From what Solus could see as she walked past various Memory stones that projected ancient cultivators demonstrating their techniques, Water was quite a common affinity to have.

Almost every technique she came across had at least a few people practicing it.

In total, she counted over 100 different foundation building techniques. However, just because they were water techniques, didn’t mean they suited her.

For example, the most popular water cultivation art was a well-rounded, close-quarters fighting technique.

Solus wasn’t interested in learning that, or any close-quarters techniques for that matter. She liked the idea of being a magician. Casting mighty spells and most importantly, not getting hit in the face. This was key to her future happiness.

Taking out close-quarters fighting techniques still left her with almost 20 different cultivation arts.

These could be further divided into three categories.

Quantity- These techniques focused on summoning massive amounts of water in a deluge that would crush the user’s opponent. This required less skill but more Qi

Quality- Quite the opposite of the previous one, quality chose to focus on using small amounts of water very efficiently. Requiring great amounts of skill and precision but little Qi

Both- This is exactly what it says on the tin. A combination of both quality and quantity. Excelling at neither but offering a great variety of moves.

Solus didn’t want to be a jack of all trades and due to her lacking talent, the less Qi she needed to use a technique, the better. Thus, she was going to select a technique that relied on Quality.

This was a fundamental problem that came with having lacking talent. Qi is absorbed through your meridians. The more meridians you have unblocked, the faster you absorb and release Qi.

Therefore, Solus who didn’t have enough unblocked meridians, wouldn’t be able to fully utilize techniques that relied on massive amounts of Qi.

After considering all of this, she still had quite a few options, out of which, she chose Neptune’s touch.

Neptune’s Touch, while having a rather grandiose name was in fact very simple. It focused on asserting extremely precise control over water, allowing you to bend it to your will.

With numerous applications, both defensive and offensive, Solus was happy to pick this technique. Now, all she had to do was learn it.

Easier said than done, as it turned out.

When a cultivator is trying to learn a technique in Memory Lane, they first approached a memory stone which activates the recording.

After watching the recording that displayed the technique, the Jade circle that contained the projection would glow with golden light and the numerous veins of gold within would collect to form a scripture that must be chanted while copying the movements of the projection.

At first, this sounds simple. However, not only is it difficult to copy the movements of the technique while reciting the scripture, but a cultivator also had to do them at a certain rhythm so that the cultivation art took proper effect.

If either the chant or movements were off by even a little bit, nothing would happen.

Solus had picked Neptune’s touch because, although it had one of the more difficult scriptures and movement routines to learn, it offered a quicker cultivation speed and greater control over water.

She had arrived at the Plateau early in the morning and by mid-afternoon, she had only managed to memorise a quarter of both the chant and movements.

Not only that, but the technique got harder to perform the more you did. The latter parts were so complicated that they made her head start to throb when she attempted them.

As she was learning the technique, Solus was surrounded by a couple of brave cultivators who had also chosen to learn this particularly difficult technique.

And judging by their clunky movements as they copied the projection, none of them had actually managed to completely master this technique yet.

While Solus was taking a break to soothe her aching head, she noticed that a boy a few years older than her with dark brown hair had also chosen to stop his practice.

She worked up her courage and trotted over to the boy who hadn’t noticed her presence yet.

When she got closer to him, Solus noticed that his face was dripping with sweat, and he was breathing heavily from the strain the technique put on him.

“Excuse me,” Solus whispered, trying not to disturb any of the other cultivators nearby.

The boy looked up and frowned when he saw Solus standing beside him, “What’s up?” he asked impatiently.

“I was just wondering how long you have been learning this technique,” Solus asked meekly, intimidated by the boy’s stand-offish attitude.

After sighing, the boy replied with a little reluctance, “1 month,” he said after a moment’s pause.

Solus gasped, “1 Month! Have you already learned the whole thing then?” she asked excitedly.

The boy shook his head, a frown on his face, “No, only about half,” He sighed when he said this, “It just keeps getting harder,”

Solus became apprehensive after hearing this. Was it so hard to learn this technique? If so, would it be worth the effort in the end?

Clearly sensing Solus’ apprehension, the boy smiled thinly, “Although it may be hard, there’s a reason that this cultivation art is A-ranked, I wouldn’t waste a month trying to learn it otherwise,”

“A-Rank, what’s that?”

