Now that I had advanced, I needed to merge each of the disparate parts that made up my talents into the same dance of fluidity that I had existed. I needed to test my limits and learn to control the increased strength and power I had gained.

The effort and difficulty for this step had increased considerably with my acquisition of the [Dao of Movement] I needed to encapsulate the elements of Water, Air, Ice, and Lightning and arrive at a profundity of understanding that explained how [Movement] was innate to each of those elements.

I was able to understand the Dao only superficially. An understanding that any child might have. Air blew, water flowed, lightning struck, and ice melted. But what I required was a much deeper understanding, if I wanted to advance my control of the Dao.

Necessity existed.

I needed to do more than apply the barely remembered high school science classes I had taken and applied my knowledge of molecules, atoms, and the movement of electrons and protons. But those elementary classes were a start, a springboard for my understanding until I could find a means to advance this Universe's understanding of Laws and Constants.

I needed to more fully fathom the mysteries of movement. To understand how air streams, water travels, and molecular excitement play a role in the elements I controlled. I had to expand my limited view and increase the narrow understanding of the Dao. It was so much more, touched upon so much more than anything my insignificant intellect was able to fathom.

It was only when I began to include the ionization of water molecules in the atmosphere, the process to produce lightning in my concept of [Movement], that I gained insight into the wondrous gift my Heavenly encounter had bestowed.

Only when I included the water cycle of rain and evaporation. Only when I focused on the expansive ability of ice as it grew or shrank as it formed. Only when I considered air was a composite of gases, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide that relied on temperature to power movement. And only when I included the gravitational pull of the planet, the force that created the movement for water, air, and storms did I gain enough understanding to see how all movement, no matter the element was interconnected.

The push and pull of movement. The outside influences that created limits and restrictions. The minute movement as molecules vibrated slower or faster in a constant state of excitement. Even those items that never gave the appearance of movement, contained the atomic structure that proved appearances could be deceiving and the fallacy that an object at rest stayed at rest was a lie.

The object may have no observable movement, it isn't moving forward, backward, up, or down. Yet, even at rest, at the sub-microscopic level, the movement was everything. Entire worlds and solar systems of atoms filled with not only potential energy but creating the firmament that was needed for all life by continually embracing the chemical imperative of covalent, ionic, or metallic bonds. The movement that was ignored as we assigned those items, we considered stationary, as objects at rest.

My Dharmic body began to strengthen the longer and more recondite my understanding of the Dao became. So much stronger than I would have liked to have returned to closed-door cultivation. But events would not allow that. I had enough contribution points and wealth that money was no longer an issue within the Sect.

But I still needed to meet up with Elder Shadow and train diligently. Train until my new power level and understanding of how to combine that power with my Dao became automatic. My understanding of my Qi, meridians, and Spirit Root advancing, becoming so ingrained that the use of my martial techniques became second nature, once more.

The spirit stones that had been placed to power the array, were still near full. My Realm was too low to take advantage of their full potential. But there was nothing I could do about that, the stones would be re-cycled by the Sect, gaining additional resources from resources I purchased. It was possible, sometime in the future, that I would find a cave, a sanctuary that I could convert into my own cultivation domain.

But that would be some time in the future when I was much further along the path of cultivation.

It would be expensive, and I would need to explore much more of the world before I even considered something like that. And my cultivation realm would need to have advanced to the Nihility stage. It had taken a year for me to advance enough that I was on the cusp of breaking through from Body Refinement to Qi Gathering, an impressive feat. But that speed could not be sustained.

I could safely be expected to maintain this pace, to race through the Qi Gathering Realm. I might advance to the Nascent Soul Realm quickly, perhaps in two or three years. But after that? Advancements were as much about luck as effort. If I managed to find or buy a rare treasure, if I came across another Heavenly opportunity, I might be able to cut years off advancement at the higher Realms. But each increase in level meant an increase in time and effort needed to advance.

Realms required an exponentially advance in time required to ascend. If Body Refinement took me a year, and Qi Gathering should take two. Then Nascent Soul would take ten, Nihility twenty, Immortal fifty, Profound Immortal a hundred, and Immortal Venerable hundreds.

The realms higher than Immortal Venerable were only vaguely hinted at, so there was no knowing how long reaching the very apex of cultivation would take. It was likely I would spend the next 500 or 1,000 years to gain enough proficiency to even attempt that final breakthrough and find out what, if anything, existed beyond the Immortal Venerable Realm.

A missive was waiting for me as soon as I opened the cave. Actual a work of art more than a message. Some cultivators spent time trying to perfect the art of Origami to create a unique missive that would easily identify the sender. The message that was waiting for me was from Tarrah. Unlike almost everyone else that folded missive into aerodynamic shapes, most opting for birds of some kind, Tarrah thought it amusing to send messages folded into shapes of people.

This one slightly resembled Elder Shadow, so I was pretty confident even before opening the message, that it would concern him. A quick spark of Qi so that the message would recognize me, allowed me to bypass the protections woven into the creases. Once I was able to unfold it and read it, my assumption was proven correct.

Tarrah informed me that Elder Shadow and Elder Tye were willing to allow me the day for myself. I could spend this one day after I exited the cave to rest. But Elder Shadow expected to see me bright and early tomorrow morning at Trainer's Hall, and Elder Tye had similar expectations for the afternoon.

Their insistence in ordering my schedule was fine, I would meet him early the next morning, but today I had something else to do, something more important than resting. Something I had delayed because of the importance of breakthrough and the upcoming tournament. But now that I had accomplished my goal, I would take this day to deal with a resource I had neglected from my previous mission.

A mission that had netted me a windfall of Eoraptor eggs, but more importantly a Roc egg. The eggs were still in stasis, but now that I had advanced my cultivation, I decided it was time to attempt to hatch, bond with, and claim the Roc as my companion.

If I could succeed, the bonded energies, the Qi the Roc could share even as a chick, would be enough that I would be able to hold my own in battle with lower-tiered Qi Gathering cultivators. One of the benefits of a companion was this sharing of energy. As we grew and our bond strengthened, I would even be able to learn and share elemental techniques with the animal.

Establishing a bond with a companion as powerful as a Roc would grant me an advantage as effective as the increase in cultivation level I had accomplished today.