At the city gate Naath was stopped by some guards asking him for his name, where he was from, and what he came for. After asking the questions the guard looked up from a small stack of paperwork in his hands and saw Brutus. The guard jumped and said “holy shit, is that a silver moon wolf? Kiddo what major family are you from to have such a high-rank magical beast as a pet?” Naath shrugged his shoulders and told the guard where he was from and that he had come for the sect competition.

At first the guard didn’t believe he was only from some small village like he had said. Apparently the silver moon wolf was a rare magical beast with a bloodline connected to an ancient wolf beast who was said to have been the king of all forests he resided in without question. Even among magical beasts of the ancient world the wolf ancestor was considered a king among them at the time. Naath smiled when he heard this and said “you hear that Brutus? Your ancestors are famous. Haha.” Brutus let out a low dissatisfaction growl from the mocking. Naath laughed a little harder after hearing that and the guard let them through the city gate without any issues.

Once they were inside of the city Naath made his way to an inn near the raging river sect called the raging river inn. Naath rented a room for the next four months and other than occasionally going out to buy food for himself and Brutus he would mostly meditate and cultivate. In the room Naath was sitting on the bed cross-legged in his meditation once more. His breathing calm and regular, he was circulating his true void arts letting the true void membranes across his meridians devour and convert the surrounding energy into his own. He was drawing all of it into his bones and attempting to reach the middle stage of first level of bone hardening.

However due to Naath’s innate talent, or perhaps the quality of his true void arts. The amount of energy he needed to advance one small step in one small level in a major realm was dozens of times more than when he first advanced into the initial stage one of bone hardening. After two days of meditation he finally felt a slight change in his bones, the energy was infusing into his marrow. This was a sign he was stepping into the middle stage of the first level of bone hardening. The three minor levels in bone hardening correspond to how well your bones could absorb, store, and use the energy.

At the initial stage they could simply retain small amounts of energy to help the healing process and to temper the bones a little bit. At the middle stage it would go into the marrow and allow them to store the corresponding level of energy to the level of bone hardening one was on. The peak stage was when the energy could be held to the capacity of that stage of bone hardening and was infused into the entire bone’s structure. Reinforcing the bones and preparing the cultivator for the next level of bone hardening. Each small stage in each level raised one's ability to control and use their cultivation further.

This results in an indirect increase in power, however for Naath it was different. The energy he required to advance due to his true void arts quality was so high that other cultivators could not compare. This made advancing more difficult for him than for other cultivators, however it also meant he had about three times as much martial energy at his disposal. As Naath stepped foot into the middle stage of the first level of bone hardening a slight creaking noise came from all of his bones and they ached slightly for a moment. They swelled up slightly but then quickly returned to normal.

After he advanced Naath let out a breath of foul energy that carried a trace of impurities from his bones. He opened his eyes and stood up slowly opening and closing his fists to get a feel for how great a change had occurred. After Naath was done he stretched his limbs and walked over to Brutus who was sleeping soundly and silently placed a large piece of deer meat by his side and then left the room. Naath decided to wander around the city a bit and broaden his horizons of this world.

Although this world was in fact very similar to earth there were also obvious differences. The level of cultivators and the “era” they seem to be stuck in being most notable. Sure on earth there were cultivators too, but they were few and far between and their levels never even really stepped into the initial stage of the first level of bone hardening. Any random cultivator in this world could easily take over the earth. The other big differences were the laws of physics here. They seemed almost identical. However here there was an underlying force guiding everything.

Because cultivators are so ‘common’ in this world, martial energy and natural energies are much vaster here. This results in this energy being able to manipulate and change the nature of the world around it. Naath had noticed all of this simply through his own observations over time, however past that he knew next to nothing about this world. Naath set out from the raging river inn and started to wander around the city. There were various stalls here and there selling all manner of things from meats and herbs to weapons and basic cultivation manuals.

Some stalls even had basic martial skills, these are skills one uses their martial power to cultivate the skill and each one was unique. Some allowed cultivators to transform their martial power into various elements. Others allowed the cultivator to use their martial energy to manipulate the world around them. Most of them however allowed cultivators to use their martial power to strengthen their bodies and use them to launch attacks. However, whether it was cultivation manuals or martial skills they were incredibly expensive.

