Tower of Heaven

Each level focused on a different part of the body and evolved it beyond its human capabilities. Both physical strength and defense would be boosted to a degree by every completed step, but the main reason people practiced body cultivation in the mortal realms was not power.

At the beginning, body cultivation could not compare to energy cultivation. The amount of potential that both paths had was about the same, but the true benefits of body cultivation would only reveal themselves once a cultivator reached the Immortal Realms.

Still, body cultivation was a crucial part of every cultivator's training. Not only was it a path of strengthening the internal body so that it was prepared for the massive changes it would experience in the future, but it was also a perfect foundation by through energy cultivation could flow.

The physical body was the vessel for everything a cultivator could do. If it wasn't sufficiently powerful, then how could much stronger currents of energy use it as a medium?

It had to be mentioned again that Atlas was by no means talented.

He was originally an orphan of unknown descent. The only thing he knew about his birth mother was that the streetfolk considered her a "whore" who "deserved to die."

As for his father, that was a mystery that would likely never be solved.

This body was born with hardly any talent for spiritual cultivation. It was so beaten and torn from his years as on the street that any potential it may have been born with was gone.

When Atlas first awakened to his memories and gained the Heavenly Unification Law's blessing was the first time he actually felt the presence of Spiritual Energy in this life.

And, while he'd been able to progress smoothly ever since entering the tower, his success was only because he had gone through these lower realms before.

It wasn't complicated yet. When he got to the Earth Sage Realm, everything would change.

Until his talent could catch up to his progress, Atlas would always practice slower than others.

But he didn't mind it.

Speed was never the important part of cultivating. People put too much emphasis on rushing through the stages and forgot that they needed to build a sturdy foundation that would last for the rest of their lives.

Sure, Atlas couldn't easily escape his fate of being slower than a real genius, but he would make up for everything he lacked with effort.

Effort that trumped anything anyone else was willing to put in, effort that took advantage of every extra second he had to spend training; as long as he could properly invest it into everything he did, he was confident in reaching far higher heights than his peers.

Perhaps that was why he strived so hard to take advantage of these intermediary floors.

The problem of finding resources without overly spending in the Tower Shop was solved by the Formation Spark and the environment.

Atlas bought anything that he could in reasonable quantities and searched for other ingredients throughout the 12th to 19th floors.

Even if he couldn't find exactly what he was looking for, these intermediary floors had a pattern.

They all seemed to be from the same origin. There was a continuous story that flowed between them, hidden in the ruins, the beasts, and even the fields.

The world that these floors manifested contained many ingredients of its own, and though they weren't exactly what Atlas wanted, they were enough.

His first step into the realms of body cultivation took place an entire two years into his stay on these eight floors.

'Luminous Grass, Smoulderbrush, Gammaria, Flame Fungi, and, most importantly, Clearspring Dew.'

All four were low-grade materials that had negative effects on the physical body if ingested without caution.

However, when they were combined…

'...they transform into a concoction that is even worse for the human body.'

That was the nature of body cultivation, after all.

Atlas made a makeshift tub out of wood he sourced from the surrounding trees and filled it with water from a nearby lake.

Using his flames, he melted down or burned all of the materials and incorporated them into the water, finishing off his herbal bath with three drops of Clearspring Dew.

That dew, which he was forced to search for over half a year to find even a few drops of, was the catalyst that turned this mixture of poisons into an elixir.

The aura of the bath water changed and its appearance gained a milky tone, letting Atlas know that it was ready.

He undressed, taking a glance around to make sure that his surroundings were clear, and slowly lowered himself into it.

"Argh!"

Immediately, he felt pain.

It wasn't a feeling unfamiliar to him. Like a thousand needles piercing into his every pore, the mixture was absorbed into his skin and began to change him.

"Khhhhh…!"

Atlas gritted his teeth. His body was getting hotter and hotter with every passing second. He used all flame-attributed materials, as ingredients closer to his affinity would show greater results, but he also had to deal with the consequences they presented.

His body was on fire both inside and out. He could feel the hammers of heaven forging his flesh into a new state.

But…was it meant to be this painful?

"AAARGH!"

In the end, Atlas could not stifle his scream.

He thought it would be easy.

Yes, he had to put in more work than the average genius, but he had a treasure that strengthened his body every time he broke through in his energy cultivation.

He thought that he was just going through the motions to complete these steps. By all logic, he should've somewhat completed them already.

That was nothing more than wishful thinking.

The strengthening of the Primeval Nihility Gate had nothing to do with cultivation. It changed his starting point, his base standard. Everything that he built on top of it would still have to be laid brick by brick.

And because there was already something existing in that space, those bricks would be far, far harder to place than usual.

Atlas' flesh writhed as he gripped the sides of the tub with all of his strength. Veins protruded out of his skin as if they wanted to break free. His head jerked upward and his eyes were forced wide open sheerly out of pain.

Screams resounded through this particular edge of the forest on the 12th floor. They were blood-curdling to the point where rumors spread through the ranks of Ascenders that a vengeful spirit had occupied the area.

If there was one benefit to such rumors, it was that nobody came to bother Atlas while he was in his most vulnerable state.

Still, that state didn't change for several hours.

Almost an entire day passed with Atlas submerged in the bath. His skin turned an ugly shade of purple and red as the toxins invaded his systems, but those few dew drops worked miracles to quell the poisonous effects of the collected herbs.

Atlas felt his mind reach the verge of collapse four times in total. He reminded himself over and over again that the pain was only temporary, sinking his conscious thought into the deepest depths of his mind to stay sane and conscious at the same time.

It was brutal. More brutal than entering the ranks of body cultivators ever should have been.

But, a will that had been developed over a lifetime and then some was not one that bent so easily.

No matter how much time passed or how much his pain intensified, Atlas gritted his teeth and endured.

He endured and endured and endured, and finally, he saw the results of his effort.

The bath water eventually cleared as everything within was absorbed. Atlas' eyes returned to normal, though still slightly bloodshot.

He looked down at his own body with a weak smile.

'Finally…'

He had done it.

At that moment, Atlas Vaun completed his Flesh Tempering and truly became a body cultivator.

But this…

This was only the first step of many in the long years to come.