"The ninth stage, you're actually in the ninth stage!" Zhen shouted in shock and ecstasy. He was not to blame, however, as perfecting the Essence Gathering Realm before fifty years of age meant that he had a really big chance to build his foundation and stand at the level of the city lord himself.
"As expected of a high-grade spirit root. Even though your spirit roots are null-affinity, they are still high-grade nonetheless." After calming himself down, Zhen spoke again with a grin on his face.
Spirit roots are the reason mere mortals can cultivate. Someone without spirit roots will never be able to cultivate, no matter how many resources he consumes, and these spirit roots are divided into low, mid, high, and perfect-grade spirit roots.
Usually, they have affinities like fire, water, and so on. This affinity gives the cultivator a big boost in the quality and quantity of essence energy of the said attribute.
For Lingtian, however, his spirit roots, even though they were of high grade, were null-affinity, meaning that he had no affinity to any attribute whatsoever. The only advantage he had over low-grade spirit roots was the quantity of essence he could absorb and channel at a time.
Arguably, someone with lower-grade spirit roots that have an affinity will have more advantages against someone with higher null-affinity spirit roots at the same cultivation base.
But this kind of spirit roots has their advantages too, which was the ability to cultivate any type of essence energy without conflict with their natural affinity. Granted, it would be much lower in efficiency, but they could do it nonetheless.
'Well, with my null affinity spirit roots and my high comprehension talent, it will be a waste if I don't take the spirit master path,' Lingtian had already thought about his cultivation path and the way he would take.
The spirit path was different from the essence path; it mainly focused on the spirit force of the soul rather than the essence energy.
That doesn't mean that a spirit master doesn't cultivate essence, as cultivation in itself has three aspects that can't do without the other: the body, the soul, and the essence.
What differentiates a normal cultivator, a spirit master, and a body cultivator is their main focus and which aspect is the pivot and which is complimentary.
Lingtian's abnormally strong soul made his choice very clear, and his null affinity spirit roots made it much easier for him to be a master of a particular field, as usually alchemists, forgers, and formation masters are all spirit masters, as the spirit force is what they use to do their craft.
"By the way, father, did you manage to collect information about runic masters I asked you to collect before I left?" The moment Lingtian mentioned the runic masters, his eyes shone with excitement and anticipation.
Becoming a runic master has been his dream since he was young. At the age of fifteen, he was lucky to witness one in action. He still vividly remembered that day, a mighty runic master soaring in the sky with those magnificent symbols dancing around him, unleashing splendid attacks that left him in awe.
The more he grew up and understood his talent more and realized that it was perfectly in line with what it takes to be a runic master, made him view this path as his natural calling.
From the records he had read before, to be a runic master, there are two prerequisites that are essential: null-affinity spirit roots and a strong soul. The latter was the simplest condition, as a strong soul can be developed by hard training or acquired by some heavenly treasure. The former, however, was up to fate, as there is no known way of changing the nature of a person's spirit root.
"Oh yeah, about that, after pulling some strings and asking around, I got intel that an alchemist by the name Gunnar has bought a book with the name 'Runes Fundamentals' from an auction in the royal city fifteen years ago, and as far as I know, it's still with him to date." As if he recalled something, Zhen spoke after deliberating for a moment; after all, this had happened two years ago and needed to think a little to remember.
"I'm thinking of going to the Zhang royal city. There I'm sure that I can find a way to get a technique to establish my foundation and also find a way to get the runes book from this alchemist." Lingtian already knew what he had to do next when he heard what his father said.
He still needed that foundation establishment technique after all, and where is there a better place to get such a technique other than the Zhang royal city, a place filled with experts, where even lofty core formation experts can be found. Coincidentally, it's the place where this alchemist, who has what he wanted, is located. Or rather that was only naturel as where else can such rare treasures be found in this region other than the royal city?
After they finished speaking, Zhen ordered for a room to be prepared for his son. It was quite luxurious with a king-sized bed, gold-decorated interior, and many pieces of art hanging on the wall. This was expected, though, as he was a cultivator, and spending money on such things would not even put a dent in his pocket.
In addition, there was a simple essence gathering formation to make the room more convenient to cultivate, it was quite a simple formation as even Lingtian knows who to set it up from his experiment with formations many years ago.
'If I'm not mistaken, fifteen years ago was exactly when I saw that runic master. Maybe there is some connection, maybe there is not, but who cares. I need to get that book no matter what either way.' Settling down, Lingtian finally got a chance to relax and collect his thoughts.
And as he thought to this point, a flash of resolve appeared in Lingtian's eyes as his heart burned with passion.