The boy’s eyebrows shot up when he heard this, “You didn’t know about the rankings and still picked this technique, wow! You sure have good taste then,” he whistled with appreciation,

“The rankings are an unofficial rating system that cultivators give techniques to judge their quality. Because of its versatility and cultivation speed, Neptune’s touch is A-ranked,” He paused before muttering something else, “A-ranked difficulty too,”

Solus nodded like everything made sense. She wanted to ask the boy a few more questions but he had turned away and was clearly signalling that she should find someone else to bother.

Seeing as the sun was directly above her, Solus could tell that it was almost noon, so she decided to head back to the pillars to meet Michael and Morgan for lunch.

After spending all morning exercising, she was starving in a way she had never quite experienced before.

It felt like her whole body had been drained of energy entirely. Leaving her an empty shell.

She assumed that this was a side-effect of cultivating, or at least when you first started you should feel like this.

Although now that she thought about it, Solus had barely ever seen Mary eating anything. Perhaps she simply didn’t need to anymore.

Making up her mind to quiz Mary on this when she got home, Solus picked her way through the throngs of cultivators who had gathered around the countless projections and finally arrived at the meeting point.

When she got there, she saw Morgan waiting by herself with a stormy scowl on her face. Solus ran over and Morgan looked up sharply, her scowl easing, but only barely.

The second Solus was in ear-shot; Morgan launched into a tirade about how irresponsible her dad was.

“Can you believe him?” “Like a child…” “A grown man…” “This is why mum left…”

Solus smiled and nodded, barely registering the flood of insults that left Morgan’s mouth as she prayed for Michael to show up.

Half an hour later, her prayers were answered when she noticed Michael sprinting towards them, his blonde hair that was usually so well kept was wild and unruly as it flew in the wind while he ran.

He skidded to a stop in front of the girls with a sheepish smile on his face and although he had just been running at a speed Solus was sure she couldn’t come close to, Michael hadn’t broken a sweat.

“Sorry girls, I lost track of time there,” Michael said with an embarrassed smile.

Morgan didn’t say a word and just held out her hand in expectation of something.

Solus chose to stay out of it and just smiled awkwardly.

Michael looked back and forth between his daughter and Solus before sighing and reaching into his loose-fitting black linen robe and bringing out three perfectly smooth brown balls that were about half an inch wide.

He placed one in Morgan’s outstretched hand and gave one to Solus with an apologetic smile.

Just as she was about to ask what to do with the ball, Solus watched the other two pop it in their mouths and begin to chew.

She noted that both their faces were flushed, and a faint shimmering steam had begun to rise from their bodies.

Deciding to follow suit, she popped the strange thing in her mouth and almost immediately, she knew why they had such a reaction.

The second she started chewing, the ball melted into a warm liquid that flowed down her throat like honey, spreading an overpowering warmth all throughout her body.

Wherever the warmth spread to, Solus felt her body burst with energy and it was all she could do to stay still.

“What is this?” She asked anxiously.

“An Energy Pill,” Michael replied, his face already returned to normal, “It’s the most basic form of pill which Is just the concentrated energy and nutrients from the grain gathered outside the city,”

Solus couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable and a little guilty now that she knew that this pill had come from outside the city. She hadn’t forgotten what she had seen on top of the wall.

Still, there was nothing she could do about that now, so she pushed the doubts to the back of her mind and decided to ask Michael what to do next.

“What’s next? That’s easy. While the energy from the pill lasts, head back and practice your technique until the sun goes down. Then head home with us.” He said with an eager smile.

“Is that it?” Solus asked dumbly.

“What do you mean ‘is that it?’” the bookish man asked with a frown.

“Is that all cultivators do? Eat pills and exercise… Isn’t that so dull?” She asked glumly.

Michael laughed easily, “If being immortal was easy, everyone would do it. What separates the strong from the weak is dedication. If you work hard enough, any obstacle can be overcome.”

Michael patted the girls on the shoulder and ran back in the direction he had come from, raising up a gust of wind on his way.

Morgan nodded to Solus, having not said a word since Michael arrived and then headed back on her own to the foundation establishment area.

Solus was left on her own, processing Michael’s words. The problem was that she didn’t believe them.

She knew one thing for certain. There were some things that effort just couldn’t overcome.