Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

"Are you all right?" She asked worriedly as she helped him into bed.

Liam made a pained expression as he leaned over, still in a delicate situation. As much as he had been released from the Infirmary, it didn't mean he was okay.

On Earth itself, it was common for people to leave hospitals after two or three days of uncomplicated surgery. But their recovery could take a few weeks or even months.

In Twin Land, the recovery was faster. Even so, Liam wasn't expected to be 100% until the end of next week.

"I'm fine," he said to her in a clinging, slightly weakened tone. "Did you do what I asked?" He looked at her seriously.

She nodded and sighed. "I bought the Ephemeral Ascension Pill. It wasn't cheap, though. I had to spend 85 gold coins."

Liam wasn't surprised at the price of the pill. As a Second Class essence, it should have cost tens of gold coins.

For absorbable resources like pills, the ideal was always to use something of a quality compatible with the Spirit Master's level.

A Spirit Master at the beginning of the first realm could easily feel the effects of a First Class, Low-Quality pill. But a cultivator in the same realm, but at a higher level, would need something better, a High-Quality substance.

This situation was perfect for them to experience the full impact of the resource and achieve a favorable outcome on their investment. However, the optimal outcome would be to gain resources of a higher caliber than their own. Typically, this would cause fewer impurities compared to using lower-quality resources, while yielding greater benefits.

The only problem with using something of higher quality than your level was the efficiency of the absorption. A lower level being would never take 100% advantage of a higher quality resource. The result would be a good boost to their powers, but a waste of some of the cost of the resource.

Liam didn't have the resources to buy higher quality items than his level required. He had only given Mary the coins to buy something compatible with him.

"No problem," he commented, closing his eyes. "These coins won't be of any use to me once I'm dead." He sought a position that would ease his pain.

'It seems that the hospital beds in the Infirmary aren't simple. There, I had no more pain, even with nothing attached to my body. But all I had to do was to leave that place and the pain came back.' He thought for a moment.

Mary placed the bottle of Ephemeral Ascension Pill next to Liam's bed and continued, "I've been looking for Initiate Felicity, but she's out of town. It seems she went to hunt for Arcane Crystals nearby."

'What a bad time to do that... I thought she was concentrating on finding women for me.' Liam sighed as he opened his eyes.

"I see. It's a shame then."

"By the way, how do you know this woman?" Mary inquired, her eyes narrowing.

"We've got a deal. She's agreed to assist me, and in return, I've promised to help her in the future... You'll grasp the situation when the time is right. But, for now, understand that she's the most trustworthy individual here. If you ever need to confide in someone other than me, she's the one to turn to. Don't place your trust in anyone else, at least for the time being."

Mary raised her eyebrows in surprise, but didn't go any further because he didn't seem to want to say any more than he already had.

She looked at the pill bottle and asked worriedly, "Are you really going to use this? With our cultivation, your chances are too great for you to risk it like that, Liam."

"I know. The problem is, I'm in a terrible situation. If I fight, I might die, but if I don't fight, I might be punished and die, anyway," he said with little hope. "My only chance is to defeat Susanna."

There was a possibility that he wouldn't fight the challenge he had made. If Susanna died or couldn't fight, nothing would happen to him if he didn't show up for the fight. But that was unlikely, especially since Felicity was not in the city.

If he didn't show up and Susanna did, they could consider him to have violated the rules of the arena and the sect. He could be punished twice. He could be punished by the Battle Hall, but also by the Law Enforcement Hall for failing to fulfill his duty as an outer disciple.

All in all, he could be sent to prison and forced to do dangerous work with a high mortality rate.

The sect had its prison and jobs that no one in their right mind would choose. Usually, inmates were forced to do these jobs.

Having already learned of this, Liam wanted to avoid any types of punishment!

Mary understood what Liam had in mind after hearing about the dangerous Demon Gate prison.

If the sect gave their disciples too much freedom to compete and even kill each other in the cities, the situation inside the prison was ten times worse!

"Is there anything else you want me to do? Tomorrow I'll come and see you before you go to the arena. But today I'm afraid I'll be busy until later."

Mary was still busy trying to make up for the delay caused by the previous incident in which she had been seriously injured.

Demon Gate didn't cut its members any slack. If you got hurt like she and Liam had, that was your problem. Sooner or later, you would have to make up for it.

"No, you can go. Just be careful. Don't let anyone find out what we have, or you'll be the next target." He warned her.

Mary just nodded, as she had already understood.

As she left Liam's room, she walked past the two Leopards men in position, ignoring them as she thought about Seth, Amias and Ajax.

'Those two Leopards men don't know anything about me and Liam. As far as they can tell, I'm just a friend of Liam's. But Seth, Amias and Ajax were with us on the Isle and might say more than they should.' Her eyes narrowed as her heart froze.

Clenching her fists, Mary decided to visit her three companions and sort out the situation between them!

'I'd better prepare for the worst. If Liam survives this week, sooner or later, our enemies will find out about our relationship. But I'd rather it happened late.'

She disappeared from Liam's dormitory with a lot on her mind.

...

Later that day, Liam heard two knocks on his door and frowned.

For a moment, his heart beat faster, and he took a dagger from his spatial ring. 'Enemies?'

But then he was surprised by a friendly voice. "Liam, it's me, Lazarus," said the thick voice of the Leopard man he had met on his first day in the Beasts Hall.

Liam sighed as he recognized the newcomer and struggled to stand up until he reached the door.

"Senior Ross, I didn't expect to see you here. Please come in." Liam opened the door to his current superior in the coliseum.

Lazarus entered Liam's room alone, not bothering to look at the well-organized surroundings. He got right to the point with his visit. "Liam, you cannot accept the punishment for not fighting in the arena. Do your best to face Susanna tomorrow. The faction will support you as long as you beat her."

Liam was surprised by these words, not expecting his faction to be watching the situation.

'They don't want me to give up the fight... Is that so I won't be punished, or so I can deal with Susanna? The faction leader wants me to join the hunt for a magical beast. But I'm still weak, and it will probably take me a few months to reach the minimum level to join them. But if I'm punished, I could die in a few weeks... This means that the faction leader has expectations of my talent.

But if their concern is not about the hunt and my presence in the group, then my guess is incorrect. It could be a faction dispute, or even a vendetta that is older or bigger than me.'

When dealing with factions, you had to understand the complexity of every decision and position. At least that's what Liam believed, what he wanted to use to protect himself from the complicated politics of Spirit Masters.

He sat down on his bed across from Lazarus and said, "Okay. I'll do what the Boss and the faction expect. I'm just curious what you mean by support... Could the Boss tell me?"

Lazarus smiled as he patted Liam on the shoulder. "Fight and win. We'll give you the Refulgent Life Elixir, which can protect your body and soul from the effects of the Ephemeral Ascension Pill."