Before going to the training courtyard, Zaran first made a detour towards the wine cellar, which could be accessed from the door under the main staircase in the large entrance hall. With a surface area of 4000 square meters, it was an absolutely massive cellar.

A large number of dwarves hummed and ran about either carrying the wine casks out of the cellar, removing the wine racks from the cellar or placing supports so that they could reinforce the cellar's ceiling.

Zaran chuckled as he watched the dwarves lift up the wine casks that were at least twice as tall as them and then waddle around with them. Even though the sight was absolutely hilarious, they still managed to get the casks out without hitting anything at all.

Henry walked passed Zaran with one of the casks in his arms, humming a happy tune while doing so. After a few seconds he stopped in his tracks, put the cask down and turned around. Noticing Zaran's smile he asked "How long have you been watching?"

"Just long enough to see you waddle around while humming." Zaran said with a light chuckle.

Henry grabbed Zaran's arm and shook it while grumbling "You did not see a thing!"

"Hmm I really think I did!" Zaran muttered "Maybe you could give me something to convince me to forget."

"Sigh, what is it you want?" Henry grumbled.

"Another way to contract beasts. Forcefully. Just in case."

Henry grumbled and tossed a scroll at Zaran. "Here."

Storing the scroll in his storage ring, Zaran put up a confused expression and said "Hmm now how did I get in here again? OH Henry! Nice to see you!"

Henry sighed, shook his head and said "... just leave..."

Zaran laughed, ran back up the staircase and made his way to the training courtyard. The training courtyard was a small ten meter by five meter area filled with sand and surrounded by curbstone.

When he arrived there, neither Roku nor the two maids were anywhere to be soon so Zaran decided to check his stats.

Character infoRaceZunoProfessionSeeker of truthSub-profession 1Hellbeast masterSub-profession 2N/ALevel53Unspent stat points25StatsHealth1500/1500Mana900/900Ki1000/1000Racial ??????/??Strength310 (+115)Flexibility100Agility112Stamina120Vitality75Focus100Intelligence50Wisdom48Perception30Luck25Charm2Willpower50ReputationHonour5Fame550God's merit51

He decided to not waste the previous stat points just yet. He never knew what he would need them for and if used correctly they could instantly turn a fight around. But he did need to start cultivating again sooner or later as both his mana and ki were far too low for his level. The difficulty had drastically soared after he gained level fifty and the exp rate was far, far slower than before.

Alongside the ki and mana problems, he also needed to start worrying about his flexibility, agility, stamina and vitality. As for his other stats... He didn't need them all too much just yet.

The maids and Roku had still not arrived and thus Zaran decided to momentarily cultivate 'Heavenly cloud condensation' while waiting for them to arrive. He closed his eyes and quickly thereafter a small transparent golden cloud of world ki started to congeal around him.

A few minutes passed and the small golden cloud lost it's transparency as it grew a few shades brighter in colour and became a real cloud that one could touch. Zaran's eyes shot open as he started to absorb the ki within his body. Strand by strand of ki entered his channels and made its way to his dantian, every strand visibly increasing the small ki pool that existed within.

Another minute passed during which the maid and Roku arrived at the training courtyard. Seeing that their master was cultivating, none of the three dared to speak. Only after he was done did the three politely bow and say. "Master has called for us?"

"I did, I want the three of you to become disciples of my sword school. You might have heard some whisper about it. 'Dance of the Butterfly'" Zaran said, already taking out the scrolls he had created earlier.

The three looked at each other, trying to see if anyone else had heard of this sword school but neither of them had. "We haven't heard of it."

Zaran shrugged. "No matter then. Still my question stands... Will you three be my disciples? If you question my strength, Nuvahn is also one of my disciples. Oh, an obvious rule but if you become my disciple you cannot teach the skills to anyone else without my permission."

Roku stepped forward and said. "I will be your disciple and I vow to never teach the skills to anyone unless you give your permission!"

Sandra and Neteri looked at each other before both stepped forward and simultaneously said "I will be your disciple and I vow to never teach the skills to anyone unless you give your permission!"

The instant the npc's decided to be Zaran's disciples the system updated his list of disciples in the sword school menu and Roku, Sandra and Neteri's names were added to the list.

"That's the answer I wanted to hear. These scrolls are for the three of you. I only got three technique scrolls so far but more will follow in the future. I got two sets of each so you guys will have to pass them around." Zaran said as he tossed the scrolls towards the three of them. "When you are done with them return the scrolls to me."

Zaran walked over to one end of the training courtyard and said. "You guys start learning and practicing the skills at the other end of the courtyard, as long as my eyes are not open do NOT disturb or allow anyone to disturb me unless it is an incredibly important matter! When they are open feel free to ask any questions you have related to the skills."

