Endless Refiner

The Element Seed forms after one gains some mastery over an element.

Eventually, it blooms into an element lotus.

After forming the Element Seed, Neel realized something strange while cultivating.

Instead of storing star energy directly into his Star Core, the star energy was first being pulled into the Element Seed.

The Element Seed purified the mixed star energy, then, it filtered out only the fire element from the mixed star energy and then sent that pure energy to his Star Core.

Normally, during cultivation, a Star Refiner absorbs star energy.

Before they can store it, they must purify star energy to removing unwanted elements.

So they can store only the elements they have awakened.

This purification process is one reason why Star Refiners take a long time to break through to the next minor stage.

…

Next morning

Neel opened his eyes.

He was amazed by both techniques.

In just one night, he had reached the peak of the First Star Core Realm and was very close to breaking through to the Second Core Realm.

What supersized Neel the most was how easily he understood both god level techniques.

It felt as easy as drinking water.

After thinking for a while, he believed it was due to the two souls merging, which greatly enhanced his mental and soul capacity.

But he still felt helpless about his natural talent.

Just as he guessed, he was indeed trash, he had only awakened fire star energy.

tap tap.

Neel's thoughts were interrupted by hurried footsteps.

Aarvan rushed to Neel's room, knocking anxiously.

"Sir, are you awake?"

Neel frowned at Aarvan's panicked voice.

"Come in"

Aarvan entered with black face and with fear in his eyes.

"Sir… it's bad news."

Bad news?

Neel raised an eyebrow.

"What bad news?"

"Sir, it's…"

Aarvan quickly explained.

The Star Beast Tide, which was supposed to happen in three days was coming tomorrow.

Neel, however, wasn't as anxious as before.

He now had enough strength to face elite Star Beasts.

Still...

"What about the village lord?"

Even thought he was confident, he didn't want to expose his true strength.

So he asked about the village lord again.

"Sir, There's still no news" Aarvan answer nervously.

Seeing Aarvan's trembling body, Neel felt guilty about how he treated his son in the past.

He finally couldn't bear it.

"Son, you can call me Father in the future."

Neel couldn't fix past mistakes, but at least now he could try to ease the relationship between them.

"This…"

Aarvan felt confused.

The only father he remembered was violent, shouted at him, blamed him for his mother leaving and always hit him.

But now Neel wanted to be called "father" or "dad" out of nowhere.

Aarvan hesitated.

He looked Neel up and down, even wondering if the man in front of him was really his father.

After carefully observing him, Aarvan could only see an expressionless face. He even suspected Neel was deceiving him.

But when he saw the softness in Neel's eyes, Aarvan's body trembled. His hands began to shake, and his voice cracked.

"Dad…"

Aarvan ran crying into Neel's arms.

Fortunately, Aarvan had a pure soul. Even after past Neel abused him, he still loved his father.

After all, Aarvan was just a 10 year old kid.

How could he understand complex feelings like hatred or revenge?

At his age, all he wanted was love and care.

Neel rubbed Aarvan's hair gently.

Even in happiness, Neel didn't show any expression on his face, which made the situation quite awkward.

After some time, Aarvan stopped crying and fell asleep in Neel's arms, smiling.

Seeing his son's pure smile made Neel's heart ache with guilt.

He carefully placed Aarvan on the bed.

He gently placed Aarvan on the bed, then began cultivating.

For some reason, until Aarvan woke up, Neel didn't want to leave his side.

At 10 a.m.

Aarvan woke up.

He had dreamed that his father acknowledged and cared for him for the first time.Looking around, he saw Neel cultivating.

That wasn't a dream?

Happiness filled Aarvan's heart.

Neel sensed movement nearby and noticed Aarvan staring at him.

"Son, is there something on my face?"

"Ah…" Aarvan choked.

He didn't know how to answer.

His face turned red from embarrassment.

He was embarrassed for thinking it had been just a dream.

"Ha ha." Neel laughed loudly seeing Aarvan's face turning red.

Which made Aarvan scared out of his wits.

Neel laughing wasn't the problem.

But how Neel laughed was the problem.

Neel's mouth and eyes were moving, but his face was still expressionless.

From Aarvan's position, eel looked like a psycho killer laughing after committing a crime.

This, for 10 year old Aarvan was not something he could handle.

"Dad, don't laugh… you look like a psycho killer."

Neel, who was laughing happily, was choked by Aarvan's words.

He immediately understood the problem was his face.

Damn this face.

He coughed twice to change the subject and called Aarvan over.

Aarvan after hearing Neel call him, he thought Neel was angry and want to punish him.

However, Neel's next words calmed him down.

What Neel wanted was to teach Aarvan how to cultivate.

Although he didn't have a Talent Stone to check Aarvan's potential, he doubted Aarvan had high talent, otherwise his wife's family would have accepted him.

However, with the Element Bloom Technique, that wasn't a problem.

He taught Aarvan the first part of the technique, which helped people become Star Refiners quickly and safely.

Neel didn't share the whole technique because this god level technique was very precious and if his son revealed to anybody.

Neel will have to deal with many wanted troubles.

That's why he only taught the first part of the Element Bloom Technique.

After studying it all night, Neel understand how the Element Bloom Technique worked.

Most people failed to become Star Refiners due to low sensitivity to star energy element.

