That was that. I guess I was most likely going to be a cart puller from then on. Me, Gerald Fireborn. I just smiled and shook my head at the absurdity. I was basically about to go from one of the most powerful people on Neloron to just a lowly servant out here. But that was fine. The experience and Souls I was about to get would be more than worth it.
“So, how did it go?”
[Oh, Chity!] Nearly forgot about the guy… It seemed he was waiting for me the entire time. What a great friend.
[What do you think?] I retorted with a question.
“Judging by your expression, I guess it went well. They really didn’t beat you up? Are you a part of their team now?” Did he really have so little fate in me? Was that the reason he stayed? To bring my sorry ass back home after they were done with me? I could just shake my head and pretend I haven't noticed.
[Haha, no, not quite. They still need to decide if they want me or not, but I should know the results in a few days.]
“Well, that’s good, I’m happy for you. What are you going to be doing if you join, if you don’t mind me asking?”
[I’ll be the cart puller. Don’t laugh, I’m serious!]
“Aha… I see… Hehe…”
I just rolled my eyes and pulled Chity by the sleeve away from the place. We couldn’t afford to stay around there any longer anyway and it was getting late.
[Let’s go. I’m hungry.]
“I heard the food is going to become even cheaper soon. Some people already began hunting around the Sect, and apparently, there are at least double the number of beasts roaming around.”
[Already? I thought it would be at least a few days more.]
Chitty shrugged. “While I waited for you, a pair of Inner Disciples went by, talking loudly, and apparently they had a good catch. Now I’m itching to go out and see if I can’t get something for myself.”
I shook my head. [I wouldn’t recommend it. At least not without a Senior Disciple as a guide. We are still too young to go alone.] I meant it. Even with all the great power I had, if I stumbled upon a Golden Core beast, even if it was one of the weakest ones, I would not survive. Heck, even if it was in the middle of Nascent Soul Realm, and it was a Wendigo, I would be dead. Those beasts were way too strong for their size or Realm.
But I guess that’s what happened when they consumed other creatures and had to battle constantly just to stay alive. Natural selection was a great motivator to grow stronger.
“Don’t worry, I’m not stupid. I just wish I could go, I’m not actually going to sneak out into the wilderness just for a bit of money.”
[Good. Then you have any plans for the work inside the Sect? Or are you going to just train as you have been?]
“Obviously I’m going to find an extra job I can do in the afternoon. Maybe processing beasts. I heard they will soon need more hands to keep up with the increased supply. I should be able to learn quite a bit there.”
I just nodded. It was a good choice. Heck, even I would do it for a bit if I didn’t already know how to take the beasts apart. Or maybe I should still take a course on extracting all the valuable body parts. I already knew how to skin an animal and chop it up nicely, but I knew some organs were useful in pill production.
I just didn’t know how to properly process them yet. Perhaps Chity could teach me after learning himself. That could work.
[Let’s get something to eat. Come, It’s on me.] I invited. I have fasted long enough, and there was barely any fat left on my body. Even if I looked good naked, it didn’t feel right. Not to mention that I needed to be much heavier if I wanted to make full use of my strength. That could either be achieved by wearing heavy armor, gravity manipulation, or by just simply gaining mass. And the simplest solution was often the best.
My friend grinned. “Oh, very generous!”
We entered a restaurant, and I ordered a plate of sausages. Yes, a plate. There were at least ten of them, nice fatty, crunchy sausages. I devoured them in a few short minutes while Chity just stared with a medium-sized steak still untouched on his plate.
“You seem hungry…” He commented quietly as I ordered another round.
[Hmm, oh yeah.] I took a big gulp of ale to wash the meat down. I didn’t actually feel that hungry at the beginning. But as soon as I bit into that succulent meat, my body began screaming for more. Like a thirsty man in a desert finally finding water. I just couldn’t stop. [I have a big appetite.]
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I cleared another plate, and my cheeks started to tingle as I felt as if my hearing became sharper and the colors more vibrant. Everything around me became so… alive. I felt great! Food was really the best medicine.
I released a satisfied burp and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of satiety. I really didn’t like fasting, but it was necessary. Hopefully, in a few more days, the impurities from the consumed Essence would be completely purged from my body. Though I had no way of measuring them, so that was more of just blind guesswork.
Apparently as one learned to see with magic, I think they called it Spirit Sense in broad terms, they would be able to detect these impurities. Kind of like the ones in the Soul. But, I don’t know… It seemed kinda hard to me. Especially since I didn’t know what a pristine body should look like. I could use my Magic eyes to look inward and examine my body, but…
Any ideas about what I should be looking for? Yeah, me neither.
Were the impurities on a micro-scale? Nanoscale? Were they supposed to be individual molecules or some larger blobs? I had no answer, which made this entire thing way harder than it had to be.
