Done with storing the true fire core, Kerrio sat down on the other bed opposite the oblivious snoring entity known as Queltsom so he could think about a way to gain knowledge of the cultivation stages. He absently wondered if cultivation in the Omnis was the same as in Wuxia and Xianxia novels. He started off another Q&A session with the system, which was uncharacteristically silent, not throwing any jabs or snarky comments. But then again, that was how it should be. The system clearly could not act like a person. Not completely. Reading a book with a snarky system was one thing, but experiencing it for real? Instead of uselessly dwelling further on the matter, Kerrio sent his thoughts to the ever-present, blue box-spewing interface.
"Hey system, what are the stages of cultivation? Please explain them in a brief but detailed manner,", he sent.
"Here are the stages of cultivation available to this world:
Body foundation: This is the first stage that prepares one for the use of energy. To advance in that stage, one must cycle and cultivate a primitive type of energy that aims to reinforce the body and make it more familiar with magical energies. Examples of primitive energies include Kota, as well as low-ranked essence seeds or even constant exposure and use of the same type of natural treasure that emanates a specific energy. However, since plants always have slightly varied energy frequencies, even if they are the same species, the foundation of the cultivator will be inferior to that of those who use consistent sources of unchanging energy. This will improve the body's strength and reaction time, but attempting to use that strength to its highest level will confuse the mind and produce unwanted mental side effects, among other problems,", the system replied, Kerrio hearing a flat, emotionless voice reading the text along with him.
"Mind foundation: This is the stage where one familiarizes their mind with the same energy as they have done with their body, granting the ability to make more use of the additional body strength and speed gained throughout the body foundation stage without inducing mental side effects. However, another portion of both the body's and the mind's newly acquired strengths will be unusable until their spirits are equally immersed in primitive energy. To reflect the newly acquired mental and physical strength, thought process and mental clarity are slightly enhanced, and if one possesses an inherent mental ability or trait, it will be enhanced,", it continued.
"Spirit foundation: This is the stage where one's spirit is evolved to the level of their body and mind. This is the stage where humans slowly form the building blocks of their first core, pushing them closer to being able to manipulate energy if they haven't already experienced the energy of their affinity. For those without an inherent affinity for an art, this would be their first step on their path to the pinnacle of the Spirit Arts. For those who do possess an affinity, it will allow them to advance it further if the acquired energy is compatible with the affinity in question, such as fire-aligned beast cores for one with a fire affinity. In this stage, one influences the creation of the most important part of their spiritual journey, their cores, so to speak. On the cusp of copper (level 25), humans would consume a considerable amount of energy, which would be integrated into their incomplete core to finalize its creation, making the point before advancing to the copper rank the most crucial stage for one's cultivation. It will also unlock a basic spiritual sense or further improve an already existing racial trait or ability,", it concluded.
"Due to the lack of cultivators in this world beyond the copper rank, knowledge about the higher ranks is inaccessible,", it added.
Kerrio knew he was on to something in one of his absent thoughts back in the forest before he found Elva, when he had thought that the Omnis wasn't just one world, but several of them. This confirmed his suspicions and speculations to be correct. If copper was that rare in this world, then how strong was it? And what were the causes of the inability to reach beyond it in this world? How many people had ascended to a higher world where coppers were the lowest of the low? Could he even go beyond this region and reach the next higher-level area of this game that's completely real? He was dumped into the equivalent of a level 1 area of the Omnis, it seemed. And apparently, he and Queltsom seemed to have a great advantage in the form of being able to actually use a form of magic, even if his electricity was practically unusable except for the 5% that his body could handle. When he had been goofing off with Quel and turning into a flying box made of solid electricity, his body throbbed with unpent power, and the electricity he could sense felt endless! At this point, his electric affinity turned out to be a liability in the short term, as a whopping 95% of his power sat unused, wasting his electrical pool with the weakest of outputs. It would at best stagger the unwary and unprepared, making them flinch or foiling their aim slightly. He wouldn't be turning into a powerful electrical flying sword anytime soon, as even that 5% he did use only took about 15 minutes to bleed his little electrical pool dry, and that was without constantly changing the shape. Even if overcharging beyond 5% didn't fry him from the inside out, it would suck up all of his current pool in a second, which would likely fail to do any damage, cause him harm, and gain him nothing in return. He'd have to hold off on using his electrical pool until he reached at least the copper rank. His rank had an (in progress) after the body foundation part, so he wasn't sure how to complete it. What did he need to do again? Oh right, cultivate like a mad young master and cycle Kota through his body, then his mind, then his spirit. Oh well, those days were going to be long, boring, and hard as frick for him if his LitRPG knowledge was anything to go by. Did meridians exist here? Would he have to experience great pain trying to unlock them? He hoped not, or else cultivation wouldn't be as pleasant as he wished. "Well, let's hope for the best, I guess,", he sighed to himself. He remembered the 100000 system credit points left from his earlier purchase of the mostly unexplored Essense set and decided he'd rather waste them on an item that would be useless to him in the end than let them just disappear unused. At least he had the possibility of selling the useless item somewhere to gain even a little money in return. So he summoned up the system store once again.
This time, instead of going for the already displayed categories, he mentally filtered the search by Kota cultivation. He didn't exactly know what to look for, but he hoped the filter would be enough to point him in the right direction.
"The all-in-one Kota amulet: sold by: Keran Vio. Price: 95000 credits (currently on sale at 5% off). This amulet is an all-purpose Kota focus, sensing device, and external conductor that will greatly serve aspiring cultivators who have no backers to help them begin their cultivation journey. Upon wearing it the first time, it will extend an easily discernible mental thread that will bind the item to you. Binding it to you will allow you to sense Kota, draw it into your stores, and instinctually purify it with the focusing item without needing to constantly adjust it. This bonding functionality and the superb quality of purification and amplification make it essential to have. Good luck on your cultivation, junior!".
