She's still meditating after her enlightenment, I won't allow you to disturb her."

"I won't disturb her, I just want to see her," Logan insisted.

Aaron doubted they wouldn't disturb her. Alys was still prostrating on the ground. If the team saw her now, they would interrupt her just to make sure he had done nothing to her.

"You'll see her as soon as she comes to talk to us," he said dryly.

"What did you do to Alys?!" shouted Logan, tightening the grip on his sword.

Tia said nothing, just started circling Aaron in an attempt to see beyond the ligurus. Aaron was about to take the sword out of its sheath when he felt the sound barrier disappear. Shortly after, Alys appeared beside him.

"I'm fine," she said.

The three immediately checked her level and couldn't believe what they saw.

Although the Heavenly Skill Check Level had been available for Aaron since he arrived in this world, he still hadn't used it and tried it too.

'Check Level,' he thought, and there was a slight change in his vision.

Above each person he saw, a small transparent black rectangle appeared, much like a tooltip. On Lana and Logan's there were two stars, on Tia's, one star, and in Alys's, four stars.

However, while the stars of the first two were of the bronze color, those of Tia and Alys were silver. Aaron assumed that was related to the purity of energy in their dantians.

"F- Four Stars!" stammered Tia. "You did it!"

"You're only thirty-nine years old!" Logan practically shouted in happiness. "Your future is limitless!"

"Incredible," Lana whispered.

They put their weapons away, and Logan's helm became light before disappearing, entering some hidden spatial item he carried with him. The three approached Alys excitedly, completely forgetting that they had almost attacked Aaron a moment ago.

Aaron smiled and shook his head. He should've asked Alys his questions about the Red Forest before teaching her, but now he had missed the opportunity and would have to wait for the next night.

What he had done for her was considered huge in a second-class kingdom like this one. Indeed, he had repaid his debt towards her for bringing him to this world in double. Still, in the grand scheme of things, he had done little compared to all he could do.

Not energetically; her limits couldn't be stretched much further beyond what he had taught her. However, the only techniques he had taught her were the one to keep cultivating and the Space cultivation one, nothing more. She'd have to find out for herself how to use her newfound power.

While the four talked animatedly, he lay down in one of the sleeping bags and slept for the first time in this world.

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Aaron woke up in fright and sat down immediately. The sleeping bag was soaked with cold sweat and his breathing was labored.

A nightmare!

He hadn't slept in so many ages that he barely remembered that mortals dreamed.

The sunlight was already touching the horizon, removing the last remnants of darkness from the world. Seeing no reason to go back to sleep so close to waking time, he got up.

To his shock, he found everyone was still asleep.

They hadn't set up a single defensive spell or set up a sentry. They probably felt safe while still outside the forest, but that stupidity of a level he had seldom seen in his entire life.

He would likely listen to most enemies approaching, and those who could get to him unnoticed would be able to do so even if he had been awake. That said, he hadn't reached the top of the universe by risking his life needlessly. This mortal shell needed some sleep, but he could go a few days without it. He would only get to bed that day if he felt safe enough.

But for now, he had other things to think about.

Aaron removed his sweat-soaked clothes, walked some distance from the group, and shook his body at such a high speed and intensity that all the drops of sweat were thrown away. There was nowhere to bathe nearby, so that was his best option at the moment.

He took a deep breath, feeling the coolness of the morning dew against his skin.

Waking up at dawn took him back to his first days of cultivation on Earth. Back then, he had found a mysterious scroll buried under a tree at school, and it contained a cultivation technique written. After cultivating a couple of times and noticing improvements to his strength, he had started to get up an hour before class to practice in secret.

With the memory came the desire to practice that martial-arts-based technique again.

Ignoring the fact that he was completely naked, he started moving his body in the way the scroll had taught him, repeating the first steps he ever took toward immortality and power, his first steps in the life of a cultivator. But now that he had expert knowledge and experience, he could detect many mysteries of the universe in those movements.

Each time he touched the ground, the Earth, Metal, and Wood exulted. The Wind, Light, and Darkness around him trembled in something close to emotion. The Fire of his body heat seemed to burn more and more and the Water of his blood flowed faster.

Lightning streaked across the cloudless skies as if they had been throwing themselves out of the cosmos just to witness his training for a mere instant. Yin and Yang were in perfect balance. The Laws of the universe harmonized around Aaron and seemed to dance in joy.

He had abandoned that cultivation technique as soon as he left Earth and learned supposedly superior ones. Now, he realized that had been a big mistake.

The Rise to the Heavens Cultivation Method from the scroll was much more profound than he had realized, even after becoming an Absolute Immortal!

Aaron closed his eyes and lost track of time, literally putting his body and soul in the movements. Clouds formed in the skies and heavy rain started falling. Little eddies formed around him.

