[Day 15: You wake up feeling dull pain throughout your body, but your condition is much improved. You think back to when you consumed a small part of the spiritual water lily, and you guess that the improvement is due to the healing effects of spirituality…]

As his simulated self was being roused from his sleep, Lem broke free from his nightly meditation. The trend had continued, and he had made less headway into his understanding of the visualization diagram than any night prior.

Setting aside his concerns about his own cultivation, Lem felt pleased that his simulated self was regaining his former health. He agreed with the sentiment he saw expressed on the simulated screen.

The consumption of the water lily was likely the reason for the improvement.

He had observed the miraculous effects of spiritual energy more than once over the course of his eleven simulations.

[You know that your food stores will run out within the next couple of weeks, so you decide to look around to see if you can find any weak beasts to hunt…

With your spiritual water lily in one hand, and your knife in the other, you begin walking through the outskirts of the harvest tree’s territory, staying within the bounds of the barrier. You are careful not to wander too close to the side that is close to the evil flower, not wanting to accidentally step within the range of its trapping effect…

You do not see any beasts, not even wolves, which surprises you, considering how many of them had been around at night…]

As Lem’s simulated self wandered around the spiritual territory, Lem could sense that he was reluctant to walk into the deeper areas that were closer to the harvest tree. Now that his pain was subsiding, his simulated self was afraid of the increased spirituality distorting his thinking.

His simulated self walked for the better part of an hour without seeing traces of any beasts, even small ones.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Lem began to wonder whether his assumption that weaker beasts could pass through the barrier was correct.

Perhaps anything that was not an anomaly or did not carry a trace of evil would be impeded.

Of course, he did not rule out other selection criteria, as he did not have enough information to do anything more than make informed guesses.

Eventually, his simulated self began to walk closer and closer to the invisible barrier, where the feeling of spirituality was negligible.

[After searching for some time without encountering any beasts, you decide to test the area around the barrier.

You move to the very edge, where the spiritual energy is barely perceptible, and begin walking slowly. You recognize the dangers of traveling with the spiritual water lily in hand, but you are loath to leave it behind. You are prepared to jump back if you encounter anything dangerous.]

Lem observed while his simulated self walked around the perimeter of the spiritual area. Sometimes he walked slightly outside of the barrier, and sometimes slightly inside.

However, there still was no sign of any beasts.

[After spending another hour fruitlessly, you return to your campsite…

You begin to cultivate the [Mountain Sitting Technique], trying to get the spiritual energy to circulate through your meridians…

You feel as though you have made a good amount of progress, and you switch your focus to the [Spirit Hand Talisman Method]...]

Lem saw that his simulated self was not running into any plateaus in his cultivation, giving Lem slight relief.

In fact, if anything, his progress seemed to be improving as he got more familiar with using the breathing method to stir spirituality.

This renewed Lem's hope that his simulated self would soon be able to achieve small success in the First Stage of Body Refinement. However, this was not the main focus for Lem.

His simulated self was about to practice the [Spirit Hand Talisman Method] for the first time while using a talisman brush.

He remembered the embarrassing experience of trying to practice while substituting his hands for the brush, and wondered whether it was about to be more of the same.

If talismans were so easy to make, wouldn’t he have seen Master Brightflame using them?