Live by the core die by the core

Cyrus woke to see Alexander sitting on a chair reading a book bound in green leather.

“If you weren’t reading a different book, I would think the past three days were a dream” quipped Cyrus with a grin.

Alexander didn’t smile nor remove his eyes from his book, “Didn’t the commander explain to you not to try and open more than one valve? Especially since you have your artifact, you are more prone to Qi exhaustion”

Cyrus looked away, as he said to Alexander, “I wanna go home, and even if you haven’t said it yet, I know I can’t go home until I open all my valves.” Cyrus finally looked at Alexander, who was now gripping the chair in his right hand, and the book in his left.

“ Isn’t that the truth” Cyrus screamed, his voice hoarse as Alexander wouldn’t take an eye off his book, “ I don’t belong here, yet I can’t leave can I?” His voice lowered to almost a whisper as he asked.

Alexander finally looked at Cyrus who was begging for answers. Alexander’s glance went soft as he said, “ I thought so” Alexander shook his head as he closed his book.

“ You seem to think I’m trapping you here” Cyrus tried to get up but was waved down by Alexander.

Cyrus looked at Alexander triumphantly,

“ You didn’t prove anything,” Alexander said through laughter, “I'm protecting you from yourself” Cyrus looked bewildered and then offended.

Quickly, Alexander asked Cyrus, “ Tell me what happened when you tried to open your second valve.”

Cyrus seemed to want to argue but quickly forgot as his face went pale.

“ As I’m sure you know three days ago and Razier both suffered holy opened are first valve”

Alexander nodded, “ Yes, Razier told me, you opened the valve toward your brain”

Cyrus nodded, “ Well, the commander said it would take us about a week to get used to our new senses”

Alexander interrupted, “And you thought that it would be a good idea to try and open another valve before you were even used to your first valve being opened”

Cyrus looked ashamed but quickly interjected, “The commander only said we couldn’t cultivate on the same day, and it wasn’t like I did it alone. How else would I have gotten into the bed”

Alexander glared at Cyrus, “ I already dealt with Razier, and I’m glad you weren’t completely stupid to try and open a valve without anyone there” said Alexander sarcastically.

“ Tell me what you felt when you tried to open your valve”

“ Well, I followed the sensation of Qi with my mind. It's hard to explain how I did it but I just saw brightness like an orange light was somehow right in front of me burning bright” he shook his head.

“ That sounds about right, though it’s a different color or sight for everyone but it’s your Qi. It’s quite exhilarating when you can see it the first time”

Cyrus looked amazed as his right hand went to his heart, and he said with a grin “ I tried to reach out to it because I felt like I needed to bathe in the light sit and become the core of it”

Alexander nodded his head, “It seems you found more than just your own Qi. This is why I said it’s dangerous for you, it seems you ended up finding and trying to cultivate your Artifacts Qi” he stood up again pacing the room.

“of course, everyone’s artifact is different, but everyone describes a similar feeling of overwhelming Qi that they want to almost bathe in” he shook his head, “How did you end up resisting? There are five people in the capital's hospital with Qi exhaustion from their Artifacts Qi where they sit in a coma”

Cyrus shot up out of bed falling in the process, “Why didn’t you tell me that” he yelled. Alexander looked perplexed, “Why would that matter? Did you forget what happened in your village? It’s as you already know, you are a danger to yourself and everyone else if you can’t control your artifact” Cyrus looked down, a couple of times he looked like he was gonna say something but didn’t.

“So how did you resist the feeling of your artifact’s Qi. ?”

“Because it didn’t feel right it didn’t feel how it did when I opened my first valve. That was a nice sensation. However, this time it felt like I was in a state of bliss that hurt but in a good way” he didn’t realize but he was smiling as he said the last part.

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“It seems I was right about you, or I guess about myself it doesn’t matter but you have a strong sensitivity to Qi.”

Cyrus stated to him in confusion” Your Artifact is just Qi but it’s much more concentrated Qi normally with a specific purpose like manipulating lighting. The reason it’s so concentrated is because your artifact is pure Qi like anything natural in the world such as the moon, sun, and water. People don’t have pure Qi because we have cells and blood mixed with Qi from our parents.”

Cyrus looked with wonder at Alexander, as he continued, “So I guess you wouldn’t say Qi exhaustion is a coma but some kind of addiction to pure Qi in your system. That feeling you felt can only be replicated by putting yourself in a constant state of cultivation where you circulate your artifacts Qi”

Cyrus turned pale as he said, “You mean those patients in the hospitals are cultivating”

Alexander nodded, “ if you can call it that but they aren’t getting stronger they just want the sensation ”

Alexander shook his head, “It’s really rare but a shame nonetheless. The only good thing that came out of it was people stopped being called cultivation addicts because there are some now”

Cyrus seemed to enjoy the last part getting him to laugh but quickly cut short as Cyrus winced. Alexander seeing this stood up, “You should get some rest, tomorrow you will see how much your senses have improved, you only have two months to open your valves.”

