Aaron awoke staring at the evening sky, hedged by sheer stone walls, with the scent and sound of a crackling fire nearby. His mind felt clear for the first time in what…days? His body felt hale and hearty, allowing him to fully experience his newly enhanced form. He quickly dove into his internal space, looking over his network. His pathways seemed to be in perfect shape, holding up to the internal pressure with great ease. His vessel came with a great surprise; the center of his spiral now contained a seed of the neon yellow energy that had saved his life.

Aaron had only the fuzziest memories of the events of the fight with the beast. Flickering slivers of the frantic dodging; Defeating the beast, both its body and his own failing under his furious blows, and a barely half remembered image of a scruffy man approaching out of the trees.

He shot straight to his feet, searching for the stranger, only to see the man sitting upon a basic stool several yards away, across the fire. The scruffy man matched Aaron's half-clouded memories.

The man’s verdant green hair was choppy, as if it had been cut with a knife, and pulled back into a basic, no-nonsense ponytail. Slate gray eyes peered curiously at Aaron from across the fire. The man wore simple clothes of natural fibers under armor made of thick plates of stiff leather, with slight gaps at the joints. He could see the man’s vessel glowing through his clothing, as well as the energy flowing through his pathways. Seeing him up, the man began to speak in an foreign language.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, sorry mate.” Aaron said, watching the man frown in confusion as he spoke.

Aaron sat to consider the issue as the scruffy man continued muttering to himself in that foreign language. He suddenly remembered that there was a single book in the temple’s underground library that appeared to be written, at least partially, in English. He quickly rifled through the book stacks in his spatial ring, searching for that specific tome.

Spotting the strange book at last, Aaron retrieved it from his spatial ring. He looked at the cover, which simply read “native translation guide” in handwritten English. A message was written in the foreign language directly above it, presumably the same title in both languages. The pages were clearly a translation dictionary between the two languages, including pronunciation guides for both. Between two of the pages rested an almost paper thin slice of yellow stone, jade perhaps, carved with several foreign characters and glowing with energy. Curious, Aaron touched a thread of energy to a symbol in the bottom left corner.

He then immediately lost control of his limbs and fell over as his mind was flooded with new information. His mind suddenly contained the entire ruleset for the grammar and syntax of the previously foreign language, known as rindan. He also now has a massive lexicon of tens of thousands of words in rindan. The way they are written, pronounced, and typically used, and most importantly of all, what they meant.

Aaron came back into control of his body to see the scruffy stranger standing over him with eyes filled with a mixture of concern and confusion.

“Are you alright, stranger?” the man muttered.

“Yes, thank you. I just activated a jade tablet to learn your language.” Aaron spoke as he stretched his muscles to remove the ache from totally locking up.

“Interesting, I've never heard of such a tablet. Nor have I ever met anyone who would need it.” The man said, curiosity becoming the chief emotion in his gaze.

“I presume then that all people on this world, or at least in this land, speak this language.” Aaron hauled himself to his feet as he spoke.

“Yes, everyone I have ever met spoke it. you however, speak as if you are not from here?” The man’s curiosity was clearly growing as he pulled out a second stool before returning to his own seat.

“I am not. I came here by way of a teleportation array inside this forest.” Aaron spoke as he settled onto the stool and pulled some food from his spatial ring.

“Fascinating, I have never met someone such as yourself.” the man muttered to himself before shooting up in shock. “My apologies, I am Deng Fang, mercenary and beast hunter.”

“Aaron Lannen” Aaron spoke between bites ” And before you ask, yes, that is a common enough name for the world I came from. Given name before family name.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Deng Fang’s eyes widened in surprise. “Your world must have a culture much different from my own.”

“You could certainly say that” Aaron said, laughing gently to himself as he considered his world compared to what he had seen of the one he now inhabited.

Aaron and Deng Fang spent the next several hours before dark fell conversing about the differences between their respective worlds. Deng Fang could not imagine a world with no cultivators, such individuals being so central to his own culture. The man marveled at the concept of a world where no beasts posed a meaningful threat to anything other than an unarmed individual. Despite several hours, Aaron still could not convince the man of the existence of things such as planes, cars, or phones. The conversation was light hearted and of great interest to both men.

