Arc was aware that five days would fly by as it wasn't that much time, actually funnily enough Iris came to inform him of the new departure date
As she didn't know Arc was not only aware but also knew why they were leaving earlier, Arc thanked her anyways and did not give away the fact that he already knew
With his preparation being complete he decided to spend this five day period cultivating and painting the formation flag
His motivation to paint the flag seemed to grow everyday because he knew unless something extreme happened this would be his lifelong weapon
He had already drawn a picture perfect immortal city but now he wanted to expland the world,
He pen moved swiftly towards the far south of the city, they sky seemed to have been split open
Endless red lights flooded in, almost as if the sky were bleeding; countless eyes could be seen from the bloody sky
Seemingly plotting against the city yet unable to make move, anger swelled within many of the eyes
While the others cried, for they suffered yet paradise was right before them
The creature the eyes belonged to seemed oblivious to the fact it had countless different expressions and feelings towards the city
Beneath the endless eyes Arc's pen flew drawing a large mouth that had rows upon rows of jagged teeth that seemed to rotate in a unnatural way
The creature knew only one thing, the endless hunger it felt as it's teeth rotated, as it drooled burning magma all around
It wanted nothing more than to devour everything in existence
Arc lifted his pen and a smile appeared on his face
'I'm getting better at this'
He mumbled to himself as he began to think of what he should draw next
"I could draw a guardian for the city, a form of scared beast would be pretty cool"
"Oh i have an idea"
Arc thought aloud as he began his most ambitious drawing yet
He would draw a dragon, not just any dragon but one containing the art dao principles that allow the painting to move
He would also add the flow of his cultivation technique within the dragon
In theory he would be able to summon a projection of the dragon in battle if done correctly
But it remains to be seen if he has the skill to do such a thing
The moment his pen touched the canvas it felt heavy, almost as if it weighted thousands of pounds
Arc's face immediately broke into a sweat as he realized just how difficult this would be
His mana flooded the pen as to forced it to move forwards, the drawing style he would be using for the dragon is reminiscent of his layered painting of himself
Arc had read countless books during his time in the library; he already had a fascination with dragons thus he had a great understanding of them so he believed this would be the best method to draw the dragon
Instead of drawing the whole thing at once he was spitting into the parts of the body
First the internal organs and the bones took form, large and dense then covered by thick layers of muscle and scales
These scales were black and seemed to have star's trapped within
As if it were not a dragon but a piece of the night sky
Large and power wings that seemed to eclipse the endless sun causing night to fall within the paintin
And a tail that struck the ground when it took flight, causing the ground to rumble
Arc remained steady as he continued to draw he found that what he originally considered a near endless amount of mana
Was dissipating quickly and he would soon run out, but this was the most important step of the painting
Drawing the flow and path of his cultivation technique within the dragon
If he were to stop now the painting would be completed and it would no longer be possible to add to it without causing it to collapse
Arc's eyes harden as he took a deep breath activating his technique,
what better way to mark it down than to force both himself and the dragon to use it
The moment he started it immediately cause the attention of Aurora who was home thus his "stunt" was in range of her divine senses
She looked over with surprised eyes before seeing something that could become a massive problem
The pen Arc was using couldn't handle the stress, it had began to shatter
Her mind rushed as she tried to come up with anyway she could help
Then it struck her, the cracks won't matter if he can finish before it breaks
The moment she had that realization she opened her spirit ring and brought out a large piece of the abyssal dragon horn
She threw it towards Arc's room where it smashed through the door and just as it was about to hit the painting it was caught by Arc
With a single glance Arc recognized the material and knew it's purpose, he squeezed it tight activating a technique that caused to to become a liquid
It had turned it into ink, his pen moved quickly spreading the ink into the dragon body, in the form of the flow of his cultivation technique
The horn that naturally had energy absorbing properties began to activate the technique by itself
Then Arc heard his pen cracking, he increased the energy output to the maximum as to complete it before the pen shattered completely
Just as he made the last stroke the pen exploded, Arc's face fell because he thought it had failed
But then he heard something, breathing?;
he looked down to find the dragon was breathing and moving throughout the painting
"It worked!"
