Like clockwork, the reason for his grin appeared. Victor turned to the voice and saw a young man. The man was wearing dark sunglasses and had his platinum hair drawn back into a short loose ponytail. He was wearing a black waistcoat with a black undershirt, and black pants with brown stripes running down the sides. He had a long sword strapped on his back that Victor knew was just for decorative purpose. He doubts Reunion knew how to use it.

“Nice to see you again, Reunion.”

“Don’t change the subject. Can you please change that monstrosity!” The system pointed at the laser machine as Victor just grinned.

“Hey, you are the one who told me to imagine an embodiment of fire. Something that is ‘as hot as the deepest hell and able to burn through anything’.”

“I was talking about volcano, lava, maybe a never-ending campfire. Anything but a laser pointer!”

“It is not a laser pointer. It is a laser machine.” Victor corrected the system with a smile. “With time and enough power, lasers are powerful to burn through almost anything. There is nothing wrong with it.”

“It is a machine!” Reunion screamed. “Cultivators do not have machines in their inner world. By the Gap, most cultivation worlds do not have even machinery. This is so wrong.”

Victor’s control finally broke, and he laughed. The System scowled its host, but Victor knew there was nothing Reunion could do about it. From everything Victor had read, only a cultivator can change his inner world, and it was not an easy process. Changing his inner world would require Victor to undergo a change in his personality, cultivation level, or character. In simpler terms, a change in mind, body, or soul. In short, it is not happening anytime soon.

“Are you done? Can we get started?” Reunion asked after Victor’s burst of laughter was over. Victor’s gleeful nod infuriated the system, but she plough on. “Where do you want to start?”

“The store.” Victor said. “You said there is a way to help Takuma?”

“No. I said there are cultivation techniques that deal with spirits and ghosts. Whether these techniques could help your son is a different matter.” The system stopped there but continued when his host signaled him to go on. “Now, there are cultivation techniques that deal with spirits and ghosts, but not all cultivators can learn them. Cultivators need to specialize in these techniques and that could take years.”

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“Years?”

“Decades even. Think about the difference between an engineer and a chemist. Both do science, but they do different kinds of science, and it would take them years to be proficient in their chosen field.”

“I don’t need to be proficient; I just need to be good enough to save him.”

“That would be like trying to do the job of a doctor with only first aid skills. And it will still take time to learn first aid.”

Victor opened his mouth to argue, but quickly thought better of it. Reunion was a much better authority on cultivation than him. So, he ask another question.

“So, what do you proposed?”

“In my view, the best option would be a core transfer and then forcing the ghost into the core.”

Before Victor could ask what that was, Reunion drew his sword. The draw was terrible. The sheath moved with the action, and Victor could see that Reunion’s hand shaking. The system was clearly unused to the sword, but Victor kept his mouth shut as Reunion did his song-and-dance. Reunion swung his sword unsteadily and a line appeared in the air. That line widened to show a wall of text and Victor fought against rolling his eyes.

The system could had just snapped his finger.

Victor read the rolling text, and his eyes widen in shock. “Wait. I can create a core?”

“Technically, yes.” Reunion said. “It is called ‘Qi Transfer’ and the technique for it is available in my store for the low price of two thousand points. Once you learn the technique, you will be able to force your Qi into another person and guide the Qi to form a core in that person. Needless to say, this technique is not very popular but-”

“What? Why?”

“It is highly inefficient. You will be wasting a lot of Qi. A cultivator can transfer qi into another person but there is a transfer cost. Most bodies would fight against foreign qi, like antibodies fighting against a disease, so most cultivators don’t think the technique is worth it.”

“So, how much qi would be wasted?” Victor asked. “For example, if I try to transfer a hundred units of Qi into Takuma, how much qi can would Takuma be able to get?”

“Units of Qi?”

“It’s an example. I just need something to qualify the wastage.”

“No, that’s good.” Reunion said as he rubbed his chin with a hand. “I never heard of that before. We need to measure how much is a unit but that’s a good idea. We should have a way to measure Qi usage here on Nexus.”

Victor was surprised. “You mean cultivation worlds don’t have ways to measure Qi? That doesn’t sound right.”

“Most cultivation worlds measure it in spirit stones. It is a mineral found on most cultivation worlds that can store Qi. You don’t have it on Nexus.” Reunion shook his head. “Anyway, back to your question. During a transfer, only a third to a quarter of the Qi would be accepted by the foreign body. That is not even counting the skill you would need to guide the Qi to form a core in Takuma.”

“Sounds like the technique has two steps, but even if I managed to do it, how would forming a core help Takuma?”

“You can then force the ghost into the core.”

“What do you mean?”