By the end of the day, William's Soul Strength had increased to a flat 700, having increased by a whole one hundred points since absorbing the Soul Stones.
He looked around the courtyard to see there were still well over a thousand Cultivators whose souls hadn't been absorbed, understanding why Riyald would rather use this method of Soul Cultivation compared to others.
William's Humanity dropped by a total of fifteen points, down to 83. He didn't notice much difference compared to before, but it was obvious from an outside perspective. William looked at the bodies of the Cultivators with less pity over time, more focused on the benefits of Soul Cultivation than with their well-being.
While he still properly disposed of their bodies after he was done with them to clean up the courtyard, William felt of it as more of a chore than anything else.
Riyald looked at William with a slight smile, "How is your progress, Disciple William?"
"It's a slight improvement, Master. How about you?" William asked.
"Not bad. There are quite a few more consciousnesses here than there were in previous years. If this can happen a few dozen more times, I may be able to Ascend!"
William suddenly thought of something, "Master, why haven't you killed the Cultivators that entered the Ruins before? Why are you asking me to do this personally when you are clearly more capable?"
Hearing William's question, Riyald became slightly flustered. "This..."
"What is it?"
"I wasn't going to mention this to you yet, but it's all about karma."
"Karma?"
"When you reach the Soul Formation Realm and above, karma has a big impact on your future. When you kill a Cultivator, a thread of karma is attached between you and whoever that Cultivator is connected to. If you kill enough people or cause enough trouble, the connections deepen, and you find yourself always on the run from authorities or the families of said Cultivator."
William was even more confused when he looked back at Riyald, "In that case, why are you using a Forbidden Technique? Isn't that also considered bad karma?"
"They're already dead, their threads of karma have already been severed." Riyald answered bluntly.
William nodded, "What about me, then? If I killed all these people, aren't I already at risk of being targeted?"
"Naturally, but that's not a problem as long as you remain here with me."
I'm not going to stay here forever, though...and neither are you. William complained inwardly, but didn't refute Riyald's words.
His strength had already entered the Soul Formation Realm, just one step away from Tribulation Transcendence. The number of enemies that could hurt him right now were decreasing quickly, so all William needed to worry about was rapidly increasing his strength before they arrived.
Riyald pulled out a few Portal Stones from his Space Ring and handed them to William. He reached into a second Space Ring, retrieving a hundred small blue stones that looked exactly like the Portal Stones but with no Arrays inscribed on them.
"You have the Space Element, while I don't. Can you create a few hundred of these in your spare time and return them to me? I've been running low and you should be able to do this faster than I can."
William nodded after inspecting the Arrays. They weren't too complicated, only using Advanced Arrays, so this should be a simple matter for him. He stored the Portal Stones and blank blue stones in his Space Ring, then bade Riyald farewell while he returned to his room.
"Hey fucker, where have you been? I haven't sssseen you in four days."
"Atticus, watch your fucking language!" William yelled out to the snake that had slithered to the door as he opened it.
I didn't teach him that, where did he learn to talk this way?
The System was surprisingly silent this time, but William felt it was judging him. He didn't bother with the snake anymore and set out a pre-made omelette then sat on his bed to Cultivate.
His eyebrows twitched at the sound of chomping noises while Atticus ate his food loudly.
"Atticus."
Chomp chomp.
"Atticus." William was beginning to lose his patience.
Chomp chomp slurrrrp.
"ATTICUS."
"Yes Massster?"
"Eat quieter."
"Ssssorry."
William returned to his Cultivation, absorbing the surrounding Mana and converting it into strands of Spirit Qi in a matter of minutes. This continued for the remainder of the night until William felt he had made enough progress for one day.
He used Wind Magic to clean the food scraps off the now-empty plate that Atticus ate from, then burned them to a crisp with Fire Magic while they were in the air.
With a sweep of Water Magic, William cleaned off the tables and chairs of his room, then conducted his usual personal hygiene routine before going to bed.