Inside a cozy room on a ship in the middle of nowhere was Samuel. Sitting cross-legged on the medium-sized bed, looking very experienced. Only he didn’t look experienced at all. He. Looked. Stupid. Having only ever heard of people sitting in such positions to cultivate, he had no idea how they did it. Legs crossed, back straight, thoughts focused, and breath steady. Everyone knows that’s how one meditates. But it was so goddamn uncomfortable.
“How do monks sit like this for hours upon hours? My legs are already asleep, and I am a cultivator!”
As a person of very little focus in his previous life, Samuel attempted a series of things to help him with this. Of which meditation was one. He had grand plans for meditating. Wake up a little earlier in the morning, meditate, then do what else needs to be done. However, plans are ultimately just plans. On his first attempt, he quit after a mere five minutes of trying. And some things never change.
“Do I really have to sit like this to cultivate? You know what? No! No, I don't. What difference is there whether I’m standing, sitting, or lying down? It’s all just to concentrate anyway. Lying down seems more comfortable.”
So, in the fashion of a true man, Samuel chose function over fit and decided to cultivate lying down.
“This is way better. Okay, Luisa said to draw spiritual qi into the talent, letting it grow. But where is my talent located? Never mind the stupid question. It has to be in my brain.”
Only it wasn’t. When Samuel attempted to draw the spiritual qi into his brain, he failed. Miserably. However, with the mindset of cultivation being difficult, he thought he just needed to try harder. And so he did.
...
Four hours later
“God damn it! What is this nonsense? I have been lying here for, like, what, a week, and yet I still can’t draw this damned qi into my talent. Am I not supposed to have some ridiculous super talent? Then what the hell is this user experience? It’s too difficult.”
Samuel was ranting heavily and was close to giving up when a voice came from the room next to his.
“Kid, how thick do you think the walls of the ship are, hmm? I can hear you ranting as clear as day. I do sense you are a little special, but saying you have a ‘ridiculous super talent’ is quite shameless. If you really did, you would be able to sense exactly where it is in your body. The lower the grade of the talent, the harder it is to sense. Anyway, just cool it on the volume. Some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep here.”
The mysterious ‘captain’, who apparently resided in the room next to Samuel's, reprimanded him. Most people at this would feel embarrassed, but not Samuel. Definitely not because he is autistic—that is a preposterous accusation—but rather because of what the ‘captain’ said.
“Sense exactly where it is in my body? Does that mean my talent isn’t in my body? My soul?”
At the thought of his talent residing in his soul, even if he was unable to sense where it was, the spiritual qi started surging in copious amounts. It was so copious that it formed a massive cyclone hundreds of meters in diameter of pure spiritual qi, waiting to be devoured by his talent. As the talent was cultivating itself, basically on its own, Samuel was pulled into an expanse of gray. Well, a better description would be within a golden sphere that was in an infinite expanse of gray.
“Why does this feel so familiar? The golden is inside the gray. It’s like my cocoon. Just without that wretched dust.”
As he was about to once again start trembling like a twig in the wind, information surged into his mind.
“10,000 times distortion in time, just like my cocoon? Does that mean I would be able to cultivate 10,000 times faster here than outside? Hahaha, I knew I was a super genius!”
At the thought of this cultivation speed, he became ecstatic. But you know what they say: the higher you climb, the harder you fall. And boy, let me tell you, he fell into the darkest pits of despair.
“NOOOOO! What do you mean my body can’t enter here, only my mind? What kind of bullshit, nonsense talent is this? There is no use in my mind being in here for 10,000 times longer than outside without being able to cultivate. ‘But Samuel, you can develop, learn, and comprehend techniques 10,000 times faster with your talent. It's clearly very good’. That is true, but it doesn't really work if I have the cultivation speed of some pumpkin. Am I really going to have countless techniques and a perfect cultivation manual but not be able to use them because of my lack of cultivation? This is hell!”
And hell it was indeed, because Samuel didn’t know how to return his mind to his body.
Meanwhile, as Samuel's suffering was multiplied by 10,000, Merling was stunned.
“Just as I call him shameless for bragging about his talent, he erupts with this! Did he wait for me to comment on it?”
Merling was of the opinion that Samuel tricked him to seem cool. He was about to go over and give him a good knock on the head when he heard the voice of a panicking Quinn outside his door.
“Uncle Merling, what is happening? Are we being attacked?”
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“No, it’s the kid cultivating. I don’t know why he’s causing such a phenomenon, but we’re fine. Just keep a lookout for beasts who might be attracted."
“Understood, uncle”
This entire scene didn’t take more than two minutes, but to Samuel, it’d been almost 14 days. And he was indignant.
“Am I going to be stuck here forever? But I have so much to live for! Wait! No, I don't. Damn”
One would imagine that 14 days was enough time to stop ranting or even caring about an issue, but not when it comes to Samuel. He had been ranting, spiraling, and throwing a fit the entire time. Not only that, he was only becoming more and more energetic as time passed.
“Isn’t this my talent? Let me control it, then. I have been here for at least two years, if not more. How could this happen to me?”
Presumably, a person with a talent related to time should be able to tell how much time has passed. But not Samuel. His perception was vastly flawed. But he was right; it was his talent.
"Maybe I should focus on creating a way to leave. Yes, that might work. But for that to work, I need to know where this place is. Obviously, it’s in my soul. But where in my soul, and where is my soul inside my body?”
