(Altura-MC)

After my long talk with Duke Reiner, I walked towards Aswelth with a plan in mind. There was likely going to be some or the other beast around that I could kill. If these snakes weren’t needed by my housemates, to get Qi then I would have just killed a couple.

The Qi pulses were irritating me. I needed to level up anyway.

“Lord Aswelth, where do you think I can find a sufficiently powerful beast a few hours away?” I asked.

“These creatures' mother beast should be a few minutes away, your grace. “ Aswelth replied, “I presume you want to level up then? I would suggest you wait till it attacks. It is going to do so anyway. And yes, I overheard your conversation.”

Now that gave me pause. If he overheard, then did he-

“Do not worry, I knew most of what was discussed there. It is not news to me that I am more powerful than your father, it is only the contract that binds me to him. But I shall also not ignore that it was your father that had me trained such.”

“ I would have never gotten so powerful without him, no other noble would have given me the resources and the knowledge required. Besides, I shall be free soon. Better to not anger the heir to the kingdom and an old monster whose cultivation is as much of a mystery as his location.” Aswelth continued.

“Now go kill a beast, your grace. And remember that Dragon Fire works better when killing things.” Aswelth finished.

I would never figure that man out. At first, he seemed like the typical Xianxia Elder out to kill me,, but now he was staying? It was…a mystery. Perhaps there were more to these one-dimensional characters than I thought.

Now it was time for me to kill something. As I waited, a larger version of the creatures burst through the trees. Slithering through nearly silently, burning through the trees. Poor ancient trees that did not deserve to be killed. An ambushing predator, was it? Well, ambusher, time to be ambushed.

I summoned the dragon fire, the element that had caused disaster the last time I had used it.

Fire, oh Fire of Dragons. Hear my call burn this enemy to dust, let it cease to exist for its offence! I wish to grow, and it will be my prey, and so let it remain!

A colourful beam of fire left my hand, curving like a parabolic rainbow before hitting the mother creature. It burned a hole in its skin. A blackened portion that didn’t crackle anymore.

The creature roared in challenge, no longer trying to sneak its huge weight around. I don’t know how it expected to sneak up on anyone, anyway. Lack of Sapience? A leftover from the little form? Did I really need to be thinking that now? No,…guess It's back to killing.

Fire, oh Fire, go burn!

I thought as I let fire out. I needed to work on shorter incantations. And just thinking them. And the beast was now on fire. Good thing, it seemed to do more damage. But the bad thing was that the beast now knew where I was.

I dodged back, relying on Altura’s training to dodge lightning. Yay, Xianxia people training their toddlers to kill people? It did seem to be needed…Time to cast some more. I needed to stop thinking in the middle, too. Even if my enemy seemed to have failed evolution and had useless power ups.

Too slow snake. Too slow.

Fire, oh Fire, burn where you burned before!

A longer but needed command. Burn away you snake! And of course, you now call for reinforcements. Little snakes started to crowd around me. And I suddenly realized something. This was a Mother beast. It meant that its evolution was more towards producing young, its powers were likely last stand type…its main power was the swarm it gave birth to.

‘Crackle, crackle’ And here comes said storm. Time to go ballistic.

Fire, oh Fire, Burn. I command you, follow me, burn.

Time to go all mage! I summoned as much fire as I could, letting out threads, burning out dozens of the little things at once. Noting how the threads worked. Just bring them together was it? The creatures were next to defenceless anyway. But the creatures did know how to do something, and that was attack.

I let out more fire, and they let out lightning. And then I tried to dodge. Right there I hopped around, trying to roast as many snakes as I could as they tried to kill me. Sometime in between, my housemates joined my effort by throwing pebbles. It did little, there were too many of the creatures.

I needed a defence…like a few snowflakes. Deciding that an incantation would take too long to implement, I merely went with- ‘Ice!’- And ice was here.

Shaping it around me, I created three snowflakes that I could move around and use them to defend me. It did limit my attacking ability, there was only so much I could do at once, but it worked. I would rather be alive and take longer to kill these creatures, than die trying to be fast.

