Aaron carried the sack of metals out of the Town. It was relatively easy to find a deserted spot to jump over the moat. After that it was just quick leaps in the direction of the symbols to take him back to the Cultivator Prison. Entering the tunnels and the absolute darkness felt less oppressive after having braved the fourth floor. But it was still a rather long way into the depths of the Tower until he could see the light of the prison cells again. He nodded to all of the Cultivators that were awake and walked straight up to Mortag. He set the sack down and then started to remove all of the metal he had in his bag of holding, stacking metal bars on top of each other outside of the cell.

Mortag had been busy looking over the armor with his monocle, but looked up when he heard the clang of metal on metal.

"Where did ye get all of that?" he asked and blinked. "Wait how long were ye gone lad?"

"An hour maybe?" Aaron shrugged and set down the last metal on the floor.

"Did you find anything interesting in that pile of armor and weapons?"

"Plenty of interesting stuff, none useful." the small man said with a chuckle.

"Those metals you brought, now they are useful. Come on, we will have to transfer them in batches."

Aaron nodded and they went on the annoying task of stacking metals and ore into the box that connected the cell with the outside world and then emptying the box on Mortag's side. It took forever, was annoying and Aaron might have really been annoyed at it, if Mortag had not marveled over each new load of metals like Aaron had brought back his children instead of metals and ore.

"Ore, lad I have not seen ore in so long. Smelting will be difficult here, but not impossible. With this Iron here I can make something to help me. The purity of the metal I can smelt myself will be much better no doubt." Mortag said and clapped his hands in excitement. The man still wore his monocle but Aaron had no doubt he would have been capable of identifying every metal and ore without it. Inside of the cell stacks of metals grew until Aaron had delivered the full load of raw materials. Mortag stood proudly in front of it his hands at his hips as he started muttering.

"Copper and Tin for the bronze base, this bismuth and the ore there could make corundum if I add a little something..."

"Well, do you want any of the weapons of armor? Because if not, I will take them with me." Aaron said, interrupting the Artificer in his musings.

"Hm? Oh no, you can take em all. Some of the enchantments are broken, most are intact. You did put a very nice hole into that one armor piece, which makes it just scrap. Was that a Qi attack?" Mortag asked as he turned around and looked at Aaron with interest.

"The third heavenly Kata includes some Qi attacks, yes. I don't want to use them much before the foundation realm and as you can see I have still some way to go to get there. But in the end better less Qi than dead."

Mortag nodded.

"I know of the Artis clan's martial art. It is quite impressive. Do not neglect the fundamentals, even if you have access to fancy Qi attacks." he warned with a finger wag and Aaron nodded with a grin.

"I remember, you do not have to repeat yourself." he said and started to re-bundle the weapons and armor.

"You are young and you only have the Cultivation rank associated with kids. I worry for you is all. Progress, real progress is the most important. Do not chase temporary gains at the cost of permanent ones. But then again, the Tower is not a place for us in the first place. You have done well to come as far as you have."

"Thanks, I will break through to the next minor realm in a bit, do not worry. I plan to break through to the Foundation realm as soon as possible."

"Good, good. Now lets see if I can make you a cauldron. Yes, a cauldron that even Modestus will be jealous of." Mortag said with a deep chuckle and began to work. He took some iron bars, of which there were plenty and started to heat his forge.

Aaron left the man to it and shouldered the bundle of weapons and armor before he walked back out of the Cultivator Prison. While he leapt through the dark he thought about his next steps. He wanted to go back to the fifth floor as soon as possible. But the problem was that there was a fairly decent chance for the scout to spot him while he was going back up. There were only so many paths in the lower levels of the tower. Sure the second floor and the first had plenty of staircases up, but the third floor had a bottleneck at the top of the maelstrom. The fourth floor too might be a problem since there was only really one exit. So to be safe and make Mars plan work, he had to wait for the scout to come down first. Which was an annoying waste of Aaron's time.

So what could he do while he was stuck here on the first floor for a few days? Immediately he thought of food, a plethora of it and of the beautiful woman in the Velvet Delight. He remembered his night with Ella vividly and yearned to repeat it. The Town beckoned with all of its delights only civilization could provide and Aaron was tempted to indulge. The scout could not be here this soon, right?

