Chapter 39 - Small Success Stage
Every minute that passed by felt agonizingly long for Cain. Even for his high pain tolerance, tempering himself with Draconic Lightning Energy was truly a harrowing experience.
At moments, Cain nearly felt like he would die from the pain. But, he stubbornly persisted through the torture, knowing he needed to work past this immense agony.
Cain truly couldn't help but think this type of cultivation manual is for straight-up masochists.
For as he would need to repeat this process four more times with each subsequent level. That is genuinely nightmarish.
At least, Cain took solace in the fact that his combat prowess would exponentially grow.
Above all, controlling Draconic Lighting simply sounded absolutely badass to Cain.
With his desires mixing into his determined will, Cain made rapid progress with perceiving Draconinc Lightning Energy.
Though he needed to temper his entire physical body with Draconic Lightning Energy, it didn't mean it made things hard to comprehend.
Cain equated it to comprehending Qi Energy. The only difference was the subjects within Draconinc Lightning was slightly more challenging to understand.
Admittedly, Cain could see that it would be exceptionally challenging to comprehend this energy if he simply had his Spirit Opening level Qi Sense.
After all, Darconinc Lightning wasn't simply another form of energy permeating the air.
This was power formed by high-level Dragon God, Lightning Masters!
From what Cain read in the background of this manual, those Dragon Gods are among the strongest Elders in their imperial family. Even the current Dragon Emperor pays a certain amount of respect to them.
Wanting to comprehend such unfathomable prowess….the Martial Talent needed was something beyond Lower Realms cultivator's scope.
Even in their Imperial Family, there weren't many who entirely cultivated the Lightning Draconinc Manual.
However, while as powerful and complex as this cultivation manual may be, Cain experienced only slight troubles with comprehension. The properties of both Draconic Lightning and Lightning energy in general slowly unravel within his mind.
Compared to Qi Energy, Cain also had to use up at least fifty percent of his Mental Energy. And the results were excellent, being among the highest he ever achieved since coming into this universe.
Under Cain and Kali's complete focus, time had no meaning to them. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes soon turned into a full hour.
Right before the hour bench-mark, no substantial changes surged upon the sibling duo.
Their Nascent Aura turned increasingly dense. But there was no indication that Cain and Kali were even close to completing their first stages.
However, when the hour mark finally hit, everything changed.
The sound of roaring thunder loudly verberated in the room as streaks of powerful Draconic Lightning sparked out of Cain's body!
At this moment, Cain was rapidly approaching an essential step.
On the outside, his body remained still as a statue even when an unforgettable scene was taking place.
Wrapping around Cain's body like it's his essence was bright, sparkling blue Draconinc Lightning energy.
'Hua!'
Right then, Cain's powers monstrously soared! From his internal body, mental psyche, and personal cultivation, he felt some sort of increase.
'Alright….just one more….? What the?"
Before Cain push to completing the first Success Stage, he suddenly directed his senses towards his dantian.
Within his dantian, Cain bore witness to an incredible transformation.
A good portion of the Draconic Lightning Energy did soar in his dantian's space, attempting to wreak utter havoc there. But in a twisted turn of events, Cain's Qi Seed began frantically absorbing the Draconic Lightning Energy.
And now, there is a bright blue Lightning spark at the direct center of Cain's gray Qi seed.
Streaks of Lightning occasionally flashed out of the Lightning spark, wildly shooting across his dantian space.
'So, I now gained a Lightning affinity? But if this were to happen, my Qi Seed is supposed to take on the full-color code of the energy affinity. But it seems like whatever this gray color is, can't be changed.'
Cain covered every inch of his Qi Seed with his Qi Sense. His slight confusion mainly came from the fact that a different color Qi Seed represents the energy one has a profound link with.
If one has multiple energy affinities, their Qi Seed will become multi-color, blending into a new mix of energies.
However, this gray color Qi Seed seemed impossible to entirely change.
Cain knows Lightning energy affinity is relatively high among other energy affinities. It stood above even most of the elemental energy affinities.
And yet, even this could only share a small space within this mysterious gray energy.
Cain hoped that his grandmother may have the answer for this strangeness. He highly doubted his sister would know of the answer or anything in a Mortal Planet could solve this.
Turning his focus away from this mystery, Cain finally focused on completing the Small success stage.