Arc screamed out in joy laughing as he collapsed falling unconscious
When he awoke he began distinctly aware of two things immediately the first being that he could sense the formation flag even without his divine sense
Something that is only supposed to be possible for natal weapons, and the second thing he was made aware of was that the dragon made a mess of things in his room
A palm sized dragon was bouncing and flying around seemingly interested in everything around it
Arc was somewhat surprised but after thinking about it, it made sense if he painted it normally it would require his energy to leave the painting
But after using the dragon horn and having his cultivation art ingrained into it body, it could cultivate and absorb energy on its own
Though it's not very much energy, it would need many years before he could go to battle without Arc fueling it
Upon seeing Arc awoke it jumped onto his head and started rubbing its head on his cheeks
Seemingly understanding that Arc was it's master and creator,
Arc took a deep look at the dragon and found deep within it what appeared to be a incomplete soul
He had nearly created a spirit weapon, but he is not disappointed as the dragon seemed inquisitive and creative
It was only a matter of time when it's soul is complete and the flag becomes a spirit weapon
Arc though for a moment before placing his finger of its little head, the dragon while not understanding didn't resist
Then before it could realize, Arc had used his soul's speaking abilities and his connection to the dragon to upload the languages spoken in this world to the dragon's mind
It little eyes opened wide as it realized what words mean and that he can speak
It hadn't considered either of those possibilities as it was still very simple minded
"Wow, wow, ban, banning, freezing,"
The dragon was so excited it just started saying words randomly without any rhyme or rhythm
Suddenly Arc heard laughter coming behind him,
Arc turned to see Aurora standing in the hallway looking at him and the small dragon through the hole in the door
Seeing Aurora Arc immediately began saying his thanks for the help she had given him but before he could get a world off she spoke
"Don't thank me, this is what i'm supposed to do for my love when he is in distress"
Arc's face turned red as a smile formed he went forward and kissed Aurora
She smiled and patted his head before returning to her work, as they would soon be departing
What neither of them knew in the far depths of the astral plane a roar that shook space began to form.
a large black scaled dragon missing one of it's horns began flying toward the realm in which Arc was in,
This dragon while she didn't know what she sensed but it no doubt held a connection to her, realizing this she felt anger and shame
Understanding this had to do with the mere human trash who severed her horn before running away
She grinded her teeth as she flew faster, nothing would stop her fury, she was the mighty Xuanyin no one had dared to disrespect her for eons
Xuanyin was extremely far, and she had no real way of knowing how long it would take because unlike Luton she wasn't capable of teleportation magic
She roared out causing all the creatures in the astral to retreat in fear
"YOU MERE MORTAL, YOU HUMAN TRASH, WHEN I GET MY CLAWS ON YOU, YOUR A DEAD MAN"
Arc seeing the door to his room was broken went to find a disciple to fix it, as he didn't feel like doing it
After descending down to the third peak he walked to the mission's board and place one
[My door broke, someone go up to first peak and fix it at your earliest convenience
The room in within the house of grand elder Aurora
Reward 100 spirit stones]
He put a decent size reward due to the fact that he wanted this done quickly and he has a fairly steady income
though he was considering writing a comic book now that his drawing had reached such an advanced level, well that's a thought for the future
After posting the mission he gave the reward to elder in charge of the missions
So that whenever it is completed, they can pick up the spirit stones, even if he's not currently within the sect or on the first peak
With that being completed Arc thought to himself for a while before muttering
"I should talk to the old man before i go"
After speaking he had made up his mind and started heading towards the library
The library turned towards Arc and just as he was about to speak he seemed to have noticed something causing his words to twist
" Brat- wait what, what the hell how did you get that"
Arc didn't realize what the librarian was talking about at first but then he remembered that he has special eyes
So he mostly saw the dragon that was hiding in his robes as it didn't want to go into Arc's storage ring with the rest of the flag because it found it boring
Arc smiled slightly before pulling the dragon out of his robe, the dragon was very excited as it was getting bored of being hidden
The dragon looked towards the librarian and spoke
"Hi, i smell something good, do you have anything tasty"
The librarian seemed somewhat stunned before looking down at the chicken sandwich he had been eating he then spoke
"Uh go ahead i guess"
The dragon flew quickly onto the table and began taking bites of the chicken
Arc laughed lightly before speaking
" do you like my new painting"
"Dogshit, no way in hell is that a painting i see a real draconic bloodline within its body"
The librarian said not trusting Arc's words
"Ha you old fart naturally it has a real bloodline since it was drawn using the horn of a nascent soul cultivation dragon"
"Then i added a modified dragon cultivation technique into its body so it cultivates with that method instinctively"
Arc explained without going to deep into detail as he knew the librarian could infer the rest due to his unique abilities and wisdom
The librarian looked down towards the dragon as he spoke to Arc
"The only thing that held you back from completing it was your realm, had you been a golden core this would've become a spirit weapon"
" you would have been a third order painter, your realm is holding your back so you're probably only semi second order"
"The dragon horn closed the gap between semi second order and third order allowing you to complete the physical form"
"Your part is complete now it is up to the dragon to complete its own soul, so raise it well brat"
The "orders" the old man was Referring to is now crafting professionals are graded
First order is capable of making equipment for foundation establishment,
second order would be golden core equipment, and third order is nascent soul equipment
Arc's formation flag is currently sitting between the second and third order
Though of course had the dragon horn never arrived, the formation flag would only have been between first order and second order
Using rare materials can naturally increase the order of what your working on, of course it would also increase the difficulty significantly
Arc was only able to use the horn as he had worked with it previously so he already had a decent understanding of how it would react when being used
Arc nodded before saying
"It would need to absorb energy around it, since i engraved my technique into it the dragon now knows how to cultivate, i just have to guide it on its practice"
The dragon who had finished the food had just been silently watching their conversation interjected looking at Arc
"Dad i will do good"
The librarian broke into a laughter upon hearing the dragon address Archean of all people as that
Arc responded
"while technically true, i'm too young for that so just call me Archean or Arc"
The dragon nodded his head before asking
"Why Archean? Why Arc?, what does that mean?"
