It hadn't been a day since Armad had traveled back in time. Everything was happening with the speed of a whirlwind, causing the system to take time before it finished with the evaluation of his skills.
Armad was now convinced that cultivation was the most important thing to pursue, considering that his pol years were a meager fifty-five years back home. And naturally, he had been quite surprised when he arrived here inside the prince's body.
His biggest shock was the fact that he was about sixteen to seventeen years of age, while the prince was not much older than himself, yet the gap between their pol years was staggering.
At barely eighteen years of age, the prince had a staggering five thousand and about ninety years of pol. This was a great shock for Armad considering he was brought up literally in cultivation, and the fact that they were both Wilberforce. The gap was glaring, and the fact that what remained for the prince to step into the late stage of core formation was just about ten years of pol.
The appearance of Armad fastened the unfinished journey of the prince with the help of the pills he recently acquired. He was now at the late stage of core formation, which began at six thousand and one years of pol.
It should be recalled that core formation cultivation started between one thousand and nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years of pol. Pseudo-Deva was attained immediately after that, before stepping into the Deva level.
It amazed him how a not-quite eighteen-year-old could acquire such cultivation without any help. He was even more captivated by the fact that it wasn't taken and given to him through a skill, nor a forceful acquisition of cultivation from one person to another. Rather, the prince rightfully acquired his pol years through sheer meditation.
In those days, cases of stolen pol years were greatly frowned upon by the Wilberforces. And being a prince would have made it all the more despicable considering that the prince needed a good foundation to start with. Whatever he did when he became older would be none of anyone's business. Cultivation obtained effortlessly like that wouldn't pose any problems. But despite this, Armad was shocked to find out that the prince acquired all of his pol years with his own effort.
And now, he discovered that all of the modified abilities were his own and not the prince's. The system probably didn't trust the prince's abilities with Armad, or perhaps it was because of another reason altogether. Nevertheless, Armad was only full of gratitude for the system for giving him something that would aid in building his cultivation.
Self-defense was the most important thing while fighting, for saving one's self gave a chance for success. And success, even delayed, was a good thing. And having skin that couldn't be pierced by a sword meant that one was approaching invincibility. The thought of this alone was exhilarating for Armad.
Without wasting another minute, he asked the system how to hone his abilities and how best to use the Miyura. He knew without being told that the Miyura was the strongest and most effective ability among all he possessed. It was only fitting that he would seek to know more about it first.
The system sent a new message in reply:
[You can enhance your Miyura by using the right pills, but you are still not up to the level of creating that particular pill.]
After reading the message, Armad could only stare dumbfounded at it.
So he wasn't up to that level yet? But no problem, since he could still use the Miyura even at its current state and could also draw pol years from it. Armad had been able to draw and add to his own even while he was only at fifty-five years of pol. Even at that, he got more than a hundred borrowed pol on top of his own.
He could imagine exceeding the core formation stage when he drew from it now that he was already above six thousand pol years.
The system's reply didn't deter him a bit and he went on to ask another question:
"How can I use the Negrinki and in what way can I enhance it from its current state?"
[You can use it by drawing it from your core and it can be enhanced by using the right pills or through regular usage of the Negrinki. That could take years, and you are still not eligible to create such pills.]
Armad was speechless for a while. So he could enhance neither his Miyura nor the Negrinki at the moment.
Undeterred by this, he asked again: "But what are the requirements to be fulfilled before I can reach that level?"
This time, he was ignored entirely by the system, giving him the impression that he wasn't up to the level required to receive an answer for such questions.
After some time, he removed his mind from that issue and focused on another. He had never used Negrinki before, so it would be the first thing to try out after his encounter with the system.
In preparation for that, he gathered all of his remaining cultivation boosters from the previous night and consumed them.
Shortly afterward, his cultivation rose from 6,035 to 6,091, making it an almost sixty-year rise in cultivation within a short period.
Normally, the length of time from when he eats to when his body reacts is never much. It usually ranged from minutes to an hour to absorb. Meditation normally took him about twelve to eighteen hours before getting such an amount of pol years.
But this time, it would be considered an extraordinary feat even among elite cultivators. To acquire as much as sixty pol years in a day, and that not even at the early or middle stages of cultivation, was quite spectacular.
