Augus spend the entire weekend designing and testing his new World but was cut short when Monday came. He finally left his room and arrived at the Department of World Makers to trade his income. Although there were other sources of cultivation techniques like the Companies, Sects and various groups, the one with the most variety and security was still the Central Government. As the DWM was part of the Central Government he could request and receive the technique there. Before delivering it they gave him the same speech he got in school; don’t try to spread the technique even to family because we will know (they never said how) and you will be arrested. Considering how close Augus parents worked with the government because of their jobs, he never even considered it, it just wasn’t worth it.

  Back at his house he started to study the “Stormbound manual”. If he understood the theory correctly it was quite simple, use electricity to destroy the impurities inherent to a non cultivated dantian. The practice would therefore be a hell to implement. First he would need a consistent way to get electricity, although the manual offered some suggestions. Second, practice fine control with electricity, because even if he limited the power with which he hit his dantian, Augus couldn’t really take any risks, no cultivator could when it concerned their dantian. And Third, get the electricity inside his body without frying himself, this one, thankfully, was fully covered by the manual. The actual third problem was the method the “Stormbound manual” provided, get his meridians used to electricity, from the weakest static electricity to the power of actual lightning. The full method also included strengthening the body, but he wasn’t sure he needed to do so as a Maker and not a Fighter.

  Augus still had the contact of Teacher Robertson (his favorite teacher) so he would just ask him. After sending him a message asking about full body tempering Augus got back to the different methods the manual provided to get electricity. They ranged from the most brutish and dangerous to expensive; using naturally occurring lightning from the get go and buying lighting stones, which after a bit searching, the cheapest cost about twice as much as a pure spiritual energy crystal. After checking all the methods he finally found one he could actually try, create electricity inside his world and then send it to the outside world to be used. The only caveat of this method was the prerequisite of a stable passage between his Inner World and the outside world, Augus could construct one, it was part of his studies, but the need of constant spiritual energy supply bothered him. Nothing that could be done about it though, on the other hand, the professor had answered him:

  “Good afternoon Augus, I’m happy to see that you have advanced to Golden World realm. About your question, it is recommended that all cultivators temper as much of their bodies as they can in the Golden core realm, as a stronger body is useful in later stages of cultivation. And a stronger body is always a boon in this dangerous world we live in. I wish you luck in your cultivation. Your professor Robertson.”

  He had, as always, wrote him like it was a letter. Although he didn’t really get his comment of a dangerous world (in his opinion aside from the front-line the world was plenty peaceful), he would temper his body if it would help later down the line.

  Now he would be swarmed with things to do. Between his cultivation and the new World Augus would have to organize himself if he didn’t want to spend months in development hell. He had heard of stories of messy development that led to no progress, he would leave half his time in developing the World for studying. Mostly because the simulation problem wasn’t as easy to solve as he thought it would be, the other half would go to actually simulating the mechanics of the World. His cultivation on the other hand would be a test in pain as he will go from the outside in for his tempering, all the while he trained in controlling the electricity he generated in his World. The best day to plant a tree was yesterday, right?

  * * *

  In hindsight the first day was probably the easiest. He thought it was a pain in the ass because he had to spend all day generating, releasing and controlling electricity. He couldn’t even do it in his room because he would have burnt most of his stuff so he rented a stone training room using the gains of “Siphon raid”. The rest of the days were the actual painful slog, while he wasn’t agonizing about how to simulate the different types of materials for the now named “Research realm”. Augus was suffering through lightning tempering and from what he understood it would get worse as he continued to the inside of his body, down his meridians. It had been three days and he had just gotten finished with his general body temperance and he wasn’t really eager for more. There wasn’t really pain, more of a general numbness accompanied by an irritating tingling through the tempered area. There was a silver lining though, he had finally figured out how to simultaneously simulate the materials and have them be somewhat real. Because that was what he was trying to do in the end, achieve a state of semi-solidification and only when Augus realized that was he able to understand it’s actual logic. It wouldn’t be as cheap as he once thought but cheap enough with how many people he expected would enter his realm, only if the DWM let him up the limits of realm entrance to Nascent soul, as most competent Makers appeared from the Golden Core level onward.

  What was left for completing the World was actually designing the terrain and the facilities for each discipline, as Augus already had the list of materials ready. His cultivation was a slower process but he still hadn’t hit a bottleneck so Augus wasn’t worried in that aspect. He should have the World ready by the end of the week at the latest, so he should start looking for things to use the expected income on.