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Kerrio was struck speechless. That was exactly what he needed. Sure, it'd take most of his credits, but it wouldn't be for nothing! It also just happened to be on sale. He was sure now that the system factored what he asked for with what he needed when searching, which made the system better than Google in that regard! He mentally clicked on the item and confirmed his choice, and a blue and white amulet fell into his hand. Not bothering to identify the item, completely trusting the system not to have scammed him or ripped him off, he put it on.
"Would you like to bind a Kota amulet to yourself? This will grant you instinctual knowledge on how to use the item. This will allow you to draw Kota from the air when you wish to cultivate, purify, and amplify it through the focusing crystal integrated into its internal composition and into your own body, and emulate Kota sense to ease control over the Kota you draw into your body. You will have to cycle it through every fiber of your body in order to begin reenforcing it,", came a system prompt.
After contemplating it a little, he pressed yes with his thoughts, and something probed his mind. He immediately learned more about Kota. It apparently was a temporary energy only used to strengthen one's aspects (body, mind, and spirit) and wasn't meant to be used offensively like real, more powerful energies. And since it was temporary, he had to make use of it to its utmost potential by constantly cultivating like some crazy young master! Since he had nothing to do, he would just try to cultivate a bit to pass the time.
He reached out to the amulet, willing it to draw Kota, and he felt it pulling a blurry, thin energy from the air. He focused his will on sensing the Kota around him and eventually sensed the presence of a very weak current of blurry lines.
"Are you bloody kidding me? What kind of trickery is this?", he internally screamed. Did they rip him off after all? At this rate, it would take months to cultivate! Or was Kota too weak here in Elva? That was very likely. Maybe because it wasn't used by many or something. He was fuming at first, but he quickly calmed down. He needed to judge this rationally; even he knew that. He felt another line extending from somewhere he couldn't see, steadily trickling Kota into his amulet. An unseen virtual progress bar flashed in his awareness, indicating how charged the amulet was at that moment, and it was quickly growing. A thought from outside found its way into his gawking mind.
"Cycle, you fool!".
"Oh right, cycling,", he muttered internally, snapping out of his dazed state.
He willed the charged amulet to dump its contents into his body, and an unfamiliar sense of heaviness started to build up in his chest. He concentrated on the heaviness with his amulet-given senses and tried to disperse it over every fiber of his body. It was hard to do, but he eventually started a slow cycle that sent the Kota spinning from his chest, then branching outward to touch every cell of every muscle, bone, organ, and nerve in his body. The energy would touch all of those things, making them feel as if they were being satiated, like the feeling one would get when drinking water after a hard day of thirst, but on a larger scale. Gradually, the Kota started to disappear, but most of it hadn't been used. Kerrio understood what temporary meant. He quickly used the remaining Kota, cycling it before drawing more from the amulet, which was almost overcharged again with the amount drawn from the air as well as the line from the mysterious helper. Kerrio was too busy with his Kota cultivation to dwell on the source of the boost and the foreign thought that snapped him back to reality and led him to starting the cycling process. It sounded like Brel, but Kerrio wasn't sure. The process was boring and didn't pass the time as quickly as cultivation novels seemed to make it appear, nor did it give him any form of enlightenment. What would he be enlightened about? It was just chucking energy into his entire body. Simple and easy.
It seemed as though he had just jinxed himself, because the pain started to bother him. At first, it was just a tingle, then it quickly turned into white-hot agony that made him feel like he was on fire. Heck, even breathing seemed to increase the pain tenfold. He wanted to stop, but he couldn't. The constant cultivation triggered a loop that kept on flooding Kota into him, making it cycle itself through every single millimeter of his body and fade in the process. The energy didn't seem to be absorbed; it was just touching him and then fading, leaving behind that sensation of fulfillment from earlier that devolved into the hellish pain he was experiencing now. Just when he thought that the pain couldn't get worse, it did. He bit back a roar of pain so as not to wake the sleeping monster in the other bed, as the pain kept on ramping up. Just when he thought he had been doomed, the flow of Kota stopped. The amulet stopped drawing Kota from the air, and the other line stopped as well. The pain gradually subsided, and he received a system notification.
"Congratulations, Kerriosko Valdris! You have begun to cultivate! Your body is gradually adjusting to Kota, and your use of medium-grade pure Kota will yield great results! Base Kota density from the All-Purpose Kota Amulet: low-grade pure Kota. Bonus from the "Extension": medium-grade Kota. Note: Low-grade, pure Kota is more powerful than high-grade, unpurified Kota. This Kota is further amplified by the focusing amulet, increasing its potency. Body foundation: 1%!".
Now that's the stuff! Even though there were no attribute boosts, the system's congratulations were enough of a reward. Plus, he had a theory he needed to test on himself, but it turned out that cultivation made you as tired as if you had competed in a marathon three times in a day, so he had to join Quel on Dreamland to catch some zees, then it was back to training and experimentation! He absently wondered why he felt as if he' had just eaten. Was it the cultivation that nourished him and satiated his hunger? He had no time to delve deeper into such stuff any longer because sleep was calling, and Kerrio answered happily. Just before his consciousness blacked out, he wondered about the unseen ally who had helped him get more Kota. Was it Brel? The wording of the thought and the fact that it was a mental message made him think so, but it might not have been. Plus, the term "extension" sounded familiar. Wait, wait, wait! Could old Joe and Brel be the same person?", was the last thought he had before the comfortable abyss of sleep dragged him into its depths.
"Not now, Runty. You'll know the truth when it is the time.", the one responsible for the additional Kota bonus said.