It was the norm that acquiring cultivation in childhood was much faster and during the early stages. But it became harder the higher one went.
But for Armad, this was coincidentally the stage where he had stumbled upon a unique means of accelerating his growth. He was now faster in gaining pol years than he had ever been before.
As if on cue, a message from the system appeared just then:
[You can further enhance your cultivation by taking more pills which you can get through a nutritious diet. Feed the system nutritional food and the system will make you pills that could enhance your cultivation prodigiously.]
Armad stared wordlessly at the message. It didn't come as a surprise to him though.
It was quite clear that the system needed food to function. And it should also be expected that the more nutritious the food was, the better the pills and the faster the cultivation.
The next step to take suddenly became clear in his mind.
First, he needed an uninterrupted supply of food in his room, food that had the required nutrients in it. He also needed to find other ways of getting it since his prodigious appetite would render all the palace supply insufficient within a short time.
That would undoubtedly cause a great stir, which he didn't need at the moment.
He knew that there were spies who worked for Ikenga within the palace walls and also across the city. Caution was needed at all times in all his actions. Anything that could expose his situation, and in essence his secret, was highly unwelcome to him.
And so, it was necessary to find a less obvious means of getting what he needed.
Still, food alone couldn't be enough for him.
Then, his line of thought shifted to something that could best suit his needs.
What he needed along with the food was a variety of animal protein, especially demon-beast flesh. The meat he ate earlier was that of a demon tigress. It had not more than fifty pol years when alive.
But feeding on it gave him that extraordinary effect that enhanced his skin toughness.
He knew that his skin would be much tougher if he could get hold of a stronger demon-beast.
The first thing that came to his mind at that realization was hunting. He could sneak out, go hunting, find one, roast it, and eat without anyone the wiser.
But then, there was one setback to this. The moment he stepped out of the city alone, spies would close in on him. And there was also the King's Legion, whose hit list had his name at the top.
It wouldn't be out of place for them to send a group of Deva after him to end his life there and then.
This venture was dangerous no matter how he looked at it.
Taking his men along was also not an option, for they would soon become suspicious. Speaking of his men, Armad decided that it was high time that he introduced them to those wonder pills of his.
They also needed it to enhance their cultivation, only that he needed a careful strategy on how to go about it.
He was still not strong enough to face those who stood in his way, both in strength and cultivation.
That night passed with him deep in thought until sunrise, when he rose and left the room.
He met Musa standing guard over the table that was already set, and without wasting time, he began to eat.
In no time, only empty dishes remained.
As Musa cleared the table, Armad instructed the system to make more pills.
But soon, Musa returned with another meal, which was quite a surprise for Armad. He had been thinking of how to divert the attention of his people from himself when Musa returned.
He wondered why Musa, of all people who was aware of his situation, would return now barely half an hour after serving him breakfast.
As if reading his mind, Musa smiled and began explaining himself.
"The kitchen staff are unaware of this development, Your Highness," said Musa. "I told them that you have come across some vagrants in the city whom you wish to feed. You do not need anyone knowing of it or even questioning it.
"And that you store the food in your storage bag as soon as I present it to you. And then you sneak out of the palace in disguise when going out to feed them.
"You also forbade anyone to speak of it, and there is severe punishment for anyone who breaks this rule.
"As we speak now, another pot is cooking, and I hope my judgment isn't wrong, Your Highness."
Musa bowed as he reached the end of his narration.
After listening to his head of kitchen staff's ingenious plan to cover up for him, Armad's eyes shone with pride and admiration.
Musa was made up of a smarter stock of wits than many, Armad thought inwardly.
He raised his hand slightly in acknowledgment and waved the servant away.
Left alone with his piles of dishes, Armad placed one leg above the other and started eating. He soon became bored of his sitting position and decided to change into a more comfortable one.
So, Armad placed both legs atop the table and began gulping dish after dish of food.
Gulping was the right word, since there was little chewing to be heard. And already, he had taken precautions against anyone who might barge in.
All his guards and servants had been excused, and his pol sense was on high alert.
It took him a short time to demolish the mountain of food before him, and then he instructed the system to make a new set of pills.
Before long, a large number of cultivation boosters were in his possession.
But to his utter dismay, the skin-enhancing pills were not many despite eating quite a lot of meat.
Only thirteen were produced this time.