But no, he needed to stay out of sight. Undoubtedly the scout would come to the red light district to seek help, so being at the district was not an option. Going back up up was not an option and so Aaron was stuck. He frowned and tried to think of a way out of this all the way until he reached his outpost. The construction was finished as far as Aaron could see and the construction site had shrunk considerably. There was a small mound that had a door and a tunnel leading downwards as well an empty fire place and a bunch of churned up earth. That was it. Aaron set down his bundle of enchanted arms and armor down and went to inspect the work.

The door in the mound of earth was open and everything was silent an empty inside. A very steep tunnel loomed in front of Aaron like a dark hole. Going down normally would be a chore and quite perilous without any handholds. The smooth walls and the sharp drop of 20 feet or more made this a really awkward entrance to attack through, which he approved of. Aaron let his senses spread and when he did not notice anyone nearby he dove down into the darkness.

Aaron arrived at the bottom and found to his pleasant surprise that they had installed magical lights that worked on a switch. It was surprising, but maybe the construction standards of the Tower were a bit skewed. On one hand there was no concrete or any machines to do the heavy lifting, but they did have enchantments that created infinite light sources. The light did not flicker, it flooded the entrance at the bottom of the tunnel in an instant. It was a thick oak wood door and there was little space from the door to the tunnel. Barely enough to stand. Another thing Aaron approved of. The lights he activated on the bottom did illuminate the whole tunnel turning the darkness bright and almost clinical. To his surprise the door was locked. Aaron thought about lock-picking the door for a moment, but then he shrugged and jumped back out of the tunnel. With wind steps it was as easy to exit the tunnel as if it had been a straight path without any incline at all.

Iris would probably have the key and so Aaron settled down to wait at the nearby remains of the construction site. Aaron looked around and then started to do his own part of the construction. He walked into the forest and found himself a nice big expanse of moss, cut it out of the ground with his enchanted dagger until he had a thick carpet of moss a few feet wide. He then carried the moss over to the entrance of his new home and covered the backside of the mound the tunnel entrance was in, with moss instead of fresh dirt. He brought more and more moss and then went and looked for small bushes and young trees he could transplant to finish the cover of the entrance from this side.

Concealing a set position was something he had learned in the military, the unfamiliar flora he encountered in the Tower meant that he had to adapt though. It was not difficult with his enhanced strength and the plentiful plants of all sizes growing all around him. He was only halfway done with covering the back of the tunnel when he heard Iris voice and the skittering stomps of a big beetle. He paused in his work, rubbed off any dirt from his hands and walked over to the small road that had formed to his home.

Iris sat on the passengers seat of a carriage lugged around by a beetle and waved to him when she saw him waiting. A surly man guided the beetle and he barely looked around, just focused on the beast he had well in hand. Iris jumped off the carriage and Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"I see you brought some things, a whole carriage of things."

"Yes, the construction effort was finished and I thought I would deliver some of the necessities for your new home in the wilderness. Here these are the keys. I have another set if that is alright?"

"Sure, thank you. Were there any problems with the construction?" Aaron asked as they both pointedly avoided the subject of their last discussion.

"No, there should be a water reservoir on top of the...'root cellar.'" she said making air quotes and grinning at Aaron.

"It has a kitchen area with a chimney for any cooking you might do, but I have not gotten around to get any furniture. So since you plan on staying here..."she looked at Aaron with a question in her gaze and he nodded.

"Good, then you will need all of this stuff. A bed, a table, a few chairs, shelves you have to assemble yourself. As well as some basic stuff for cooking, pots and pans I already bought way back then as well as bedding, a nice mattress and the like. It almost did not all fit into the back of the cart."

Aaron walked with her to the back of the cart and raised his eyebrows when he spotted the amount of stuff in the back. Lots of wood, cushions and other things packed in jute sacks. Aaron could even smell some foodstuffs in a sack at the front.

"Well you certainly came prepared. This is perfect."

"Sadly since this was all a bit ad hoc, you will have to unload the cart yourself."

"No problem." Aaron said and grabbed the big table sitting on top of the furniture pile and lifted it without any issue off the pile and jumped back with it, floating from the back of the cart. The table floated with him, slowly moving to the ground as Aaron set the table down. Iris stared at him and then chuckled.

