Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, Main Continent, Cloudmount City, Divine Fate Mansion. “Now tell me what your Concept is so that I can help you understand it more thoroughly. And also to sate my curiosity.” That last sentence made her smile. He nodded and said with a grin mirroring hers. “Teacher, you were right about the fact that my Concept came from the Command 'Balance'.” “The sentence for my Concept is 'Balance the Laws'. From what I noted, it helped me balance every Laws I use in every spell. It also helps my comprehension of every Laws I wish to study, by taking the highest understood Law and from there, 'pulling up' the others. Of course, it's not as godly as that, since it only speeds up my Comprehension of those Laws. In addition, I can feel that the Laws of Darkness and Light seem both easier to comprehend. It may have to do with the fact that they are in perfect balance with one another. I'm not sure.” She nodded, satisfied by his thoroughness and said. “It will also probably help you increase the pace of study for the Immortal and Divine Layer Laws. I'm guessing that you will also receive the influence of your future Intent. That means it will probably help your Comprehension balance itself with your mana cultivation, although it would be a lot less potent than when you turn your Concept into Intent. That way you could use the fact that your Law Comprehension is faster than your Mana cultivation to speed up the latter. Your combat power will also multiply as every aspect of your cultivation will work in harmony...” She sighed in amazement and added. “To be honest, it's one of the best Concept I've heard about. At least, it's perfect for you. It's... Completely overpowered...” She gazed at him with her beautiful eyes , full of stupefaction. Guang Yang lowered his head slightly while blushing at the praise. “It's only thanks to teacher. Otherwise I would not be where I am today...” His sentence finished in a mumble, as he was too embarrassed to say it out loud in a clear voice. His adorable recognition of her role in his upbringing made her smile, while her heart felt warm. However, she did not want to take all the credit. “Although I can't deny that I had a part in the speeding up your cultivation, with everything I helped you with, I can tell you that if I had taken a random child in the street and gave him the same thing I gave you, he or she would not have your current achievements. Remember that hard work only multiplies the talent that is already there. Although, with enough time, I believe that even those with little talent can do anything if they work hard enough. However, it's true that it would take virtually forever to succeed in that case, unless one met amazing fortunate encounters.” “In your situation, for example, you integrated a Concept that had nothing to do with your bloodline while you were not even two years old and at the Peak of Level 2. Most cultivators take thousands of years and with a cultivation of Peak Level 9 to reach a similar step. That's the difference in talent. Note that talent can be improved, but it needs very rare items, like the Dual Yin Yang Seals we both refined in our sea of consciousnesses.” “But do not forget that talent is different from strength. In your case, if a cultivator with a trash talent but with a cultivation base of Level 4 wanted to kill you, it would be extremely easy. So, although arrogance is to be avoided, you can still be proud of your current achievements. Do you understand?” He nodded in agreement. “I understand Teacher.” She replied. “Good! Now that we're done with the Law Comprehension session, we can go to the training area for you to choose your weapon or weapons. I'm not expecting you to start training now, mind you. I'd rather you calm your mind by cultivating the whole night. And tomorrow we'll start properly. Haste makes waste, as the idiom says.” Once she was done talking, she swept the boy from the ground and flew directly from the opened apertures of the buildings toward the close by training area. Although close by was a relative notion, as it was a few dozens of kilometers away from the Dream Pavilion. As one reach a high level of cultivation, one's perception changed, and the higher you reached, the higher the changes. While she was pondering on the differences between her and Mortals' perceptions, they reached the place after what was only a few seconds of flying. When they landed, instead of going to the environment rooms, as they usually did, they instead turned towards the weapon's racks on the other side of the field. The former were divided between weapons' types, and one could see spears, blades of every kinds, shields, whips and many more. There were probably enough weapons to arm a few Peak Level Sects, as not only was the diversity enormous, but they also contained different level of weapons, from Level 1 to Level 9, with everything in between. If the high Level Cultivators of Peak Powers knew about those weapons, war would be inevitable and the Mansion would be constantly attacked. Although, with the two teams of puppets alone, no one could hurt the residents of the Mansion. And if you added Bai Yue, then those powers would disappear from the Wanderer's Realms in a... 