Vincent slowly pinched her nose, "This is probably the first time I had such a good sleep."
Alisia smiled sweetly, "That's my words."
The feeling of being in the arms of the man she loves and feeling his skin, she can barely suppress the fire within her heart.
"What are you planning to do now?" she asked as slowly brushed her finger in between his chest muscles.
Vincent didn't hide his plans, "For the next month or so, we won't be able to spend much time together."
Alisia's heart slightly shook, "What do you mean?"
He saw her confusion and reassured, "I will be here, but… at the same time not exactly."
Alisia became confused, "I don't understand."
"You have yet to read The Threefold Origin, right?"
Alisia nodded, "Though you gave me that book, with your absence, I wasn't able to focus on it. But now that you're here, I plan to dive into its context, specifically about that essence as you had suggested."
Vincent slowly nodded, "Within the next month, I plan to progress in the Soul Refinement path and reach the next stage. To do this, I'll have to isolate myself to avoid all external disturbances."
Now Alisia understood, "Will you require any help?" but Vincent calmly shook his head.
"But before I go, I'll pass you my experience in Essence Cultivation so you'll be able to avoid some mistakes and save yourself a decent amount of time."
"Maybe, just one month will be enough for you to enter 1st stage."
"Actually, let's begin right away. What do you say?" he asked.
Alisia thought for a moment before agreeing and then stood up.
"Please, don't look. I will undress," she spoke shyly and took off her night gown and changed into her daily robe.
She didn't check if Vincent actually wasn't watching, she trusted him.
Alisia doesn't want to expose her body to him yet as she internally was waiting for her 17th birthday.
When it comes… it will be the day she'll give up everything to him.
Vincent naturally didn't watch and had also changed into his daily black robe.
After they both changed clothes, Vincent spoke, "How much did you read about Essence Cultivation or you hadn't touched the book at all?"
"I've tried to read a bit, but I wasn't in the mood so I stopped almost immediately after."
Vincent needed, "Okay. Let's go outside."
"Where are we going?"
"Your essence seed possesses only one element which makes it much easier and faster to train compared to mine, but on the other hand it makes your path very straightforward, unable to adapt if the situation changes."
"A cultivator has to avoid a direct fight with other cultivators in the same stage whose essence seed is more complex, especially people like you with one-coloured essence seed, or they will be at a great disadvantage."
He continued.
"For example, if you reach my stage and we'll fight without holding back, you'll have almost no chance of winning as I possess 3-coloured essence seeds while you only have one. And If I add my Body Tempering and Soul Refinement stages into evaluation then this will for real become impossible for you."
"Being a woman, you are unable to walk the path of Body Tempering and Soul Refinement due to their self-brutality and emotional erasure."
He continued.
"Women, by nature, are more emotional and fragile than men, so those two paths aren't suitable for you, especially after your feelings towards me grew deeper."
"If you start practicing Soul Refinement regardless, your mental state will become an utter chaos judging by my experience so far."
Alisia nodded.
"Unless you're willing to completely abandon your feelings towards me right now, then, maybe you'll be able to achieve something in this path."
Alisia was briefly stunned, replying confidently, "That never happens."
Vincent's heart felt warmer as he continued.
"I guess you'll already understand that the Body Tempering path, for women, carries even heavier risks. Your body will simply collapse from pain and shock before it'll reach the needed requirements to enter the stage."
"At maximum, you'll be able to complete the beginning phase in Body Tempering at best which contains 4 stages since after the 4th stage starts the 5th stage that belongs to the intermediate phase."
"The differences between beginning and intermediate phases are like lifting a stone compared to a boulder, so if you try to enter it regardless, you might as well prepare your own funeral beforehand."
He continued.
"The Threefold Origin does not mention the late phases, but if the escalations are kept the same, then theoretically, the comparison from intermediate to late phases will be like lifting a boulder compared to a mountain. I can't even begin to imagine how it's even possible to reach it. Maybe it's actually not and the intermediate phase will conclude the path. But if so, why did the book name it as intermediate instead of late? I have no idea and can only speculate."
"Eitherway, compared to women, men are slightly more resilient to pain and emotional instability."
"But I am not even sure if I will succeed in reaching the intermediate phase in all three paths."
"The Essence Cultivation should be the easiest in this regard, while the Soul Refinement, the most dangerous."
"So after you'll complete the beginning phase in Essence Cultivation, you can give a try in Body Tempering and complete at least two stages that temper your skin, soft flesh, muscles and tendons. This will greatly improve your survivability and even add a few dozen years to your lifespan."
At this point, Vincent finished his long monologue and looked at somewhat flabbergasted Allisia.
"... How do you know all of this? Wasn't you in isolation for 7 years and just recently got out?"
Vincent wasn't surprised and calmly pointed at the book on the table, "Almost everything I've just said came from there, while the rest were just my speculations. They shouldn't be false."
Alisia looked at the book and picked it up, "I'm curious how your ancestor actually managed to get it? I do not understand a lot yet, but from what you've just said, this book should carry value no amount of gold will buy."
"He stole it," Vincent slightly chuckled, "From who? No idea. But the price was his death, though he was able to delay it a bit which allowed him to make preparations and coincidentally meet a woman in the nearest village in the past with whom he had kids."
"It's quite surprising that our home village managed to survive for several centuries."
Then Vincent calmly looked at Alisia, "Do you have more questions? If not, let's go."
Alisia shook her head, asking, "Where are we going?"
"I'll show you a place where I'm training my darkness element. I've found it accidentally and it should be a perfect spot for your growth and safety since it's quite an isolated location."
Alisia nodded.
Her heart was warmed by seeing how much he cared for her, or else, there's no way he would disclose even a bit of this information to her.