I woke up in the darkness, around me there was nothing but emptiness. I was human again but I didn’t have time to marvel at it.
Two figures appeared, at the beginning, they were quite blurry but they slowly gained definition. The first becomes a man and a woman in their half twenties and the second becomes a bear.
The man said: ”I never wanted you. You are the reason I left”.
The woman: ”I never loved you, you are the reason for my death.”
In the end, the bear said: “Free yourself from your human shackles, become the beast you are outside. You will gain unimaginable strength.”
(I) “Father, mother? No, I didn’t want it. I didn’t want you to go away, I didn’t want you to die!”
(Man and woman) “and what do you want?”
(I) “I wanted for us to be a family”
(Bear) “ Then come and be one with us and let me take care of the situation.”
I started walking towards them.
(Man and woman) “Be with your true family”
(I) “Yes.”
I reached for them.
(I) “Wait…”
I stepped back
(I) “ I already had a true family. Grandma and grandpa raised me. And I will never be one with someone that proves disgust for me or someone that hates me.”
“Besides now that I can think it through, father, you should be far older than this. And I know from grandma that mother had the opportunity to stop the operation but chose instead to go through even knowing that she would die. There is no way she would hate me.”
(Bear) “You are too weak, the fight with the python demonstrates it. Join us and we will give you the power that you seek.”
(I) “Who doesn’t start weak? And I will attain my power by myself, without losing my humanity in the process.”
The figures cracked.
“So be gone whatever you are. Because I am no longer Max Paw but Kuma Zhao and I will forge my path without losing myself.”
The figures shattered like broken glass and with them gone the darkness also disappeared.
I found myself in front of my mind lake. But unlike before the water was clear and I could see the bottom.
It was the presence of the two heart demons that kept the lake polluted not be found. Now that the lake is clear they will be immediately spotted.
[User with access to the system has defeated more than one heart demon: title clear heart achieved]
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I decided to look at my status panel.
Name:
Kuma Zhao
Race:
Prodigious Ursus Arctos
CULTIVATION
Qi
1st layer Qi gathering realm
Mental
Early 1st stage Spirit Sense realm
Physical
8th layer Skin refinement realm
SKILLS
Spirit Sense (Lv 1) - Clear mind lake (Lv 8) - Bear combat style(Lv 1) - Qi infusion(Lv 6)
Titles
Genius - Clear Heart
I finally noticed that my physical cultivation has somehow increased quite a lot.
My Mind Lake has also ranked up to Clear Mind Lake and leveled up directly to Lv 8.
Finally, I looked up my title clear heart:
Clear Heart
Given to those connected to the system that defeated more than one heart demon at the same time. Gives access to the inventory: a storage space linked directly to your soul ( it’s your soul, pay attention to what you put inside)
I couldn’t help but dance a little.
‘An inventory fuck yeah. With it, I won’t have problems taking stuff around as a bear’
After collecting myself it was time to rethink my next course of action. The battle with the python has revealed one critical point: my lack of combat experience.
And now that I think of it I have the perfect solution to that. Now, with the increase of the skin’s endurance, I no longer fear the python attacks as long as I don't let myself be entangled again.
So I will battle the python every day and then meditate on my errors until I can overpower him without the use of qi.
And so I did.
2 months later
I agilely dodge the attacks from the head and the tail of the python while keeping my movements to the minimum and craftily hitting lightly the serpent's weak points.
“Finally is time to end it”
With a quick attack, I bit the neck of the snake just under its head with qi-enhanced teeth, decapitating it.
It took me less time than I expected to go from totally unmatched against it, to overwhelming the python. It is because of the clear mind lake that I now have a clear mind at all times and I can think further and faster.
In these 2 months, I haven't been neglecting my cultivation.
Name:
Kuma Zhao
Race:
Prodigious Ursus Arctos
CULTIVATION
Qi
2nd layer Qi gathering realm
Mental
Early 1st stage Spirit Sense realm
Physical
Peak 9th layer Skin refinement realm
My qi level has finally reached the 2nd level, but, most importantly, my physical cultivation has reached the peak of the skin refinement realm.
It was thanks to the hits of the python that helped to refine my skin: add the fact that there weren't the heart demons to steal my progress and you have my situation.