"You are pretty good at this, ever thought of a career in transportation?" she teased and Aaron chuckled.

"When I am done with this stuff, I will put the bundle of weapons in, can you open the door down below for me?"

"Certainly."

Aaron was busy over the next 15 minutes with unloading the cart. Most of the stuff was bulky and heavy, but Aaron defied physics with anything he touched included, which meant the table like him floated when he jumped with it even at an angle down the tunnel. So it was not really an issue. It was harder to get things through the doors honestly. His strength was enough that he had no issue to lug around any of the furniture and with Wind Steps moving even a bulky bed frame was as easy as carrying groceries. Iris did not just open the door for him when she had made her way down the perilous stairs very slowly and carefully, she also activated the magical lights inside and then when Aaron started to bring stuff down she moved it around.

The beetle and the driver stood aside watching curiously, but not too curiously. The man had a reaction when he saw how Aaron moved stuff around, but he was busy feeding his beetle logs of wood most of the time. He pointedly looked away from Aaron and any goings on. When Aaron got down the tunnel for the next time he asked Iris about it.

"So will the driver be a problem?"

"Hm? No, why would he?" Iris said while she placed some chairs around the table close to the kitchen. The giant underground room was cool, but not cold, much like a natural cave. There were a couple of separate rooms whose doors leading to them lined one wall, either meant as bedrooms or designated storage rooms. There were two tiled rooms, one clearly meant as an ice room as it already had some shelves and a fortified door that sealed the beyond tightly. It was not quite a fridge, but to Aaron's surprise when Iris showed him there were enchantments to keep things frozen in the shelves. The small enchantments running on ambient mana that was abundant in the Tower. The other tiled room was to no surprise the bathroom. The central room was large, expansive in size with the kitchen in one area and as Iris set the furniture a seating area right next to the kitchen. The room was not just vast in scope, but with 3 meter high ceilings it made it look very much like a cave that had been turned into a home. Which it technically was.

"I just don't want my nature or the location of this hideout of mine to be known by many people." Aaron said after looking over the finished 'root cellar'.

"Well constructing it required plenty of people to know where it is in the end. There is even a small cleared road leading here. Its unavoidable. But think of it like this: You are going to live a long time. In ten years if you let the forest recover the road and grow over the entrance, nobody will ever find it." Iris said, not looking at him when she talked about him living a long time.

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"True, thank you for doing all of this."

"It was a pleasure. Literally. I don't think I had this much fun in a long time. Ordering people around, spending so much money and being paid well on top of that. I...I really liked building this." she said as she placed a small vase with flowers on top of the table that she had set with a tablecloth.

"You do have a talent for logistics and I will need a lot of things in the future. I am glad to have you."

Iris turned around and smiled at the compliment, her face lighting up pleasantly, reminding Aaron that she was a really beautiful woman. But he squashed those thoughts quickly before they could take hold. Iris was beautiful, smart and knew a lot of his secrets, but especially with all of the Cultivation Question standing in between them, he did not want to complicate things any further. So he cleared his throat after they had looked at another for a few long moments.

"Could I ask you to buy some beast cores for me after you delivered the weapons and armor?"

"Of course, any preferences?" Iris asked and got a small notebook and a pen out of a pocket. Then she looked at Aaron attentively.

"No, cheap and plentiful." Aaron said and handed her a bunch of manastones. Most he had taken from the group from Ambition. "Here, to refill your stocks."

"I still have plenty of funds, but yeah beast cores are expensive. So I will take this. Anything else?"

"Not for now, I will stay here a few days. It will only take me two more times and I will have everything down here."

"Ok, I will have to ask around and if you want them cheap, it will take a few hours until I am back."

"Great, thank you so much." Aaron said and went back up to bring the rest of the stuff from the cart. Iris made her way back up the tunnel and he pushed the bundle of enchanted arms and armor on the back of the empty cart when he was done stowing away all of the supplies.

The cart driver put the harness back around the beetle and Iris hopped back on the passengers seat. Aaron waved them goodbye and then went back to work to disguise the outside of his new home when they were out of sight.

