Chapter 6 – Last Resort

Karlo spent a few minutes infusing his Qi into the thread until he only had 2 Qi left. Already he could feel a slight dizziness starting to come on and he didn’t feel like falling unconscious again.

While he waited for his Qi to replenish, he began to have second thoughts about leveling the Qi Infusion technique.

‘I doubt it’ll be as easy as just using the technique to level it up. There is surely some condition that needs to be met or a breakthrough made in using it.’

As much as he thought, he couldn't come up with anything. Eventually, he settled on trying everything that came to mind, no matter how stupid it may be. For now, though, he couldn’t do anything until his Qi was refilled.

That’s when an idea came to him.

‘The True Basic Qi Gathering technique operates automatically, but what if I used it manually, just like I did when I first activated it?’

With the attitude that it couldn't hurt to try, he immediately put his idea to the test. Sitting on the round mat on the floor, the same as in his own room, he closed his eyes and began the breathing method.

It was still difficult to enter the state of meditation, but he managed it eventually.

With his talent, it was much easier to feel the Qi in his body and the air than it had been.

Now came the hard part, pulling the Qi into his body. Evidently, it was much harder than controlling the Qi in one’s own body, because, by and large, it was a foreign substance; something he had no domain over.

While, Karlo knew this step was important, and that it had taken a long time to reach this point once again, he also knew he couldn't bring in more Qi than his body could handle, which was currently only 10.

By now, his Qi had regenerated all the way to that point, meaning that over an hour and a half had passed already.

Leaving his cultivation, Karlo came back to the thread to infuse it with another 8 Qi.

He tried an idea to level up the technique.

Taking the end of the thread in one hand, and a middle section in the other, he tried to infuse with both at the same time.

While difficult, it seemed largely redundant. The main trouble was the fact that the thread wasn’t designed to take in Qi from the side. The automation of the panel did the rest of the work for him.

On top of that, it wasn’t infusing any faster than with one hand. Karlo felt it might even be slower.

Still, he continued the process and when he had finished he checked his panel. No change except to his Qi which had returned to 2.

He had now infused 15 meters of thread, leaving 35 to go.

Returning to his cultivation, this time he found it much easier to re-enter the state of meditation. Perhaps the fact that he had just experienced it was the cause.

Soon enough, he found himself once again at the point of pulling Qi into his body.

Observing the specs of Qi in the air, there happened to be one only a few inches away from him. He noticed that very very slowly, it was already moving toward him, certainly a result of the automated cultivation.

In his mind, his task had simplified a lot. Rather than starting from scratch and having to pull the Qi on his own, he only needed to speed it up.

He began his own focused pulling.

His memories of the first time he had accomplished this were hazy at best, but from what he could tell, it was just as difficult as before.

Even with all the advantages he had now - the Truth Seeker talent, two techniques involving Qi control, the fact that he only had to speed up the Qi’s movement, and even the very technique he was trying to cultivate having been added to his panel – it was still just as difficult at it had been.

It made him wonder how he had ever managed to accomplish it in the first place.

Try as he might, he didn’t manage to speed it up at all, even till it entered his body of its own accord.

Karlo could only switch to the next closest one.

He kept repeating this over and over, trying again and again until finally... he once again replenished his Qi to 10.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Not one bit of Qi had moved of his own initiative.

This caused Karlo to reflect.

‘Maybe I’ve become a bit cocky. Things have been going well for me up till now. Although I did work hard for these results, I guess I was beginning to believe I could accomplish anything through sheer will alone. In fact, I probably would get there eventually, but why take such a difficult route?’

He first got to infusing the thread.

This time he attempted to speed up the process. The idea seemed promising, as he thought it may be the biggest way he could improve the technique. Right now it was taking around half a minute per Qi, which wasn’t long by any means, but certainly wasn’t quick either. Another reason he chose this method was because it might give him some ideas on how to cultivate faster.

He focused on speeding it up, and surprisingly, it began moving faster. Instead of 30 seconds, it only took 28. The next took 27. Then 26, then 25, but that is where it stopped.

No matter how he tried after that, he couldn’t improve, like there was a wall inhibiting his progress. When he checked his panel, the technique was still level 1.

Karlo felt that if he broke through the 25-second barrier, he would be able to level it up. Unfortunately, he did not see that happening before he completed the mission. So, he had to find another method.

Looking at the time, he saw it was already past 9.

Instead of going back to cultivation, he exited the room. The shop outside was empty and dark as if all those invisible lights had been put out.

He came to the door of the tailor’s room and knocked.

A whispering voice sounded, “Come in.”