The immense pain from the Draconic Lightning Energy had lesson considerably. Because his Qi Seed now has a perfect affinity with Lightning, Cain gained a natural resistance to all types of Lightning Energy.
In this state, Cain stimulated his Qi Seed's Lightning Spark, shooting out a direct energy link towards the Draconic Lightning Energy.
Cain's comprehension of both Lightning and Darconinc Lightning Energy was already enough for the Small Success Stage.
So it didn't come as a shock to him that he felt zero resistance when forming the energy link towards his Qi Seed.
The process to form this energy link was far shorter than first cultivating Draconinc Lightning Energy.
In just a simple minute, the energy link consolidated to complete perfection!
At this moment, instead of Cain's Draconic Lightning Aura intensely reigning about, it suddenly turned calmer. It slowly transitions into flowing like a quiet stream of water. 𝑓𝗿𝐞𝘦𝘄e𝘣n𝘰𝘷eƖ.c𝘰𝗺
Cain's body violently quivered. When his Draconic Lightning Aura became calmer, he felt his prowess take another quantitive leap!
Cain wasn't sure how to quite describe it. But the feeling of controlling Lightning at his fingertips was exhilarating. Amplifying this was the fact that this Lightning was an immensely powerful type of Draconic Lightning.
When the Qi Seed's energy link perfectly consolidated, Cain had finally reached the next stage.
This was the Small Success Stage of the Draconic Lightning Art!
Vibrant excitement erupted inside Cain like a volcano. With his current power, Cain felt like he could directly smash this whole floor apart!
His blood veins was intensely pumping, roaring for him to unleash his supreme Draconic Might to all unsuspecting mortals. It indeed was a powerful, persuasive feeling.
However, Cain quickly suppressed this overwhelming feeling of Dragon Pride.
No matter how powerful he felt now, Cain knows he wouldn't even be able to match the high-level figures of the Kong Clan. Allowing himself to submerge in his Dragon Pride would only lead to reckless, dangerous decisions.
Although, actually suppressing his Dragon Pride wasn't as easy as Cain thought it would be. He even needed to grit his teeth a bit, forcefully pushing down all of his sudden raging desires.
After a couple of minutes, Cain finally managed to adjust himself to a calming state of mind.
"Fuuu~."
A slight breath, filled to the brim of pure Lightning power, exhaled from Cain's mouth. free𝚠𝚎𝚋𝒏𝚘ѵ𝐞l.𝑐om
Just this breath alone can cause many peak Spirit Opening or even half-step Nascent Formation cultivators to tremble to their cores.
'From the descriptions, I'm just at the beginning of the Small Succes stage. But still, in this state, my prowess is amplified by a large margin. Once I achieve mastery, just how strong I will be then?'
The Small Success stage was all about Cain perfectly tempering his entire body with Draconic Lightning Energy and controlling the immense power boost that comes with it.
Already just at the beginning, Cain felt that his combat prowess could certainly jump across small levels again.
Perhaps even at the total master of the Draconing Lightning manual as a whole, he could even cross and fight above his great realm!
But that was a thought for the far future.
For now, Cain focused his attention on Kali. He silently nodded to himself, sensing that Kali was now touching the borders of reaching the Small Success stage of the Ice Draconic Arts.
Until she breakthrough, Cain focused back on himself and practiced controlling Draconinc Lightning Energy.
As he expected, it was as easy to control as his regular Qi Energy.
With a thought, Cain could amass a sum of Draconic Lightning Energy to unleash an attack, similar to a Qi energy beam.
As Cain became engrossed with practice, time quickly flew by.
Before he even knew it, two hours flashed by.
And right then, Cain stopped practicing, feeling a sudden chill shiver up his spine. Then, focusing his senses on Kali, a pleased grin stretched across Cain's face.
The chilling drop of temperature couldn't really affect Cain much but to any peak Spirit Opening or half-step Nascent Formation, they would experience a painful bone-piercing cold.
All of this means that Kali had finally reached her Small Success Stage! Similar to Cain, a chilling blue Ice Aura completely shrouded Kali's body.
And at that moment, Kali flung her eyes open, enthusiastic excitement plastered all over her face.
Repeatedly clenching her hands to feel and hear the cracks of pure power, Kali hotly said, "The Small Sucess stage! Now….now we can truly show these mortals the might of a Dragon!"