Ian ate slowly. The satisfying taste did much to soothe his frayed nerves.
The food was ordinary, but eating it now gave him a rare sense of peace.
After his meal, Ian didn't continue his research on contracts.
He went to the quiet room in the small building, took off his outer robe, and bared his upper body.
Beneath his skin, a jade-like radiance flowed faintly with each breath—a sign that his Furnace Body Tempering Skill had reached a certain depth.
But Ian could feel that since absorbing a large amount of high-quality Blood Essence, the progress of his Body Tempering Technique seemed to have hit a bottleneck.
The jade-like radiance was smooth and lustrous, but it struggled to undergo another qualitative change.
'A simple accumulation of 'quantity' doesn't seem to be enough anymore... I need some kind of 'catalyst,' or a deeper level of tempering.'