We left, and I soon found myself back home, alone.
[Hey, old ghost, are you there?]
Still no answer. I should have known. Whenever you need someone is exactly the time they disappear. He was already gone for a long time, who knows if he’s ever coming back. He could have completely died and I wouldn’t even know until I would start devouring his old Soul.
I decided to meditate to steady my nerves. It was the best thing I could do based on my circumstances. A bit of Cultivation also wouldn’t hurt. I had so many things to do at the same time, it was honestly a bit overwhelming.
I sat on my bed and began with a round of Awakening Breath. After a few deep breaths to steady my mind, I began pulling on Qi inside my flesh and blood, extracting it slowly. I then spun it around, making a thread as if making yarn out of wool. I then took that fragile thread and spun it again until it folded in on itself like a chain of protein and then coiled again and folded again…
Slowly this creation took on a geometric shape I couldn’t exactly describe. It was a 3D construct around which the remaining Qi thread wound itself until the entire thing resembled a sphere.
That was basically the Soul Essence that Souls would consume to grow.
However, as each Cultivation Technique was different, so would the constructs inside the sphere vary among individuals. Another thing that was different, was that depending on the amount of Qi a person had at his disposal, the quality of Soul Essence would fluctuate. The longer the string they could make, the better results they would get. Also, the thickness of the string mattered a lot for stability.
Since the first time I truly saw Qi, it always appeared to me like tiny strings floating in the air.
They were giving off a tiny bit of light, and being about 3 centimeters in length, they were hard to miss. Though, if it wasn’t for the gentle glow they exuded, they would be completely invisible as, as far as I could tell, they were infinitely thin. They could pass through any object with ease and not be disturbed, though they sometimes got stuck in living flesh. That’s how regeneration worked. As long as your body was capable of retaining 100% of Qi passing through you, a single breath could bring you from 0% to 100% instantly.
Of course, that was just for Base Qi. At my level, Base Qi had to undergo many cycles of compression and purification to turn into Nascent Qi. That was one of the things the Soul automatically did, though it could be sped up 2-5 times with the help of meditation.
I slowly exhaled after finishing the cycle of Awakening Breath and stood up to do a few stretches.
Next on the agenda was Tyrant Forging Bones Body Cultivation Technique. I began cycling Qi to form Essence, and then forced it into my bones to bind to them and make them stronger.
It might sound stupid, but I just realized a thing with Essence. It didn’t matter if it was consumed or created, but once the Essence entered the body, it wanted to go into equilibrium and spread out evenly. Without a technique to guide it, every aspect of the body would be enhanced at an equal pace.
I just shook my head after realizing it. I just had to consume Essence and do nothing and the body would take care of itself. That was usually how things went. As long as you didn’t do too much damage, things would take care of themselves.
There were so many different diets and training regimens back on Earth for all kinds of ailments. Let’s not even talk about pills and medicines that, most often than not, had devastating side effects.
People complicated their lives so much when the only thing they would need to do was stop eating trash every day and step into the sun for an hour or two. A great chunk of modern diseases could be cured that way, but there was no money in that not many spoke about it.
It was easier to just keep eating fast food and stuffing cookies down your throat in front of a screen all day every day and then just take a magic pill and call it good. Zero accountability.
I was just beginning to step on that same path of mindless indulgence when my world turned upside down and I got transported to this planet. The best and worst thing that ever happened to me.
Worst because I lost everything and had to begin from scratch.
Best because I lost everything and had to begin from scratch.
How many people dream of having a do-over? Well, I got that chance, and I’m not letting it go. No fucking way. I am staying alive in this world for as long as I can, and if I have to do some unpleasant things along the way, so be it! I will unravel the mystery of these two worlds and get to the bottom of this. Why the fuck is Earth without Qi? If Souls decay and turn into Base Qi, and if we have at least five thousand years of written history, where the hell is magic?! Why is there no trace of it on Earth?
This planet experienced a devastating war ten thousand years ago where all its Qi was stolen at once. I refuse to believe it was just a fluke. A similar thing must have happened to Earth in the past. But, unlike here, where the world started to recover, there is something still taking it, stealing Qi from our planet. And I’ll get to the bottom of it, even if it takes me a lifetime!
With newfound conviction in my mind, I began enhancing my Ether Blood. That was also something that required Body Essence. It was what bound Ether to the flesh and blood of my body. The glue that held it all together. Essence was a much more stable form of Qi, but because of that limited reactivity, it couldn’t be used for magic, or Mystic Arts, as they called it here.
I sometimes wondered how strong it could all get. No matter how indestructible a body can become, it’s probably still not enough to survive a nuke, right? Right?