James was sitting in his room (or what the man said is his). It was big, James looked around and tried to enjoy the moment.
He may be stuck in a prison, but who says he can’t make the best of it?
The room has a big bed that can fit two people comfortably, at least he will sleep like kings.
There is a big desk on the side, some scrolls, a brush for writing, and some other malicious items, it also has a side library with five shelves.
Good things he knows how to read and write, granny had taught him that, she used to say that educated slaves live longer than non-educated ones.
He has kept his practice after leaving her, because he knows that it will become handy, and may allow him to become something other than a foot soldier, if he joined the army.
Well, that was a moot road now.
There is a plant pot by the window, basking in the sunlight.
All in all, the room was peaceful and nice.
He took the cultivation method and began reading, it explains the cultivation stage but not past the foundation one.
There are nine levels inside the foundation stage.
Every human has some amount of Qi in their body, and when they succeed in letting some of it in the first dantian they will have entered the foundation stage.
So the first step is to learn to sense Qi. After that, move it into the dantian or the position the scroll says the dantian is on.
Simple enough in theory.
James put the scroll, closed his eyes, and began meditating.
He stayed in that position for what to him was an eternity, and when he opened his eyes the sun was setting.
With nothing else to do, he headed for what appeared to be an oil lamp and lit it, the moment he did several other ones in the room followed suit.
Well, that was handy, he looked around and headed for the small library, and started reading the titles.
History of the empire.
The knight and the widow.
How to take care of a garden.
Death, life and what in between.
Economy for dummies.
After reading more than twenty titles he understood the way they are organized, a shelf for history, one for romantic and literature books, one for gardening, one for philosophy, and one for economy.
James remarked that there is nothing about cultivation here, weapons manuals, or anything that may help him understand his situation, or why he was a prisoner in the first place.
He chose a history book and began reading it.
At least he could pass time, and delay his cultivation because from what he understood, the only reason he is still alive is they want him to reach a certain stage before doing whatever they want with him. So, he will try to delay that as much as possible.
Two weeks have passed, and James has gotten used to his schedule: wake up in the morning, go to the garden, enjoy some tea, cultivate until lunch, have lunch in the garden, read some books, do some exercise, cultivate till the sun sets, read some books, and sleep after that.
It doesn’t have a lot of variety, and the only human communication he does is with the old man when they eat together.
And they didn't exchange more than 10 words.
It was a monotonous and dull two weeks.
No one ever visited, and the old man didn’t ask him about the name issue, which means the sect didn’t even bother to start the procedure.
James is now certain that he is a prisoner, and the sect probably is keeping quiet about him.
The initiates probably began their lives, and will forget about him in no time, if they haven’t already.
The only people who know his name are Debra and Kim, but that's it, they aren’t friends or anything.
He will probably be kept here until the sect gets what it wants, and after that they can just say that he died on a mission or something if someone asked.
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Not like there is anyone brave enough to do so.
At least the books provided some solace, and helped color his life a little.
Although he is beginning to notice something weird in them, it looks like they were the properties of someone before him because there are marks and notes in some of them.
Those marks are putting him off because they almost resemble the rumbling of a mad person.
Almost, because he is certain that there is a method to their madness
He will keep reading those books for now, he has nothing else to do, other than thinking of a way to run from this hell.
And if he did, he will never ever put his foot in a sect.
After two more weeks, James became officially a cultivator, he can now control Qi, and start to fill his first dantian.
But that isn’t what is on his mind now, now he is having lunch with the old man, and he has requests.
“I have some requests,” James said.
They were now eating some rice with meat and some vegetables. The quality of the meat is good, and the cooking is excellent, that part he can give to the old man. He is a great cook.
“Go ahead,” the man said without taking his eyes from the food.
“I want some cultivation techniques to practice on, books explaining the principles of cultivation, I would like something on how to use weapons, and someone to teach me the basics”. James said
He knows that he is a prisoner, but the sect is trying to maintain the facade, so at least he can take advantage of that.
