“On the first day, he didn’t do much, mostly just repairing the golem. I couldn’t get too close in case he detected my presence. Fortunately, he seemed oblivious to me. At least, we know it’s not his passive perception that is to blame for your discovery.”
“Maybe he’s not a monster in human skin?”
“Nah, he’s just good at hiding it. I’ll get him tomorrow for certain!”
“Mhm! Good luck! I know you can do it!”
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“Day two, he just polished the golem. Why would anyone polish rocks? Is he mentally all there? Is this a trick? Did I get discovered?”
“You are being paranoid…”
“You are right, he couldn’t have. I can understand he could detect you, but me? I’m so much better!”
“Hey!”
“I’ll not give up! Sooner or later he will slip and reveal his true nature. I just need to be patient…”
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“On day three he was… Chatting with the golem. It was all nonsense! Juberiah! He was speaking of hellish worlds without a drop of Qi, where people indulge in depravity all day while laying in bed, stuffing themselves full of… food for cattle. That’s the only thing it can be.”
“That sounds horrible!”
“It is! And listen to this, there supposedly even exist people who don’t eat meat! By choice! And they are miserable!”
“I would be too. What do they even eat?”
“Leaves I guess? And grass?”
“Eww, that sounds awful. Maybe he is not a monster but he certainly came from a horrible place.”
“Or maybe… This is all a distraction! A veil of lies and deceit. I’ll pierce through it and discover the truth, mark my words!”
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“Day four he was just meditating with the golem. And by that I mean he was meditating while the golem stood guard. I don’t know why, but that thing gives me the creeps. All stone and cold, like the rest of these damn statues!” Shadow slammed a glass of juice he just emptied on the table after spilling his heart out.
“It’s like he considers it his pet, or maybe a companion. It’s just a damn construct! It’s driving me- Are you even listening?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah.”
“You should really be resting. And why are you cleaning?”
Darkness, holding a duster, stopped in her actions and placed a finger on her chin, thinking. “Well, this place is pretty dirty. Who knows when it was the last time anyone tidied up in here? I thought if we are going to live here, at least we should make it look nice.”
“Yeah, but… You know what? You do whatever you want, and I’ll… I’ll… Yeah… I’ll be outside if you need me.”
“Okay!” Darkness beamed innocently, melting Shadow’s heart. He paused at the door and scratched the back of his head in frustration.
“You know… Now that we aren’t members of the Midnight Order anymore, the old rules don’t apply.”
“Yeah? What about it?” Darkness asked absentmindedly while wiping dust off old cabinets.
Shadow gritted his teeth as he struggled to express his thoughts, but eventually gave up. “It’s just that… Nevermind….” And he left the room, feeling frustrated.
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“Day five. He spent it all training with the golem. And by training, I meant wildly attacking it, yet stopping right before landing a blow. It has been like that the whole day. How does he have so much energy? He was using Qi the entire time, and a lot of it!”
“Maybe he has those Spirit Pills?”
“Spirit Pills? Why would anyone use them for training? They are super expensive!”
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“I don’t know… It’s just an idea.” Darkness smiled innocently.
“Hmm, you might be right. I need to look closer. I’ll be back later.”
“Hey, wait! You just came ba-”
But Shadow didn’t hear her and slammed the door behind him as he rushed out of the room.
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“Day six… He didn’t do much today, just cleaning the golem and meditating. Cultivating? Maybe, I don’t know, but it didn’t seem like he was. He could be just resting, I guess.”
“You seem so tense… How about you come here and let me give you a massage? You have been barely sleeping, you must be exhausted.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I need to be on top of my game here. I already lost enough time talking- Ah! He just went back, I need to be there!”
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“Day… seven? I think it’s day seven. I’m beat.”
“Anything interesting happened today?”
“No… He just slept today… without the golem.”
“Maybe you should take a rest too, you look terrible.”
“Sigh… Maybe you are right. I can barely keep my eyes open.”
