The lurking King Beasts of Flash Mountain could only look around in confusion. They had simultaneously surged forward once the sounds of battle ended, but they found nothing in return. Unfortunately for them, with Ailsa by his side, and thanks to the Immortal Qi provided by the first Immortal Plane, Ryu's cloak was far more effective than it had been on the Higher Mortal Plane.
Despite his injuries, Ryu continued to battle lesser Fourth Order beasts, pushing his Phoenix Martial Forms to their upmost limit. To him, if training wasn't painful, there was no point to it.
Days later, Ryu stumbled into a cave located near the peak of Flash Mountain. It seemed he had completely forgotten about the month-long time frame given to him by the Mercenary Guild, or maybe he simply didn't care.
Ailsa shook her head, entering her true form to slowly massage Ryu's body. She didn't have much to work with in such a cold, wet and harsh environment, but she did her best.
Taking control of the Incubator, she nourished Ryu's body with Vital Tree Essence as she pressed her slender fingers into his hardening muscles.
The lanky Ryu of the past was nowhere to be seen any longer and he had already recovered from the atrophy he experienced after slipping into a half a year long coma. He finally filled out his frame, standing with the stature only a Tatsuya could have.
Ailsa sighed. If it wasn't for the borderline godly regenerative abilities of Ryu's Ice and Fire Phoenix bloodlines, not to mention the tenacious vitality of his Lightning Qilin and Fire Dragon ones as well, his body would likely already be riddled with scars.
'I don't understand how someone with such strong will power can have such a weak Mental Realm… There must be a reason behind this…' Ailsa never spoke to Ryu about her thoughts, and since Ryu usually refrained from reading her mind, likely to push down the guilt he felt using her like this, he didn't know about this.
The truth was that strong will power didn't always correlate to being talented within the Mental Realm. However, a strong Mental Realm guaranteed strong will power. Simply put, being strong willed didn't mean you were talented, but it did mean your Mental Realm was strong.
Yet, despite being so strong willed, even to the point of pushing himself to the brink of death, Ryu's Mental Realm was far below average. This wasn't the only oddity either. Despite being baptized by the Origin Rite, and receiving help from the Essence of the Immortal Path, Ryu was still subpar.
To put things into context, an absolute genius of Ryu's Mental Realm would have a Spiritual Sense range and Mental Realm size of one kilometer upon entering the Spiritual Entrance Realm. An average individual would have a range of about one hundred meters upon entering. But… Ryu had a range of less than thirty meters upon fully entering the Spiritual Entrance Realm, and even after receiving two Heaven sourced helpers, he barely reached sixty meters. This wasn't just bad… It was horrible. To the point where it didn't make any sense.
Ailsa couldn't help but think of Ryu's False Spiritual Foundation as she continued to massage his body. She had never heard of someone so talented being born with a False Spiritual Foundation.
'Hmph.' Ailsa snorted. 'If someone dared to play tricks with my Little Ryu, I'll make them pay.'
**
Ryu startled awake hours later, pushing himself up from the hard obsidian floors of the mountain.
'You should sleep some more. You still haven't fully recovered.'
Ryu shook his head. "We should go. The Striking Weed should be nearby, right?"
'Mm.' Ailsa fell into silence, watching Ryu steadily rise to his feet.
"Have we collected enough Lightning type Spiritual Roots?" Ryu asked offhandedly.
'We can't be sure until you absorb them. But, it's likely not so easy to satiate an Ancestral Grade bloodline.'
Ryu nodded. That made sense. Even if he was using the Spiritual Roots of beasts that had far higher cultivations than him, the grade of their bloodlines was too low in comparison to Ryu's. The Roc was the perfect example. He was only a Peak Third Order beast, yet because of his bloodline, he was the strongest beast Ryu had faced in this mountain range.
"You said you had a method to deal with the Zu Ancestors?" Ryu leapt from the edge of the cave, gripping the slippery rockface above his head to propel himself forward. Ailsa's massage was truly too miraculous, he should have felt pain, but all he experienced was a good stretch.
'Yes, but it isn't quite necessary to do so just yet. They're located within the Core Texts floor and we should be focused on improving your Mental Realm to its utmost limits within the Spiritual Entrance Realm first before we consider learning Mental Realm techniques. Unless you want to find out if the Zu Clan has any necromancy ancestors in their past?'
Ryu shook his head. "I spent decades trying to find the Death Shrine, there's no one more familiar than me with death path related Ruins. Thanks to the Origin Flame, I can clearly remember hundreds, if not thousands of locations where famous necromancers of the past might have buried their Legacies. I'm not too worried about finding them."
Ailsa smiled. 'I almost forgot my Little Ryu is a mighty Origin Grade Ruin Master.'
The title of Ruin Master was even above Herbologist in prestige. It was of such a high level that a small place like this Outer Ring wasn't worthy of having a Ruin Master branch for itself. It was no wonder Ailsa felt pride at Ryu's achievement.
Ryu's lips slanted slightly, soon reaching the very stop of Flash Mountain. Well, more accurately, he had reached a place where the peak was in view. The peak itself was shrouded by a perpetual rain of lightning. The rumbling of thunder and the sound of rock shattering under the striking lightning could make even the bravest man's heart palpitate.
Ryu's pupils could clearly see it. Striking Weed spread out as far as the eye could see.
Ryu took a deep breath. "How large must my Mental Realm be to be considered an absolute genius?"
Ailsa bit her lip. 'One kilometer at opening, but it must be ten kilometers before entering the Spiritual Endowment Realm.'
A tenacious light flashed in Ryu's eyes. 'Twenty kilometers it is.'