Chapter 7 - Disappointment

LILY’s voice… It’s definitely LILY’s voice. I try to converse with her telepathically. I remember installing that upgrade in her system before the accident to decrease conversation time and increase cooperation between us.

“[LILY, how are you?]”

“[Master, my power systems are currently at reserve level. It seems I have been absorbing energy whenever possible. However, the energy I received just now was the purest and most concentrated, resonating perfectly with my power systems. That’s why I was able to wake up.]”

“[Oh, I see. So I can supply you with energy whenever I refine it using cultivation techniques. That’s good to know. LILY, estimate the time required for a full recharge based on the energy level used right now.]”

“[Yes, Master. Task Established. Calculating time for full recharge. Factor: Continuous Input of 60 units of pure energy. Calculating… Result: 45 days. Recommendation: Increase the input energy.]”

“[45 days, huh? And that’s with continuous input of energy. Considering I can only refine for a maximum of 6 hours, it will take around 7 to 8 months for a full recharge of the reserve battery. After that, you can activate basic support functions and refine pure energy yourself.]”

Hmmm… What to do? LILY recommended increasing the input energy. How can I do that? Ah, yes, there’s that option, right?

“[LILY, you’ve been taking raw energy for almost 18 months. If you turn off the auto-recharge option, I will refine the raw energy into pure energy and supply it to you. That way, you can recharge more efficiently, and the time will be shortened as well.]”

“[Yes, Master. Authorize Auto-Recharge Switch Off.]”

“{Authorization ID: Johnny Stark]”

“[Voice and brainwave patterns are a match. Authorization accepted. Auto-recharge switched off. Energy levels low. Sleep mode recommended. Master, I think I will sleep for a bit longer.]”

“[I will wake you up again in a few days, LILY. Don’t worry.]”

“[He he…]”

“[Ah, LILY, display battery and input levels the next time I start supplying energy. You can do that, right?]”

“[Yes, Master. After 60 units of recharge, the basic battery levels and input levels of energy can be displayed. If the reserve battery is fully recharged, I can even display the time remaining for a full recharge.]”

“[That’s good to know. Good night, LILY.]”

As I was conversing with LILY, the energy refined in my body was completely absorbed by her. Not even a drop of energy was left. As I was preparing to absorb and refine energy again, the Elder called me to wake up.

“It’s been 3 hours, Azalon. Let’s see how much of the energy you have refined. Give me your hand.”

I lifted my hand, and he held it in the place where doctors usually check the pulse. I felt a foreign energy enter my body, roaming all over my Spirit veins as if searching for something. The Elder’s expression changed from expectation to bewilderment and finally to pure disappointment.

“Azalon, didn’t you follow the steps as I instructed?”

“Yes, Elder. I did exactly as you told me.”

“So why is there no refined energy after so much time? Describe to me what you did and how you felt without leaving anything out.”

So I described everything I did up to the point where I gathered energy, and then I changed the story from there. I felt I couldn’t tell anyone about LILY or the eight other things absorbing the energy in my body. Even if I did, no one would believe me or they might get greedy, thinking I’m holding something incredible. There’s a saying on Earth: Being poor is not a sin, but hiding jade while being poor is a sin. So,

“After my body felt as if it was swelling up, I tried to guide the energy to my chest area as you instructed, Elder. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t find what you called the Soul to refine the energy. After a while, the energy moved towards my skin and completely disappeared. Before I could absorb the energy again, you called me.”

“I understand. Even though the cultivation technique is a basic one, it can be somewhat hard to comprehend on the first attempt, especially at your age. Alright, I will be staying in the city for 2 days. Azalon, practice that technique for 2 days and come back here. I will check your progress again. If you show promise, I will take you with me to the capital to join my Sect.”

Oh, so that’s why he’s so interested in me when he heard that my body could hold three times the energy a normal human can withstand. Very crafty, you old geezer. You think I don’t understand your plans. I was once a man with the greatest intellect on an entire planet that lives and dies on politics. Your pathetic plans won’t work on me, you know.

“I understand, Elder. I will diligently practice for 2 days and return with satisfactory results.”

“Hmmm… Let’s go. Your father is waiting.”

After meeting with my father, the Elder explained what happened and what he intended to do. When my father heard that he would be taking me to the capital, a look of incredible happiness appeared on his face. I felt like slapping him, even though he’s my father. How did you become the mayor of a city with such simple-mindedness? I think it’s up to me to educate my father on basic understandings of politics.