"Its my name"
Arc responded calmly
"Name….. I want a name!"
The dragon muttered seemingly remembering the meaning of the word before screaming out excitedly
"How does Ink-star sound?"
Arc asked seemingly proud of the name
"I want a cooler name, how about Great Sage Sovereign Ink-star"
The dragon said pridefully
This brought a slight smile to Arc and the librarian as they realized that even a painting of a dragon has pride engraved into its subconscious
"Yes that's a good name, we will call you for ink-star for short"
Arc said which caused the dragon to fly up happily before perching on his head
The dragon was not yet aware how this would be a memory he would cringe at in the far future
After chatting a little longer with the librarian, day began to descend into night
Thus Arc made his way up the mountain where he would cultivate and wait until the departure time
While on the way he saw Mia flying in circles with the boat he had given her seemingly having a blast
Upon seeing Arc she stopped and flew toward him,
"Hey Arc, did you get selected to go to the party, they didn't invite me"
Mia spoke enthusiastically while then sounding dejected
She didn't seem to realize that this "party" could very much start a continental war
"Yes i will be going"
Arc responded
They continued to chat as Arc walked towards the first peak once they arrived Mia said her goodbyes and took off to the sky
Arc began to wonder if it was a bad idea to give her the flying boat, he shook his head and thought that it should be fine
If there was a problem Aurora would just take it from her, and ground her well more accurately put her in closed door cultivation but to Mia they might as well be the same thing
When he arrived to his room he saw that the door had already been replaced, seems his high reward had managed to get the job down
After taking a set he pulled out for formation flag and instructed ink-star to return, ink-star who was very tired from the day compiled while yawning
Arc didn't put the flag away though he placed it across his lap as he sat and began cultivating, since the flag had the same technique
This would essentially double his cultivation speed and help ink-star advance as well
After cultivating for a few hours he heard a knock at the door, when he got up to open the door he was surprised to see that it was the sect leader
The leader put his finger over his mouth signifying to Arc not to speak as he closed the door behind him
After closing the door the sect master scanned the area with his divine senses to confirm whether anyone was around
Thankfully at this moment the dragon had returned to its painting saving Arc from having to explain the whole story again
The sect master began speaking
"The black crow valley sect was once their blood demon faction, the black mountain sect was once their ghost cultivator faction"
"This was of course thousands of years ago and the black mountain sect techniques have been replaced and further optimization leading to very few ghost cultivator's within the sect in the modern day"
"The reason i bring this up is because both our sects were branches of the central continent demon sect"
"They may try to buy or recruit you and the other disciples, me and Aurora will be busy with negotiations with their sect leaders"
"So i need you to remain alert and prevent any of the other disciples from being bought"
Arc nodded before asking
"Why tell me this? Why do you trust me not to turn as well?
A sly smile appears on the sect master's face as he spoke
"I know that you are hopelessly in love with Aurora"
Arc froze like a deer in headlights as the sect master continued to speak
"That little girl couldn't possibly keep a secret from me, she's my niece, and I raised her for her entire life"
" she's an adult and can make a decision on who she wants to be with, so if you believe I'm here to interfere that is not why"
" I'm just proving to you that your loyalty can not be changed so easily, making you the perfect candidate for this"
Arc found himself stunned only able to nod at the sect master's words, after receiving his confirmation the sect master departed