The maids and Roku quickly walked over to the other end and each opened one of the scrolls and starting to read them with great interest.

Before he started working on a skill, Zaran used Hellbeast summoning and summoned both Kirin and Cindarrah. "Hey you two, I'll be creating a skill, could you guard me and see that no one disturbs me as long as my eyes are not open?" Zaran asked his two pets.

"I'll protect daddy!" Cindarrah nestled herself down on Zaran's head and cheerfully hummed. Kirin on the other hand simply nodded and lied down next to Zaran.

As for Kru, the other night Henry had asked if he could temporarily borrow him to help with the renovation of the cellar and thus Zaran had temporarily lent Kru to Henry.

With his pets on guard, Zaran started to take out a pile of regular swords from his storage ring. What he was about to do had a very little chance to succeed on any sword and like most of the skills he had to hope that the game recognized what he was trying to do. As lifelike as the game was, there was still a tiny chance that it would not recognize what was Zaran was trying to do. If he could not do what he wanted to do now... he would not be able to utilize the real 'Intent'!

He randomly took one of the swords from the pile, sat down in a lotus position and laid the sword horizontally on the palms of his hands. He guided his ki towards his palms and When the little ki he had, started gathering there, he meticulously controlled a single strand of ki and sent it into the sword where the ki strand instantly went on a rampage within the steel, which caused the sword started to lightly vibrate.

A frown apeared on Zaran's face when he noticed the sword vibrate and he swiftly made the rampaging ki strand settle down. Because the ki was originally his and the body and the sword were touching, Zaran could still somewhat control the strand of ki after it entered the sword. Compared to most basic skills where you just blast off the ki in a general direction, what he needed to do now was to control his ki to near perfection which was a nearly impossible task because he did no longer have full control over the ki. If he failed to do so then the weapon would easily shatter. He guided the strand of ki towards the rain-guard, the part of the sword where the hilt and the blade met.

He took his time and carefully watched the strand of ki. Zaran had to continuously control the strand of ki as it was being very unruly and refused to move as Zaran wished. Only after a few minutes, which seemed like hours to Zaran, did the strand of ki finally settle down. Sweat was already running over Zaran's face and mentally it had been very hard on him and this had just been the first strand of many!

My control over my ki might not be good enough. Zaran thought, taking a brief few seconds of rest before controlling another strand of ki along the same path. When the second strand of ki arrived at the rain-guard, the two strands of ki started to go out of control. Zaran split his mental effort between the two strands of ki and tried to make them settle down. However he had acted just slight bit too late and the sword shattered.

"Fuck." Zaran muttered as he opened his eyes and looked at the pieces of metal that laid in front of him. Neteri came over and asked him a few questions, which Zaran quickly answered before sending her off. He picked up another sword and started all over again and he carefully guided a strand of ki towards the sword's rain-guard. This time he did not let the strand of ki a single split-second out of his sight and vigorously made sure that it was completely settled down this time. Only after making sure it did not move a single time within minutes, did he finally move over another strand of ki towards the rain-guard. This time the two strands did not go out of control and it easily settled down along the first one.

Thereafter Zaran redid the same process over and over until a hundred strands of ki were within the rain-guard. He carefully relaxed his mind, but still made sure that none of the strands of ki moved at all.

When he felt a little more relaxed, he started to manipulate all the strands of ki simultaneously and slowly congealed half of them into a single whole. The strands of ki struggled somewhat but eventually they all combined into a single whole. As for the other half, Zaran split it in another two halves and with one half he started to lay a network of ki channels within the sword. This process caused a lot of strain on the sword and it took him minutes to carve a single channel. After he completed five channels, Zaran started to control the last batch of strands and made them circle around the dantian, creating an artificial whirlpool which started to draw in world ki.

Zaran carefully watched the sword's situation for half an hour before he was convinced that he had succeeded. After ten minutes of rest, he repeated the same process for an additional the remainder of his swords, continuously increasing the speed at which he could create the dantian, channels and whirlpool. Around halfway his batch of swords a message popped up.

You have created an SS class skill! Please name it!

Bestow Cultivation (Beginner)Level2Experience25%Time required00:15:00Ki required100EffectCreates a dantian within a weaponMaximum material graderareMaximum material levellevel 50DescriptionYou have found a way to create a dantian and ki channels within a weapon which gives it the ability to cultivate and which greatly reduces the ki costs for skills as long as the weapon's ki has not depleted.Unique effectWeapons you have given a cultivation level cannot hurt you with their ki as it originally belonged to you and instead an attack by such a weapon will cause your ki to regenerate.

Do you wish to publicize your name and skill.

Like he had done with nearly all his skills, Zaran chose to publicize his name.