Back to my apartment, I'm rubbing my chin on my bed while looking at a pristine scroll laid out before me. There are words inside that I've never seen before, and just when I first started complaining, a rush of something soothing broke into my mind. After which, I am now able to read it.
"I must say, was it necessary to go full maddened poetic with the instructions? I want to learn how to cultivate to higher realms, not become William Shakespeare."
"Like what's this about? 'Circulate the river of Heaven across the domain of the Earth'. What is this even talking about?"
"And then that one. 'Absorb the sea of Heaven into the vessel of the Earth'. Really? Like do you really need to say it like that? Can't say 'step one, do this'. No? Too hard? Or is it too easy and therefore not fun to watch people struggle with your mumbling?" I'm left bewildered at the sight. But since I have it now, why should I give up so soon? So I take out a piece of paper and a pen, gracefully present already from before I moved in.
"Alright, so..." Until dark, I kept myself busy, studying the scroll to figure out what to do.
.
.
.
"...gather Qi like a vortex, then I have to rule it with my mind? I'm not sure about that part..."
"...Heaven is the outside Qi, while Earth is my body..."
"...forming a path like a river? Why so complicated..."
"...circulating Qi like a river across my Earth, so my body and then..."
"...by this logic, should I use a vortex from absorption or..."
"...'Converge the shattered Heavens into the Bead of Immortality', converge Qi into... a dantian? I'm not sure..."
"...'Yin shall fear Yang, while Yang shall fear Yin, the vast Heavenly Sea dictating the vortex of infinity.'..."
"...'Grasp the fire within spirits, understanding the ice innate of the Sun's dazzling indifference.'..."
"...'Forge your Yin from your Yang, birthing new Yang from your Yin.'..."
"...maybe I shouldn't look at the Foundation Establishment chapters yet, I mean what's 'A pillar comprised of two makes three before birthing all things.' anyway..."
"...I rule Qi, then split... no, create illusions- I don't know actually..."
"...'Divided into the Tao, Yin must complete Yang as it disrupts the Heavenly Sea across all worlds.'..."
"...'Breathing fire as one must exude freezing temperatures, absorbing the ice of all things until its released blaze consumes Heaven and Earth.'..."
"...Mmh~ are those concepts are not? 'Vitality within Death, cross the dual Hells before ascending.'..."
Despite my own advice going against it, I still read everything. The scroll was surprisingly big with compact sentences enough to fill a small book. I also looked on the net for what some of the words could actually mean. Yin and Yang, as well as Tao, aren't words commonly seen apart from the Asian Complex. Cultivation novels and such do talk about it, and so do classic folklore, but right now this might not be what I'm actually reading.
Yang is commonly associated with life, fire, the sun, the male essence and so on. While Yin is the opposite, with death, ice, the moon, and the female essence. As for Tao, it just means Universe or something.
"Man, it doesn't help much... The system did say it could help form Yin and Yang Qi manifestations, but like come on! The fuck am I supposed to do with this mess? Yin, Yang? Tao? I can barely make a flame from the Crimson Arts' lowest level!"
"I guess it's E for a reason..." My exasperation doesn't stop me from trying. After finally focusing properly on the Qi Sensing portion, I sat cross-legged with my pen in hand. "Cross this, cross that... highlight this... and done."
Exhaling loudly, my eyelids turned heavy as I relaxed my entire body. Immediately, a violent surge of uncomfortable energy ran rampant from my feet into my legs and up my torso. With ease, I let it flow across my arms and head, its incessant ramming only increasing every waking moment.
Remembering the scroll just made me frown with acceptance. The only thing I understood was basically 'Good luck and just try to control Qi.'. Obviously unhelpful, I didn't let it get to me, slowly moving my arms as I tried to let the flow of Qi remain stable. At first I felt the flow diminish slightly, but a few moments later it was back in full. My movements were slow but very tiring mentally. Because physically, this discomfort wasn't too bad, however the constant strain was mentally challenging.
It wasn't very hard to endure a very high amount of pain in short bursts that happened very rarely, but extremely difficulty to take on a constant, uninterrupted pain, even if much more bearable in raw intensity. The slow torture was where insanity formed the easiest. It made time tick slower, the body more sensitive and the brain tired from the flood of information received without any signs of stopping.
This exact hurdle is the toughest to get through, as the feeling is otherwise pretty tame.
Meticulously, I began to sense Qi around me, driven mad at my inner vortex. Each pore would've opened if they could, my entire vessel hungry for more.
Qi seeped into my skin, flesh and bones. But this was only assimilation from absorption. What I needed was control.
With a faint mumble, my eyelids tightened for a moment before letting go. The flow of Qi became momently chaotic before it intensified again. Was this it? Instead of manipulating it by some mysterious sense, do I need to rule over its flow like one would with wind? If I pull, Qi flows toward me. If I stop, this flow is interrupted and clashes with the rest, causing mayhem.
