The old man who took in James turned out to be the Peak master of Enlightenment mountain.
The Drifting Clouds sect consists of 5 mountains. 4 of the mountain have a Peak master residing over it who is at the early Nascent soul realm at least. The 5th and main peak is where the Sect leader and Elders reside who are all Middle to late stage Nascent soul cultivators.
The 4 mountains outside the main peak are Enlightenment peak, Martial peak, Smithing peak and Alchemy peak.
The old cultivator's name is Master Faldor, the man his grandfather wished his father to deliver the token to. Many years ago, his grandfather saved Master Faldor's life in the wilds when he was seriously injured in a fight with a Nascent soul demon. After that, he was given a token with the promise to fulfill any 1 wish.
It seemed that Master Faldon had not yet completely healed from his injuries, making his fighting strength decline into the Core Formation realm. However, upon hearing that strong demons had been spotted in the area where he felt the pull of his token, he immediately set out to lead a number of sect disciples, hoping to return the favour of his savior back then. Though due to his declined strength, he was unable to hold all the demons back and allowed an innocent family of young cultivators to perish.
This is also why Faldor took it upon himself to register James in the sect as his second disciple.
Faldor carried him everywhere which has allowed James to learn a lot about not only the sect but this world in general.
This world has mana, which is a type of energy that permeates everything. The living beings of this world have adapted different ways of utilizing mana. For humans, they absorb it to grow stronger. These people are known as cultivators.
After completing the registration, Faldor went back to the Enlightenment peak. Floating towards his house, his other disciple Liz, the woman with red hair from earlier came before him.
"Master, if you need help with the child let me know. I'll go back to my house to continue my cultivation in the mean time."
She then flew away.
Faldor smiled and then flew towards his home.
Once he settled in, he went into a room with only a single cushion positioned on the floor and proceeded to meditate.
'It seems that I finally have some peaceful time to think about everything. First, I need to plan about what i'm going to do moving forward. Just acting like a baby for the next couple of years seems like a complete waste of time not to mention the boredom. Hmm maybe i should try to increase my cultivation, that way I might be able to escape on my own next time a demon comes to attack.'
Thinking this, James observed Faldon closely. He was meditating with his eyes closed on the cushion. Something seemed to ripple around him every few seconds but it was hard for James to see what it was. Concentrating harder on that faint ripple in the air, James suddenly heard a sound…
*Ding*
Cultivation technique detected.
Analyzing…
Extrapolating….
Complete.
*Ding*
The following cultivation technique has been added:
Cultivation technique - Cloud's Ascent
James saw the new notifications popping up from his system and was pleasantly surprised.
'It looks like my system is able to infer techniques if i concentrate on them hard enough. Though that makes me wonder, why didn't I learn that floating waterball spell or the giant fireball the demon used? Is it because only techniques can be learned this way? Or maybe it has to do with how complicated a technique or spell is? Hmm maybe i didn't concentrate hard enough on the spells? Whatever the case, there's too many unknowns for the time being.'
James then decided to see if anything changed in the system after learning the Cloud's Ascent cultivation technique.
'Open Profile'
*Ding*
Name: James
Race: Human
Soul: Undeveloped
Cultivation: None
Bloodline: Human
Stats
Physical: 0.01
Mental: 12
Spiritual: 0
Luck: 10
Techniques:
Cloud's Acent (Mana Gathering section) - (0/100)
Spells: None
Innate ability: System
'Hmm so a couple things have changed. The new technique was added but seems only the part that i could see which was about how to gather mana. The other change was "(0/100)" was added at the end. That might mean either I need to absorb 100 mana to increase my cultivation or I need to use the technique to gain experience and eventually master it. Let's try it out and see.'
James closed the system screen and focused his mind on only the Cloud's Ascent technique. All of a sudden, a rush of knowledge appeared in his mind explaining the process of absorbing the mana around him. The technique's name comes from the fact that the cultivator must visualize the mana as clouds and then pull those clouds into their body. The mana would then nourish and strengthen the cultivator, taking route in the body and slowly accumulate.
James closed his eyes, picturing small floating clouds drifting around him in the room. He then imagined those clouds moving towards him and entering his body.
After 10 minutes, James felt something gentle and warm rubbing against his tiny body. That feeling then spread to his insides, from his head down to his toes.
*Ding*
+ 1 mana
James opened his eyes and saw the notification. He then looked at Faldon and saw no changes so it seemed he had not noticed anything.
'Open profile'
*Ding*
Name: James
Race: Human
Soul: Undeveloped
Cultivation: Mortal (1/100)
Bloodline: Human
Stats
Physical: 0.01
Mental: 12
Spiritual: 0
Luck: 10
Techniques:
Cloud's Acent (Mana Gathering section) - (1/100)
Spells: None
Innate ability: System
'There are changes! So looks like my cultivation went from "None" to "Mortal" and i now have numbers to show progress next to it. Maybe in this world, everyone has at least a little mana within them so without having any, my cultivation wasn't even considered as the baseline for regular mortals.'