We bid farewell to the Elder and returned to the mansion in the evening. I immediately went to my room to start refining. I think I have to call it cultivation from now on.

There are approximately 4 hours until dinner. Without LILY taking up the raw energy, let’s see how many units I can produce with my current level of cultivation technique.

I cleared my mind and concentrated on absorbing the energy from the surroundings. The energy was absorbed until my body felt full, and then it divided and disappeared as usual. But this time, instead of 10 parts as usual, it divided into only 8 parts, and the remaining energy was like a massive river compared to the trickle that used to remain before.

I immediately started resonating the frequency—or rather, refining or cultivating the energy. I then rotated the energy completely through my Spirit veins before guiding it to LILY within my Dantian. After a part of the energy was absorbed, an announcement appeared in my mind.

“[Current Reserve Battery Level: 0.1%. Current Main Battery Level: 0%. Input Energy: 60 Units. Time Remaining: 45 days. Recommend: Increase the Input Energy.]”

Hmmm… So it takes 60 units for a recharge of 0.1%, huh? That means I have to supply almost 600 units for a 1% recharge and 60,000 units for a full recharge. *Sigh* And that’s at a continuous rate… I will have to think of a way to increase my speed of cultivation. If I remember correctly, that crafty geezer told me that the technique I’m using is the most basic Spirit refining technique. So I just have to upgrade my current technique. But until then, let’s supply as much as I can to LILY.

I continued with my cultivation until dinner and supplied the refined energy to LILY. As a result, the reserve battery level recharged a decent amount. It seems that with the present technique, I can refine at most 75 units an hour. I need to upgrade the technique as fast as I can. This is taking too long.

“Young Master, Mistress is calling for you to attend dinner,” a maid knocked on my door and informed me.

I got up and walked out of my room. The maid bowed and started leading the way. It seems around 4 hours have passed. Let’s see the results.

“[Command: Display Battery and Energy Input Levels.]”

“[Command Executed. Current Reserve Battery Level: 0.5%. Current Main Battery Level: 0%. Input Energy: 300 Units. Time Remaining: 44 days 20 hours 12 minutes. Recommend: Increase the Input Energy.]”

Hmmm… I cultivated 300 units in 4 hours. If I can refine energy all night, I can produce almost 1000 units before morning. At that rate, the battery level will reach almost 2%. The Elder gave me 2 days, i.e., 48 hours. Within that time, I am sure I can only cultivate for about 30 hours. Alright, tonight there will be no sleep. Let’s aim to reach a battery level of 2% by morning.

As I was calculating in my mind, I entered the dining hall, and the aroma of delicious food reached my nose. All my calculations flew out of my mind as my mouth started drooling. I walked faster, and sure enough, a variety of delicacies were laid out on the table.

My father was sitting at the head of the table with my mother. Both turned their heads to look at me as I entered the hall. My father immediately laughed loudly, and my mother looked at me with eyes full of pride.

“Come, Azalon. Today we celebrate your first step into the world of cultivation. Hahahaha…”

“Thank you, Father. But I didn’t cultivate any energy today. I thought you’d be disappointed in me.”

“Whatever happens, it doesn’t change the fact that you are our son, Azalon. Even if you didn’t cultivate any energy today, who knows what will happen

tomorrow. You were born with a special physique. That’s something we are already proud of. Even if you can’t cultivate energy, I’m sure you can become a great Knight because of your special physique.”

“That’s right, Azalon. What your father said is correct. We will always love you no matter what. Even if you can’t become a Knight, we will find another way. There are many things beyond cultivation, you know. And moreover, your father is the Mayor of the city. You can live comfortably with the family wealth. So don’t worry about anything else and follow your heart. It never betrays you.”

“Thanks, Mother. Thank you, Father. I understand.”

“Alright, let’s start eating. Azalon, if you have any problems with refining energy, you can always come to me. Don’t neglect even the small things. Sometimes those small things become large problems in the future, you know.”

“Yes, Father.”

After dinner, I discussed my father’s experiences on his path of cultivation. I bid goodnight to my parents and returned to my room to reach the 2% battery level by morning.

And so, the 2 days the Elder had given me passed. The results are: [Current Reserve Battery Level: 4%. Current Main Battery Level: 0%. Input Energy: 2400 Units. Time Remaining: 43 days. Recommend: Increase the Input Energy.]