It sounded relatively easy to create this technique, but it was far from it. Not only was his understanding of his talent non-existent, he was also a starting point cultivator without any experience or techniques learned. It was as if a first grader was to solve university-level mathematical problems. It seemed impossible. However, for the first time in his life, he didn’t give up, and time continued to pass.
…
Two weeks later, on the ship
“Gasp”
The audible gasp of Samuel emerged from his body. However, there was something amiss about his situation.
“I’m out! I am finally out! Yes, I am a genius. WAIT! Why am I lying face down on the floor?”
Samuel was ecstatic at being able to successfully create a technique that allowed him to leave that time hell. But his good mood was quickly disturbed. Not only was he lying face down on the ground, but the bed was also on his back.
“What is going on here?”, he asked himself. Yet before he could even start to rationalize the situation, a loud noise and the trembling of the ship interrupted his thoughts.
“Thump”
“Is the ship being attacked?”
“Cursed beasts, the phenomenon has stopped. Why are you still attacking? Don’t you have better things to do?"
The voice of Merling erupted in anger. Standing at the bow of the ship, he was armed with a golden, massive longbow, firing arrows of light at a school of hideous, giant, shark-like creatures. Standing at a height of almost two meters, any onlooker would be in awe of his figure. As long as they didn’t see his face because it was twisted. He looked so angry that he might explode soon.
“Roar”
The response he got was an incensed roar at seeing the corpses of his fellow clansmen, followed by something that can only be described as incredibly shocking.
“Damned human! How dare you kill my brothers? If I don’t eat your flesh and drink your blood before sinking this ship, my name won’t be Gaw."
The leader of the group of sea creatures could talk! Samuel, who had just peeked his head out from the window, was stunned when he witnessed this.
“The shark can talk! Does that mean it’s powerful?”
The joy of escaping was killed in its cradle, before it could even properly grow.
“What kind of bullshit luck is this? Thinking about this logically. Luck only exists in space-time. There is no luck without time, so how come I, who have a talent related to time, am so unlucky? How does that make sense?”
“Kid, stop yapping about whatever you are yapping about! Go help the other two man the cannons."
The voice of Merling sounded across the ship, reaching the ears of the once-again-ranting Samuel. Awoken from his stupor, Samuel instantly realized the situation was bad. His only chance of staying alive is this ship; obviously, he can’t allow its destruction.
“Where are the canons?”
Samuel asked as he turned around to run out of his room.
“Go to the deck!”
Hearing his response, Samuel darted for the deck. His valor was great enough to stun even the proudest of heroes. Imagine running headfirst into potential danger because of pure selflessness. Boy! He is so cool! And 100% selfless!
On the deck stood four heavy blueish metal canons, manned by a child at the age of ten and a young woman in her early twenties. They were Quinn and Lukas. Quinn still looked the same as the last time Samuel saw her, but Lukas looked, well, different. He looked normal. Being skinny with pale white skin, having shiny blue eyes, and buzz-cut hair.
“What do you need me to do?”
“You need to help Lukas. There is far more pressure on the port side. If you have the strength to attack yourself, do it. But mainly focus on the cannons. Just use your spiritual energy to charge them. They can fire attacks from the first level of the Superior Mortal stage to the peak of the Mortal Evolution stage.”
“Peak of Mortal Evolution stage?”
Samuel was taken by surprise. This block of metal was that much stronger than him.
“I can’t even compare to some metal? Wait, how do you know I have spiritual energy?”
“What? Stop being coy! Your cultivation phenomenon is the cause of these attacks. Obviously, you have spiritual energy. Now go help Lukas!”
‘Phenomenon? Did I cause a phenomenon when I was inside my, eh, time sphere? God! That’s such a good name for it. I’m so talented in everything I do.'
Never ever give Samuel a compliment, or even give him the chance to compliment himself. His main character complex is crippling. He can’t even remember the problems he caused or the situation he was in. Luckily, he didn’t get the chance to spiral further, as a rough roar interrupted his thoughts.
“RAWR”
From out of nowhere, the ship was launched hundreds of meters straight into the air. At the spot where the ship was just moments before, a giant turtle head popped up. The pressure this head gave off was dozens, if not hundreds, of times greater than that of the now-puny shark who could speak.
In an old voice, containing the great vicissitudes of time, the turtle spoke.
“The Abyssal Shark Race is prohibited in my territory. Are you breaking the agreement?”
The leader of the Abyssal Shark Race started panicking.
“No, no, no, great Rio, we wouldn’t dare. Please don’t take offense. We didn’t know this was your territory. We intercepted them in our own territory, but they continued moving forward. Please forgive us!”
“Just make sure it doesn't happen again, especially since the humans and I have an agreement.”
Merling was overjoyed.
“Great turtle ancestor, Rio, thank you for helping us.”
“Don’t worry about it, boy; your ancestor, Gryand Strand, helped me when I was a youngling. I have been paying attention to your situation since it arose. But pressure is necessary for growth, so I controlled the water currents to lead you here.”
“Thank you, great Rio.”
“Tell your father I said hi.”
“I will. Thank you again, great Rio.”
As he finished speaking, the ship landed safely. Samuel was overjoyed. ‘The instant I make my appearance, we’re saved by some great ancestor. My luck is good after all. I. Am. Amazing'
“Kid, your talent is amazing. It you have the potential to reach the Enlightenment stage, granted you don’t perish first.”