The Element Bloom Technique forcefully enhanced the element a person was most sensitive to.

And the enhancement process was quite simple.

After having some mystery of the Element Bloom Technique, an element seed would form in the dantian.

That seed would bloom into a lotus, which would help absorb star energy and advance as a Star Refiner.

Element Bloom Technique how to cultivate using the Element Bloom Technique.

Neel spent nearly an hour teaching Aarvan.

Once he confirmed Aarvan understood the basics, he left an animal skin record of the Element Bloom Technique and he stepped out of the house.

...

At the Treasure Palace

"Welcome, customer. Do you need anything?"

Not this girl again.

As Neel entered the treasure shop, he was greeted by a stunning girl.

Passersby were drooling over her and they were glaring at Neel with bloodshot eyes.

Although Neel wasn't a saint and liked women fawning over him, he felt uneasy dealing with this cheerful girl.

The girl in front of Neel was none other than Lily.

Lily had just come down from the second floor and was about to go out to play.

Then she noticed a handsome man walking into her shop and the man was Neel.

He was the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life.

Lily immediately approached Neel.

One reason Lily approached Neel was that he was devastatingly handsome.

The other was that she always believed that handsome men couldn't be evil.

"Say something, handsome." Lily curled her red lips playfully.

Hearing her soft voice, hot blood rushed to Neel's head.

Damn it.

But before he could say anything, goosebumps ran over his skin.

Neel even sensed that if he made a wrong move, his neck might not be left intact. 

His instincts were right.

If he had said the wrong thing, he might have died.

Two bloody eyes were staring at him.

The bloody eyes belonged to none other than Lily's big brother, Max.

Max glared at Neel like he wanted to strangle Neel neck.

He was clinging to the wall so hard that it even started to crack.

Hmph.

So what if he's handsome?

Are you even worthy of Lily?

But he is handsome...

No no, what are you thinking?!

By this, one could tell how handsome Neel was.

even men felt tempted.

The reason Max was angry was because he felt threatened that Neel would take away his little sister.

Actually, one could say Max was a siscon.

who believed every man except himself was a wolf trying to kidnap his little sister.

Why did Max feel this way?

Because he knew about his sister's belief.

"Handsome men can't be evil."

And Max was Lily's opposite.

He believed all handsome men are evil.

So evil, they'll take away his little sister.

That's why Max was very hostile toward Neel.

Meanwhile, On Neel's side, Lily hugging one of his arms and she was asking silly questions again and again.

Like what Neel name was and so on.

It wasn't that he didn't push Lily away.

It's just, the more he pushed her, the more she came closer.

She even pouted, saying he was heartless for pushing away a beautiful girl.

It was not that Neel did not like the feeling of beautiful girl hugging to him.

However, the more Lily came closer.

the more Neel felt he might die at any second.

Neel forehead was cover in sweat and he was helpless at this awkward one way conversation.

"Cough."

Max couldn't bear it anymore. He coughed and rushed to Neel.

He forcefully separated Lily from Neel's arm.

Lily had a playful nature and she resisted Max at first, but seeing his sharp gaze.

she reluctantly let go of Neel and pouted at Max.

Max ignored her, turned to Neel and asked plainly:

"Customer, what do you need?"

Neel felt relieved to finally separated from Lily.

But he was stunned. The same man who pulled Lily away was now speaking rudely.

From Max's tone, Neel clearly felt hostility.

Neel understood the meaning of Max.

If you have business, say it.

If not, get lost.

Neel raised his brow and stared at the yellow haired man.

From him, Neel felt a dangerous aura.

At First, Neel wanted to act arrogantly, after all, he was here to give Max a rare opportunity.

But he suppressed the urge.

"Cough… I'm here to do business."

"Oh? What business?" Max still didn't trust Neel.

"Why are you asking so many questions? Let's go to the second floor." Lily escaped form Max.

She hurriedly grabbed Neel arm and dragged him upstairs.

For Neel, walking from the first to the second floor was exhausting.

Lily again asked strange questions and Behind them, Max stared so intensely he could make hole in Neel's body.

At the table.

"Customer, what's your business." Max sneered and sitting with one leg crossed.

Neel pushed Lily away and took a seat at the table in front of Max,

He placed a bone dagger and a bone dagger refining method (written on animal skin) on the table.

Max narrowed his eyes and immediately recognized the bone dagger.

Bone daggers were quite common.

He had many in his shop.

Even so, he was surprised. This bone dagger seemed to have been made recently.

Max looked at Neel again from top to bottom.

A blacksmith?

No, his physique didn't look like one.

Could this be his master's work?

Before Max could ask.

"Huh?! Is that the bone dagger I sold to that gay?"

Lily interrupted Max with a loud shout.

Even though the bone dagger had been restored to its original state, it was still easy to recognize.

"Pffft." Max couldn't help laughing at Lily's sly comment.

Gay?

Me? A gay??

Neel was stunned.

He stood up and looked at Lily coldly.

"Miss, mind your language. I'm not a gay."

Lily was confused why this guy said he wasn't gay.

Could it be…

"You're that guy?!" Lily jumped in surprise.

Neel nodded and sat back at the table, snorting coldly.

Seeing Neel's cold expression, Lily felt flustered and embarrassed.

The room fell in silent and become awkward.