A month quickly passed since Alrin joined the sect and in that time he had spent almost the entirety of it focused on either his cultivation or training his body. Currently he was shirtless training his body outside his cave standing in the bluegrass swinging a black great sword around . The only time he stopped doing either of those was when Alara showed up which she was doing quite often having visiting every other day all around the same time. As he was swinging his great sword he was also expecting her to show up at any moment but only after he looked around for her did he realize she was already here sitting down watching him train.
Seeing Alrin turn toward herself she asked with a smile on her face, "Happy to see me yet?"
At first Alrin had been planning on more or less ignoring her if she did not contact him but not only was she contacting him she was visiting herself and often. That was not all she was also bringing cultivation resources every time she came and these were essential to him as a body cultivator. His current goal was to become a core disciple and seeing all the wealth Alara had only reinforced his need for it.
"Very happy, I have something I wanted to ask you." Alrin replied completely monotone taking a seat next to her after storing his sword back in his ring.
"Oh?"
"What do I need to do to become a core disciple?" He asked.
"Hmm a Core disciple"
I see that's why you joined a sect you need more resources as a body refiner and unless you know the future or are the luckiest person alive joining a sect is the best way! Finally some progress if this continued it would be easier to get answers out of a wall.
"To become a core disciple you will need to meet two requirements. The first is cultivation before the age of 20 you must reach the 6th core or equivalent. The second is to make great contributions whether it be through alchemy, formation sects missions or however else it may be. Oh of course you have to be an inner disciple first buts fairly easy as their will be a competition you can participate in, in a few months." Alara calmly explained and while their were some other factors they were things she could handle if needed.
"It seems I will have to start taking on missions for the sect."
"Then I'm sure you would like my help." She said with a grin.
"I'm confident in my strength."
"Even if you are you are still only an outer disciple and are limited on the missions you can take." She said pointing first at the red star badge he wore before pointing are her own yellow star indicating she was a core disciple.
"I'll consider it."
"Fine but if you do go without me you should get an some type of art to help you in battle the sect has plenty from most paths and I know you haven't done that yet." She advised before leaving.
After Alara left Alrin returned to cultivate on the obsidian mat as he was close to breaking through the to fourth core but was struggling due to his non traditional method of cultivating.
Cultivation had two aspects the first is the physical which involved absorbing Sencia into the body creating cores for each of the 9 elements. The second is the spiritual aspect of it Paths. Paths were up to the individual with the only real limitation being the affinity to a path. Both were extremely important to cultivation because while physical aspects provides the strength the spiritual provides the understanding to use it.
In Alrin's case he was a common case of someone lacking talent in both. This is the reason he is a body path cultivator because it fused both aspects into one and while it did have many downsides it made up for it because even someone without talent could pursue it. This was due to how cultivation itself worked.
For most cultivators the most common and used method of cultivating to immortality was known and referred to as the traditional way. This way worked by create cores in the body and each core would be of one element. When one had 9 cores they would be able to fuse them together and ascend becoming a fully fledged immortal as long as they survived the tribulation.
Naturally this way was not suitable for everyone whether by preference or talent others would branch off and go down other paths such as Alrin becoming a body cultivator. Traditional cultivation requires strong affinity towards the elements because for each core you create in your body it causes one's ability to sense and absorb the other elements to go down eventually preventing it entirely if was too low to begin with which is the case for Alrin.
This makes body cultivation a more common branch taken by those with with little talent as it uses brute force by absorbing the elements through resources and physically training to the body to handle the ever increasing strain using it as a core places on it.
This is the reason Alrin needs to become a core disciple only then can he have the resources he will need to ascend to immorality. This is further emphasized by Alrin's cultivation methods branching off from normal body cultivators placing an even great need for resources.
Alrin was truly only a small step from breaking through and if he had more resources he could easily break through within a day but he had already ran out and he did not wish to ask Alara for help due to to the fact he felt he already owed her a lot even if she might not think so. Since that was the case he could only slowly absorb it from his surroundings thanks to the obsidian mat boosting his affinity towards the elements.
A couple of hours later Alrin in the middle of his cultivation was interrupted by a sudden voice on top of his head.
"I've freed myself once again! Now Alrin head to the nearest restaurant!" Kor said pleased with himself.
Hearing Kor's voice Alrin could only sigh to himself although Kor was not his pet but he had no choice but to keep keep him with him and he could only lament every time he released himself into the world.
Seeing that Alrin was not responding to him Kor immediately began biting his hair try to pull it out.
"Fine, we will go now." He said sighing to himself. Fortunately Star sect was connected with a mortal city so it had plenty of restaurants in it giving him plenty of options to choose from.
After a short walk Alrin found himself in a somewhat empty restaurant and after ordering some food for himself and Kor he sat on the 2nd floor to enjoy the view. While waiting for the food to arrive Alrin contemplated his plans for the future and decided the best course of action was to take on a mission for the sect to get contribution points. After eating this meal he decided he would heed Alara's advice and search for a combat art that would be able to help him alleviate the the biggest weakness of his cultivation the lack of external Qi control.
"Finally, we've been eating roasted meat for so long! It wasn't even seasoned." Kor said wanting to cry saying the last part as he watched the waiter bring the noodles Alrin ordered.
"Enjoy your meal." The waiter said placing the food down not at all surprised to see a talking bird.
Kor immediately began digging in and despite the plate of noodles being larger than himself it was quickly disappear. In less than a minute Kor had managed to devour the entire plate of food and began to relax.
"Alrin you need to be more relaxed like me. You eat a good meal and then you laze about and then when you feel like it you eat again what more could you want in life?" Kor said flipping on his back to bask in the sun rays that are shining through the window before quickly falling asleep.
Hearing this Alrin didn't respond as he had learned long ago that trying to argue with him was pointless and instead he peacefully continued eating his meal at least until he was interrupted by an individual.
"You're the one whose caught my sister's attention?" A green haired, green eyed man said appearing in front of Alrin to his surprise.
"If the sister you are referring to is Alara then she has indeed been helping me since I've joined the sect." Alrin calmly spoke hiding his surprise at the mans appearance while also taking note of the yellow star badge he had.
"A mere outer sect disciple addressing her directly by name were you not taught how to respect your seniors?" He questioned using his strength to exert pressure over Alrin causing him to frown.
"I naturally have great respect for my seniors especially those who help their juniors such as Alara who requested I use her name." Alrin calmly replied ignoring the pressure the man placed on him.
After a brief stare down between the two the man began to laugh.
"Hahaha not bad, you got me their it is only right for a senior to help their juniors. Sorry about that I'll be entering seclusion soon and was curious who she had been spending a lot of time with recently." The man said after relieving the pressure from Alrin.
"I feel that their is a misunderstanding Alara and I do not have a particularly close relationship."
"Really? Hahaha! What a shame that I'll be focused on my ascension soon and won't get to watch. Either way shes been in quite a good mood the past month so I hope you two become good friends."
"Friends… I hope so too." Alrin said although the man could not tell what Alrin was thinking.
"Good, I'll leave you that to you as a gift to take care of my sister my dear junior." The words lingered in the air but the man had already disappeared from Alrin's sight.
Left on the table was a small box with a tiny pill with a reddish hue. Grabbing the pill Alrin felt the energy inside would be push him over the edge of breaking through the fourth core.