After what oddly seemed like both a long and brief time, Aksai opened his eyes, concluding his day’s cultivation practice.
He then accessed his Spectral Screen to review his progress.
[ Daily task completed. Executed the 7th layer of Basic Greenwood Tantra for 24 cycles. Estimated cultivation improvement: 0.008%. Cultivation terminated due to diminished gains falling below the required criteria.
Mode optimized for inter-realm improvement. Current Spirit Essence reserves: 100%.
Runtime: 6 hours and 33 minutes.
Intra-stage Progress: 20.1%
Estimated time required to break into the 8th stage: 6 years. ]
“Oh? It seems there are some changes,” Aksai remarked to himself, pleasantly surprised by the updates displayed on the Spectral Screen.
Previously, when practicing the Basic Greenwood Tantra, the projected time for an intral-realm breakthrough was 8 years. However, after successfully transitioning to the Stellar Greenwood Tantra, this requirement had been reduced by two years.
The efficiency improvement of 0.008%, compared to the previous 0.003%, might seem marginal, but its compounding effect over time was undeniable.
According to the estimations of the neural link fabric, Aksai now only required approximately six years to achieve a breakthrough into the 8th stage of Spirit Refining. As long as he remained dedicated to practicing the Stellar Greenwood Tantra daily without any lapses, he would encounter no hindrances in his cultivation journey.
Aksai recognized that several factors contributed to this reduction in time. Enhanced efficiency in Mantra and Mudra usage was one aspect, while the addition of the Yantra in the form of a Golden Lotus Array Formation played a crucial role as well.
When compared to the Basic Greenwood Tantra, the Stellar Greenwood Tantra proved to be a true masterpiece of a cultivation technique. It was no surprise that numerous talented scions of the Lakir family, having practiced this technique from an early age, exhibited remarkable potential.
Though a reduction of two years might appear modest, it bestowed Aksai with a significant advantage. Obtaining the Stellar Greenwood Tantra from Lian Lakir’s storage was akin to the greatest blessing his victim could have given him. Especially considering Aksai’s low-grade Spirit Root Aptitude.
For Spirit Refining cultivators, time was of the essence, as they faced a cutoff age to break into the Foundation Building Realm before reaching their 50s. Thus, every year, even every month, saved in cultivation time held immense significance.
This slight age difference could determine whether a cultivator would establish their foundation and enter the 2nd realm or perish in the attempt.
That’s why most talented Spirit Refining cultivators aimed to achieve Spirit Refining Perfection by the age of 40. They would then strive to break into the 2nd realm within one or two years.
It was a well-known fact that the earlier one attained Spirit Refining Perfection, the better their chances of becoming a Foundation Building Expert. Even if they failed in their breakthrough attempt, the risk of death was significantly reduced.
Aksai harbored similar aspirations of achieving Spirit Refining Perfection before turning 45, an ambitious goal given his condition and Spirit Root Aptitude. Thus, when he observed the effects of the Stellar Greenwood Tantra, he felt genuinely pleased.
***
“Can we further enhance the Stellar Greenwood Tantra?”
Aksai inquired after contemplating for a while.
He hoped to decrease the time requirement even more and reach the 8th stage of Spirit Refining within four to five years.
After all, he knew that one’s cultivation journey became increasingly difficult the further they progressed in it. If Aksai could save time in the 7th stage, it would help him deal with the obstacles in the later stages.
The neural link fabric obediently presented its findings after listening to Aksai’s query.
[ Stellar Greenwood Tantra was estimated to be 27% more efficient than Advanced Greenwood Tantra and 54% more efficient than Basic Greenwood Tantra. ]
[Selecting Stellar Greenwood Tantra as the root cultivation technique, with Basic and Advanced Greenwood Tantra as subroots ]
[ Projected improvement in Stellar Cultivation Tantra: 0.00008% ]
[ Estimated time required for sandboxing: 129 days. ]
“You know what? It looks like improving the Stellar Greenwood Tantra is nothing but a waste of time with the current database.”
Aksai concluded, examining the neural link fabric’s estimations. Despite the results, he remained undeterred, merely exploring the possibility.
“Hmm. Using Basic and Advanced Greenwood Tantras won’t give me the best results in enhancing the original. I’d either need various cultivation techniques from different elements to enrich the existing database, or I’d require even more superior wood-based cultivation techniques to improve Stellar Greenwood Tantra.
Hehe. But here’s the catch. if I had access to superior wood-attribute-based techniques, why bother trying to enhance Stellar Greenwood Tantra? It would be more effective to practice them directly.
I can always switch cultivation techniques after achieving major breakthroughs in Spirit cultivation. Given the current situation outside the Everwood farm, it’s practically impossible for me to find a cultivation technique better than the Stellar Greenwood Tantra.
Frankly, the potential gains don’t outweigh the risks I’d encounter. So I’ll stick with what I have for now.”
Aksai contemplated, solidifying his decision.
He needed to repair the damaged barrier-bypass talisman he had received from Aunt Reta.
Although he had recently acquired a high-grade talisman of the same kind from Reman, he opted to save it for emergencies.
Having already gathered materials for the repair work, along with possessing the 2nd-order talisman inheritance, Aksai decided to proceed with his initial plan.
However, the repair work on the damaged talisman couldn’t commence immediately. Aksai required at least two weeks to study the 2nd-order talisman inheritance and conduct related experiments.
Only after ensuring the success of these experiments could Aksai proceed with the actual repair.
As such, he opted to postpone the research and experiments for a while. He could take things slowly inside the safety of the Everwoof farm anyway. Spirit farming had taught Aksai many things, and patience was one of the key lessons imparted to him very early on.
Instead, Aksai decided to try a forbidden Spirit spell he had received from Aunt Reta. This was the same technique she had used against the robbers to protect herself as well as her son.
The name of the forbidden Spirit spell was Blood Strengthening.