After dinner, Victoria went back to her room and took stock of her gains again. It turned out, in the middle of her epiphany, she'd missed the completion of her task to comprehend the Design Rune, as well as receiving a new task to comprehend the Advanced Design Rune and another to form her Spirit core. She debated back and forth which one to focus on first, before ultimately deciding to take Maurice's advice and form her core, spend the rest of the night working on that before heading to bed and continuing the moment she woke up. According to Maurice, after the Assimilation it was best to condense the Core as quickly as possible. The longer you wait, the more your comprehension degrades as you could no longer meditate on the Rune after you've Assimilated it, decreasing the quality of the Core you form. Maurice seemed to have forgotten that Victoria still had another Design Rune in her Runescape she could mediate on, but since she did want to condense her Core as quickly as possible anyway, she decided to purely focus on forming the core, only taking breaks for meals and general hygiene. However, even with that, it still took Victoria another week to finish condensing the Core and officially become a Spirit Cultivator.

"Now that you've formed your Core, you have entered the Energy Gathering phase. Much like forming your core, you simply have to focus on your Rune and let it gather energy for you. Every ten percent is a level, zero to ten being level one, eleven to twenty being level two, and ninety-one to one hundred being the final level ten. After your core is completely full, you'll be ready for Core Strengthening. In order to accomplish this, you must use the pressure from your Runes to condense your energy, expelling any impurities, after which you will again begin to gather energy until the Core is full, then repeat the process over and over to make your energy as pure as possible. This level is split into stages, each stage representing a hundred percent increase in the potency of your energy. Stage one would be one hundred to two hundred percent potency, stage two would be two hundred to three hundred percent potency, and so on, the goal being one thousand percent potency, though few ever reach it. Of course, the more advanced your Rune, the easier this process becomes, so don't forget to continue your Rune cultivation as well." Maurice explained after Victoria told him she'd finished condensing her core.

"Now, as a Spirit Cultivator, your energy is best used outside your body. It can be spread around you as a mist, to sense your surroundings or project images and sounds, or it can be condensed into threads, to grasp and manipulate objects. These threads can be strong, but they aren't very sturdy. Even non-Cultivators are capable of disrupting, or even breaking them if they hit them strongly enough, or use a sharp enough weapon. Thankfully, the energy is invisible, so the odds of this happening are slim." Maurice continued, demonstrating by making a few images appear around him and using threads to pick up his quill and a chair, making Victoria's eyes go wide. "You will also gain various abilities through your Advanced Runes, but every Rune grants different abilities, so I can't prepare you for those."

Victoria nodded in understanding. "What about Essence and Qi Cultivators? How does their energy work?"

"Essence Cultivators energy naturally flows through them, increasing their healing rate and durability. They are hard to wound, and even if you pull it off, they'll already have begun healing. They can also use their energy to create a defensive layer around themselves, like a suit of armor. Qi Cultivators have aspects of both, their Qi naturally flows through them and they can create a mist field, but they can't create threads or a defensive layer." Maurice answered. "As a Spirit Cultivator, your best opponent is an Essence Cultivator. Your threads can break through their defensive layer from a distance, and you can use your mist field to hide from them and confuse their senses. On the other hand, a Qi Cultivator is your worst enemy. Their mist field allows them to counter your own, as well as sense your threads, and their physical abilities far surpass your own, leaving you vulnerable. Qi Cultivators are weak against Essence Cultivators, as they lack the power to break their defensive fields. Of course, all this assumes everyone is around the same level. A peak stage one Core Strengthening Spirit Cultivator will be slightly stronger physically than a peak Energy Gathering Qi Cultivator, offsetting their vulnerability."

Victoria frowned. "So… it's like rock, paper, scissors?"

Maurice frowned. "Rock what?"

"Uh, do we not have that game?" Victoria asked hesitantly, before beginning to make the hand signs. "Rock, paper, scissors. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper. Power beats skill, brains beat brawn, and skill beats smarts. Essence, Spirit, Qi."

Maurice raised an eyebrow at her. "That's an… interesting concept."

Victoria shrugged. "It's just a dumb game."

*

The next morning, just before Victoria was about to head out for her morning exercise, there was a knock on the door. Confused, Victoria opened the door to find the Marquis. "Ah, Victoria. Maurice has informed me you've finished condensing your Core. If you have the time, I believe it's time to begin your martial training."

Victoria frowned. "Martial training?"

The Marquis nodded. "Even as a Spirit Cultivator, it is important that you grasp basic combat techniques, to defend yourself against Qi Cultivators. They can defend against the large majority of Spirit techniques, and if you lack the ability to face them physically, you lose any chance you may have to defeat them."

Victoria nodded slowly. "That makes sense… Who will train me?"

The Marquis grinned. "I will, of course. There's no better martial expert in the castle than I."

Victoria was slightly surprised by this, but then she remembered he was technically her father, so it kind of made sense? Though, the fact that he only started paying attention to her after she proved to be talented kind of irked her a bit. On the other hand, he literally couldn't talk to her before, so… eh, whatever. She needed to learn how to fight anyway.

