Will was stumped. He hadn't really planned out the part that comes after meridian cleaning. Sure, he had some ideas for what to do, but he didn't really have a plan, he was kind of expecting to figure that out as he cleaned the meridians. He decided to just start trying them all out and seeing what does anything.

As with all attempts at cultivation, it started with an inhale. But unlike the other attempts, he had to do a few things at the same time. He shoved the demonic lightning spiritual energy into the bottom dantian, shoved the pure spiritual energy into the middle dantian, and shoved lifeforce into the top dantian.

The change, while minor, was immediate. The first thing he noticed was that his eyesight seemed a bit better. Not only eyesight, but he was hearing better, smelling better, and could even think a little bit better. It was like everything on his head was healed a bit.

The second thing he noticed, after the pain from getting demon shocked there faded, was that his body felt a bit faster. Particularly, when he did small fast movements they were a lot faster. He reached out to grab a blade of grass really quickly.

His hand shot out in an instant and pulled back the next. Except when it shot out the wind from it pushed the blade of grass away and when he pulled it back it was empty. Well, it didn't increase dexterity.

Will didn't notice any difference with the pure spiritual energy, but that made sense, since he already had a good bit from the mouse.

After doing it once, he did it again. He kept at it for half of the day before he noticed the same lack of stuff as last time. Looking around, it turned out that he'd dried out the area as far as he could easily inhale, and all he had now was what got pulled into the area by the residual suction force.

All the plants and grass around were dead as well, creating a sight right out of a computer wallpaper the owner of the computer thinks is really cool.

Will took a moment to examine his current state. The things he'd noticed before were much more pronounced. His head was clearer than ever, and it felt as if his eyes and ears were not only healed, but healed even beyond the healthiest they'd ever been. His body didn't feel much faster overall, but when he made a sudden movement, it was way faster.

But aside from the things he noticed before, he noticed another thing. He felt less like a mouse. It was a very weird thing to feel. He didn't think he felt like a mouse before now either, but when he thought back on it, the level of mouseness was noticeably different. He assumed it was because earlier his middle dantian was filled with the spiritual energy of the mouse. He couldn't really figure out any specifics on my it would make him feel mousey, but that was the only thing that made sense.

He moved to the back of the house to start cultivating there. He decided to put on some music this time as well.

But as Will sent a piece of his consciousness into the mind space, he noticed something. His points were way higher! They were in the thousands now, all the way from one. He supposed killing a magic mouse and creating a barren patch of land would do that. He decided to spend his points.

He went to the Information Manual Exchange Marketplace section, and used the search bar to filter out what he couldn't afford. After doing so, the list came up with a lot of manuals that were theoretical knowledge. He quickly used the search bar to filter those out as well. What he was left with wasn't much. He saw two fist techniques that had a power just slightly above a regular punch. He saw a magic spell using mana (which he didn't have anyway) that seemed to be a water version of a spell used for lighting candles, which didn't really do much of anything since water can't light candles. He saw a blueprint for a wooden toy boat for babies to play with. He saw a lot of things, and none of them seemed useful.

Until, he stumbled upon ‘My baby boy’s first spiritual energy gathering array’. He was about to gloss over it, but when he thought about his current issues with spiritual energy, it seemed like this may actually be a bit useful. He pressed on the entry, and saw that all it really needed was a physical medium to draw it on and some spiritual energy. It seemed to actually work too from what he could tell. He bought it, bringing his points back down to twelve. He went over to the documents section and looked at the manual he bought.

It wasn't much of a manual. It was only a drawing of a circle with a bunch of symbols and shapes in it. He embedded it into his memory and got to work on making it in reality.

After drawing it on the ground with a stick, Will inhaled some spiritual energy from the air and blew it onto the drawing. The array glowed, and Will suddenly felt the spiritual energy get just slightly denser. It wasn't by much, but it seemed to be getting denser over time.

Will was unsatisfied. It wasn't nearly fast enough for his liking. When he thought about it, it didn't really take that much to make it… maybe he could make more? But they'd have to be in the same spot, or else they'd just pull at each other. Actually, now that he thought about it, how big did this thing have to be to work?

Will smudged the side of the circle, deactivating the array. He didn't know if that was how it was supposed to be done, but it seemed to work at least.

He headed back into the hut, and went to the kitchen area. He walked up to the counter, and looked at the door to the cabinet under it. It wasn't pretty. It looked like just a slab of wood, edges rounded by time, with a handle held in place by the rustiest nails Will had ever seen. He pulled it open, revealing two hinges that looked less like rusted metal than they looked as if someone had just made them out of rust. Will pulled on the door, and after a few seconds, it came off the hinges. He brought it outside to the back of the house.

Will picked up a rock and was about to start carving array circles into it when he remembered the Export function. He looked at the document for the array and pressed the Export button in the drop-down menu. It seemed as if he had enough materials on hand to do it for freezing which made sense since he was able to do it by hand. He went to place an array at the top right corner of the door. Then he thought of a question: how small could he make it?

The answer he found was about one centimeter wide. He could still go smaller, but it would cost points. He exported a tiny array onto the door and blew some spiritual energy on it.

