Augus didn’t cultivate for the next two days, not for any real problem, if he was honest it was because the incident had left him spooked of cultivating for a while. Although he wouldn’t develop a heart demon suddenly, the possibility left him restless.

  Instead he busied himself with police procedure, repairing his room and helping around the house. He only got back with it because the plot renter called him and said. “Heya, everything’s ready for you, whatever you want to do with the plot you are free to go. As long as you leave it clean by the three months.” Augus just thanked him and hanged up.

  “I guess it’s life’s way of telling me to stop being paranoid.” With this words of encouragement (?) Augus got to the empty plot, a barren space ideal for an apartment. How could Augus know? Because of the apartments on both sides of the plot.

  Now that Augus could see where his new cultivation chamber would stand for the next three months, he was mostly relieved that there was no need for another redo, his new design would fit perfectly with the pointy ends of the surrounding buildings. Though his lacked the elaborate design that the surrounding buildings boasted [gothic style]. According to the plot owner everything was taken care of so Augus placed the out point (outside world) in the floor, while the in point (inner world) was at the lighting rod of the cultivation chamber. This made it so when Augus got the whole building out, it fitted neatly between both apartments.

  One of the reasons architects didn’t use or were World Makers was because everybody was focused on either their cultivation or some cultivation related project. If you were a World Maker you made cultivation chambers (for yourself or) for others, it payed a lot better and it made people think they were making more valuable things than “simple” apartment building. It also contributed that making the materials in one’s Inner World was energy costly, while buying the same materials from a supplier was money costly, and people were more willing to spend money if they expected money back. Though Augus could be wrong and there was a deeper or simpler reason why World Makers didn’t participate in the mundane aspects like architecture or city planning.

  Whatever the reason was, Augus wasn’t concerned with it at the moment, he was checking that everything was well with his new cultivation chamber. The structure was solid, the electricity cycle was intact and the lightning rod was connected to the rest of the system by a buffer. Everything functioned as planned so Augus started to release electricity from his Inner World into the cultivation chamber’s cycle. Though Augus called it a cycle it was just a formation meant to spin the electricity up and down, this was so not one part would melt from the heat but would just be really hot. There was also a safety mechanism where if too much electricity was circulating a part of it would be directed to the earth, letting it disperse. The lighting that Augus was waiting would also enter a cycle, though this had more safety detection and dispersing mechanisms, it was also made of special spiritual materials that would let the lightning flow freely without melting it.

  When small bits of electricity started to be expelled Augus stopped funneling it and got to cultivate, not before closing the tower to any outside interference. Though it wasn’t full isolation, if anyone called to the entrance Augus had an alarm formation that would inform him.

  With everything settled Augus controlled some electricity, but he didn’t introduce it in his pathways right away. First, he made some training exercises, among them were simple compacting and expanding of the electricity, making increasingly complex forms and making a compacted thread of electricity pass through a needle hole of expanded electricity.

  Having completed these exercises with flying colors Augus stopped stalling and actually started cultivating, first he condensed quite a bit of electricity so that he could introduce it through his head aperture and guided it through his meridians into his dantian where he let it disperse a bit. This way Augus had a options available, he could either send a few powerful strikes into the bigger patches of impurities or send various weaker ones into the smaller patches.

  He then repeated it once, then twice, then thrice, then he entered a rhythm of pulling, condensing and using the electrical current that flowed through the tower. He kept at it until the alarm for launch he put up sounded, first softly enough so that he would acknowledge it’s existence then a little stronger so that he didn’t forget it was there. He then stood up and checked the electricity levels which were at 75% percent despite the hours he just spent in focused cultivation. This meant he only had to refill the tower when he started a cultivation session instead of every cycle like before.

  This increase in efficiency showed as Augus had not only crossed the 10% percent purification mark, but had surpassed it leaving him at a respectable 13%. With such progress in just the morning he might not even need the full three months, though the supposed difficulty spike that came after 50% could throw a wrench on that hope depending on how hard it got.

  As lunch came Augus got out of his cultivation chamber after he sealed the connection between the walls of electricity and the rest of the room. To celebrate the debut of his cultivation chamber Augus had decided to treat himself to a barbecue instead of bringing food from home so he found a place close by and got eating. It could have been a sad view of someone eating a group barbecue alone if Augus wasn’t inhaling the meat like he was afraid someone might steal it. Usually Golden Core cultivators didn’t need to eat much as most nutrients were supplied by their normal spiritual energy circulation, all they needed, usually, was a meal to feel fulls and feel the pleasure that only food gave.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  It was in the middle of his meal that a familiar face approached him, it was Lu! Whom he hadn’t seen since the graduation ceremony. He looked pretty much the same except for the aura of a Golden World cultivator, as Augus expected, Lu was never a slouch when it came to cultivation matters. If Augus was truthful Lu wasn’t a slouch in almost anything, he seemed to have an almost pathological need to make everything perfectly.

