"Old man?"
Staring at the shocked face of the war veteran, his father, in front of him, Argus couldn't help but feel a little bit confused, wondering why it was that the middle-aged man was staring at him like he had seen some sort of ghost.
The young man is well aware of the changes that happened in his body during his cultivation outside, the quick growth that allows him to increase his stature a little bit but improve his physique as well, the chiseled, powerful figure, each minute changes, improvement and growth happening in his body something that he is well aware of the moment it takes place, making it appear to him as if it is a progressive, gradual change rather than a drastic one.
In fact, even if it is a drastic change, he wouldn't find it all too surprising, as changes like this happen all too often in the world of cultivation, especially when one consumes great treasures that grant mystical, near divine effects on the consumer's body.
It is exactly this cultivator's mindset honed through tens if not hundreds of millennia of cultivation that made him forget the fact that this world, despite the existence of magic that also aids in the drastic improvement of one's own body, still falls behind when compared to the world of cultivation where spirit energy is being wielded, the changes in him something that no one in this world can match even if they are a great genius who is about to practice in a place with the greatest abundance and purity of mana there is.
Hence the reason why despite being someone who had already seen a lot of the world, the Ever-Burning Sword Dragon still couldn't wrap his head around the changes that his son had gone through and in fact, he might've even doubt the fact that the young man standing in front of him is his son at all had it not been for the fact that the frail young boy who left that day and the powerful, towering young man in front of him shares that same determined, burning gaze.
"Looks like you've got a great harvest during your time outside, son."
Shaking his head as he regains his composure in front of the child, Arthur then revealed a faint smile as he dropped the papers he was holding, taking a good, long look at the young man's face, his gaze now high as the young man is now just a little bit shorter than him.
"Well, there's a lot that happened, indeed, old man, do you wanna hear about it?"
The young man replied briefly, now also thinking about what good cultivation technique he should hand to this old man of his, not wanting to lose the only blood family he has again in this life.
"Save those stories for ladies, I have no interest in hearing the adventure of a kid who only traversed the northern wilderness of the empire."
Laughing as he heard his son's words, the Old Master of the Draconia Household tries his best to control his laughter as he stares at the young man, the suppressed amusement still leaking despite the seriousness in his voice as he speaks once more.
"Although I sure would like to see how much you have truly grown, boy."
The father stared with genuine curiosity, wondering how far his son reached during his time outside, time outside that seemed short, yet already more than enough for his stature to change like this.
"You'd be surprised."
The young man replied, a confident smile on his face as he stares back at the old monster that drove away great amount of invaders coming from beyond the mountain ranges of the north, that confidence, the burning competitive spirit fueling the flames underneath his eyes something that made the old father smile as well, an even greater flame seemingly raging underneath that calm demeanor of his.
"Hahaha!! Great!! Truly Great!! Rest for now, my child, I'll look into your progress first thing in the morning tomorrow."
As he heard that lively laughter, the young man couldn't help but laugh as well, feeling quite glad and relieved at the state the middle-aged war veteran is in right now, a state completely different from the one the man had from when he had last seen him in that previous timeline.
The meeting between them was short, but meaningful; that is what the two of them think in their mind, for sure, as thoughts occupy their mind the moment the son departs from his father's office, the father, thinking of something along the line of.
'You must've worked hard, my son. I hope you can continue doing so, for effort will never betray the ones who keep on trying no matter what.'
Those were along the lines of the things that the young man is thinking about right now, his head occupied as his body unconsciously brings him to his room within this manor.
'I need to work even harder, for the family, and for those people as well, if I will still meet them, that is.'
He thought to himself as he eventually snapped out of them once he reached his room, a simple one, not too different compared to his room in their manor within the earldom, allowing himself to adjust all too easily as the place didn't feel that unfamiliar at all.
'Saturation huh… just a little bit more then'
Using a sensory technique to get a feel of the progress within his body, he couldn't help but smile as he gets a sense of where his progress currently is, his meridians, already opening tall and wide, the passages guaranteed to hold even the most powerful surges of spirit energy given the toughness, density and thickness of the walls that surround it, not to mention the flexibility of the passages as well, like blood vessels improved myriad of levels over.
What he feels the most impressive, however, are not those effects, but rather the fact that these meridians appear to be a storage of spirit energy in and of itself, the walls, despite being tough and dense, still has little veins around it where spirit energy flows, veins that doesn't disrupt the integrity of the walls and even reinforce it instead.
And going past that, all the spirit energy within his body goes through these veins before circulating, the massive amount he is absorbing from his surroundings using his improved version of the Pure Heaven True Circulation Art being pressed down, refined and condensed into smaller, more powerful amount that improves and forges both his body and senses all the more, all that even without conscious effort in his part.
'The Three Purities Origin Meridian really lives up to its name…' he thought to himself as he realizes that despite the vast knowledge, both the ones he acquired in his own and the one he inherited from his old teacher, Qing Tian, he just couldn't think of any other meridian that can continuously improve the owner's physique, spirit energy and senses even without any effort in their part.
With the thought of the fact that he owns such a mystical meridian, improving his mood and giving him a fair boost in motivation, the young man then proceeds to improve his cultivation once again, aiming to break the barrier that is preventing him from truly crossing beyond this auxiliary realm that his first teacher created to improve a cultivator's foundation and potential.