In the middle of the night, Braiten was hidden among the clouds. White runes shimmered in the moonlight and floated around his figure, complementing his equally shimmering blue hair. A large concentration of mana and qi surrounded him.

The qi saturated his qi channels and strengthened them. Unlike other cultivation methods, > flooded up to 200 future channels and strengthened them all together. Perhaps this was why > was such a slow cultivation method. This could also be the reason why it could help people breakthrough bottlenecks easily.

Mana was also steadily being absorbed by Braiten. It went through the pores of his skin and into his qi channels, before being refined by > and then released to the rest of his body to be stored. He did this not only to replenish the mana that was consumed for maintaining the flight magic, but to expand his reserves ever so slightly. This process prevented excess mana from rampaging throughout his body. It was really a wonder that > could be used in conjunction with mana absorption in such a way.

There was a number of differences between mana and qi. Mana was stored in the body while qi was housed in the dantian. Mana could be used at a long distance on its own with the right runes while qi had to originate from the body to conduct long range attacks. Mana required no channels to be used while qi required channels to be unlocked to be utilized.

At the first level of basic cultivation, there is only one channel in each limb, the torso and the head. Each successive level of cultivation adds one more channel to each location, thereby increasing the density of qi able to reach those locations.

At this moment, the number of qi channels that were saturated within Braiten was 400. This indicated that Braiten was at the hundredth level of intermediate cultivation. Slowly but surely, the number of qi channels increased by one. Along with the increase, a large amount of mana was sucked from the air into Braiten's body. Braiten had reached the first rank of advanced cultivation.

At that moment, information rushed into Braiten's brain. The information originated from the depths of his soul and Braiten could feel the cultivation method engraving it into his very being.

Instinctively, Braiten knew that the benefits he had received from > were increased strength, endurance and mana capacity by approximately one fold. However, there was one more benefit that shocked Braiten greatly. Upon reaching the first level of advanced cultivation, it also brought to him an infinite lifespan.

"To think that advancements in > was so closely linked to understanding the laws of nature itself. Just understanding an iota of it takes a long time. No wonder people find this cultivation method slow. It was only through my understanding of magic from my previous world that I was able to have a greater understanding of nature which allowed me to rapidly cultivate at first. Still, this cultivation method provides earth-shattering benefits. Poison immunity at the tenth level of basic cultivation and having no need of sleep when I had reached intermediate cultivation. Now, after attaining advanced cultivation, I can probably live as long as my parents if I'm not killed," Braiten sighed to himself as he slowly but stealthily floated back to his room.

It was Braiten's first night in Aermagh. After dealing with the administrative necessities of becoming a member of the United Guild, he had immediately booked a room at the closest recommended inn and flew high into the sky once the sky darkened enough for him to avoid people's sights. Runes made from mana could not be seen by the people of this world, so he just had to ensure that the shadow spell cast on him camouflaged him against the night sky.

Practicing > seriously often results in a huge accumulation of qi around him. The amount was always as if someone was about to breakthrough in cultivation level. This would usually attract a lot of attention. To counter that, Braiten spent his nights cultivating in the sky and expanding his mana capacity in conjunction. Braiten also came up with a way to go into a semi-meditative state and cultivate, minimizing the amount of qi that gathered around him. The amount of qi could be easily hidden with the enchantments that he made on his mantle.

Throughout the hundred years from his parents' disappearance, Braiten had been wandering the continent. He spent a lot of time understanding the culture of this new world while searching for his parents. He learned that there were four factions in this world. These consisted of regular citizens, the nobles and royalty of each country, the martial society, and finally the people of the United Guild.

Regular citizens are people you would expect to see everywhere. They were those who had little martial prowess and were around the lower levels of basic cultivation. They kept the cogs of society moving and made up the bulk of people in this world.

The nobles and royalty were people who governed each country within the continent. Their martial prowess and cultivation levels depended on their governmental position. At most, their cultivation levels would be at the intermediate cultivation tier.

The martial society were martial artists that belong to martial sects or were rogue cultivators that followed the martial way. Their aim was to go against heaven to achieve immortality. Their martial prowess tended to be high and they would use almost any means to achieve their goals. The strongest among the martial society were those among the high levels of advanced cultivation.

Finally, there is the United Guild. The aim of the guild was to expand human civilization beyond the single continent that they were on. They also had the aim of delving deep into danger zones in the continent to scour their secrets for the betterment of humankind. Some of those from the martial society join the guild so as to attain various treasures. Heavy restrictions are placed upon these individuals so as to prevent them from bringing grudges from the politics of the martial society into the guild.

The members of the guild were divided into four groups. The name "United Guild" came from the unity of these four divisions. They are the adventurers, the mercenaries, the auxiliary members and the journeymen. Journeymen were the best of the best within the guild. They had higher martial prowess than those of the martial society despite having slightly lower levels of cultivation. This stemmed from their constant exposure to danger in the danger zones and tackling the difficult environments in sea battles. To be promoted to a journeyman, one has to reach an S rank of the division they belonged to. Auxiliary members that transition over to be journeymen were given training to ensure that they could survive on the field without burdening the combat-oriented personnel.

Braiten chose to join the United Guild to gather strength and comrades to explore beyond the current continent that they were on and perhaps, one day, see his parents again. He also chose to join the United Guild because they respected freedom and allowed you to take side jobs to earn a living as long as you do not involve yourself in criminal activities. For now, Braiten had to focus on integrating himself into this community.