  The only exception were his interpersonal relationships, as seen not only from his “speech” during their graduation ceremony but mostly from the fact that all of Lu’s friends were introductions other friends made, mainly Augus as he was Lu’s first friend. His romantic relationships were equally “exceptional” as he recorded a total of zero girlfriends or boyfriends or anything during all his life.

  This absence wasn’t because a lack of attempts, Augus had known of at least five girls who were interested in Lu during their last year only, because as even Augus had to admit, the bastard was handsome. Even the cultivation hermit Augus had had at least one girlfriend, though it happened during the equivalent of middle school of their special school it still counted.

  Their school didn’t have the same segmentation that other schools had, theirs was based on cultivation level, after the mandatory first few years of no cultivation they advanced grades based on their cultivation levels during Qi condensation. This period was what Augus considered middle school as they were about that age 12-15 in most cases. When they entered Foundation Establishment the system changed again and, as in other schools, their passing from one grade to another depended on their exams. That’s why Augus graduated as a late stage instead of peak like it was for their middle to “high school” graduation.

  Why did Augus go on this whole rant just from seeing Lu, mostly because he brought memories from their time studying, but also because Lu was accompanied by a girl their age who seemed awfully close with his friend. This surprise had Augus stopping his food vacuum to greet them.

  “Hey Lu, didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Hi Augus.”

  At this point Augus barely even registered his friend’s lack of social manners and just spoke to the unknown girl.

  “Hello, I’m Augus Barns, a friend of Lu since school, who might you be?”

  “Hi, I’m Sarah, I’m… a coworker of Lu.” The hesitation informed Augus that she was suffering from the same trouble all of Lu’s suitors had. Trying to break through the guys AT field of pure disinterest or obliviousness about romance, Augus had never been able to identify which one it was.

  Regardless he tried to make conversation with both. “So, is your Corporation nearby?”

  While Lu ignored Augus’s question as he was inspecting the menu, Sarah was kind enough to answer. “More or less, we were on some business and this place was in the way back for a quick lunch.”

  Augus gave a small nod to show he was paying attention and refocused his view on Lu. After he put down the menu he got asking. “So, how has Company life been treating you?”

  “Good” It was only after a few seconds he seemed to remember the rest couldn’t hear his thoughts that he asked. “How have you been?”

  “Mostly fine, though I did participate in a little squabble recently.” That got Lu’s attention, Augus wasn’t the type to get into fights, he usually ended things talking not with fists.

  “Was attacked by a crazed cultivator.” This was said in a low voice so as to not alarm the nearby clients. Though it was all for nothing by Sarah’s surprise.

  “What?! What happened? Are you okay?” Though that attracted attention after confirming it was a normal conversation all the clients went back to ignoring them.

  After Augus received an apologetic look from Sarah he continued with his answer. “He caught me by surprise while I was cultivating, the defensive formations of the house gave me the chance to end it and confront him.”

  “I won, as it’s obvious, though I did receive a nasty punch on the side, it has already healed.” Augus didn’t add more details despite Sarah and Lu’s questioning looks.

  After seeing their attempts were futile Lu started asking questions he hoped Augus would answer. “Why the hell you didn’t ran?”

  “We were the same realm so I knew there was a fighting chance, but if I’m honest running never came as an option. At least not immediately.”

  With an exasperated sigh Lu commented. “Of course you, the non-combatant Maker, thought you had a chance against a crazed Golden Core cultivator.”

  “I had a self-defense technique, okay?”

  Lu gave Augus the most expressive ‘you idiot’ look he had seen on the guy. “I’m guessing a combat technique which you only practiced and never put to the test and just decided to test against an equal realm enemy.”

  This left Augus no room for argument as it was precisely what happened, so Lu continued his pretty accurate guess. “And judging by the fact that you only got a hit from the enemy instead of being pummeled is because his intelligence tanked so much he never put a proper resistance , you won after all.” Augus was pretty sure that ‘you’ was charged with insult and that Lu meant every bit of it.

  “Haaa, so, what happened to him? Is he in custody?” Ah, yes, the little yet so crucial detail Augus’s recounting had left hidden and for a reason.

  “Yeah, in the nearby Department, though he will be executed in little, there’s not much that can be done for a crazed cultivator after all.” Augus did his best at lying, he didn’t want to worry his friend with the knowledge of his first kill, Lu hadn’t killed anyone by what Augus knew.

  Though Sarah seemed more familiar with either crazed cultivators or fighting to suspect the enforcers wouldn’t have arrived before something grave happened in a fight between what was, in essence, two inexperienced fighters. Luckily she made no further comment, she didn’t want to worry Lu either it seems.

  The topic did impede any further conversation for the moment so Augus decided he should excuse himself. He didn’t want to ruin what could turn into a date for Sarah, even if Lu didn’t realize it. So he paid his meal and said goodbye, though he added something to stir his friend away from the earlier discussion.

  “Before I leave, do you know of the Emergency contact program?”

  “No, what is it?”

  “Can’t tell, can’t tell.” Augus made his most infuriating grin and took off before Lu could ask anything else. That would bother him enough that he stopped thinking about the crazed cultivator incident, at least for a while.