"So how are we doing this?"

"Nothing special. Just sit down and let me do the job. You only have to accept the Spiritual Qi and rotate it through your body, so it can interact with your blood. This should then reduce the discomfort you feel."

Ivan followed her directions and sat down in front of her.

"Pull up your s.h.i.+rt. We need to have direct skin to skin contact.", Celine directed him.

Without hesitation, Ivan directly removed his s.h.i.+rt, revealing his muscular body. Neither of them felt shy. After all, both of them were used to fighting and in such situations, there was always a chance that one's clothes would get ripped, or even completely destroyed. Being conscious of showing skin, would only lead to one's death during such times.

Celine pressed her hands on his back. When they came into contact with his skin, Ivan could feel some kind of energy seeping into him. This should be the Spiritual Qi. He didn't yet take the time to check it out further, but instead started to move it through his body.

As the Spiritual Qi flowed through his body, it gave him a very comfortable cool feeling. It was as if something that had always heated him up, had finally cooled down, removing a pain he hadn't really felt consciously anymore.

When the stream of Spiritual Qi ended, he felt disappointed. Although in the end, it hadn't changed as much as at the start, it still felt very comfortable to him.

"How does it feel?", the tired voice of Celine pulled him out of his reminiscence.

"Much better. Thank you."

"No need to thank you. I gained a lot from you too.", which was the truth. Ivan's Vital Qi had been even more effective than she could have ever hoped. His bloodline had to be highly ranked since it was able to produce such pure Vital Qi at its low level.

"Do you have a quest for reducing the flare-ups?", Celine then continued on with a question.

Ivan wasn't surprised that she was able to guess the existence of the quest. In his opinion, she should have seen his situation before. He too was interested in how the counter had changed, so he pulled up the description and shared it with her.

< quest:="" curbing="" the="" flareups="" (grade="" f)="">

While the bloodline 'Spiritual Chaos Dragon G.o.d (Unstable)' is unstable, it requires a certain intake of Spiritual Qi to temporarily stabilize it and stop it from flaring up. The flareups of the bloodline result in a high amount of pain as well as damage to the arteries and nerves. So it is highly recommended to fulfill this quest.

Currently Absorbed Spiritual Qi: 25/100

Time Limit: 10d

Tip: Spiritual Qi can be absorbed, if someone else injects his or her Spiritual Qi into you (requires. Earth Realm) or through the use of the skill 'Qi Exchange', which can now be bought from the Honor Shop.

>>

"Looks like this was able to only provide you with 25 percent of the required Spiritual Qi, but there is enough time left. I should be able to provide you with just as much every two days if you provide me with essence blood beforehand."

Hearing this Ivan felt happy. Doing it this way was much better than the other method. Although other young men at his age would maybe be very happy, to have the excuse to collect and sleep with many good looking women, he felt different.

To him, it was more important to have someone whom he could connect with. Not only in a s.e.xual but also a mental way. Although he would still go through with taking these concubines Lara had already accepted, he really didn't want to have even more. As such Celine and her ritual were heavens sent for him.

"The 'Strengthening Pills' are from the Honor Shop?", Celine then asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Yes.", Ivan honestly answered. If he were to accept her as a family member and a blood servant, then there was no reason not to trust her with things, such as these.

"It's great that you have access to it. There are some really great things available in it. You can't even get them in the higher realms. Sadly the prices are so high and it is hard to get any honor."

Ivan had to agree with her sentiments. The prices really were high. Although he had a 5% discount they were still so high that even saving for a few years wouldn't enable him to buy most of the things available. And besides his steady income from his t.i.tles, he hadn't gotten any honor.

Suddenly he focused on her wording. She had said that it was hard to get honor points, so she should know a way. Thinking like this he eagerly asked, "Do you know any ways to earn honor points?"

Celine sighed, before answering, "Yes, I know a few ways. But all of them have high risks and most of them are currently impossible for you. The best way to earn honor points is to go to the inter-realm battlefields. But for you would have to be much stronger, to enter even the lowest of them. Besides that, there is the option to explore mysterious realms."

Ivan hadn't heard of mysterious realms before, but luckily Celine explained them to him, without him having to ask about them.

"Mysterious realms are what is left if beings with a high enough cultivation are either slain or sealed. I don't really know how they are created, but the System allows people to explore them. Unlike dungeons, these realms are real, so the monsters in it don't resp.a.w.n and neither do the ones who go in. That's why they aren't used for training. They are just too dangerous."

"Then why would anyone want to enter them?"

"They are like small worlds and many of them are filled with rare treasures. And then there are the honor points one can earn by exploring them. Everyone who enters such a realm will receive a quest from the System which will give one a small number of honor points."

"Then shouldn't they be very popular. I don't think that just a high difficulty would keep all the greedy people away."

"They are very popular. But the entrance fee has a significant impact on their popularity. If one enters, then even if one manages to escape, as long as one doesn't manage to finish the quest, one would lose honor points."

"Then do you think it would be a good idea for me to try exploring one?"

"I'm not sure.", Celine said hesitantly. "But if you feel that you can do it, you should surely try it out."

"Then how would I know that I could do it?", Ivan asked dejectedly.

Seeing his reaction Celine giggled. "The System would only allocate a realm which inhabitants have a strength that is one realm above yours. For you, it would be Blood Refining Realm."

Ivan didn't know much about the realms. He had heard of Earth Rank, which should also be a description of one's strength. But besides that, he was completely clueless, which showed on his face as he only had a confused look on it after her words.

"Hm, I forgot that it isn't common knowledge in this realm.

We differentiate the strength of people into ranks. Starting with Foundation, Mortal, Earth, and Heaven. Above that there are others, but I don't know about them. After all, I have only reached Earth rank before. These ranks are then divided into multiple realms. For the Foundation rank, it goes from Flesh Refining to Blood Refining, Bone Refining and then Pathways Refining. These for realms are called the refining realms and are the most basic ones.

In this realm, you can only go through the Flesh Refining Realm. For the others, you have to enter the upper realms.

After one has crossed the refining realms, the body has then acquired the basic requirements to absorb Qi from the outside and store it inside the dantian. The first realm is thus called Qi Gathering realm. At this realm, the qi is still only stored and one can only use it to further strengthen the body temporarily.

After collecting enough qi, it is possible to condense and purify it, which then allows one to project it outside. This is called Qi Condensing Realm."

Ivan eagerly listened to her explanation. He really wanted to know more about this. If he ever wanted to find out his roots, then he surely would have to go to the upper realms. And for that, he would have to understand more about these things.

"Then after that?", he asked when she stopped with her explanation.

"After that, there are many more realms, but for now there is no use knowing them. You should focus on building your foundation. To much haste will only limit your further progress."