It couldn't be said that Valerio didn't know about cultivation, in fact, he was very knowledgeable. The problem was that his knowledge wasn't a cohesive whole. He knew tidbits about different powers, techniques, Lu etc… But not much about the exact details of cultivating itself. That was why he was in the library, to start shoring up his foundational knowledge and build it from scratch.
Valerio sat in the library with numerous books stacked up around him, reading at a pace that shouldn't have been possible for a 1st Plane existence. His rune mastery coupled with the unawakened potential of his talents boosted his intelligence. Valerio preferred reading on holograms but his family had insisted on keeping the library on books.
'I suppose it makes sense, holograms could be hacked, infiltrated and copied but books would have to be taken physically.' Valerio picked up a book, 'Oh wow, grandpa wrote this one.'
He flipped the first page.
[Cultivation Foundations by Diego Augustine]
15 minutes later, Valerio placed the book back on the table as he went over what he'd learnt.
'Alright, so there are 3 stages of cultivation, with 'Foundation' being the only relevant stage for me. Each stage includes 2 Planes, with each Plane divided into 9 tiers:
Foundation: Fundamentals (1st Plane) → Meridians Cleansing (2nd Plane)
Moving through these realms granted cultivators more longevity and strength. The increases in longevity were exponential with each Plane, the exact values fluctuating according to, talent foundation etc… All planes required different methods to step into, but the basic principle of cultivation never changed. Absorb Lu and integrate with it.
'There are also methods to cultivate the body and soul, but I'll read up on those later. I'll focus on Lu cultivation first. I can access the methods for moving through the first and second planes, but not the rest, the books won't open unless I have a cultivation of at least 2nd Plane.'
Thump!
Valerio shut the book and stood up, quickly stacking the books together to indicate he'd be back later.
It was time to speak with his parents.
A laughing voice laced with ridicule and disdain interrupted Valerio on his way outside.
"What are you doing here?"
"Reading." Valerio continued walking, moving closer and closer to Damien.
"What else could you do? A scion that refuses to cultivate. Fucking disgracing the family. " spat Damien.
"Get out of my way," said Valerio as he sidestepped past Damien, their shoulders brushing past each other. He heard Damien click his tongue in frustration, but what did it matter to him? It wasn't like Damien could do anything, not to him.
Valerio was a young man who could ask for anything, who could have anything and everything. Simply put, the scion of the Augustine family could command the land and seas as he saw fit. A family line under the Augustine was no person to stand in his way, first plane or not. So what could a branch family's son do?
As he continued to his parents' room, he spotted Lucius, a smile creeping up his face. Lucius was one of his best friends, a true brother to him. He understood him more than anyone, they shared a friendship that could only be forged through long years together. As the blond-haired teenager approached Valerio, he raised his right hand. Valerio responded in kind and stared directly into his ocean-like eyes.
As their hands came together, a clap resounded, Lucius spoke "Valerio.".
"Lucius." Valerio felt a slight pain in his palm. Lucius was messing with him again, he responded with an elbow to his face which was countered almost immediately with Lucius' other arm.
Two obnoxious laughs filled the roads of the Augustine Compound as the two best friends caught up.
"Wait seriously? You're finally planning on progressing?" Lucius almost couldn't believe his ears.
"Yeah, with my birthday coming up my dad was going to force me anyways, I may as well collect some information before the whole talk, I'll probably start properly cultivating on my birthday," Valerio answered while looking around.
A booming laughter filled the air as Lucius stopped restraining himself.
"Finally! I can't wait till we spar."
Lucius had wanted to spar with Valerio for years now, however, Valerio's attitude towards cultivation had taken that dream from him. Through a stroke of luck, it seemed his dream would finally come true. Though it wasn't clear how long it would take for it to. After all, Lucius had cultivated ever since the age of 8.
Valerio had a lot of catching up to do.
"With how fast you're progressing, you might have to wait a long time, which plane are you in right now?" Valerio asked with a hidden tone of curiosity and competitiveness.
"2nd Plane right now, I'm close to breaking through to the 6th Tier. I'm sure you'll catch up to me though. Surely the son of the family head inherited some of his talents." Lucius teased as he nudged his elbow into Valerio's kidney.
The two kept walking, Lucius didn't know where Valerio was going but he didn't seem to care. A rare break from training was always welcome. They conversed about Lucius' training and Valerio's hobbies. Lucius managed to convince Valerio to create a better Lu gathering array for him; he had long overgrown his old one. Not that it mattered when his best friend could simply make another one.
The duo were known around the entire planet, Lucius as the most talented in the younger generation and Valerio as the mortal scion. Though he was technically not a mortal since he was a 1st Planer, the public didn't care for such details.
They soon reached the Augustine manor where the friends bid goodbye.
Valerio knocked on the door in an odd rhythm, to indicate to his parents it was him at the door. Yet he didn't hear anything from inside the room. 'That's odd', Valerio thought as he slowly pushed the doors open.
'Empty?...'
'I'll look for grandma and grandpa then,' he mused.
The sun had already started to set, casting a beautiful orange glow onto the Augustine grounds, though Valerio wasn't in a rush to get to his grandparents' room, there was nowhere unsafe for him on the planet and cultivation behemoths like his grandparents rarely slept anyway. He made his way through the hallways, his footsteps echoing on the marble-like material, presumably Void Ore.
It was a fascinating ore. A material that seemed to exist in multiple planes at once, with a blue-violet sheen. He'd always wanted to use it in his crafts but it was an extremely scarce resource; he couldn't fathom how his ancestors had gathered enough to build the mansion.
He made it to his grandparents' room in what felt like the blink of an eye. Again, he knocked on the door with his unique pattern.
"Valerio? Come in," he heard his grandmother's gentle voice, tinged with a slight excitement.
A flicker of curiosity passed through Valerio as he caught the excitement in his grandmother's voice. 'That's odd.'
He eased the towering doors open, and his heart stuttered at the sight inside.