So then, how do I push directly? With a faint frown, I began to circulate Qi as an offensive this time. To make sure of it, I opened my eyes and saw the turquoise glow my right arm pulsated with. As I waved it around slowly, the sea of Qi around me began to move. Qi colliding with Qi, that is indeed the answer.
However, the differences between each movement was clear to see. Pulling required mental stability and fortitude, while holding demanded a simple shattering of one's focus. Pushing on the other hand, opposed to the common muscular exertion, was much harder.
Being well versed in all forms of physical training, it is common for the pushing force to be much stronger than the pulling force, at least initially. But here, this habit would be completely wrong.
To push the flow of Qi, I need to deplete my own to access this different world. I could already see a mirror dimension forming at my feet. I looked at my imaginary self and relaxed. "Let's see then." At this bout of enlightenment, I gathered my tired wits and took another look at my status screen. Immediately, my stage had changed to 'Qi Ruling' and my DT was upgraded by a few decimals. But this would most likely change very soon.
The more DT I had, the more pushing force I could gather in the domain of Qi. Therefore, I would gain more DT, making it all the easier. As it would loop back around, my increase in DT should one day become substantial.
However I was soon faced with a problem. How to make a dantian? Ruling Qi around by using these principles wasn't hard, and some training would birth good, useful habits. But making a dantian was another matter entirely.
Qi would need to somehow take a physical form in this dimension of Qi, a bead where Qi could get in, but not get out. Or more so, do so without my approval. It should obviously be more solid than the Qi I sense and occasionally see, but also freely accessible. Scratching my head, my frown deepened. "If I use a circuit, it should be better... my extremities would be open while leading into my dantian." Would this work? I'm uncertain.
Regardless, increasing my strength to the Qi Ruling stage's peak was paramount.
.
.
.
It has been a month since my last challenge, and the next is already here. I'm not surprised, but also disappointed, as I still needed more time. "Good enough I suppose..." I didn't really have a choice anyway. Not like these challenges even let me use my own strength, not that I particularly mind.
During this past month, I've almost gained a full DT, edging on 8.83 base DT, with my overall at 15.84.
"So, what will it be this time? I can't wait, I'm so excited." Maybe the system sensed my despondent sarcasm and pushed the timer forward.
[Time has run out.]
[Initializing Tier-3 Challenge, 'Hidden Crisis'...]
My vision warped, and as the unsightly mess reverted back to a pristine view, the world around me had visibly changed. No longer existed the modern, warmly lit room and soft bed, nor the curtained windows leading to a darkening azure sky.
Instead, my room was replaced by another, one I already knew about. "Isn't it the same one?" Being taken aback, I looked around me, only to be flabbergasted as it was the exact same place that other challenge took place in - where I almost got assassinated at night in a three versus one.
After pulling up my status next to it, I began reading about the challenge itself.
Hidden Crisis
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Challenge (T-3)
>Objective : Survive three days and three nights.
>Time remaining : 209:59:22
>Difficulty : Fated
>Mission Difficulty : Easy
>Mission Failure Penalty : All stats slightly diminished for 30 days.
[Good luck. And may Fate be with you.]
[Initialization successful. The host's body has been stabilized.]
[You may pronounce or think 'Status' to obtain more information at any given time.]
Soul Name : Jack Heltros
Name : ???
Age : ???
Immortal Cultivation : Foundation Establishment Realm (Fifth layer : Dantian Pillar)
Immortal Title : None
HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (74.9 / 74.9)
DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (74.9 / 74.9)
STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ E-
LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ E-
Skill : Qi Manifestation - lv.7 [+]
The challenge itself was quite the cold-sweat-inducing-problem, like a hot potato in my hands. Surviving sounded so ominous...
After a few more checks, I was about to close it when I glared a few moments more on the ticking timer. "Hold on for me, one little second... Two hundred... and ten? Maybe I suck at math, but isn't a day twenty-four hours? Since when does twenty-four times three equal that? A day and night equal an actual, properly defined day, but two hundred would mean like eight or nine."
"System, why does the timer say two hundred plus? Shouldn't it be like seventy-two instead?" At this question, I got a really bad answer.
[In this place, a full day and night are equivalent to 70 hours on Earth, both day and night perfectly split at 35 hours each.]
"Motherfucker. So basically survive like nine? What, want me to camp here for more than a week?!" Luckily I was used to prison, so not having internet or television didn't bother me as much as some other people my age. Not saying I could entertain myself for more than two hundred hours by looking at grass grow and dirt being brown. "Isn't there some sort of shop feature in this damn system? So that I can buy paint and watch it dry. I could kill at least fifty hours with that!"