Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Spirit Root Knowledge
Seeing how everyone's facial expression changed listening to grandmother's words, I wanted to know more about who this 'Lordess' was to have gained so much respect and admiration from both my parents and grandparents.
"Who is Lordess' grandmother?" Asked Elif with evident interest in his voice.
When I voiced my question, everyone's focus shifted back over to me before grandmother answered my question.
"First things first dear, as this is your first time hearing our progenitor's name, you don't know this, but it is required that whenever you mention her name, you must call her 'Progenitor Lordess' as it is a sign of respect within the Elven Empire. Even if you're the Crown Prince, mispronouncing her name will result in serious punishment." Said Tiana to Elif with a severe expression.
Looking at grandmother's face, which exuded seriousness, slightly scared me as I'd never seen her act like that, let alone with her directing it at me.
"Y-Yes, grandmother." Replied Elif with a slight stutter.
"Mother, calm down; you're scaring Elif with your serious demeanor." Remarked Maria as she picked up Elif, sitting between her and Marcus, and set him down on her lap.
"I didn't mean to scare him, but he needs to understand the importance of Progenitor Lordess, and since he is the crown Prince, it will affect him even more if he doesn't know about our origins." Replied Tiana, defending her actions.
"Mother is right, Maria; as the Crown Prince, he is required to learn more about progenitor Lordess than even the nobles, but also mother, it isn't the correct time for Elif to learn about our origins; he still has a couple of years left." Said Marcus to both Maria and Tiana while still carrying Elaine in his arms.
"Marcus is correct, so let us change the topic of the conversation to what we were talking about before, explaining the concept of Spirit Roots to Elif." Declared Tyler, who had just finished drinking his tea.
While sitting on my mother's lap, listening to them arguing, I was somewhat confused about what they were talking about.
'Origins? Not yet, time to know? Is there some secret regarding the Royal Elfs?' Thought Elif, wondering what could possibly be the secret.
"Now, Elif, we have explained the difference and the rarity of the ranks in spirit roots, so let us move on to the last piece of basic knowledge you need to know, which is the strength of the different ranks in Spirit Roots." Said Tyler, gaining Elifs attention again, who was previously lost in thought while sitting on Maria's lap.
"Hmm, to explain it easier, I'll give you an analogy to compare the difference between each rank." Uttered Tyler while rubbing his chin.
I don't know what the word analogy means; nonetheless, I'm still interested to know what grandfather is going to say, as since I have the supposed highest spirit root, it must be powerful.
"Let us say someone with a low Mortal spirit root can absorb one unit of Qi in one day, and it takes two-hundred fifty units of Qi to open all the meridians in the body, which by the way, is the first step in cultivation, and you'll learn about it soon. By that example, it would take two-hundred fifty days for that person to advance to the next stage of cultivation, but let's change it and say someone with a middle Mortal spirit root can absorb thirty percent more than someone with a low Mortal spirit root, which in that case would mean they could absorb one point three units of Qi, how many days would it take them to advance their cultivation?" Voiced out Tyler, asking Elif after finishing with his lengthy explanation.
'So if someone with a low Mortal spirit root takes two-hundred fifty days to collect all the Qi needed, then it would take someone with a middle Mortal spirit root, umm, I don't how long, I'm only four years old, I can't answer advance questions like these!' Thought Elif in frustration, before going ahead and asking someone else.
"Father how long would it-" Asked Elif to Marcus but was cut off in the middle of speaking.
"The answer would be one-hundred ninety-two point three." Said Marcus, interrupting Elif from finishing his question.
Turning away from my father, I focus back on grandfather and say the same answer father gave me.
"one-hundred ninety-two point three units of Qi." Answered Elif with enthusiasm.
"Although you had some help, you're correct. Now, if we were to compare a high Mortal spirit root, it would be thirty percent stronger than a middle spirit root, allowing it to absorb one point sixty-nine units of Qi." Replied Tyler while filling his cup back up with tea.
"So when it comes to spirit roots, every minor rank has a thirty percent increase in strength than the one before it; I understand that now, but what about when it transitions over to one of a higher rank, like a high Mortal to a low Earth? The difference shouldn't still be thirty percent, right?" Asked Elif with a thoughtful expression.
"With how quickly you pick up on things, I'm not surprised you're correct. Yes, the difference between each major rank isn't just a thirty percent increase; if it were, then there would be no major ranks, but the difference between a high Mortal and a low Earth is that a low Earth is twice as powerful as a high Mortal." Answered Tyler.
Hearing grandfather's answer surprised me, as it didn't sound that good; I mean, with how shocked everyone seemed at the fact that I had a high Immortal spirit root, I figured the difference between each rank would be more significant than that.
"Does that mean the difference between each major rank is twice as powerful? Because if so, then doesn't that mean that my Immortal rank spirit isn't as good as everyone made it out to be?" Asked Elif with slight disappointment.
When I asked my question to grandfather, I expected that he was going to correct my thinking or tell me some information that I was missing about spirit roots, but what I didn't expect was for grandfather to suddenly spit out the tea he was drinking and if it weren't for mother putting her hand in front of us and somehow causing all the tea that would've landed on us to stop in mid-air and float there, well we would've been covered in tea.
"Woah, that's cool, mother; I didn't know you could also do that; I thought you could only teleport people." Said Elif with awe apparent in his voice.
"But of course, dear, how could I not do something as simple as that? You, on the other hand, I must say ignorance is bliss." Replied Maria with pride in her voice before she shook her head while looking at Elif on her lap in exhaustion.
I was shocked at how mother called doing something like that so easily, and also excited at one day being able to do the same thing, but I was confused about what she meant by 'Ignorance is bliss'.
"What do you mean, mother?" Asked Elif while looking up at Maria, but Tyler answered his question before she could open her mouth.
"Haa, my goodness, sometimes I forget you're still a child with how intelligent you can be at times. Elif, what she means by 'Ignorance is bliss' is that sometimes it's better not knowing something." Replied Tyler, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion, while Tiana, sitting right next to him, chuckled.
Even though I now understand what mother means, I still don't understand how not knowing about my spirit root is a good thing.
"Allow me to answer your earlier question, dear, as it seems you're still confused." Said Tiana.
"You see, dear, the reason why Tyler had such a strong reaction to your question is how much you were undermining your spirit root's power. Since you already know it will take two-hundred fifty days for a person with a low Mortal spirit root to advance in cultivation, someone with a high Immortal spirit root, such as you, are capable of absorbing two-thousand five-hundred and three point seven units of Qi, which means it would only take you two point four hours to advance in cultivation." Replied Tiana, smiling while looking at the now-shocked Elif.
"Awesome! That means I would be able to advance in cultivation ten times in a single day, while it would take someone with the worst spirit root two-hundred fifty days!" Stated Elif in amazement and excitement.
"Now that you understand how powerful your spirit root is, I think we should hurry along to testing his physique." Uttered Marcus, who had been silent for a while as he was taking care of a napping Elaine
Hearing the mention of physiques coming from my father's mouth took me aback as I thought the only talent that mattered in cultivation was the spirit root.
"What's this physique you're talking about, father?" Asked Elif.
"Something unique and different from a Spirit Root." Replied Marcus in a mysterious tone.
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