MWM Chapter 457

“At present, there are two properties available for purchase within the hold. One is Breezehome, located near the blacksmith in the Plains District. It’s relatively inexpensive. The other is Tundra Manor, outside the city, across from the eastern farms. It’s much larger but also more expensive,” said Proventus Avenicci, the steward in charge of housing.

Considering that he needed a quiet place for his breakthrough, Leo decisively chose the larger, more secluded Tundra Manor outside the city. While it was more expensive, money was no object for him.

After paying, Leo quickly received the deed and key to Tundra Manor and made his way toward the estate.

By this time, word had spread throughout Whiterun that Leo had helped defend the city by slaying the dragon and had been named a Thane. The news had spread rapidly, especially since Jarl Balgruuf had organized the city’s defenses so visibly against the dragon threat.

As Leo walked through the city, everyone who saw him greeted him with newfound respect, not only for slaying the dragon and protecting Whiterun but also due to their reverence for powerful individuals. Even the city guards would stop to bow and address him as “Thane.”

Being the trade center of Skyrim, Leo estimated that it wouldn’t be long before news of his dragon-slaying deeds and Dragonborn identity spread to the rest of the world through merchants and adventurers.

“Thane, Tundra Manor is more than twenty miles away. It would be best if we rode horses,” Lydia, his newly appointed housecarl, thoughtfully suggested as they passed the stables outside the city gates.

Leo chuckled and replied, “Riding horses is too slow. We’ll fly.”

At this point, there was no need to hide his ability to fly.

“Fly?” Lydia’s eyes widened in shock. She had never heard of anyone being able to fly, not even among the strange and mysterious mages.

Leo offered no explanation. He simply grabbed Lydia by her steel armor, unfolded the wings of his flying sword, and in a flash of light, they disappeared from their spot.

In just a few seconds, Leo flew over the farms and saw Tundra Manor, standing alone on a green plain.

It was a beautiful little estate. In addition to the main house, it had a complete set of blacksmithing equipment, stables, farmland, beehives, and other facilities. It seemed entirely self-sufficient, capable of supporting a comfortable life without needing to venture out.

Landing gracefully at the manor’s gate, Leo turned to the still-dazed Lydia and said, “From now on, you’ll be the steward of this estate. Help me manage it.”

While Lydia was considered a skilled warrior in Whiterun, her abilities were not significant enough to be of much help to Leo. Therefore, it made more sense for her to stay at the manor and manage things for him.

“Yes, my lord,” Lydia stammered, still in shock.

She had always thought that the tales of Dragonborn slaying dragons and absorbing their powers were just stories for children. But now, seeing her Dragonborn lord possess the ability to fly like a dragon, she realized that the legends were real. Lydia assumed that Leo had gained the power of flight by absorbing the dragon’s abilities.

At her level, she wasn’t privy to detailed knowledge about the true powers of the Dragonborn and could only speculate based on stories from her childhood.

After unlocking the manor’s door with the key from Proventus, giving Lydia a few instructions, and leaving enough gold for expenses, Leo entered seclusion to begin his breakthrough to the Primordial Spirit stage.

A month later, in the master bedroom of Tundra Manor.

Leo sat cross-legged, his eyes closed as he made hand seals, circulating his Daoist cultivation method, focusing his mind and rapidly spinning the true essence within his body.

“Break!”

With a loud shout, his internal Golden Core began to crack and then shattered completely. The powerful true essence surged up from his dantian, rushing into his sea of consciousness, or more precisely, into the small cosmos that had evolved from it, merging with his spirit. Slowly, a miniature version of Leo, an exact replica, began to form—his Primordial Spirit.

As the tiny spirit opened its eyes, the true essence in his dantian condensed once again, now a hundred times stronger than when he was at the Golden Core stage.

At the same time, the powerful aura released from his breakthrough surged into the sky, dispersing the storm clouds over Whiterun and revealing the sun’s warm rays.

In the Nascent Soul stage, cultivators transform their Golden Core into a physical Nascent Soul, an exact miniature of themselves inside their dantian.

In the Primordial Spirit stage, the transformation is spiritual, as they form a tangible Primordial Spirit within their sea of consciousness.

Once they pass the tribulation of forty-nine heavenly strikes, both Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit cultivators will merge their spirit, body, and true essence to achieve the Earth Immortal stage.

Thus, Earth Immortals possess the perfect fusion of physical body, soul, and true essence. Though Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit cultivators may take different paths, they ultimately converge at the same point.

“Spirit Projection!”

Immediately upon reaching the Primordial Spirit stage, Leo made another hand seal, and the miniature Primordial Spirit inside his small cosmos absorbed the true essence within his dantian and flew out from the top of his head.

“The out-of-body experience in the Primordial Spirit stage is truly remarkable!”

Flying out of the manor and hovering above Tundra Manor, Leo couldn’t help but marvel at his newfound power.

Golden Core cultivators could also project their spirit, but it was merely a separation of the soul from the body, drastically weakening their power. In that state, they could only exert less than one percent of their usual strength, and they couldn’t remain separated for long.

However, for cultivators in the Primordial Spirit and Nascent Soul stages, spirit projection was completely different. At this stage, projecting the spirit meant that their power was virtually unaffected, allowing them to maintain nearly all of their combat strength even without their physical body.

Moreover, without using any special techniques or magical artifacts, the Primordial Spirit could naturally fly, pass through walls, and become immune to physical attacks.

The only downside was that one’s physical body needed protection during the projection. If the body was destroyed, the spirit or Nascent Soul would lose its anchor, leaving the cultivator with the only option of becoming a wandering spirit or taking over someone else’s body. But taking over another body would never match the strength of one’s original form, and future cultivation would be stunted.

“Return to the body!”

After soaring through the air for a few moments and testing the limits of his new abilities, Leo returned to his body and opened his eyes.

“Now I won’t need to worry about running out of true essence when using my Three Heads and Six Arms ability.”

Feeling the vast reservoir of true essence within his dantian, Leo smiled in satisfaction.

Using the Three Heads and Six Arms technique, combined with his Susanoo avatar, consumed a significant amount of Sage Chakra, which required both regular Chakra and true essence to form.

Previously, while his Chakra reserves were more than sufficient, his true essence had always been lacking.

Now, even though he hadn’t taken the Nascent Soul path, which was known for its abundance of true essence, his reserves had still increased by nearly a hundredfold compared to when he was in the Golden Core stage.

In the world of cultivation, each breakthrough to a new stage brings a dramatic surge in power.

(End of Chapter)

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