Gently opening the door, Karlo saw the old lady sitting on a rocking chair with the little girl sleeping on her lap.

“Oh, gosh,” he said, “Is that bedroom where you sleep?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I know you couldn’t have finished with that thread already, so what’s the problem?”

“I wanted to ask you something,” he said as he found a chair to sit down. “Are you a cultivator?”

She smiled and said, “Most people around these parts dabble in cultivation.

“I’m only in the Qi Condensation realm, my specific level should correspond to E- on your panel.”

Karlo thought for a while, then spoke, “I know you’re already helping me out a lot, but if it isn’t too much to ask, can you give me some tips on cultivation?”

Mrs. Dandy raised her eyebrow, “Do you know what you’re asking?”

“If I’m being honest, not really. All I know is that I need to be stronger faster. Please help me. I’m not an ungrateful person, someday I’ll pay you back 100 times over!” he shouted with a bowed head.

“Shut up,” she loudly whispered, “You’ll wake Coral.”

Karlo saw the little girl squirming in her arms.

“Ah, sorry,” he replied while scratching the back of his head.

The woman sighed, “Teaching cultivation is a much bigger deal than you think. You lot cultivate automatically, don’t ya? I did notice that you’re somewhat different from the other outsiders I’ve met.

“The Qi around you moves much faster than others at your level. I first noticed when you recovered in less than an hour from something that should’ve taken 3.

“Even the fact that you had Qi deficiency was surprising, and I’m guessing that you’ve already acquired the Qi Infusion technique.”

Karlo felt like he was being dissected on an operating table.

“What is your cultivation technique?” she asked.

This was the moment. He felt that the answer he gave would decide whether the lady would help him. He was apprehensive at telling her but thinking back, she had been nothing but kind to him.

‘She took care of me when I had Qi deficiency, she gave me a mission to help me get Qi Infusion. I’m sure that including the coat, all the stuff she has given is worth far more than 1 silver coin. Most importantly though, my talent doesn’t give me any sense of hidden motives.’

With hesitation, Karlo replied, “True Basic Qi Gathering.”

“Hahaha, I knew it. I think I know the problem you’ve been having too. Unfortunately, because I’m not a certified teacher, the laws of this place prevent me from giving any cultivation advice to outsiders.”

“What? So why’d I tell you what my cultivation technique is?” Karlo felt used.

“Hey now, don’t be so impatient. First off, that was your choice to answer the question. And secondly... who’s to say I didn’t write about my cultivation experience in a book and hide it under the mattress in that room you’ve been in?”

“Really?” Karlo asked excitedly.

“No. Haha, you should see your face. No, I wouldn’t hide it in such a stupid place. It’s probably somewhere in the shop. But none of that matters, it’s not like you’re gonna find it, turn to the third page and figure out your problem, right?”

“I would never,” Karlo replied righteously.

“Good, now get out of here.”

As he was about to exit the room, he hesitated.

“What?” Mrs. Dandy asked.

“Do you want to use the bedroom? I can use this room until I’m finished infusing the thread.”

“Hmm, I guess I’ll take you up on that offer.”

So Karlo hurried to the bedroom and brought back the thread.

When the old lady saw it, she looked surprised, “It’s as I thought, you really do have a talent for using Qi, and I’m not talking about the talent on your panel.”

Karlo tried, but couldn’t get another word out of her.

Once she had settled in the bedroom and closed the door, Karlo took a look at the store. Although it was dark, he seemed to be able to sense his surroundings; maybe a result of his higher grade of cultivation.

He began his search, and it wasn’t long before he found a high shelf with a few dusty books on it. None of them had titles that had anything to do with cultivation, in fact, they all seemed to be fictional.

So he kept searching around but found nothing. His mind kept wandering back to the bookshelf, he couldn’t help the feeling that there was more to it than meets the eye.

He then remembered his talent. If he felt like there was more to it, that meant there was.

He grabbed a book and flipped through it. Nothing. Again and again.

It wasn’t until the fifth one that he found something unusual. The middle pages of the book looked and felt different from the rest.

Taking it back to the tailor’s room where he could see better, he found that they were different. While the rest of the pages were yellow, the middle section was a clean white color.

Turning to the first of the white pages, he read the words ‘Dandy Cultivation Notes’, written in a stylized font.

He remembered what the old lady had said, and turned to the third page. While he did not doubt that the other parts of the book would be helpful, he didn’t want to take any more advantage than necessary.

He began reading.

I’ve finally figured out why it has been so difficult to cultivate up to now. I’ve been going about it all the wrong way...