“We would rather you focus on cultivating what we gave you, and when it is the time we will provide more.” The man said
“I can’t do that, I need something to use my Qi on. I think it will help me discover my attributes, which will help in the long term. Also, it will not slow me down because I cultivate as much as I can, and stop only to relieve my mind.” James said
The man was quiet for some time. James thought he would have to prepare for a long discussion.
“You will get some techniques. As for weapons manuals and a teacher, that can wait until you advance in your cultivation” the man said
Well, that is better than nothing, James thought. The teacher was just him keeping the facade.
“I want to choose these techniques, I heard that disciples can go to the sect library to choose techniques and manuals. I would like to do the same” James said
He wants to choose anything that may help him in running away, or augment his chance at least, and also to judge the man's response to him getting out of the house.
“I will provide a list you can pick from, the time you will take going to and back from the library is precious, and can’t be wasted.” the man said.
The old man stood up, indicating the end of the discussion.
In the morning of the next day, the man handed James a list of techniques, and a book on the basics of Qi usage. James began with the list first; it contains twenty techniques, and James can’t select more than three.
James looked at the techniques, they offer utility options, defense, and maneuverability.
He needs to decide quickly. So he began by sorting out his thoughts.
There is one goal, and that is to run away from this sect before he is doomed.
He has been thinking of how to do so, and has discarded many options.
He is in an isolated place, so he can’t mix up with other people.
Also, any time he tried to get close to the house doors, the old man would appear beside him.
Since coming, he tried to catch the time when the old man wasn't in the house, and he couldn’t do that.
So the old man needs to be removed.
He doesn't think that any guards are surrounding the houses, but it may be just that he can’t see them.
The food is always fresh, so either someone is bringing it every day, or some cultivation bullshit.
He has the beginning of an idea, but it is just that, the beginning. From the top of the mountain comes a river, one of its branches isn't far from the house, and it provides the water used for the garden.
Even the sect can’t stop water from flowing outside its territory, so he can use that to his advantage.
Based on that, two techniques come to mind among those that offer maneuverability.
One to swim faster, and one can help him hold his breath.
If he chooses those two, anyone can understand his objective so has to give up on one of them. He will keep the second one; it says nothing about water, so it will keep his plan a secret for now, and it is more versatile.
As for defense, he will select a technique that puts a protective Qi barrier around his body.
That leaves one technique at the end, all the rest aren’t that helpful for his situation.
He picked one that can be used to create simple, small, and hard shapes using Qi, this is versatile enough and may become useful to him.
James told the old man his choices, and started to read the book in Qi usage.
According to the book, techniques are generally the work of generations of experts, with a healer ready to intervene when something bad happens.
Qi can be used without any techniques, but the consumption can be huge, and the risk is very high.
Basically, techniques are refined and established methods to use Qi to do specified tasks.
As for using Qi to manipulate attributes, it depends on the attribute. For example, if someone has the space attribute, they may open a fissure beside their head and kill themselves before they have even begun their journey.
On the contrary, some attributes are almost safe to manipulate, like the wind attribute.
Almost because the risk is always there.
But there is one golden rule, never ever try to do anything with attributes inside the body.
An example is, if the user tries to manipulate the water in the body. Most likely that won't succeed because the body has a strong innate protection. But if it did, there will be a lot of blood, guts, and mixed organs in the ground.
James thanked his past self for reading the book before he started experimenting with Qi.
Now he knows what rule to respect.
He will start by experimenting on his attribute outside his body.
James sat on his pillow and concentrated on his surroundings, he closed his eyes, and tried to perceive the surrounding shadow using Qi.
Well, he can sense his shadow, but not so far from him.
James opened his eyes, and sure enough, his shadow is reflected by the afternoon sun, sensing where his shadow is, may not be useful now, but this is just the beginning, he will train until he can do more.