Two hours of work later Aaron had brought a few small trees and planted them around to make the small clearing that had been created less obvious. Bushes and a thorny thicket were placed in front of the door so that they concealed the main entrance, but left a way through the thicket. Then Aaron inspected the other entrances into his home. There were two more, just like he had wanted. The other two "entrances" were ventilation shafts that would allow air to travel and even had some enchanted fans to keep the air moving. Which was quite a nice touch, Aaron thought. The shafts were wide enough for him to move through, but it would be difficult for other people. For one there were no handholds, just smooth, hard packed dirt with stone paneling. It was like a brick chimney in many ways, just broad enough for Aaron to jump through from side to side.

Both exits had a metal grid on top and Aaron quickly found a way to disassemble the grates and turn them into doors, as well as make it able to easily remove the fans. When he had inspected and tested out the ventilation shafts that were at opposite ends of the big underground room, he then began to totally conceal the exits. He made sure to cover each of the metal grates with a believable amount of foliage and only when he was done with this did he return to the underground.

It was quiet down here, silent to a comfortable degree. The enchanted fans were the only sound in the room and besides that Aaron could hear worms crawl in the dirt beyond the walls and water gather in the reservoir above his new home. It was still extremely quiet compared to the noise of the forest. Maybe the silence would have made other people uncomfortable, but not Aaron. He liked this silence and he breathed in deep. The temperature was cool and Aaron inspected the stove Iris had installed. There was a normal stove for wood or charcoal with an exhaust and some manastone burners arranged like a fairly modern kitchen stove. There was a sink with running water, much to Aaron's delight and with his mana senses he sensed for the plumbing. The waste water would go in the ground almost a hundred meters away far below the surface, and the fresh water was gathered above in a water reservoir.

He did not really have a proper toilet, like the ones on Earth you would flush. Instead this one was basically a porcelain pot he could empty into the wastewater if he so wished. The flushing was a constant thing if the reservoir of water was full, but if it was not he would have to activate the kitchen sink or the shower to get the water flowing. Still this was way better than anything Aaron had had so far. He had grown used to not having anywhere pleasant to go while living in the wild. Not that his Cultivator metabolism required this bodily function of his often. He was still stocked with toilet paper and the bathroom had even a shower and a bathtub combo. It was quite sizable and the rim of the bathtub high enough to allow Aaron to sit up to his neck in the water if he wanted to. The kitchen also had stone tiles, but the rest of the big room and the side rooms had a wooden parquet floor. He could smell the wax and resin they had used to bring the wood to a shine and Aaron went ahead and brought his new bed into one of the side rooms. He was just about to make his bed when he heard Iris return.

His senses reached far beyond his new home, especially his hearing because it was so quiet down here. The sounds carried from above and he jumped out of the main entrance to save Iris the trip down the perilous stairs.

Iris looked surprised at the rapid change of scenery and looked at all the new plants, moss and thickets in wonder. She was alone this time and only carried a small bag with her.

"I see I was not the only one who was busy. I almost did not recognize I was at the right spot."

Aaron grinned and held out his hand.

"Thanks, how many cores did you get?"

"Just a dozen normal ones, mostly low quality with 5 bigger ones mixed in. Since you wanted them cheap I only bought the readily available ones with low enchantment potential." Iris said and handed the bag with beast cores over. Aaron opened them and was delighted to find a plethora of useful cores inside. They were mostly small cores from what Aaron guessed were Hyena equivalent monsters, but there were a few Wildcat level ones as well. None of the behemoth level ones, but Aaron had expected that.

"Excellent. Tell me when Mars has the scout. Then I can finally go back to hunting."

"Of course, anything else you want to order?" she said with a small smirk.

"No, thank you. Go take a few days off until Mars is ready."

Iris scoffed.

"Working for you is basically having time off all the time. Being busy was fun for a change. Not that I am complaining. Much."

"Well if you really want to do something, I am sure we can find some more furniture for my new home. I would appreciate that, although I doubt I will be using much of it any time soon."

"Is that an invitation to go shopping? Because I will take that if you offer it."

Aaron chuckled.

"Sure, just don't go over board. I don't mind a comfortable looking home, but I don't require it either."

"Nonsense, furniture is cheap, you are rich and powerful. I will find something nice. Thanks, that will keep me busy."

"Alright, unless you want to come in for…" he looked at the dimming sky. "Dinner?"