She followed the Marquis to a private training yard with walls covered in racks full of weapons both real and fake, a few stands of armor sitting in the corners. The Marquis quickly picked out a set of padded armor for her, teaching her how to put it on, then allowed her to select her own weapon. Victoria scanned the weapon racks, her eyes immediately drawn to the large slab of a sword which looked like it should be used as some sort of structural support, rather than a weapon. Her inner geek would have loved to grab it, but she knew it just wasn't practical. She scanned the other options, frowning slightly as she did, not entirely sure how she should go about choosing.

She supposed the first thing she had to consider was how she actually wanted to fight. As a Spirit Cultivator, she would mainly be relying on her threads for combat, and ideally she'd use a weapon that complemented them, instead of something she'd only use as a last resort. From that, two ideas immediately presented themselves to her: bows and daggers. Daggers could easily be used at close range, while still being light enough to be manipulated by her threads. Even against a Qi Cultivator, it wouldn't matter if they could sense her threads if she kept them close, using them more like arms. On the other hand, bows were nice because they had their own power, and her threads could act as more of a support, increasing accuracy and power. The only problem was… she didn't see any bows on the wall.

"Where are the… damnit, don't know the word… uh, the long range weapons. Curved piece of wood with a taut string connected to both ends, shoots small sticks with feathers and sharp tips?" Victoria turned to ask the Marquis.

The Marquis frowned. "A bow?" He muttered, before shaking his head. "That isn't a Cultivator's weapon. No bow can match the power of a Cultivator. Even if it's effective at lower levels, it quickly loses effectiveness as you attain higher and higher realms. We simply don't have access to materials that can provide the power necessary. At least, not without joining a sect.”

"Ah." Victoria nodded in understanding, before reaching out to grab a pair of wooden daggers, about as long as her forearm. "Then I'll take these."

"Good choice." The Marquis nodded in agreement, before picking out a pair of his own, and walking towards the middle of the yard. "The key point of wielding daggers is speed. The blades aren't strong enough to block heavier weapons, so your focus will be on dodging and parrying." The Marquis demonstrated a few basic parrying and dodging motions for Victoria. Simple side steps and deflections. "Now you try."

Victoria nodded, stepping up and taking a similar stance as the Marquis had. "Wait." He stopped her, carefully correcting her stance. "There we go. Continue." Victoria noted the corrections, before attempting the first move. Again, the Marquis stopped her, correcting a few mistakes before having her try again, then again, until she got it right and they moved on to the next move. Then he had her do it all again, in order. Then again, faster, and again, and again, until sweat beaded her forehead and her arms ached. "Alright, that's enough." The Marquis finally stopped her. "Now, all you need to do is continue practicing until the motions become second nature. When you have this one down, come find me, and I'll teach you another form to work on."

[Master the dagger form: 0%]

Victoria nodded, grinning slightly at the task as she headed towards her own training courtyard to do her usual morning exercises. From that day forward, she added the dagger form to her daily routine, practicing it over and over until her task was finally satisfied, before finding the Marquis to learn the next one and getting another task. The dagger fighting skill, or rather the fighting skill, which the dagger fighting skill was under, quickly began to rise in the system's skill list as she perfected the forms, spending more than a few points to help it along. She found that not only did the training help her use daggers, but it helped all her other combat skills as well, and vice versa. When she spent points to increase her hand to hand combat skill, she found her dagger forms improved as well. It seemed that while the specifics may change, the fundamentals of combat were similar no matter what weapon you were using.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

As for her energy gathering, it was progressing slowly. With all her other projects, she could only cultivate for about three hours each day, which only filled about one percent of her capacity. Still, she could see her stats rising steadily, particularly her mental stats. She gained at least a point or two in each mental stat for each percentage of her Core she filled, encouraging her to continue her progress. Which was nice, because the point rewards from her daily exercises were starting to get harder to earn as her points made her stronger, and she knew it wouldn't be long until they provided nothing at all. Though it'd take longer than it had on Earth, since this world had equipment designed to push Cultivators. Of course, she could always spend points on increasing her limit to bring her point total down…

A haze fell over Victoria's thoughts as it suddenly hit her how insurmountable her goal was. The Voice had wiped out everyone in an entire nation, if not the world! They at least destroyed a city and every single system user. How was she supposed to match that level of power? Was that even the Voice's limit? She was sure she could get there, but… how long would it take her? How many lives? How many deaths? How many failures? Was it even worth it? What was the point when everyone she cared about was already gone?!?

“Are you feeling alright?" Melissa asked one evening after dinner. "You seem a little out of it."

Victoria sighed. "It's nothing. I'm just wondering why I'm doing anything I'm doing… there doesn't seem to be much point to it. Why should I cultivate and get stronger? Will it make life more enjoyable? Will it help me do what I want to do? What do I even want to do?" She rambled in an almost numb tone.

"Only you can answer that question." Melissa replied with a sigh of her own. "I will support you along any path you choose to take, but you're the one who has to choose it."