It took next to an hour, but I did it. Finally, the little beasts died and I was free. Free to kill the big one, that is. I summoned more snowflakes, making it six snowflakes, and then prepared my spell.

Fire, of Fire of Dragons! Hear my call! Kill this beast for me, ruin it with a storm! Show your might, show your power! Let it be known, that you do not cower!

Let's hope that works. A spiral of fire coalesced above the beast and then started pouring into the creature. The creature roared in pain and moved away, but the fire moved with it. The creature had no defences against sustained attacks like this. The smaller variants would have been too small to target, and anything faster could have moved away.

This beast however was both large enough and slow enough to be the perfect target. Whatever magic AI ran, the elements had just outsmarted me. I think I might want to get some tutoring in how to kill. The spiral should have been obvious.

And like that, the battle was over. Creatures littered the forest floor, their bodies still crackling every once in a while. And the System had decided to give me a prompt.

Mother class Lightning Snake Chimera killed (State: Maternal backlash) (Stage: Half-step Sapling [Early Sapling])- Having given birth in the last few days, the Mother Class Chimera had been weakened to Half-Step Sapling. Qi gain reduced to 87

Lightning snake Chimera (Baby) (Stage: Seedling) (57)- Qi gained. Due to level difference, Qi per Chimera is reduced to 3.

Qi gained 3×57= 171

Total Qi gained→ 87 + 171= 258

Level up! Half Step Late Stage Seedling (149.95/150)→ Late Stage seedling (257.5/300)

Due to Protection of subjects, Royalty Seed debuff does not apply

And cue the not epic any more growth scene. My seedling now grew to touch the border. Pressing into it, as if it would break through anytime. If I didn’t have the numeration, then I would have had no idea how close or far I was from breaking through. Guess numeration did live up to the hype.

And was it just me, or did those gains seem too much? People had taken years to get to this level…though I suppose most if not all would die under these attacks. I on the other hand could fight an Early Sapling as a Half-Step Late Stage Seedling.

Typical Xianxia benefits from crossing levels I suppose. Perhaps I should get more? It wouldn’t be easy…but may be possible. All I needed to do was find another cheat…who was I kidding? Where was I going to find a cheat? All I could do was gain extra Qi from my retainers.

Speaking of retainers. Kerrin had taken to approaching me this time.

“Congratulations, your grace, on crossing to the Late Stage of Seedlings. I am sure that you will cross further soon.” Kerrin said.

“Sooner than you may think. But was there anything you needed Kerrin?” I asked.

Kerrin took a deep breath and said, “Yes, your grace, I would like your permission to breakthrough to Seedling stage.”

Wait what? Did I need to give permission now? Of course, I did, how could Xianxia nobles not control when their retainers broke through.

“Kerrin, you always have my permission to breakthrough. I am not one to limit my retainer’s power.” I replied. Better to do this now before the MC missed some ‘perfect time’ because he wanted my permission. Besides, limiting someone from doing something that was so crucial for survival here did not sit well with me.

Kerrin nodded and sat down right there and then to cultivate. Super loyal guy. As I watched, he circled his Qi, something I could somehow sense. Was it because it wasn’t his yet? I couldn’t sense Aswelth’s… But that might be because it was Aswelth’s who was far more powerful than me.

After a few seconds, I felt that Qi disappeared into a void. Apparently it was because it wasn’t his yet. I couldn’t sense it now that it was presumably inside the seed.

Finally, the germination ended, and the world had one more soon-to-be Overpowered Cultivator.

Retainer Kerrin has germinated his seed!

Qi gained-> 13

…did this MC just get 260 Qi from the get go. For killing a snakey worth 3 Qi??? What are you smoking, System?

Name

Altura Selrin

Title

Archduchess (In name) (landed)

Element

Dragon Fire, Snowflake ice

Age

10 years

Seeds

Military (ungerminated), Royalty (Seedling-Late(257.5/300)), Energy (ungerminated)

Stats

Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]

9

Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]

13

Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]

11

Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]

13

Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]

9

Intelligence[The ability to comprehend the advanced concepts]

12

Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]

13

Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]

14

Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]

13

Retainers

Kerrin

No cultivation. Nascent Unknown Constitution