As the night went on, Braiten focused on practicing magic. He studied the runes in hopes of gaining new insights into the natural laws to improve his cultivation speed. This also allowed the control of his magic to reach new heights compared to his previous world. Fine control back then was never a strong suit of his. He enchanted himself with brute strength or relied on pure force of magic to subdue any who stood in his way. Braiten took advantage of his immense magical might back then and it was all that he needed to survive. The only reason he was not discovered by the "immortal adventurers" of his old world was due to challenging the most dangerous areas that existed.

Morning came quickly as Braiten studied his magic. Soon, it was close to noon and Braiten made his way to the United Guild. The moment he entered, a ferocious but smiling Wiatt waved his guild plate at him in greeting. The United Guild seemed emptier at this timing as there were no queues formed at the receptionist counters.

"Welcome back, sonny. Everyone had gone out with their tasks now. It's easier for us to conduct administrative duties at this time. Here's your plate, just inject a bit of qi in it and it will merge into your dantian. You can take it out whenever the need calls for it," Wiatt said as he patted Braiten's shoulder jovially and passed the guild plate over.

Turning around, Wiatt walked into the receptionists' backroom and dragged a seemingly drunk and slovenly female guild member out. Though her appearance was untidy, it was easy to see that she was a beauty. Her long dark purple hair was tied up in a ponytail. Her piercing yellow eyes and angular features gave her a look of elegance despite the state she was in.

Smacking her back sharply but not forcefully to perk her up, Wiatt introduced the woman with an apologetic tone, "this here's your mentor, Dashurie. She may not look like much seeing as she's been drinking throughout the night due to personal circumstances, but she's one of the best mentors that we have. I wish I could get someone else for you at the moment, but she's the only mentor available right now."

Braiten understood that things do not always go the way you want it to, so he simply nodded and introduced himself to Dashurie. He kept it brief, merely mentioning his name and his goals. He kept his tone polite, just as a junior greets a fellow senior. He did not mention the state she was in and did not kick a fuss as others his outward age would do.

Dashurie's expression turned sharp for a moment, before grabbing the bottle at her waist and taking a swig as she said lazily, "Greenie, I will work you to the bone so that you do not die like my girlfriend did yesterday. You will not get complacent like she did and you will not make a single beginner's mistake by the end of my training. Damn! I did not get to blow off some steam with my other two girlfriends last night due to preparations for you. You better give me my effort's worth."

Braiten's mind blanked out at that. He did not know whether to be shocked over the open declaration of hostility or the open declaration of personal matters to a complete stranger. Silence reigned among the trio until Wiatt coughed lightly.

This helped Braiten to wake up from his stupor as he inclined his head towards Dashurie while keeping eye contact and said, "yes, mentor. I will persevere through my training in hopes of becoming a decent adventurer. Please give me your guidance."

Dashurie merely stared at him lazily and nodded before dumping a stack of papers into his hands.

"Read this. First ten pages are the do's and don'ts of being an adventurer and guild member. Make sure you remember them and commit them to heart. I will constantly remind you of them througout your training. The next five pages are a list of missions you have to complete. I have reserved them for you. I wrote alternative deadlines so make sure you adhere to the new deadlines. The deadlines are tighter, so use your head and complete them before then. Your first five tasks are menial tasks such as cleaning and basic courier duties that are shared with the mercenaries. Don't belittle these tasks as they might just be your bread and butter if there is a lack of monster subjugation and scouting requests if you ever get to them."

Braiten gave an affirmation as Dashurie made a complete switch from one of laziness to a stern, serious manner. After his affirmation, she took a swig from her bottle and dragged herself towards the receptionists' backroom.

"I will wait here as you complete those first few tasks. No point babying you for tasks that do not require any specialized skills or advice. You have up until the end of today to complete them. Now, hop to it!"

Dashurie gave a careless wave and called out. Then, she disappeared into the backroom. Wiatt just gave a shrug as he turned back to his paperwork. Braiten sat down at a corner of the guild and began reading through the stack of papers seriously.

He mentally organized what he had to do for his first five tasks, and then turned to read the first ten pages. It contained not only simple "do's and don'ts", but also contained a wealth of information from an experienced adventurer. There were precautions, etiquette, unsaid rules, and many other tidbits that could only be gained through months of experience if he did not have these papers.

'No wonder she's one of the best mentors. To come up with this in a single night is just amazing,' Braiten thought as he memorized the text in his hands at lightning speed.

It took Braiten a mere ten minutes to go through everything. Afterward, he approached Wiatt to officially begin his first tasks. Wiatt was surprised when Braiten's bearing changed from a neophyte adventurer into one that was almost like a seasoned neophyte. The change was so sudden that Wiatt nearly wanted to pinch himself to see if this was a dream. With that, Braiten finally takes his first steps into carrying out his new job.

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Author's notes:

I forgot to mention in the past chapters that the other cultivation methods do not give the extra bonuses that come with the physical upgrades and life expectancy bonuses that > gives. For example, the disease immunity, poison immunity and agelessness. >, while slow, provides the cultivators who dedicate themselves to the method ways to extend their lives beyond the norm so that they too can reach the peak of cultvation as well. Of course, one needs talent, luck and diligence to succeed.

Edit (07/06/2016): Tried improving this chapter but saw little that I could improve on as I wanted the style to remain roughly the same where I don't have full-on dialogue all the time.