*ding*
=====
4 P.M.
24350 Essence harvested.
=====
Lee slowly raised his head and glanced around. The women were peacefully sleeping against the fluffy fur. An was right next to him, and her hands had coiled around his right arm. Mia and Ruella slept side by side, and the antelope snuggled between them. Fero found coziness on the Perrafin's rolled up tail.
The beast sensed motion and opened his eyes and turned its head around. Seeing Lee awake, it was about to move, when Lee gestured not to, and pointed at the sleepy heads surrounding it. It nodded and laid its head back on the ground, and closed the eyes. He tried not to move, as he could wake up An. Lying back silently, Lee called for D.
'How does the surroundings look?'
[All the monkeys have gone back to their usual lives. The premise is safe.]
'Brief me about the upcoming cultivation hurdles.'
[As I said before, higher the grade of affinity, higher will be the result of your Elemental Binding realm cultivation. Since the impending dangers are unfathomably exponential, you must achieve Absolute grade in each and every affinity.
After the Elemental Binding, you can use your Qi with each affinity. Like Mana, the Qi reserve will be used. From that moment onwards, the affinity attributed attacks will be greatly pacified. Because any innate affinity usage without Mana or Qi will put a burden on your soul for the next three cultivation realms; that are Nascent Soul, Soul Condensation, Soul Transformation and Soul Manifestation realms. So I advise you to refrain from such activities at that time.
Nascent Soul is about forming a 'soul' for your affinity. It is like a sprouting seed, which has barely gotten exposed to daylight. That soul will be a part of you, and can have a consciousness which is subservient to your being. To nurture a soul is no simple matter, and neither I nor the system can help you with that. You will have to do it manually. Don't worry about the existence of the system. It will be concealed from the affinity souls.
This small sprout after enough caring and nurturing, will grow into a larger, but weaker version of the initial soul. The condensation of the soul is very necessary as it can dissipate when left loosely packed. The condensation is also a slow and thorough process, where no shortcuts or catalysts should be introduced. The extent of condensation will determine the soul's potency. Some cultivators would force their life out to condense, which will result in the opposite of what they have been expecting. Some would find a temporary boost in the potency, which will decline greatly after a few years, and there is also a chance for the soul to be disintegrated completely. Once an affinity soul is gone disintegrating, it is lost forever. But it is possible to recultivate the affinity soul by depleting a clan's entire treasury. I meant that it cost an insane amount of money and resources, along with time and possible risks.
The soul has the innate imprint of the respective affinity. Yet, it still needs to be introduced to an immense amount of the affinity for an extensive period of time. This process goes on in the Soul Transformation realm. The affinity soul will show 9 signs in the course of its affinity consumption. Each sign will mentally notify the cultivator that the soul has gone past the respective stage, and it is his/her cue to break-through the same numerical sub realm. Not everyone follows the same order. Some would accumulate large quantities of resources for the time being, and will do a continuous break-through spree, after the soul exhibits all the 9 signs. Either way, it is necessary to provide an amount of Qi for the sustenance of the soul, as it gets tired after each achievement.
At the end of the Soul Transformation, the affinity soul would have completely matured. The power level of a matured soul is partially upto the nurturing and condensation of the soul, and the other half goes to how much affinity it gets to feed. After maturing, the soul will show urges to go out of the consciousness plane. This is the cue to break-through to the Soul Manifestation realm.
Soul Manifestation, as the name implies, is about the external materialisation of the affinity soul. The soul must cultivate alongside the cultivator, to achieve sub realm break-throughs. All the accumulated urge to deploy affinity empowerment on your weapons and yourself can be experimented here. This will only benefit the soul as it gets accustomed with both the inside and the outside of the cultivator. This can also decrease the transition time between both sides. More proficient cultivators can materialise the affinity soul in a blink of an eye, and sometimes in style.
Your case is an extreme exception. I have heard from double and triple affinity cultivators that simultaneously taking more than one on a journey is troublesome. Since you have opposing elements like fire and water, and death and life, you have to keep a balance between them. The opposing elements can tear each other and can cause harm to the cultivator's true soul, while possibly disintegrating one or both of the affinities. Spar with the affinity souls in your consciousness plane, as they mature. It will help you to keep them obedient and orderly, while increasing the bond strength.]
'Then the Essence is the resource in my case, isn't it?'
[Yes, Essence will act as the resource. You can have as many Qi you want, if you have ample Essence. But if I am to say my opinion, feeding Essence directly to the soul will do greater good because of its purity.]
Lee diverted his thoughts onto the possible appearances of the affinities. D heard his thoughts and gave him answers.
[The affinity souls, commonly called as 'Pzy' among the cultivators, can only be called so, when it is able to manifest outside the cultivator. The color of a Pzy depends on innumerous factors, but it ultimately acquires a colour that finds suitable to the cultivator's true soul and the affinity, while considering the aforementioned factors. So how it turns out, is completely up to the cultivator.]
-------
A few more dialogues and the next hourly reminder came popping up.
=====
5 P.M.
24350 Essence harvested.
=====