'permanent' manner. When Guang Yang started to look through all those weapons, he could not help himself from asking his teacher. “Teacher, did you make all those weapons?” She nodded and replied. “I know what you're wondering. But to be honest, it's not as incredible as you think for Cultivators of my Level to be able to create Mortal Layer Mana Items. As you probably noticed, thanks to your previous breakthroughs, as long as you keep increasing your Law Comprehension Level and Layer, your comprehension ability will improve. So even if you're not too talented in Crafts, then you would still have no problem in creating something two Layers below yours. As for one Layer? That depends. But it doesn't really matter for you now and you should instead choose your weapons.” She then proceeded to introduce him to every kind of weapons, with their functions, advantages and drawbacks. She went through each of them in details, as she did not want her student to pick the wrong one and to have to change it and retrain himself with the new weapon. Despite his talent, it would be better to avoid wasting time. As Guang yang went through every weapons, he felt a little bit dizzy at the large array of lethal instruments. Beside the 'classic' ones, there were also exotic weapons that he would never even have guessed the function, if it was not for his teacher's explanation, such as chakrams and belt that turned into swords. When he thought about the possibility of being caught unaware, due to his lacking knowledge, he decided to truly pay attention to her lecture, since it could one day save his life. After all, knowledge is also a kind of power, and he already decided long ago (for him) to increase his power as much as he could. After a few hours of testing, he had trouble finding what felt right to him. There were a few which interested him, such as the spears and swords, but he could feel that something was missing. When she noticed his hesitation, she reassured him. “I know that there are a lot of choices, and it would obviously be hard for you to find the right one. Well, we can go by process of elimination, as it can narrow our choices. Which types of weapons did you like the most? Don't be too specific first.” As he shared his answer, she continued. “Spears and swords you said... Do you prefer double-handed or one-handed weapons?” He pondered for a few seconds on the sensation that both types gave him, before answering her. “They both felt slightly off, at least for me. The first are powerful, have a long reach and can protect the body a little. But they feel too stiff for me. Also I would not be able to protect myself very well with them, especially from long distance attacks... I don't like that.” She asked. “What about the one-handed ones?” He thought for a moment before answering precisely. “I enjoyed the maneuverability a lot. Its freedom is a bit addictive. But the swords have terrible reach, and if I had to fight against a long range attacker, I would be toyed with, without being able to retaliate. Although some one-handed spears can take care of that flaw, the lack of cover is still something that I don't like.” Listening to the list of what he liked and disliked in the different weapons, she had an idea on how to remedy that problem. “If I understood correctly, you want a minimum of reach, flexibility and protection.” He nodded before she added. “Well, I have an idea then. You could use a spear and a shield. Although the latter may be a bit restrictive for your vision and movement, with the right one, we may be able to mostly avoid those problems. What do you say of my suggestion?” He replied. “It sounds good to me. But I still need to test the different combination of the two, since there are so many types of each.” As they were getting closer and closer of their goal, the boy felt much better, which made his thoughts clearer and thus his choice faster. As he was trying different types of spear and shield combination, he found out his dislikes of small shields like the round shield. He also noticed that the big rectangular shields were too cumbersome, and would be more appropriate for one specialized in defense. However, he wanted to be able to attack and defend equally, to be a kind of hybrid class. After all, his Concept was literally about Balance, and he felt that it would help him a lot if he included that notion in everything in his life. Or at least, as much as he could. As he kept thinking about what he wanted, his gaze fell on several shields that seemed vastly different from the simpler ones. Their shape reminded of the kites that he saw on the shows that his teacher and him watched on the Holo-Net. [A/N: https://33.cdn.ekm.net/ekmps/shops/11b299/images/norman-shield-with-cross-3194-p.jpg?v=1] He could see that although it would protect his body less than the full shields, it would still be kilometers better than the classic round shields. Also, it seemed to be very easy to move with it, whether it was to retreat behind it or to attack from behind it. The more he thought about it, the more he started to like the idea of using that kind of defensive weapon. When his teacher noticed him staring at the kite shields on the weapon racks beside them, she started to describe their general advantages and downsides, which were exactly what Guang Yang previously guessed. Having made his choice, he shared it with her, who nodded and said. “Perfect then. Now that you finished picking your shield, there is only the spear left.” As he already chose half of his fighting gear, it was easier to find the other part. After a bit of fiddling around, he determined that the simpler, the better. So, he ended up with a one handed-spear a bit longer than the normal length of these kind of weapons. Beside the long blade at the top of the wooden pole, there were also two smaller blade at the bottom of the former, which was ideal for blocking other's blades. Despite the fact that he knew that it would take time to master the use of those two for fighting, he was still satisfied that his distant goal of being able to protect his teacher and his parents seemed to grow nearer. Small steps, indeed, but still significant. Bai Yue's voice cut his pondering short. “Alright. Now that you have your choices in mind, we can go eat dinner. I will make a Peak Level 3 shield and a spear for you tonight. After all, as those weapons are Mortal Layer one, they can't change their size. It's annoying since, as you will keep growing, so you will need ones adapted to you. Otherwise, there will be some problems cropping up every time you fight in the future.” She thought for a second before adding. “Since you're close to your next Cultivation breakthrough, I will make them with that in mind, so they will be a bit too big for you until then.” The boy replied. “It's okay, teacher. From what I felt, it should take me less