Thinking about what he could do with the combination of the two spells made him say proudly to himself, "I haven't even used them in a fight, but I have already developed a combination technique for them. I'm such a genius. I outdo myself sometimes."
Then he shook his head in pity and said, "How will the other geniuses live up to their name with me being in existence? It is truly a calamity for them."
He praised himself a couple of times more, but he didn't forget to grab mana from the environment into his body and direct it into his life seed for refinement.
While this was happening, insights about the Plant Growth spell were gushing into his mind as if he had a spring of wisdom in his mind. Actually, he had two springs of wisdom.
If he were still at the first mortal coil, he wouldn't be able to receive the feedback of data from the two phantoms while cultivating. His mind would have been overwhelmed and wouldn't be able to do the two things at the same time.
Fortunately, his mind has activated. The raw power of his mind directly doubled when he transcended the first mortal coil, and even his mental energy increased from 17 to 100 units.
His mental energy used to increase with his age. He gained one unit every year of his life. So when he was 17, he had a capacity of 17 units.
If things continued that way, it would have taken him a hundred years before he reached a capacity of 100 units. Even then, it is unlikely that the raw power of his mind would have passed 3 units at the age of 100.
But his mind became active, so it increased in power and capacity. It can also interact with mana and will further increase in power based on the quality and quantity of internal energy that he refines.
These benefits are the advantages of transcending the first mortal coil. They also made him understand why the Mountain Sitting Dao thought he was too weak to handle the power of the Mountain Foundation divine ability.
While he was cultivating, he was also gaining mastery in the Plant Growth spell. This is something that others can't do.
Others need to practice spells for them to gain meaningful mastery over them. They can't practice spells while cultivating. They can only do one at a time, which takes up their time.
They also need mental and internal energy to practice. This is internal energy that they could have used to refine their life force and mental energy that they could have used to refine internal energy.
So the Mountain Foundation divine ability is not only saving him time, it is also saving him mental and internal energy. He can use the saved mental and internal energy to cultivate while the phantoms give him knowledge.
This makes the gap between him and the other disciples in terms of raw power and mastery of spells widen over time.
He chuckled evilly to himself and said, "This is just the benefit of the Mountain Foundation divine ability. There is also the benefit of the Mountain Karma divine ability. I want to see what the others will use to compete with me."
He was being conceited early when he claimed that his existence was a calamity to the other geniuses. But he might have a point.
While he was cultivating, notifications about the performance tests kept coming in. These notifications were numerous at first, but they reduced over time. This is because he is only going to be notified when someone sets a record or breaks a previous record in the tests.
When the performance tests were first opened to the public, it was easy for disciples to set records. But as time passed, it became more and more difficult for records to be broken.
Only those who break a record in any category and maintain this record till the end of the month will gain the permission to use the best accommodation.
There are only ten of these best accommodations. Record holders will have permission to use them for one month at a time. If they can't keep their record every month, they will have to give up the best accommodation to the new record holder.
So if he wants to gain one of the best accommodations, all he needs to do is set one record before the end of the month. That is his goal and the goal of many disciples.
As time passed, the notifications he received reduced drastically. He also received an information packet containing guides to the tests from the Apex Alliance.
The guide included information about the tests and strategies to perform better in them. He read the guide, but most of his time was spent on cultivating.
This way, three weeks went by. After three weeks, he reached the second transformation and was ready to challenge the tests.
He isn't the only one who has made progress. Roar has also reached the tenth transformation of the first mortal coil.
He was at the seventh transformation when Arthur brought him to the sect. That was a little over a year ago. So he went from the seventh transformation to the eighth, ninth, and tenth in a year. It is all thanks to the pills that Arthur had been feeding him.
Arthur patted his fur and fed Roar some beef. Then he left his house and rode his flying board towards the lecture hall nearby.
On his way there, he thought to himself, "I should find a way to help Roar transcend soon."
Roar has the potential to reach the second mortal coil, but it will take time. He is hoping to speed up the breakthrough and maybe even improve Roar's potential.
He thought about this instead of thinking about the upcoming challenge. It is because he has already given the challenge some thought, and he is confident that he will perform well in it.