"Oh, err…" Iris looked tempted for a moment and eventually, surprisingly nodded.

"Sure, show me what you can do in your new kitchen."

"Alright, I will be right back, you go down already." Aaron said and then jumped into the nearby trees, making Iris flinch. He quickly scoured the forest for any deer and found a small herd only two kilometers away or so. He approached silently from above, flying quickly between trees and then dove down on the unsuspecting deer from above like a bird of pray. He killed the deer with one punch, which required some finesse considering he would obliterate the animal if he used his full strength. So this was good training. He brought the dead animal back, skinned it and butchered it relatively quickly a good distance away from his home. He brought a good chunk of meat with him and hung the rest up into the trees to bleed out.

Iris was waiting for him in his new home, clearly confused where he had gone. When Aaron arrived with a bunch of meat she was even more confused. Until she spotted the still very bloody meat and the blood covered hands of his. Aaron put the meat on a wooden cutting board and washed his hands in the sink. So useful.

"Did you just hunt for this? Or did you run into town?" Iris asked surprised as she looked at the cuts of meat on the board that looked to her like they came from a butcher. The cuts were precise and practiced.

"I hunted obviously. The rest of my catch is bleeding out outside. Hunting on this floor is truly trivial for me. Now lets see what we can do."

Iris let Aaron do all the work although she stood nearby and watched and commented on what he did. It was a good atmosphere, not quite a date, more a get together with friends or coworkers and that was just fine with Aaron.

At first he washed and seasoned the meat, marinating it in some spices before he went to chop some vegetables and try out the oven to bake some bread. Iris immediately cut in and offered to do the bread herself and Aaron, curious about her cooking, let her. He made a rather quick stir fry with meat strips. Wild game was tough meat, but it did taste quite similar to beef if treated right, so Aaron made a Tower version of beef and broccoli basically. Green vegetables and venison stir fry. The heat required to cook venison was quite different from beef Aaron imagined, but since he had almost exclusively cooked with meats like this, it came natural to him. His nose and sense of smell and taste played a major role as he cooked as always. He seared the meat just right, let the spices bloom and the sauce he conjured added enough flavor to make the meat just right. When he was done with the dish he went on to make a stew on the side he could eat later and some leftover steaks he fried as they were in a pan with butter and garlic.

When the bread was done Aaron had finished two dishes and had a stew that was not quite done yet, much to iris amazement.

"Who is going to eat all of this?!" she protested as she placed two big loafs on the table to cool down.

"I will." Aaron said with a grin and set the table. There was very limited cutlery available. Just a few metal plates and forks and knifes. The western style cutlery was more prevalent in the Tower, although some ate with chopsticks as well. Aaron settled down and began to eat, although he had to stop himself from eating too fast.

Iris tentatively put some meat and stir fry on her plate and thanked him for her meal before she bit into a fork full of steak. She moaned and her eyes widened.

"Oh lord, this is fantastic!" she exclaimed surprised.

"Its pretty good, but nothing to what Vessel cooks can do." Aaron said but Iris was not listening as she tried the stir fry and gasped.

"That is sooo good. Aaron you did not tell me you could cook!"

"And you did not tell me you could bake like this. This bread is awesome." Aaron said as he took a bite of fluffy soft bread with a nice crunchy crust. The bread had the scent of wood smoke and that only enhanced the flavor.

"Well I am from a Bakers family." she said with a shrug as if that explained everything. "This whole meal tastes good enough to be from a Vessel chef for sure!" she exclaimed.

"I had some practice." Aaron said and for a while they just ate in silence. Aaron ate a whole loaf of bread and most of the meat and stir fry and when he was done he helped himself to the stew that was bubbling on the stove. Iris stopped eating relatively soon and for the rest of the meal just watched Aaron with raised eyebrows.

"You can really eat. Have you starved yourself?"

"No, I just have a fast metabolism." Aaron said and emptied the table when he was done, putting the dishes into the sink.

"I have to say having a kitchen is a really nice change of pace."

"I can imagine. But I think this is quite a nice home, if a bit...chilly." Iris said.

Aaron shrugged and sat back down in front of Iris.

"Temperatures don't really matter to me as much as they would have in the past. I appreciate the silence though."

