Gerald came flying back home and landed with a bang. He was still pissed off and wanted to punch something to relieve some stress. But he contained himself and went to his room, jumped on his bed, and buried his head into the pillow.

He held his head down and shouted into the said pillow in anger. So many emotions were swirling around in his mind at the moment.

Disappointment, frustrations, anger, embarrassment…

He felt like he got cheated! After having to jump through so many hoops, he finally got to know the so-called Secrets.

"Secrets my ass!" he cursed. He was like a small child getting baited by promises of some great reward, of some heavenly sweets, only to get a sour apple in the end!

And then he lost a grip on his emotions just like an immature child! It was so embarrassing!

'Cultivation, yeah, as if it would be so simple…' He really wanted to cry at the moment. He was still just a teenager after all, why can't the world just give him a break?!

Wow, he somehow could absorb the Souls of other beings, big whoop! The King had a special chamber where he could Cultivate like a madman and he still needed decades to reach his peak. Okay, so Gerald could probably cultivate much faster than him, but for what? That little bit of power?

As if!

Now that he had time to think, it was clear that whatever his ability was, he didn't understand it at all! And even if he truly absorbed the Souls of other beings, it wasn't complete.

At most he got a small fraction while the rest was discarded, wiped from the existence or whatever, together with memories, emotions, and consciousness of anything that died in his vicinity.

Would he have to keep killing for the rest of his life just so he could absorb foreign Souls and Cultivate faster? He didn't even control that part of his ability, for god's sake! Who knew what would happen if he just blindly lusted after power?

The war was now over, and now it was time to repair and recover, to prepare for the future.

He slowly calmed down and tried to rationalize his course of action, calculating what he could do realistically.

What he came up with wasn't encouraging at all! He would still need at least a decade to reach Nascent Soul Realm or whatever it was called. Maybe if he could…

"Fuck it!" he suddenly shouted. "I'm so done with this!"

He made a decision all of a sudden. Perhaps it wasn't the optimal path to take, but he needed to vent and be alone for a while. Dealing with people was so exhausting, and he needed a reset.

He went to check up on the girls. They should at least know he was leaving.

"Again?!" they exclaimed. It was to be expected though, he disappeared many times already.

"I'll be gone for a week or two," he said. "Make sure to study well. I have a feeling the King might announce something important soon, so pay attention to that too."

"What are you saying?" Xilia questioned.

"Nothing for now," Gerald replied. "But do keep it in mind just in case, you never know."

"Can you at least tell us where you are going?" Sera asked, accepting the fact that they will most likely be left in the dark again.

He considered for a while if he should tell them, but then again, it didn't truly matter. "I'm going to gather a few rare alchemical ingredients," he said vaguely.

Qiona's eyes shone with delight upon hearing that and he happily jumped in place, "Oh, what it's going to be? Did you get some new recipes?"

"It's a secret," Gerald winked. "Oh, and one more thing," he added. "I'm going to hunt a Phoenix."

Ten years later…

Not! It was early morning the next day when Gerald left Auralba. He flew towards the south for a bit, but then he realized he could take his time.

He landed in the forest and decided to travel slower, to experience nature on a more personal level.

Rockslide, for example, was a ground traveling spell. It was quite good for such an occasion. He made a comfortable seat of stone and sat on it while rumbling along the forest floor.

He remembered the first time he came up with the spell. It was back when he first met Elly. She was such a sweet girl, always trying to help. It was almost as if she was compensating for something.

Gerald chuckled. She became quite proficient in magic under his guidance, even learning medicine and healing magic. And despite the fact she was still a novice, she was doing great.

Actually, all of his teammates were talented, just in different fields. He felt somewhat guilty for not spending more time with them. He just gave them a task and then disappeared, over and over again.

"Great, now I'm guilt-tripping myself," Gerald smirked. He really needed to keep his mind occupied at all times. Otherwise, the self-destructive tendencies liked to show themselves.

He focused on controlling the Rockslide instead. It was crazy how easy it was. Even breathing was comparably harder. It was as if he was using magic his entire life, but it has only been about six months.

Maybe less? Maybe more? Gerald honestly lost track of time. It didn't really matter though. Time wasn't as important here, at least not for him.

Due to a slower travel speed, the evening came and went and he was still not at his target. And so he decided to camp out in the woods, away from civilization.

It was not too bad. He had plenty of supplies stored in the Ring, so he made a simple stone hut with magic, and gathered some dry wood for a fire.

After having eaten a warm meal, Gerald sat beside the campfire and stared into the flames for a while, his mind being completely at peace. It was one of the rare times when he could think about nothing at all, and he cherished it.

The flames danced and crackled, tossing out sparks on the stone floor around it. Outside the house was pitch black, the shadows swallowing the forest and the sky, as the moons were hidden by clouds and trees.

At this peaceful moment, Gerald slowly closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness deeper into his psyche. He began meditating.

He regretted not learning the basics of Cultivation, but now he at least knew what he was looking for. With time he could surely figure it out on his own. Someone had to be the first to do so anyway, even if it was an Elf, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years ago.

There was no reason he couldn't rediscover the same tricks again.

Of course, that was anything but easy. He knew which direction to go, that was true, but finding the path was a bit trickier. Especially if he didn't even know what the road there looked like.

What if he traveled on the wrong path? It might seem correct at first, but just a slight deviation, in the beginning, could have drastically different results down the line.

But those were concerns for another time. Why worry about the wrong path when you can't even see one?!

After about an hour of meditation, Gerald decided to stop the fruitless endeavor, put out the flames, and fell asleep.