He shook his head and stopped thinking about the sheep dilemma. Then he picked up the dead sheep.
It was very heavy as it weighed 150 kg, but he was very strong, so he managed to carry and drag it to the kitchen.
He and the head cook had to butcher the sheep. Some of it was preserved for later use, while some of it was given to Ruff to eat.
Only after that could he perform his exercises. He added more variations to it and even began using the training equipment that his mother uses.
Lady Vena was the one who showed him how to use the equipment. She was so strict that he had to ask her a question that had been brewing in his mind for a long time.
He said, "Why are you so concerned about how well I am doing? Didn't give up on me when my stepbrother was born."
At first she was taken aback. She said in surprise, "You still remember that? You were only three then."
He shook his head. "That's not the matter at hand here. The matter at hand is why you're taking my training seriously after giving up on me."
She sighed and said, "I did give up on you. That was very bad of me. It was also bad of me to compare you to the true sons and daughters of the family. I shouldn't have done that."
"I realized that you didn't need to compete with them to achieve good things in life. You can be good in your own way. So I have decided to help you achieve what you are capable of to the best of my abilities."
She was saying nice things, but he was only hearing bad things. What he heard made him ask, "So you still don't think I can compare to them?"
She shook her head and said, "That's a wrong outlook on things. Don't compare yourself to them because what they achieve doesn't matter. What matters is that you tried your best with what you were given. After all, they are different people with different backgrounds."
He nodded and said, "I've heard enough."
Then he returned to bench pressing the 150 kg weight that he said was too much for him earlier. He did so because he was determined to prove everyone wrong.
Lady Vena saw this and chuckled inwardly. She said to herself, "Sometimes, being too smart is a bad thing."
Arthur pushed himself to the limits all the while coughing because of his irritated lungs and Ruff cheering him up with the occasional high-spirited barks.
Next he had his bath, ate, took his pills, and went to sleep. This was to be his schedule for the coming days.
He performed exercises meant to push the body of a fourth transformation body-forging mortal to its limits. But he still took rank-1 minor blood pills, which are mostly useless to fourth transformation mortals.
Those at the fourth transformation of the body-forging stage should take major pills. But he only has the strength of the fourth transformation. His body is still at the second transformation. So the minor blood pills were still very effective.
This meant that he required fewer resources for training, and the training he did with the strength of a fourth transformation body had a greater impact on his development than it would have for someone at the fourth transformation.
All of these worked together to make his development very fast. He only spent 3 months to reach the third transformation. This was half the time it took those who were dedicated in their training and took blood pills every day to reach the third transformation.
Thanks to mountain Karma, his true strength was at the sixth transformation. It made him lose control and have to stay indoors for a while to regain control of his body.
He sat in bed looking at his system with a smile on his face.
MOUNTAIN SITTING DAO
State of Existence: First Mortal Coil (Third Transformation)
Life Span: 104
DIVINE ABILITIES
1. Mountain Karma: Level 2 (114,792/10,000,000)
2. ????: ------
ATTRIBUTES
Power: 3 × 2 (Mountain Karma)
Mind: 1. Mental Energy: 7
Body: 2 >>> 3. Life Energy: 11 >>> 14
TECHNIQUES
1. Fire-Breathing Mana Technique: 21% Mastery.
He was smiling because he was in a good mood. He was in a good mood because he liked the feeling of growing stronger, and he liked seeing tangible progress every day.
He had made great progress physically and technique-wise. It made all of his hard work justified.
He also liked Ruff licking his face and snuggling with him on the bed. It made him laugh as he scratched Ruff's fur.
This made Ruff bark excitedly and wag his tail furiously. There was no space on the bed, so his tail kept slamming into the bed, making loud noises.
He sighed and said, "What a great day."
He was truly in the best mood. So even though he temporarily lost control of his body and had to stay indoors for a while, he felt as if nothing could bring down his mood.
It was at that point that Mother entered. She said, "I've got good news and bad news. Actually, they could be both good news depending on how you look at it."
He said with a smile, "Maybe that was meant to reassure me; unfortunately, it didn't."
He was smiling despite feeling that something bad was about to happen because he didn't want whatever it would be to ruin his good mood.
Lady Vean took a seat on the rocking chair. "First, the certain good news. Congratulations on your transformation. I am happy that you have made this much progress in such a short amount of time, mostly because I've seen your hard work and dedication."
"Now is not the time to become lazy, though. In fact, you must train harder to break through the bottleneck to the fourth transformation as soon as possible."
She smiled and said, "To facilitate your progress in that endeavor, I will give you rank 1 major blood pills. Isn't that great?"