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  Another cultivation technique wasn’t needed and cultivation resources aren’t necessary for now, so that leaves special techniques, either for World Makers or general cultivators. Considering his current income of a few thousands of (dirty) crystals a day he could afford a two techniques right now, though he didn’t have concrete targets he did have a few parameters to look for. A self-defense technique mostly because the message from professor Robertson was still bugging him, and a World Maker exclusive technique. After searching for a bit he got a list of defensive techniques to choose from that didn’t rely on flashy names.

  Drunken fist; apparent erratic strikes that aim for defense and confusing the enemy. Quite good for stalling.

  Void palm; it doesn’t do a lot of damage but sends the enemy flying if used properly. Perfect for creating distance.

  Kangaroo kick; the opposite of void palm, does a lot of damage but barely moves the opponent as it focuses on internal damage. Insidious attack that will leave sequela to anyone with a lower cultivation base.

  Lightning sword; fast attack that comes with a paralyzing effect thanks to the electricity imbued in the sword (if the metal allows it). Requires a sword.

  He reduced to this four mainly because he wanted them all. Void palm and Drunken fist could clearly make for a good combo, while either Kangaroo kick and Lightning sword compensated the lack of damage of the other two.

  *

  Considering that he could only get one for the moment Augus eventually decided on Lightning sword, it combined with his current cultivation method after all. Maybe he could get a synergistic effect going. The sword requirement was easily accomplished, although not an Artifact he did have a sword, before becoming a Maker (or Fighter) every cultivator had to train in at least one weapon during Qi condensation realm.

  Now for his World Maker technique, he already had a target after browsing for so long, Enlightenment; it gave spirituality to beings created inside a World (or Inner World). Though it couldn’t give sapience, which actually made it perfect for both the Magical beasts he was bound to create and the puppets, even them would benefit as they would perform Battle arrays.

  This time he could complete the process from his home, as distribution of non-cultivation techniques wasn’t as heavily regulated, it did come with a large fine and maybe a lawsuit if the technique was really precious. They arrived later in the day, in paper as he requested, he just liked the experience of reading through an actual book instead of the memory crystals the cultivation techniques came in and he could actually choose in this case. Augus started from the combat technique, which was actually stronger than he thought it was, if he was at a high cultivation level and with sufficient practice he could break the sound barrier with a slash (all this still in the Golden World realm mind you).

  Though he wasn’t sure if he could reach that level as a Maker instead of a Fighter, as the name implied he wouldn’t be strong compared to any Fighter in the same cultivation level. They focused on fighting techniques and tempered their bodies since Foundation Establishment, from what Augus understood they even had ‘Killing Techniques’ that could allow them to fight against foes at a higher cultivation level, though only for a short period time. Furthermore there were the ‘Suicide techniques’ that could allow for even across the realm fighting, though as the name implied at the cost of the cultivator’s life (or at least all their cultivation if stopped on time). If a Fighter trained to be a killing machine, a Maker trained to be an expert in their area, a World Maker in creating actual worlds, that was the objective at least. In practice, according to Augus’s opinion, World Makers focused on making diverse environments where other cultivators could train and experiment, though that would change if World Makers could actually make life inside their Inner Worlds, then the whole system would change or at least that’s what his professor said. Augus thought it was nothing but a pipe dream, aside from the obvious ethical problems of becoming the God of a sapient species, the sheer complexity of the mind and the soul made the endeavor impossible.

  Shaking the distracting thoughts from his mind, Augus focused back on “Lightning sword”, the first part of the combat technique focused on a set of sword poses to attack, defend and deflect. The second part focused on the defining characteristic of the technique, the “lighting”, it showed a path through which the electricity should move so that the arm moved with more speed and power and another path through where electricity could be pumped into the sword. Both could run at the same time as long as the were always parallel to each other, if they met they could either cancel out (the harmless effect) or explode inside the arm (the bad effect).

  Augus set aside such a daunting prospect and read the other technique, “Enlightenment”, although the theory seemed quite complex, the execution could be simplified in creating a false soul through spiritual energy and then insert it inside the objective. He could even automate the process so that when a new spirit beast or puppet was created they would come with a false soul ready. That option would have to be left for the cultivators though, he wasn’t going to leave it as the default option, any extra spiritual energy spent would be deducted from his pocket after all. It wasn’t because he was a cheapskate or a money grubber, but because Augus was a perfectionist and extra energy costs were a flaw in his eyes.

  Even if the money was good, it wasn’t his objective if he was honest with himself. He always had the objective of simply improving himself and maybe one day to see his creations aid in the final victory of humanity over the Siphons. Even if people called it a child’s dream, even if it was unrealistic, he had to have an objective, otherwise the aimlessness of lacking an objective would drive him mad, he knew himself pretty well in that aspect. If he lacked a goal he would be like a headless chicken, while with a goal for simple or lofty it was, Augus would find a way to accomplish it, through any angle and every strategy, he may will accomplish his goals.