Corvus delved deeper and deeper into the several martial arts displayed in the book until midnight, before finally retiring to sleep.
He awoke three hours later, feeling sluggish and slightly exhausted from his brief rest. Nevertheless, he rose to his feet and checked on Granny; she was fine, still asleep, though her changed position suggested she had probably woken up during the night. Corvus picked up the small pot of porridge and stepped outside, heading to the backyard.
The sky was still dark, telling Corvus there was likely an hour left before dawn. He knelt beside the clay hearth, which contained some partially burnt wood. Picking up two sharp black rocks, he slammed them against each other until some wooden splinters ignited, the flames spreading to the charred logs.
Corvus placed the pot of porridge on the blazing stove, then went back into the hut and returned with the spirit marble in hand. He sat cross-legged across from the stove and consumed the spirit marble, feeling it dissolve into pure spirit liquid.
As it made its way toward his core, the core trembled with excitement, its rotation increasing slightly and completing one full rotation in an instant.
The commotion seemed to wake the little Red Ball within his core, which began to swim excitedly, consuming the influx of liquid qi.
Corvus smiled at Red Ball's gluttonous behavior, but he was even more pleased by the clarity that washed over him, sweeping away his mental exhaustion and sluggishness.
This was the exact reason he had refrained from using the spirit marble the night before. While he could have used it then, he knew that studying the martial arts book through the night would have added extra mental fatigue.
Besides, he didn't plan on using a spirit marble only to sleep through its benefits ,most definitely not when he knew how much it could help hasten his core rotations.
He began using the superior breathing method, planning to take full advantage of the spirit marble's effects.
He kept at it until the first rays of light shone on the horizon, prompting him to stop and get ready.
Though he had no way of counting the rotations that had passed before he knew they really mattered, he was able to count a total of three rotations within the hour. This allowed him to form a rough estimate of how many rotations his core had already undergone.
The three rotations within the hour were due to the spirit marble's effect; according to his observations and calculations, he believed a spirit marble boosted his core's rotational speed fourfold. This meant his core's ordinary speed was one rotation every hour and a half. He concluded that his core had likely completed eighteen rotations already, aided by the two spirit marbles he had been given since awakening his core.
"Twenty-nine days," Corvus murmured, estimating how long it would take for his core to complete a total of one hundred and fifty rotations. It would have taken much longer if not for the two marbles he had consumed within twenty-four hours. He regretted his ignorance regarding the effect of spirit marbles on breakthroughs; otherwise, he could have used the abundant qi within the spirit realm to skip through several rotations. But alas, how could he have known?
He couldn't help a flicker of envy at the thought of clan members breaking through to the next stage in just eight to ten days, thanks to the daily consumption of spirit marbles and the superior quality of their cores.
"Well, there are people who have it much worse," he scoffed at himself, replacing his growing envy with resignation. After all, there were many who would surely envy his core as well.
He eventually washed himself and ate a small portion of the porridge before leaving the rest in the hut and setting out toward the training fields. He crossed the usually busy bridge and made his way up the slope onto the open field.
Passing through the large rock gate, he quickly noted some peculiarities he had foreseen, thanks to Cyprus's obvious partiality. He could see that their usual podium, which served as the young servants' classroom, was occupied by a few others. He noted they were likely those with cracked cores who had managed to bind a spirit; he noticed their lesser numbers but had no idea if they were the only ones who had made it out.
However, he noticed that Luna and the other three who had awakened solid cores like him were absent, which made him pause and scan the vast training field. He saw the empty pillars belonging to the clan members, the usual training of the next generation, and finally, the Chief Servant off in the distance.
Corvus quickly recognized the imposing figure, who was staring exactly in his direction. This prompted Corvus to quicken his pace and reach the position where two other youths were already gathered: Leon and Blake.
Corvus reached them and bowed toward Cyprus, who nodded without a word, his face still directed toward the entrance and his hands behind his back. It seemed his gaze wasn't exactly on Corvus, but on the entrance itself, as he ruminated on the recent reports the clan had received this morning .
Reports that would vastly affect this new generation of solid-core spirit servants.
He sighed slowly, knowing full well that this batch would have to replace the hunting team that had been decimated during a recent trip. Yet, that wasn't his only worry. Deaths weren't necessarily avoidable when venturing beyond Black Ridge Mountain; one not only had to worry about spirit beasts and nomad spirit masters, but also...
"Those scum of the earth," Cyprus muttered quietly to himself.
For caravans, hunting teams, and mining teams carrying many spirit servants and a spirit master of a similar realm to his own to simply disappear or end up dead in ways that tried to use spirit beasts as cover screamed of undercurrents. These were issues that would inevitably cause headaches for his lord.
"Early morning to you all," he finally spoke, pushing those thoughts aside the moment the last of the youths, Aaron, arrived.