Cultivation Materials

After having dinner at Kael'thas's, Karen returned to the room the Alchemist Association had prepared for Master Drew.

Although he really wanted to stay in the lavish room in Kael'thas's Mage Tower, Karen wasn't ready to give up his identity as Drew.

It didn't seem appropriate for Drew to spend the night at Kael'thas's. He didn't have the standing for that.

Besides, eating at Kael'thas's had been a little awkward. The food had been delicious and plentiful, but Kael'thas had very strict requirements.

He demanded impeccable noble manners and bearing—and not just those of any noble, but of royalty.

Karen had felt the pressure. In the end, he had returned with a package in hand, supposedly carrying something from Mentor Marco. (It was actually just some snacks.)

Once word got around that Karen was back, the team leader he'd appointed came to his room a short while later to report on the day's work.

First, the leader rattled off the competition arrangements he'd learned about at the Alchemist Association headquarters, then asked Karen if he had any instructions.

"So you're saying the final stage, and the most important one, is free-form?"

"Yes."

"Then what more is there to say? The first part is free-form, and you five just need to show what you achieved during training in the final free-form stage.

"The others can do their best. But if you five don't get good results, well, I won't say what the consequences will be.

"Go back, practice more, consolidate what you've learned, and get ready for the competition.

"If there's nothing else, don't come looking for me. Just follow the competition committee's arrangements." Karen sent off the team leader he'd appointed for the alchemist competition.

He waited a little longer. By the time it was time for bed, no one else was likely to come looking for him.

Karen locked the door and called out to Drew in his mind.

"Drew, are you there? We've got work to do."

"What is it?" Drew asked.

Earlier that day, Karen had listened to Kael'thas explain what a hero was.

The more he thought about it, the more it reminded him of the cultivation novels he'd read.

He couldn't stop thinking about it after he got back, so he decided to sort out his thoughts.

"I think these heroes are a lot like the cultivators in those novels I used to read.

"Should we organize what we know and use those novels to speculate about the later stages?"

"Why bother? That's still a long way off for you," Drew refused.

"If I don't figure it out, it'll keep bothering me. It's just too similar.

"Come on, help me out, Drew. You can ask me for anything."

If Drew had eyes, he would definitely have rolled them.

Never mind. The host's request deserved some help. Besides, he had nothing better to do.

As for what he wanted, what could a system program possibly want? A new CPU?

He ran on a soul now. He didn't need one.

That night, the two of them first searched through Karen's memories for every cultivation novel he'd read.

Then they compared the novels to see which ones had a system of levels and an understanding and application of the power of rules that might suit this world. They discarded what was useless and organized and recorded what was useful.

This chain of laws—using chains as weapons to attack with. Uh, there was no need to be so rigid about it. They discarded it as useless. This one, becoming one with the Dao and entrusting one's soul to the great river of the Dao.

As long as the Dao endured, the person endured.

Even if they were killed, they could be resurrected.

He remembered that some demigods in this world were like that: even after being killed, they could be brought back to life.

That was useful. He wrote it down.

Next: the power of rules manifested images in the surrounding space, and condensed into a domain.

Battles at this level came down to clashes between domains, and those clashes were contests of how deeply each side understood the rules.

That was interesting. It was about applying the power of rules. He wrote it down.

They worked through the night, sorting and categorizing all the information they thought useful.

They separated the stages of cultivation from the applications of power.

Anything they thought belonged to legendary heroes went under the legendary hero level; anything they thought involved divine-level understanding and application went under the divine level. At the end, they made an outline and turned it into a printed document.

Once they finished, Karen felt exhausted from staying up all night.

He hung a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, then collapsed into bed.

He slept until the afternoon. The alchemist competitors had all been very obedient and worked hard to consolidate what they'd learned, without disturbing his rest. Good.

Kael'thas sent someone to ask if he wanted to have dinner together. Well, about that...

With his backside feeling a little sore, Karen decided not to go over for dinner today.

He used his communication device to let Kael'thas know, explaining that he had something to do today and would bring something over to discuss with him tomorrow.

After sending his reply, he checked the time. It was almost dinner.

He remembered asking the Alchemist Association headquarters' reception manager the day before where he could find good food and do some sightseeing.

Once he'd made up his mind, Karen tidied himself up and went out. Then, by sheer coincidence, he ran into Vereesa, who was out for a stroll.

Vereesa said what a coincidence it was and suggested they eat together. Karen rolled his eyes. Could he not have any privacy? Did she have to follow him even when he went to eat? With no other choice, he took her along to explore.

They headed to Dalaran's outer city and found its snack street.

Karen discovered that Vereesa was a big fan of snacks, too. She ate with such relish that she didn't care at all about the people around her staring.

After all, the people in the outer city found High Elves quite fascinating, especially a pretty young woman.

The people also looked at Karen, dressed as a human, with envy and jealousy. He had such a beautiful High Elf accompanying him.

Feeling rather smug under the stares, Karen found himself less irritated with Vereesa. The more he looked at her, the prettier she seemed.

Karen thought the food crawl had been worth it.

It hadn't been as delicious as the food at Kael'thas's, but it had been distinctive.

For Vereesa, though, it was her first time trying food like this, and she was delighted. Her mouth was greasy, and even on the way back she kept stuffing snacks into her mouth from the huge handful she was carrying.

The next day, Karen went to Kael'thas's Mage Tower.

When Kael'thas had finished dealing with political affairs and came to meet him, Karen handed him the documents he'd put together the day before.

"Brother, these are some of my thoughts on the hero and divine levels. See if you have any thoughts."

Kael'thas took the papers, glanced through them, and said, "All this is still a long way off for you. Don't waste your energy on it.

"Besides, these are all immature ideas of yours, and no one has verified whether they're correct. If they're wrong and lead you astray, that'll be a problem. Don't spend so much time studying this stuff in the future." Kael'thas reprimanded him.

"All right, Brother. I won't study it anymore. I'm going to see Antonidas. Bye."

Before he could get reprimanded any further, Karen hurriedly used the Antonidas Escape Technique.

After Karen left, Kael'thas found himself picking up the documents and reading them again.

I'm not studying them. I'll just read them as an interesting story, Kael'thas thought.

"Your Highness, you have a meeting to attend shortly. When would you like to leave?" Capernian appeared at the entrance to Kael'thas's room at some point.

Oh no, he'd nearly forgotten the meeting. These documents had a strange sort of magic—they'd completely drawn him in. Kael'thas thought.

But on the surface, Kael'thas calmly set down the documents in his hand and said, "Understood. Let's leave now." He stood and headed for the door.

"Oh, and put those documents on my desk." Kael'thas turned around and added.