Inside his dantian, the central hurricane absorbed inflowing Qi like crazy, saving his life. His body had not yet become accustomed to the full power of Two Star Qi, so if he allowed that much energy to enter his body after being absorbed by his dantian, he would explode.

A strong gale blew, the rain became a downpour, and lightning hit the Red Forest's trees nearby. The earth shook, the trees seemed to bow in reverence to him, and the fire of the trees hit by the lightning burned so fiercely that even the heavy rain wasn't able to extinguish it.

When the sun rose completely, bringing Yang in abundance to fill the entire place...

Aaron woke up from his trance.

He had balanced the Yin and Yang around him at early morning, so if he continued now that the sun was up, the Yang force would get stronger, the balance would break, and a calamity would befall the place.

He took another deep breath and, still with his eyes closed, thought about how each of his movements had resonated with the universe. To his surprise, thinking about it helped him to advance his understanding of the secrets of reality! Although such an advance was not even comparable to a drop of water on the ocean of knowledge he already possessed, at the level he was at, even such a small progress was a rarity that he valued immensely.

Aaron laughed and raised his head to the sky, closing his eyes, feeling the rain wash his soul.

Now, he was sure he was on the right track, that coming to this universe had been the right decision. Were it not for that, he wouldn't have practiced that cultivation method which could take him further in his path. After he saved this universe, he wouldn't drown in boredom once again!

The rain gradually decreased when he stopped moving until it was nothing more than a drizzle. The fire from the lightning-stricken trees went out, the earth stopped shaking, the trees stood upright again, and the wind became a light breeze.

Taking a deep breath for the third time, he mentally thanked the mysterious creator of the mysterious cultivation technique, whoever they were. This was one of the few enigmas he never solved. Then he turned to go back to the camp and noticed that Alys was already awake.

She was on her feet, looking up at him with wide eyes and a racing heart. She was inside a transparent spatial barrier she had erected around the camp to prevent nature's phenomena from affecting the Fire Wolves and the ligurus.

Aaron kept his smile. It was undeniable that Alys was a person with a strong connection to him.

First, she was the one who had activated the ritual which brought him to this world.

Second, by "coincidence," she was part of the team that had hired him as Rogue.

Third, she had been the first to wake up when he started training, just in time to use a spell to keep others asleep and protect them. Better yet, in time to witness the mysteries about harmonizing the Laws of the universe that had been revealed during his training.

His prior lesson would allow her to reach the Master level of Space cultivation with hard work. Those mysteries, as long as she understood a small part of them, would become the foundations of powerful skills.

He knew for a fact that karma did not exist, but he had lived too long and learned too much about the universe to believe in coincidence. Some hidden force was pushing Alys towards him. Whether or not that force was benevolent remained to be seen.

He approached her, stopping right outside the spatial barrier.

Unlike the barrier he had ignored in the summoning room, a formation hadn't created this one; Alys was maintaining it. He could ignore formations as long as he found flaws in them, and nothing would happen to them. But if he used the flaws in Alys' technique to get past the barrier, it would break the technique and cause a strong rebound on her, as if he was directly attacking her.

She did not react to his presence. Her wide eyes were still unfocused, looking in the direction where he had trained.

Aaron's smile widened when he saw that she had entered the rare state of sudden enlightenment for the second time in half a day! Whoever or whatever was pushing her towards him, they had made a good choice in Alys. She was someone with outstanding talent.

Half an hour later, when the rain had passed, and the clouds had completely disappeared from the skies, she woke up. Her eyes shone with intelligence and contentment. Shortly after, she saw Aaron standing outside the barrier and her eyes briefly explored his naked body before her face turned red.

"Yaaaaay!" she shouted shyly and hid her face with both hands while turning around. In her surprise, she lost control over the barrier, that simply disappeared.

Immediately after, the fact that she, a woman almost in her forties, a Four Star Sorceress on her own right, had behaved like a little girl made her feel even more ashamed of herself. She became sure she could never look at Aaron again for the rest of her life.

Aaron laughed, and it made her even more ashamed. Happy to see that her fear was gone, he put on his clothes, which were still damp, and moved to her front. "I'm already decent."

She looked through her fingers and verified that it was true. With great difficulty, she removed her hands from her face, but she was still looking at the floor. "Awkward..." she whispered.

Still smiling, Aaron put his hand on her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Thank you," he said, "for making them sleep and protecting them from the elements. I need to ask you a few questions, but I don't think you're able to answer anything right now, are you?"

She merely nodded in silence, barely able to bear his eyes looking directly into hers and as red as a tomato.

"What a shame," he said, released Alys' chin, and patted her head. "Cast a spell to dry me and wake the others. It is time to enter the Red Forest."