than a week before I reach the Early Level 3, so I won't have to wait too long.” She nodded and said. “That's one of the downsides of cultivation, as with each breakthrough, you will need to re-adapt yourself to your body's changes, and you may also need to change weapons, until you reach the Immortal Layer. Although it can be annoying, in the end, it's definitely worth it.” As she knew that he grew up and also powered up quickly, she used ever opportunity to teach him important notions that older cultivators thought as common knowledge. Although she knew that real life practice was even more effective, she still tried to help him reduce the impacts of his future setbacks by letting him know what to expect of many important things. Done with her explanations, she led him to the mansion to eat dinner, after which she teleported the two of them directly in the Dream Pavilion, as she felt too lazy to fly all the way over there, even if it would not take long with her speed. As the boy sat down and started his cultivation session, she moved downstairs, where she created a room specially for her crafting. Although the room seemed small form the outside, when one went through its entrance, they would find themselves in a gigantic place where different areas were set up for different things, such as pill making, blacksmithing, magic engineering, etc. All of it were for her creations, which may be surprising for other Mortal Layer Cultivators, but as she explained to her student, with her cultivation and Law Comprehension being two Layers higher, it was not too hard for her learn about many crafts at the Mortal Layer, as long as she spent some time on it. And being several millions years old took care of that last requirement. As she thought of the many mana items she created for both her family and to finance the latter, she flew toward the forge used for her blacksmithing. When she arrived, she could see a small fire starting to move around in her forge as soon as she landed, almost as if the fire was welcoming its owner. At one of its side, a bucket full of water stood alone, ready to be used when the weapons created with its neighbor's help needed quenching. A bit further away, there was a sleek looking anvil with a table by its side, holding several different kinds of hammers. From the aura of power emitted from every object present there, one could tell that only very high Level Cultivators would be able to create anything with them. As if one was too weak, they could even be hurt by the fearsome aura pulsating all around. Of course, all of that had no effect on Bai Yue with her restricted Peak Level 9 cultivation base. Not only that but she created most of those items herself, and since they all had a spirit with a weak intelligence, they would not hurt her even if she were to turn weak. Before she started forging the equipment for her student, she pondered about the exact shape and size of those. After all, in addition of their usefulness, she also wanted them to look good. Some cultivators may call her shallow over that choice, but she would not care. “If I can, why wouldn't I?” She thought. After a few minutes of deep thinking, she decided on the two designs and started to check in her dimensional ring for the materials she needed. Once she found them, she moved them to one side of her ring so that she would not waste time when she needed to use them. After a few deep breaths to ready herself, she grabbed the first material on the list, which was a Peak Rank 3 Mana Metal. She threw it in the forge before sending her mana inside it to increase the fire's temperature. By using her Divine sense, she could feel every tiny changes in the magic metal, which let her know the precise moment when it was ready. She then used a pair of pliers to take the blazing hot metal from the forge and brought it on the anvil, where she pounded on it to get it into the shape she wanted, with one of the hammers by her side, until the metal started cooling down. At that time she moved it back in the forge to reheat it and once it was ready, she took it out again to the anvil. She repeated that process multiple times while also adding other kind of metal to create a stronger alloy for the shield. After almost an hour, the shield was nearly ready. She only had to carve the runes needed to enchant it, and it would be finished. That did not take too long as with her speed, she finished carving everything in one go before putting the item in the forge and quenching it one last time to finalize it. It was ready and, if she said so herself, a great success. Although it was only a Peak Level 3 defensive Item, it was still as strong as an Early Level 4 one, thanks to the forging techniques and the runes carved in its structure. As for the design, it was a sleek looking kite shield with only a few ornaments that made it classy but not gaudy. “Perfect! Since he will need to change it when he'll reach Rank 2, there is no need to make it too fancy looking... I only need to make the spear now. Let's do it!” She mumbled to herself, before starting on the attack item this time. As the pole was wooden, she had to carve the wooden material first while using different techniques, such as runes carving, to make it stronger. When she was done with that part, she started working on the triple blade part, where she spent a bit more time than for the shield, since the blade needed more finesse. When she was done with it, she assembled the two parts, while again carving a few other runes to strengthen the link between the two. The result was a long one-handed spear with a similar look as the shield: classy and discreet. Which did not decrease its lethal power, mind you. It may even take one by surprise as the two items did not look very powerful, since she also used a rune to hide their power fluctuations. Was it really necessary? “I guess it's a force of habit. Oh well, I can't wait to see his adorable face when he'll see those two. I'll go now!” She muttered before putting the two in her ring and take off towards her student.