Cyrus' head shot up, “ what do you mean I have two months” he yelled, “ will I get to go home by then” Cyrus asked again his excitement evident.

Alexander waved his left hand, “Relax, it usually takes a week for each valve to open and you will get another month to get used to your new senses that’s plenty of time.” Alexander shut the door as he saw Cyrus still waiting for more answers.

. Something loud slammed into the door as Alexander walked down the hall with an amused look across his face

The following month the commander came to the garden to guide his two new pupils. Razier as the commander expected opened his valves quicker than Cyrus, however, he was having more trouble than Cyrus getting used to his improved physical capabilities and senses.

Cyrus struggled with concentration, every time he felt the warm sensation of Qi he would constantly break the flow of his Qi, breaking the flow before it opened his valves.

After watching this a couple of times the commander interrupted, “Why are you losing focus so much? Razier has already opened his valve for his legs”

Cyrus opened his eyes and said without making eye contact, “ I don’t want to use my artifacts Qi again”

The commander shook his head, “Well how about you think of this then, once you open up all five valves you won’t have to worry about mistaking your artifacts Qi anymore”

Cyrus' eyes scrunched and he stared at the commander, “ what are you talking about”

The commander laughed, then told the young teen with a maniacal glint in his eyes “When all five of your valves are opened your Qi becomes just as concentrated, or pure as your artifacts. How did you think you would be able to use your artifact?”

Cyrus nodded and said, “Alexander told me about artifacts being pure Qi like what the world is since it’s not diluted by our blood”

The commander shook his head a little, “That’s true but it doesn’t seem like he told you the best way, or else you would know that opening all your valves is your best option”

“What happened was you allowed too much Qi from your artifact to enter your veins and your body responded to it by trying to open all your valves. The issue is that your body can’t handle the pure Qi as Alexander explained causing people to become catatonic cultivators.”

The commander wasn’t finished but Cyrus no longer seemed to worry about cultivating seemingly motivated by not having to worry about being catatonic when all his valves were open.

The commander shook his head, returning to his position in front of both his pupils, watching as they both cultivated.

The newfound motivation allowed Cyrus to open his pelvis valve the next day, testing out his newfound physical capabilities as he ran around the chateau, a ten-mile run he completed in ten minutes.

By the beginning of the next week, both students had opened two valves and were now capable of hearing and seeing the town from the chateau with their improved senses.

Alexander would stop by each day never actually speaking just watching as his two battle mates improved physical capabilities improved.

The second week Razier opened both of his arm valves, which commonly happens. Cyrus wasn’t able to open even one of his arm valves, but he was able to improve his sense of sight, smell, and hearing again, as well as improve his time of running around the Chateau to nine minutes.

. On the third week, Razier had only to open his heart valve, however for some reason, Alexander and the commander both told him he should and can’t open his heart valve. Razier seemed to understand, unfortunately for Cyrus, he seemed to care why that was.

Cyrus’s struggle ended on the third week when he was able to open both his arm valves. He was surprised to notice that his sense of touch improved, unlike with his legs and feet. Similar to the legs, he found that he was much stronger in his arms now, which he found out when he broke his bedroom door. This seemed to be expected as similar to Alexander’s room he now had an oak wood door.

“ I could cut off my arm if I had to, “ said Cyrus with a laugh, “Razier how did you deal with the prickling sensation up your arm” he yelled, as Razier just laughed without any explanation.

In the past month, both Cyrus and Razier had not only improved their physical and mental capabilities but also their physical bodies. Their hair grew, Cyrus’s past his shoulders, and Razier's down to the nape of his neck.

Razier’s age also seemed to affect how much his body could physically change as he grew an inch while Cyrus grew 5 inches, just one inch shorter now than his 6’3” companion. Both students were bowing to their teacher when with their new senses they heard an unnatural whistling of the wind.

Using their sense of hearing they turned around, where they saw a wooden dagger hurling at them. At a hundred yards they could easily identify the dagger, seeing it was made out of wood both of them relaxed.

However, the dagger was still coming at them, gaining momentum as they could hear the whistling of the wind coming off it as it went slightly above Razier's head. The dagger was going so fast it cut some of his hair like it was a razor, as the dagger stuck into a green moss-filled tree trunk

. “Good, it seems you were a successful commander.”

The commander grinned as he said, “We still have one more test to make sure, but I think you will be happy with your payment Alexander” the commander said as he turned toward the direction the dagger came from.