Shadow collapsed on a bed and sighed as his body relaxed. His racing mind began slowing down and his breathing became peaceful. At almost the same time, the door of a nearby room slammed closed, and heavy steps echoed down the hallway, getting further and further away.
“What is he doing now?” Shadow grumbled.
“Looks like he changed his clothes. I think he’s going out…”
“God… damn it!” He got back up feeling like shit and merged with the shadows. “I’ll be back later.” He quickly left the room, leaving Darkness once again, alone.
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It was evening, the day before the summer solstice. I had spent the last week intricately testing my body to figure out and become familiar with all the changes Golden Core Realm brought me. Especially after the last fight, I realized I still knew too little.
All the gathered and assimilated memories helped, but every person was different, everyone was unique. There were similarities and general guides, but those only worked for about 80-90%. The last 10-20% had to be personally discovered.
After advancing, my body began growing a new organ. I knew it would happen, but it was slow and took weeks to show itself. A small sphere, at the moment no bigger than a pea, began growing in my chest. A special organ people here called Dantian, meaning the center of the body, or the person’s energy center. It was what stored the great part of my Qi.
While previously Qi was about equally spread through my entire body, after gaining the Dantian, it began gathering there.
However, there was a drastic difference between me and the other people. While Dantian should grow below the navel, mine was way higher up, in the middle of my chest, beside the heart. It was right in the middle of the main arteries and veins leading to it, fully encased from all sides by the blood vessels.
I did not know the meaning of this difference, nor its significance. It was normal for a person’s Dantian to shift to one side or the other, or be located a bit higher or lower, but I was not aware of anyone having it displaced so much.
All people I knew of, and all the records I have read said that the human Dantian was found exclusively in the stomach area. Even if the person has merged with another being, that should not change. The main base was still human.
Which brought up an interesting point. Was I just an exception, or was I not considered human anymore? I certainly looked human, I thought and spoke like one too. Apart from feeling better and stronger, with a clearer mind, I felt no different from how I did when I was still back on Earth.
In any case, I felt no discomfort, and its position didn’t bother me, so maybe it was fine? It was the center of my powers, so I decided not to mess with it. My Golden Meridians finally had something to anchor themselves to, and Qi began to naturally circulate through them, feeding them and growing them at an exponential rate.
Soon, meaning a few months or years, they would reach their full maturity and begin to strengthen in preparation for taking on Spirit Qi. But by then they would probably be already so strong, my Qi would not be able to advance them further and they would stagnate, which would be completely normal.
Once I gained the ability to produce Spirit Qi, they would experience another growth spurt, as they should, and evolve further. But that was for way later.
First I had to grow my Dantian and stock up on more Qi. There was never enough. Out in the wild, I needed more than the full 24 hours to completely replenish my stores, and the concentration of Base Qi in the environment would fall drastically when I did so. It was way better in the Core Sect where only a few short hours were needed, and there was no noticeable drop in density.
But that was still not enough for me to fight at my peak for hours on end. I was capable of short bursts of immense power, and even though I had tens of times more Qi than an average guy of the same realm, I also used a lot more.
That was the whole reason I could seemingly skip Layers and beat those higher on the ladder. Without Qi, I was still much better than the average guy, though the difference was nowhere near as extreme.
And if anyone thought I was going to slow down after reaching the Golden Core Realm, they were severely mistaken. I barely just stepped onto the Path of Cultivation. Golden Core was the true beginning. Now all those techniques and Martial Arts I had, could finally be used.
All those Souls of the dead Golden Core Cultivators brought me so many techniques, that I didn’t know where to start! Unfortunately, some of them were incomplete, or they lacked crucial information, as when copying them straight from a deceased person, mistakes snuck in. It is just something that happens when you don’t know what you don’t know.
But as I began to understand, I finally realized how much I didn’t know. So yeah, I needed some basic knowledge, preferably condensed and organized, so I could make sense of those things.
I did plan to visit the library for the Core Disciples, however, it was closed. I was at first confused, but then I noticed the festive atmosphere, and remembered it was about to be the summer solstice! It was time to party!