He quickly ran into an issue, the array was barely gathering anything at all. It seemed that his array stacking plan wouldn't work out.

Then Will had another idea. He scratched out the small array and exported an array making use of the whole space of the door. He blew spiritual energy onto it and it worked pretty well. Then he tried to place another array right under it, embedded in the wood. It cost a point but he did it anyway. Then he tried to blow spiritual energy onto it. It took a few blows, but it eventually turned on, and the speed of gathering doubled. He repeated it twelve more times until the gathering speed was quite fast.

Will placed the door on the ground and stood on it. The spiritual energy density was noticeably higher. Though the lifeforce wasn't denser, it was still a great spot for cultivating. And so Will set about cultivating.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Even by the time night hit and all the plants around were dead, the spiritual energy was still as high as ever. Will was barely even conscious. While most people would have to consciously control their cultivation to avoid causing qi deviation, Will just inhaled it and was fine. Combined with the ability to split consciousness gained from his true souls merging, he could cultivate with a sliver of consciousness while the rest slept. It was only when the sun rose and shined into his face that Will woke up.

He noticed that the spiritual energy was still just as high on his cultivation door. On the other hand, when he stepped off of it, it was downright barren.

When he saw this, he had the feeling he had probably gotten more points from this. As it turned out, he certainly had. His points were almost as high as before he bought the array manual. He picked up the cultivation door and filled it out with thirty-eight more arrays, activating them all over the course of a few minutes.

As Will walked around the hut wondering what to buy, he felt his foot hit something. Looking down, it seemed like the door to a basement. Will grabbed the handles and pulled it open.

He saw a stone staircase, leading down into the darkness. He carefully stepped down the oddly pristine staircase and arrived at a strange room.

Four candle sconces lit the room, two on both the left and right wall. Only the back wall was decorated, a tapestry of red lightning hanging in the center. In front of the tapestry was a short dais, in the center of which was a yellow box Will could only assume was made from the weird trees that this forest had.

Will walked towards the box, stood to the side of it in case it was trapped, and opened it. His caution was quickly rewarded as red lightning shot out of the chest after he opened it. Will peered into the chest.

Inside the chest was a book, a note, and a compass, all resting atop a red velvet cushion. Will could tell right away that the compass wasn't pointing north. He looked at the note, hoping for a clue as to why.

As Will looked at the note, he ran into an issue. He could not read a single word. Now that he thought about it, it made sense. He was only two in this world, and in the other world he spoke English. He looked at the Information Manual Exchange Marketplace and searched for something to help him learn the language of this world. He noticed his points had gone up a bit, but even with that, the only thing he could afford that showed up was a children's picture book named ‘The Duck And The Fish’. He assumed that probably wouldn't help much in reading the note in a secret basement of a hut in a forest of demonic lightning.

He checked the Help section, just in case there was anything there. As he searched up his question, he found an answer:

‘If you did not know a language from your current universe before your death, head to the General Utility section, press on “Automatic Universal Linguistic Knowledge Database Accessor”, and press “Apply For Discount”. Your case will be reviewed, and the price will be discounted by an amount dependent upon your situation.’

Will followed the instructions and pressed “Apply For Discount”. Immediately after, the price was lowered from a number in the millions to the exact number of points he currently had. He begrudgingly bought it, and immediately noticed the difference.

He found that he understood what the tapestry in the wall meant. He now knew that it was in fact red lightning. He wondered if this worked for other things. Like the symbol used to mark Coworkers.

He recalled the image he had seen on the tutorial screen. Instead of understanding what it was, though, he understood that understanding what it was would have disastrous consequences for him currently. He felt lucky that this Automatic Universal Linguistic Knowledge Database Accessor had guardrails in place for that.

He also understood the room's decor now. The candles were to evoke a feeling of mystery, and demonstrate the power of the one who placed them in being able to keep them lit years after they were placed there. They were placed on the sides of the room to draw focus to the tapestry, then to the chest on the dais below it. The tapestry on the back wall was to give a hint as to who made this room, by referencing their signature red lightning, such that visitors would be reminded of the legends told about them, while preserving the air of mystery in the room. Will got the impression that the demonic lightning of the forest came about after this room was made, as the tapestry wouldn't make sense otherwise.

Will stopped messing around and read the note.

‘I am the one known as the Dreadbolt Menace, the Crimson Arc Tyrant, and, last but not least, the Demonic Lightning Sovereign. If you're reading this, it means that you have passed the first test to receive my inheritance. I ask that you don't get too worked up about it. If you wish to cultivate my Demonic Lightning Arts, being able to withstand a small thing like that is the bare minimum. In fact, the attack you just took will play a key role in obtaining the Demonic Lightning Body necessary to cultivate my arts. It will also kill you should you refuse to do so.

But worry not my potential successor! Obtaining the Demonic Lightning Body is an easy task. With the manual inside this chest, even if you're lacking in talent, as long as you have enough willpower, obtaining the Demonic Lightning Body will be short work.