Aaron awoke the next morning to the distant sounds of birds in the trees and beasts moving amongst the trees. He got up, stretched, changed, and stored his mattress. He then turned to see Deng Fang sitting beside the fire, cooking something inside a heavy iron pot. When asked, the mercenary explained that the pot contained a sort of rice porridge that sounded similar to congee. The meal took another half hour to cook, during which time sunlight began to crest over the rock walls surrounding them. The two men sat down to eat as the light grew stronger.

Deng Fang spoke “It occurred to me this morning from your stories that you likely have no knowledge of the progression of an cultivator”

“You would be correct, I have been stumbling around in the dark with no idea where the path leads.” Aaron said, staring into his bowl.

“Then allow me to guide you as well as I can, for I am no great cultivator myself.” Deng Fang said in a gentle voice.

The mercenary then went on into an explanation of the realms of cultivation.

First was Awakening, also known as Meridian Cleansing. This was the stage in which the cultivator used essence flowing in their open meridians to open their remaining sealed meridians. Most individuals in this world started with between one and five open meridians, thus indicating their talent. They then had to slowly grind away the blockages in their remaining closed meridians. This realm had six stages, each representative of two open meridians.

Next was Body Tempering, wherein the cultivator used essence to drive impurities out of their bodies. This process made them both stronger, enhancing their bodies, and healthier, extending their lives and preventing diseases. This level also saw the cultivators body filled with essence, increasing their physical compatibility with essence. This meant that the cultivator could draw on more essence at one time, allowing for the usage of more powerful techniques. This realm also had six stages; Skin Tempering, Muscle Strengthening, Organ Reinforcement, Blood Thickening, Bone Condensing, and Marrow Cleansing. Deng Fang said that Aaron appeared to be in the beginning stage of this realm.

Then came Essence Harmonization, where the cultivator reshaped their mind to be more perceptive of and mentally compatible with essence. It also saw the cultivators mind bound to their body, giving them conscious control over many of their bodily functions. This increases their ability to draw in essence from their surroundings. It also made it possible to perform techniques for manipulating external essence. The cultivator’s essence sight became available outside of meditation, allowing them to observe the cultivation base of others. This realm had ten stages, each representing ten percent closer to total harmony with essence. Essence sight became available after the completion of the fifth stage.

Next was Nascent Soul, wherein the soul was located and grown through providing essence, then bound to the mind and body. This brought all of the portions of the cultivator’s being into connection and harmony. In this realm the cultivator can add their soul energy into techniques, giving them greater power. The soul can also be used to directly attack the soul of another, or defend against such an attack. This was also the realm where the blossoming of the soul gave the cultivator full access to their element. This realm also has ten stages, each defined by the strength of the cultivator's soul. Some individuals were born with exceptionally powerful souls, giving them a head start in this realm

Then came Core Formation, where a cultivator forms an internal pocket dimension born of their fully connected self, known as a core. The core rests within the dantian, and can contain vastly more essence than the cultivator's body. This realm has twelve stages, defined by the amount of essence in the core. The core must then be compressed, forcing the essence into a liquid form known as qi, to reach the next realm.

This was as far as Deng Fang's knowledge extended, for he knew nothing more than legends of the realms that made use of qi. Deng Fang himself was only at the eighth stage of the Essence Harmonization. The explanation had carried on for several hours, the sun now high in the sky. The two men had not only finished their breakfast, but also lunch.

“Now I must inform you that your life in this world is not going to be fun.” Deng Fang said with sadness shining in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” Aaron said with a confused expression.

“This is a world ruled by the powerful, where only personal power truly earns respect. Most adults have a cultivation of at least Organ Reinforcement, whereas you are only at Skin Tempering. Others will see you as horrifically untalented, trash worthy only of contempt.” The sadness in the man’s eyes only deepened as Deng Fang spoke.

“I see…That does sound like it could be a problem” Aaron said, knowing deep down that he did not truly understand.

“It will be, more than you can know.” Deng Fang said. “Now then, I suppose we should now discuss returning to the nearest settlement, Silver Crest City.”