After all a single cultivation arts book was all that was needed to allow a family to start raising cultivators after all. Even low rank and mostly useless skills and methods were seen as treasures by non-cultivators. As Naath wandered through the streets looking at all of this he eventually arrived at a large restaurant. Naath approached the attendant by the door and asked her “excuse me ma'am what are the prices of this restaurant?” The attendant looked at Naath, upon seeing that he was just a young man. She smiled sweetly and said “our prices are usually pretty reasonable, only a few gold per dish on the first floor.

However the higher a floor you wish to dine on, the higher the prices become.” Naath nodded and asked “is there a space available on the first floor?” The attendant said “ah yes we just so happen to have a single table still open, would you like me to guide you in?” Naath nodded his head and said “thank you for your assistance.” After that he tossed 10 gold coins he had spare to the woman and walked inside. She smiled and whispered to herself “what an interesting young man, to be able to give 10 gold coins as a tip and not be a total snob about it that is rather rare.”

As Naath walked inside he quickly spotted the one empty table and sat down at it. After a moment someone came over to take Naath’s order. Naath ordered a dish that sounded interesting called “violet cow steak” It apparently came from a unique type of cow magical beast that was raised as cattle. The cow magical beast had an innate lightning affinity, however it wasn’t a very strong innate talent so it made for good food. After Naath ordered and the waiter left Naath began to wait for his food and listen to the conversation in the restaurant in secret.

Apparently almost everyone in the city was guessing how many outstanding geniuses would appear in the selection this time. They were also debating where they would come from and various things like that. It seemed that every time the sect sent out word that it would hold a recruitment exam it drew a lot of business to the city. Over the years it had become an event everyone looked forward to and celebrated. After Naath listened for a while his dish finally came. Naath took the first few bites and was just starting to relax and enjoy his food when a few stalls over someone caused a disturbance.

Naath glanced over and saw a group of three singling out someone who was by themselves at another table trying to force them to move to make room for them. Naath shook his head and ignored it, turning back to his meal. A few minutes later a disgruntled young man around Naath’s age walked by his table. It was exactly the young man who had been kicked out of his seat by those three idiots. As he walked by Naath’s table Naath spoke up saying “fellow daoist, I have just finished my meal and have already paid.

You can use my table if you like, I plan to leave now anyway.” The other young man stopped his steps, turned and looked to Naath cupping his fists slightly saying “thank you fellow daoist.” Naath waved it off and didn't think twice before leaving the restaurant and heading back to his rented room at the raging river inn. Once he was there he opened the door and Brutus was waiting for him. The meat Naath had laid out was gone, replaced by a pile of small bones. Naath chuckled and patted him on the head as he went over to his bed and went back into meditation.

However this time Naath was cultivating his true void arts rather than advancing his actual cultivation. He already had 115 true void membranes across the various acupoints on his meridians. Once he has 127 he will be considered at major completion of the second stage of the true void arts. This will allow him to draw in energy much quicker and from a slightly larger area. Once he has all 127 it completes a type of circuit in his meridians and his body will circulate and draw energy automatically. Of course the amount was simply negligible at stage two of the true void arts.

However the major benefit was that each and every true void membrane acted like another space for him to store martial energy inside of his body, they also served to convert Naath’s energy to true void energy. This was a special type of energy only those who cultivated true void arts had. These true void arts were in fact something Naath had produced on earth. However before he could use them he died and was brought to this world. The true void arts had ten stages altogether each with a different effect and requirement to cultivate until the next stage. The first stage required understanding and comprehending what the true void is. After that one could use their understanding of the true void to absorb all energies in the world and transform it into their own.

The second stage was when one started to produce true void energy and manifest it into true void membranes on 127 various acupoints across the meridians. This is the stage Naath is currently on. However it’s not such a simple thing to make a true void membrane. Each one Naath has now has taken him a month or more to complete. Naath let out a long breath after gathering all of the current true void energy he had to start forming the next true void membrane. He had laid the foundation for forming it, but it was still only the framework. It would take another three weeks to complete it.