Once you have obtained the Demonic Lightning Body, the compass will lead you to my true inheritance, where you will find everything you need to cultivate my Demonic Lightning Arts. Whether you follow it is your choice, but know that having the Demonic Lightning Body will make cultivating another method nearly impossible. My true inheritance site is hidden under multiple immortal-level formations, and without this compass, finding it is impossible, so the choice is truly yours and yours alone.

Good luck!’

Will was feeling a bit tired from dodging bullets. First it was a lightning bolt, then it was the Coworker marking thing, then it turned out the the first bullet was a double bullet because of he got hit by that lightning he would've had to cultivate some Demonic Lightning Body. He calmed down and decided to read the manual. Maybe it was actually really good and he'd missed out.

He read the first paragraph, that detailed how obtaining the Demonic Lightning Body requires one to deal with extreme pain while fighting against demonic corruption. And the next paragraph explained how human sacrifices could be used to lessen the demonic corruption risk (but not the extreme pain).

As it turned out, there were actually three more bullets he'd dodged. Extreme pain, demonic corruption, and human sacrifice to deal with demonic corruption. He sat down.

After a minute of stewing in emotional turmoil, he felt good enough to get back to doing stuff. He put the manual into his Document Storage. He embedded it into his memory to check for anything of use. Other than finding out that there were also multiple forms of torture that could be used the sacrifice to improve the efficacy, many of which dependent on certain characteristics of the victim, like female-specific rituals. He hurriedly pressed Unembed. He did not want to know what this sick freak suggested doing to women.

But before he was able to press Unembed, it was already gone. Looking at where the manual was in his Document Storage, he saw it was replaced with a white floating screen.

‘You don't meet the Age Requirement to view this content.

Age Requirement: 18

User Age: 12

For more information regarding Age Requirements and how User Age is calculated, check the Help section.’

Pressing the screen, he saw the drop-down menu only had Put Up For Sale. He didn't know if he wanted to press it. He really needed every point he could get, sure, but he didn't really like the idea of selling a torture manual.

After considering it, he begrudgingly decided to put it up for sale. There were probably a lot of manuals like this for sale already anyway. It also couldn't be used on him because of the rules. And maybe it could be used for good? Like, some researcher trying to learn about demonic corruption to make a cure for it.

But more than anything else, it was because he really needed points. This basement had only solidified that need in his mind. Had he not opened the chest from the side on a whim, he'd be cultivating that manual. He wouldn't even be able to rely on embedding it since it would be taken away. And he sure as hell didn't have a strong willpower. The only will he had was his name. Both his lives were full of having everything done for him. His premier use of willpower was willing his hand to press the button to call the nurse. Even now, the thing driving him wasn't his will. It wasn't even really his fear of death driving him, it was mainly his fear of a painful death.

He stopped his self-deprecating and focused. There was a compass in the chest next to him. He needed to make a decision; whether to follow it, or stay here.

On one hand, he'd be going to another place made by the sadistic monster who wrote that manual. Said sadistic monster also wasn't too reserved about harming his successor-to-be either, considering that lightning bolt trap.

On the other hand, this may be a possession scenario, and the guy who set this up may have been trying to find someone skilled in his arts to take over and revive himself.

Will noticed that both hands were bad. That felt telling. He felt that he still had to consider the benefits, though. He was able to come up with more than he thought.

He was really curious, the manual for the Demonic Lightning Arts may not be as bad as the one for the Demonic Lightning Body, he could sell the manual for money, someone else taking it instead would probably be bad, and there may be a treasure there used in cultivating the Demonic Lightning Arts.

The last one was the most convincing reason to go. Especially so if the theory he had was correct.

He had been thinking about it for a bit. It was clear that the demonic lightning spiritual energy wasn't here when that Demonic Lightning guy made this place. But judging by the chest being made out of the lightning attribute trees, the part that was missing had to have been the demonic aspect of it. That also lined up with how the trees were yellow, while the demonic lightning spiritual energy was red. It was evident not only from the tapestry thing, but from the note and the trap. The lightning that came out of the chest was clearly not that different from the demonic lightning spiritual energy outside. If anything, it seemed a bit weaker, like it had to be densely packed to achieve the same level of power as the demonic lightning spiritual energy outside. When he saw it, he even felt an instinctual derision coming from his lower dantian. But the note spoke as if obtaining the Demonic Lightning Body was only possible with that lightning. And if that guy had the ability to make that demonic lightning before the demonic lightning spiritual energy of the forest appeared, and demonic lightning spiritual energy was required for getting his arts, there had to be some source of it. Considering that his true inheritance site had to be within a reasonable distance of this basement, it was almost certainly within this forest, whatever the source of his demonic lightning spiritual energy was would be as well. Taking all of this into account, Will's conclusion was that the demonic lightning spiritual energy of this forest was likely caused by that source. Or more likely, caused by that source’s weaker demonic lightning spiritual energy combining with the wild lightning spiritual energy that was originally here, and making it more aggressive.

He still had some questions that went unanswered by his explanation, but that was also mostly what he was curious about. Will felt like he'd convinced himself too hard. He was hoping for not going to win out, because it seemed dangerous, but when he considered the benefits… It seemed he would be going on an adventure.