As Jason focuses inward and works on opening his first meridian further, the world continues around him. Time passes and the elderly come to respect him all the more for his dedication. While they aren’t powerful, the long years and for a few of them, time spent as teachers, has taught them to recognize when someone is actually focusing instead of just snoozing off. Not that Jason is in any position to notice this besides the fact he isn’t being bothered.
Jason finds the simple act quite relaxing. Unlike the rest of his time, both here and in NeoRealm, there wasn’t any heavy pressure on him for this step. There was only the steady flow of his power, like the tides lapping at a beach. Though, as with most things, this too reached its end.
The first section of the meridian was easy to clear, like water sweeping away sand. As Jason progressed further, though, the inevitable happened. That which blocked his way became harder and harder to clear. Sure, he could have continued working at it as with enough time water can wear away even a mountain. Time, however, isn’t something he has on his side for the moment.
Sure, Jason could faff around a bit more than he has. He isn’t in dire need of advancing as quickly as he has so far and with each new breakthrough the time he has increases. Still, Jason knows that he can’t keep everything under wraps, even if he hadn’t told Courtney about cultivation.
It would be like a caveman thinking they could keep a fire secret while out in the middle of a field. The modern world just has too many methods to detect things and someone must have let all the strange powers in. So no, Jason doesn’t feel he has much time at all, despite not knowing what activities are going on in the background.
Background activity which has gone into overdrive. Though to be fair, since they had been authorized to stay at 5x time compression, it would be hard not to with how much time Jason just spent. While his new actions during his cultivation hasn’t been disturbing the surrounding power as much, it still has an effect. With Jason cultivating in a new location, it even allows them to notice the source of the disturbance had moved.
Not where, much to their chagrin, but the fact it moved at all tells them it isn’t centered on Jenny and Jason’s apartment. The downside for the researchers is that the powers had started to fluctuate, almost like waves hitting a beach. Now, normally ripples going out from a central location would allow them to pinpoint things even better than it had been before.
As it would happen though, not everything transmits the ripple at the same speed with some materials even bouncing it. Even worse, they aren’t able to make sense of the reflections because even identical looking bricks have different behaviors. One might slow down the wave, another sends it off at an angle, and a third absorbs most of it. To begin making headway would have required an up to date and detailed scan of how the various powers were scattered around the entire area.
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Then, of course, the waves stopped with them not even half done getting such a thing set up. All because Jason had reached the point of diminishing returns with his cultivation. While he didn’t quite know what was blocking up his meridian and would have to explore that more, he could tell that it would loosen up if left alone. So, without a clue that a bunch of researchers and military personnel are cursing him, Jason leaves the park and heads toward more exciting locales.
His cultivation had only taken up some of the morning and so there was the rest of the day to do with as he will. First goal? To get something good to eat and today was the best day for it. Not all the restaurants might go to live service, but the old-fashioned ones all do.
For most people, this is actually a drawback. The piloted robots have so many swanky features that it makes it near impossible for a good chef to mess up a dish. Try to put too much salt in? The robot stops releasing salt after exactly the right number of grams have gone in. Even if the chef disables all those guides, the exact amounts being used are constantly being displayed and there is never a worry of a hair getting in the food.
For most people, a person physically making them food is almost sickening. For Jason? As he steps into the burger joint and the smell hits him, it is all worth it. The restaurant looks chintzy, but that is the historic style. While not using actual recipes from back then, the owner had styled the place like one of the last fast-food franchises of old. All of the originals long gone from the triple whammy of the fall of franchises in general, truly unbiased studies on just what effect the fast food had on people, and the invention of a cheap open source multipurpose device capable of producing equal quality food.
None of that matters to Jason as he approaches the counter. Being one of only a handful of teens in the packed place draws attention. Unaffected by the stares, Jason orders a plate stacked high with a large selection of burgers and a flood of fries. The few other teens, all dragged here by their grandparents, look on in confusion as he takes a single seat table. They had figured Jason was ordering ahead for some older relatives.
Jason ignores them and starts to chow down. A plate with enough food for three people, generous proportions all around, is quickly vanishing. Not that Jason is trying to eat fast. Rather, the hands-on skill of the chef shines through. Unlike skills in NeoRealm, a chef’s skill isn’t able to pack more power into each bite. But what it does do is create order.
A leaf of lettuce, even when cloned and grown such that it would look exactly like every other leaf in its batch, will have chaotic and jumbled energy. Don’t even bring up a burger patty. Already chaotic meat being ground up and mixed together? It never had a chance. But through the care and attention lavished upon the burgers. Through the time worn and perfected actions, the recipe passed down, these chefs had created a true symphony within their food. Jason truly feels sad that everyone else in here can only taste the surface level of their dishes.