"Well that worked better than I expected..." Viktor said,
"Better? That's better!?" Elga growled in his ear.
The duo was in an underground cave made Viktor, the dark-skinned boy had dug thousands of meters under the sand, basically resolving their safety issue, for a little while at least. Another issue arose however...
"If you wanted a hug that much, you could asked!" Elga tried to push the tall boy away but she couldn't even fully extend her arms.
"Sorry, I can try to expand a lil bit more but... I don't know if the cave will remain stable enough..." Viktor explained, trying to expand so they could at least stand straight. The walls trembled, receding a whopping ten centimeters away.
"... At least we won't be disturbed, right?" Elga said with a malicious grin, she held her breath in, trying her hardest to see the brighter side of the situation.
"We should be, yeah." Viktor nodded. He could see Elga's grin clearly despite the lack of light, and no part of him wanted to anger her at the moment. "Ahem...Let's not prolong our stay here." He said after clearing his throat. Since there wasn't much space, they'd be sitting in front of the other while they cultivated.
Elga pulled the core out of her ring while sitting with her legs crossed, placing it in front of her. Viktor also sat, doing his best not to be too much on Elga, which he wasn't doing a particularly good job, he could feel her breath on his arms but he closed his eyes and focused on the core. Brownish-gold energy flowed out of it and into his chest, more specifically his Crest. Elga drew on the pure black energy of the core, guiding to her back.
Each main paths has specific priorities when it comes to cultivation in the early Levels. For those walking the Path Of Résilience—the ones known for being able to receive lots of punishment—they started by reinforcing their flesh, amplifying their ability to absorb and/or disperse the force of attacks both physical and elementals. Muscles and organs would be carefully filled with the corresponding elemental energy while slowly altering their structure down to the molecular level, making more durable and more resilient.
The process was known to take a lot of time and concentration as every bits of flesh had to be layered in energy equally. It could take weeks or months to complete, granted one had enough resources to do it all in one go, but Elga and Viktor's case was going to take far longer because the core had two elements engraved into it, sand and darkness. Rushing this step would be one great to stunt one's growth in the future, so unless the situation demanded it, they had to spend as much time as necessary.
Since The Path Of Résilience focused primarily on making the body even more durable, the focus was on the flesh, which included muscles and organs, then next came the blood vessels, the bones the nerves and then the brain. When all of the body had been dipped in elemental energy, the Foundational Stage will be complete. That stage was the most important for any cultivator as it served as the framework for any technique they would learn in the future but also served for the secondary paths but it is too early to discuss this topic.
...
On the last day of the third month inside the underground cave, Viktor's body released a violent burst of Earth energy, almost similar to what Elga had on the starship but his carried far more impact, so much so that the redhead opened on eye to see what was happening. The translucent plates of armor that covered his arms fully materialized, briefly shining white and gold.
She smirked, closing her eyes. She might have a bit of advance but she wouldn't fall behind now that he had caught up.
...
Elga finally opened her eyes, on her upper body was a translucent whitish cloth. She had spent her time on constructing the outline of her next piece of Sphère D'armure. She stood up, stretched and looked around. The cave was significantly larger than she remembered, but she already knew why. A bit further away, Viktor was practicing, throwing all forms of punches and kicks.
He stopped the moment he heard the redhead approaching. "Oh hello there," He couldn't help but notice that something had changed but he couldn't tell without any light. "I see you made good progress."
The redhead huffed while crossing her arms, "And I could say the same about you, congrats for the Level up."
"Thanks," He replied and bowed. "That should make things easier once we go back to the surface."
"Did you go through too much of your resources while I was meditating?"
"No, actually. The Level up helped me with my energy usage and consumption, I barely ate anything at all and I feel like I can go on for another month before I need to." Viktor explained, clutching his fist.
"Heh, the benefits of cultivation." Elga remarked, "I wish I go to the part where I didn't require sleep anymore though, that'd save so much time."
Viktor chuckled, "Patience, we'll get there. We should go back up now that you're done."
"Alright then but before that, let me ask you a question or two." Elga declared with a mischievous smile.
Though Viktor couldn't see like she did, he could tell she had something in mind. "... Go on." He authorized, partially on guard.
"How long have we been down here?"
"Oh, five months. Six soon." Viktor replied frankly, somewhat surprised the mundane question.
"Hm, I see. You recently expanded the cave?"
"... No, I did that some time ago."
"Oh? So why did you stay so close to me then?" She asked, her smile widening.
"What? Where does that come from?" Viktor asked back, confused.
"You heard me. We were basically one breath away from each other, you could have taken some distance when you expanded, but you didn't."
"... No particular reason. I was trying to maximize my energy intake, that's all." He replied, turning away.
"Are you lying to me? Taking one step away wouldn't have changed much, you know?" She explained, slowly walking toward him.
"There's no particular reason, I tell you." He pushed back but the redhead wasn't buying it.
"Awfully quick reply," She replied teasingly. "Relax, I'm just teasing ya!" Elga took a step back while waving her hand.
"... That's not funny."