They both sat for a long moment listening to the silence in his new home only interrupted by the stew bubbling softly on the wood stove. The stove and the cooking had heated up the room a bit and Aaron did really think this temperature was just fine. Iris smiled at Aaron after the pause and stood up.

"Well, it was a great meal, thank you so much for inviting me."

"Any time."

"It is getting late. I will be back when the Scout has arrived."

"Great."

There was another long pause and Iris looked like she wanted to say something else, before she closed her mouth and waved. She turned around and walked out of his home, slowly climbing the stairs. Aaron looked after her for a moment and followed her progress up the stairs and down the path while he cleaned up from cooking. That had been...a bit awkward.

He was sure she had a lot of thoughts about her own position in the Tower, about her own life and Aaron did not want to pressure her in any way. Besides he had other things planned tonight. When he was done with the dishes he went over to his new bathroom and filled the bathtub.

The water was icy cold and Aaron did not mind. Still with the stove nearby Aaron had an idea. He jumped out of his home and gathered some big solid looking river rocks. He then heated the rocks on the stove until they were hot enough to cook on them. Then he carried them over to the bath and heated it up that way. Aaron stripped out of his new clothes and sat down in the bath. It was only warm, not hot, for that he would have to bring more stones or do a few runs. But it still felt really nice as he soaked in the warm water.

He washed himself thoroughly with soap and when he was done he cleaned himself up properly too. He cut his hair and shaved his beard, which he rarely did until he was clean shaven and looked quite different in the little bathroom mirror. It was just polished metal not a real mirror, but good enough for Aaron's purposes.

Aaron felt good after all that, like a new man and he slowly stretched before he sat down on the wooden floor next to the bathroom. He could feel the magic flowing through the earth all around him, felt it adjusting its currents to accommodate a new structure. But the mana felt thin compared to the fifth floor and Aaron was sure the mana concentration would go up considerably the higher he climbed. Slowly he calmed his mind before he reached into the sack with beast cores and started to cultivate.

His next goal was to cultivate here until he could break through to the next minor realm. He had to get used to the detox pills he should use before a breakthrough so that was a good opportunity. He had stagnated too long. Used too much Qi. He was determined not to use any Qi projection until he had progressed further. He was sure he could hunt on the fifth floor without much trouble just with the completed triplet enhanced by Intent. Killing behemoths was also on his list, just because their cores were so damn efficient. Getting 10% of his core or more from one well placed Qi blade was more than worth it after all.

Aaron let his thoughts fade into the background and his senses followed slowly, his comfort of sitting on the wooden floor and leaning against a wall fading last. When he was in the state of tranquility he started to absorb the beast cores one by one. His dantian was like a bottomless well, sucking in any Qi he offered it.

Any sense of time he had vanished as he focused only on this one task. His right palm with its one Meridian opened was where the energy of core after core vanished into. Each core fueling the cycle of Qi that was churning inside of him. Not having to cut his hand to do this was a really nice change of pace. Not that the pain had bothered him before. But the more he progressed the more his senses sharpened. Cutting himself would have disrupted his concentration quite a bit. But with beastcores none of that was the case and besides them being so much more potent, being able to focus for longer was a huge boon.

With each core his dantian filled a bit more. Aaron's whole world was guiding Qi, coaxing it into the cycling pattern of the fiend-god art. With each rotation he had more Qi to work with to guide the fresh energy that was not his. It was like a motor, an engine that created energy by condensing the mist like energy of the cores and fueling them into the centrifuge of his cycling pattern. Each core was slightly different, each core's potency varied, but his body mode up the difference. The fiend-god art turning the weak energy of the cores into real Qi and then condensing it in his cycling pattern until his dantian was finally almost full. In his home underground it was difficult to discern what time of day it was. But his ears told him that it was day at least from the chirping of birds. He had cultivated all night at least.

Aaron opened his eyes with a sigh. He felt weary after having focused for so long and so he went to bed. He was not physically tired at all, but keeping concentration for hours upon hours on end while containing his senses drained him. He rested on his new bed, so soft and comfortable it almost made Aaron uncomfortable. He was not used to beds anymore. Not really. But somehow after laying awake and feeling for his dantian for a while he managed to fall asleep. His intense cultivation session had brought him to 90% of the sixth minor realm. When he woke up he would break through to the seventh.

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