Then Jason pointed out another reason, "Most importantly, we are not in a rush in the Blood Skull sect. We have resources and time to train in peace to prioritize converting potential into power. So we can transcend to the fourth mortal coil anytime we want to."
Goldwyn shook his head in disagreement and said, "What I think is most important is that it is foolish for a junior in the third mortal coil to beat a senior in the fourth mortal coil. It can happen, you know. It can happen if that senior has prioritized cultivation over power."
He pointed at Jason and said, "Like he said, cultivation and potential stop being equal to power from the third mortal coil. So a junior who prioritized power can defeat a senior who prioritized cultivation."
Then he pointed at his chest and said, "I don't want to be that foolish senior. I don't want to spend so much time and effort and resources and risk my life to transcend only to be beaten to a pulp by a junior. That's just embarrassing."
Thor nodded in agreement before saying, "I can see why that would be embarrassing. I saw what happened earlier when you shook Arthur's hand. It was very embarrassing."
Goldwyn refused to admit it. He said, "I wasn't defeated."
He pointed at Arthur and said, "He gave up first, so it can be said that he admitted defeat."
Thor hummed slightly, clearly not believing Goldwyn, but he didn't argue with him. Instead he asked, "So what's your level of cultivation now?"
Goldwyn said proudly, "I'm at the third transformation. I have eight life seeds within me and eight times as much energy as I did before at the second mortal coil."
He pointed his thumb at Jason in a dismissive manner and said, "He is at the second transformation, so he only has four life seeds within him."
He spoke with a tone that implied that Jason wasn't as good as him. No one was impressed, though, because he was older than Jason and had joined the sect much earlier than Jason.
Jason scoffed and said, "You have eight life seeds, but you can only control one at a time. I might have four life seeds, but I also control one at a time. So we are not that different in terms of power output."
Goldwyn when that was pointed out. He sighed and said, "That's true. It is so frustrating."
Jason ignored him and said to Thor, "Don't be discouraged. When you reach the third mortal coil, your armament will become a part of you, so you won't need to expend much energy to use it."
"You will also gain a more powerful mind with more mental energy. So you can forge better and control that golem of yours for longer."
Then Jason turned to Arthur and said, "As for you, prepare to face an uphill battle with the possibility of being discouraged because it seems you plan to fuse two elements into your foundation."
"We are already having difficulties with one element and becoming the proper host for it. If you truly intend to use two elements to forge your foundation, then prepare to transform yourself into a proper host for both elements. Only in this way will you be able to transform your potential into power."
Arthur nodded and said, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
He isn't like Thor, who doesn't know much about the third mortal coil. He had a long talk with his supervisor when he reached the peak of the second mortal coil five years ago, so he knows a lot about the third mortal coil.
He knows that the basis for establishing a foundation is to increase one's potential. This is done by increasing the number of life seeds that one has in them.
Everyone has one life seed at the second mortal coil. They create this life seed when they transcend the first mortal coil. The life seed is the tumor-like growth within the body that stores mana as internal energy and burns life energy into life force.
The life seed is like the mitochondria within cells. It is an engine and a powerhouse for the entire body. The more powerful the life seed becomes, the more power it can output.
Unfortunately, the growth of the life seed stalls at the peak of the second mortal coil. This calls for a need to increase one's potential.
The way to increase the potential of one's existence is to have more than one life seed. As it is said, if one is good, more must be better. So at each stage of transformation in the third mortal coil, the number of life seeds in the body doubles.
However, care must be taken in the proliferation of life seeds. If care is not taken, the life seeds can go out of control, fight each other, explode, or become cancerous.
To prevent the life seeds from becoming bombs or cancerous growths, the direction of growth of the life seeds must be specified and the limit of their growth must be set. This is essentially what a foundation does.
There are different types of foundation both in terms of quality and ability. Each foundation specifies the direction of growth of life seeds and limits their growth, their behavior and their purpose, so that they don't become cancerous and take over the body.
The better the foundation that was established, the more transformation it can withstand before it will collapse. Therefore, the more transformation a foundation can withstand, the more potential it can provide.
Unfortunately, potential is not immediately equal to power. This is because the extra life seeds can't be put to good use immediately they are created.
The fact that there are a lot of life seeds in the body doesn't mean that all of them can be used at once and used well. Actually, it means the opposite. The more life seeds one has in their body, the more difficult it will be to control all of them at once.