"You're right. I have some things I need to… consider." Victoria agreed, heading off to her room, lost in thought. Did she still want to make the Voice pay? Her eyes hardened as her thoughts turned to her last moments with Jessica, feeling her chest burn. Yes, she did want to make the Voice pay. But… She needed something more as well. She needed… freedom. The freedom to use her system without worrying about another Voice popping up and coming after her. The freedom to act without fear. And to do that… she needed to be strong. But how was she going to get there? If she wanted to be able to stand against beings like the Voice, she needed something more than just physical power. She needed a way to protect people, to defend against something that could potentially destroy planets.

And to do that… she didn't even know what she needed to do that. Cultivation was a start, Runes providing all sorts of abilities that might let her protect people, but something felt… Off about that. Her personal cultivation would only ever help her, but if she could figure out how to do it through the system, then anyone could have the ability to protect people! Of course, she could just give everyone the ability to cultivate… That sounded like something the system could do, right? She'd have to test that, but even then, why limit herself? She knew the system could do more, it just needed more… data.

So far, the points had been able to do almost anything she wanted them to do. Hell, she could even use them to turn off her period, which as a former male, she was very grateful for. At least in that area, women really got the short end of the stick. However, the points needed something to actually work with before they could do anything. She couldn't give herself the ability to fly, or see through walls, or anything like that because she didn't have anything that would let her fly or see through walls. You could even see it with the skills. You could only put so many points into a skill, because after a certain point, there was nothing more the points could do. It couldn't add information, it could only make what she did know… firmer. So if she wanted the system to be able to do more, it needed more to work with.

But where would she get more to work with? Again, cultivation was a start, but she wasn't spreading the system around again, and the amount she could gain from her own cultivation was limited. Even giving it to a few people she trusted wouldn't help all that much… She was going to need hundreds, if not thousands of data points to expand the system's capabilities to the level she needed to. Maybe… it wasn't like she actually knew how much it would take, but she couldn't imagine it would be easy to develop an ability people could use to protect themselves from what basically amounted to a god. But where was she actually going to get that data, if not from people actually using the system?

She paused as an idea suddenly hit her. What if she didn't use people? Rune Beasts could cultivate, couldn't they? They could even develop unique abilities! And it wasn't like they needed to have the system for long. She just needed them to have it long enough for her to figure out how they did what they did, and then she could just kill them! It was the perfect solution!

*

"You want to what!?!" The Marquis exclaimed, eyes widening as he stared down at the frail looking young girl in front of him with a determined look in her eye.

"I want to become a Hunter." Victoria repeated simply.

"This- this- No! Are you crazy?!? Hunting is dangerous! The Rune Beasts in the wild are vicious, more than capable of tearing even a seasoned Hunter limb from limb, let alone some naive young noble who has no idea what she's even getting into!" The Marquis immediately shut her down, shaking his head profusely.

"Let me rephrase." Victoria replied, fixing him with a hard glare. "I'm going to go out and hunt Rune Beasts. Whether I do so through the Hunters Guild, which can provide me with various resources to help me stay safe, as well as any support you may provide, or by sneaking out on my own, with little to no idea what I'm doing, is entirely up to you. It is something that will happen, with or without your permission."

The Marquis narrowed his eyes, frowning at this audacious little girl. "Listen here, I am your father, you understand? Your safety is my responsibility! I will not let you waltz unprepared into the forsaken wilderness to end up as a slightly prettier corpse! I will lock you in a tower until you grow old and decrepit before I let that happen!"

"Then make sure I am prepared! I know I'm still young and inexperienced, and that I need to know more before I actually begin to hunt, but this is something I am going to do, something I need to do! I came to you because I want your support, but if you won't help me, I will do it on my own. You can try and lock me in some tower, or throw me in a dungeon, but I will find a way to escape, and do what I need to do anyway!" Victoria retorted fiercely.

The Marquis looked at her, dumbfounded, before letting out a frustrated growl. "But why!?! Why would you ever need to be a Hunter? For money? We have money! Do you want to see Rune Beasts? There's a circus at the capital that has dozens of Rune Beasts to perform for them! We could go any time! What could you possibly need that I couldn't get you?"

Victoria paused. "Strong Rune Beasts with almost magical abilities that I can study? Oh, and they need to be alive and capable of using said magical abilities."

The Marquis's face fell. "That- why would you ever need something like that?!?”

“I- need to study them?” Victoria offered tentatively. “It will help me get stronger.”

The Marquis frowned. “How!?!”

Victoria hesitated. “I- think I can find a way to copy their abilities?”

The Marquis blinked. “What?”

“I can copy Rune Beasts abilities?” Victoria repeated. “I think. Obviously I haven't tried, but… it seems like something I should be able to do.”

“How-” The Marquis cut off with a frown. “Does this have something to do with your otherworldly knowledge?”

Victoria nodded. “Yes it does. I'm- not quite sure how to explain it though. I just need access to strong Rune Beasts.”

The Marquis stared at her with a calculating look for a moment, before letting out a weary sigh. “Fine. But we're doing this my way!”