Three days later Kael’s previous memories finally merged with his current infantile ones. Finally opening his eyes, he looked up into the worried face of his mother, staring down at him with her penetrating dark golden eyes. Seeing him open his eyes she immediately tightly hugged him while crying. Between the sobs, she choked out, “Oh baby, it’s good that you are awake, mommy was so afraid.”

Slightly startled, a warmth gushed out from his heart. His innermost feelings still carried his previous infantile life's view and was still that of a child that had been raised, protected, and loved by the woman giving him the suffocating hug. Realizing he truly did have an emotional tie to his parents, and that he shouldn’t worry them, he racked his brains for how to write off his inevitable changes.

Turning his head to the side so he could breathe he said, “Mom, mom, its ok, I’m fine, I just had a crazy dream, don’t worry mom.”

Hearing her child speaking, Alavarah grabbed his shoulders, pushed him away and stared at his face, as if to check that it was really him speaking. “Oh child, a dream doesn’t last three days, are you sure you are ok?”

“Yes mom” Kael replied, “I don’t know why I slept for three days, the dream wasn’t that long, but I’m fine.”

Staring at her child with doubt-filled eyes she asked, “what is this dream you keep talking about?”

“Oh mom, it was neat! There was this HUGE guy with skin that looked like a stone or metal, and he was smashing an entire city! Then there was this pretty lady who sitting beneath a gigantic tree, but the tree was on fire! It was like the flames were licking the stars! Then she went off to have a fight with the big guy, it was really cool watching them clash mom.”

Hearing this she was shocked, she knew of the two families distant bloodlines that had almost completely died out. There was no way her son could know of the two bloodlines. The fighting between them would make sense also, as they were equal in strength and always struggling over benefits for their families.

“Ok, Kael” she said, “as long as you are fine, but you cannot tell anyone about your dream. I’ll talk to your father about it, but you are not to mention it ever again. Do you understand? If you do, promise mommy that you will never talk about it again.”

Slightly blown away by his mother's overreaction to the made-up dream, Kael still silently sighed to himself as it seems his scheme worked. “Ok mom, I promise I won’t talk about the dream, the giant, or the pretty lady again. Why is it such a big secret mom? When I had a dream that a giant dog lifted its leg and blew dad away with his pee, you told everyone in the village.”

Covering her mouth with her hand she quietly laughed. “Oh baby, that's not the same. Your mommy and daddy were born in special families, and your dreams are about the origins of those families. Those families were really strong and became powerful clans. Unfortunately, some bad people did not like how strong they were becoming and started fighting with them. Our families lost that fight, which is why we moved here. So you can’t tell anyone about your dreams, understand?”

“I understand mom.” is what Kael’s mouth was saying, but Shitty system screwed me again! is what his brain was saying. Although he had a pretty good idea of what happened he still had to ask. “Uh mom, if you and dad are from super strong families, why are you guys so weak? I mean, shouldn’t you at least be as strong as the uncle who leads the village?” After those words were spoken, sorrow could clearly be seen in Alavarah’s watery eyes.

“Baby, I will tell you but you can’t talk to anyone about it, you also can’t talk to your father about it, he still hasn’t accepted it. Near the end of the war, I had just realized I was pregnant with you. Our families loaded us up with wealth and snuck us away. While we were running away we got caught by the bad guys. They not only robbed us but also poisoned us as we escaped. The poison slowly sealed our meridians, that is why we are only in the peak of body refinement. Body refinement is what common people call a Spirit Disciple.”

Kael’s childhood memories already gave him suspicions that this world used qi, another one of the things that the system screwed him on, but hearing his mom mention body refinement made his heart thump as a bad feeling overcame him.

“Mom, I’ve never heard of it called body refinement, could you explain some of the cultivation ranks to me?”

Looking at her child, she realized this was going to happen eventually and gave in. “Ok, mommy will tell you, but it is complex and confusing so mommy will only tell you the basics. You know in our village everyone has a spirit ranking, outside the village the strong people have saint rankings. Spirit rankings are a part of Houtian cultivation, while Saint rankings are part of Xiantian cultivation. Houtian means before you reach the heavens, in other words, mortals. Xiantian means the beginning of the heavens and the path to ascending. It’s the immortal path.”

Taking a deep breath while looking at her son to see if he understood, she continued, “The spirit ranks are Spirit Disciple, Spirit Warrior, and Spirit Commander. Those are the titles for people in the body refinement, qi refinement, or soul refinement stages. The Saint rankings are Spirit Saint, Saint Warrior, and Saint Commander. These ranking are actually foundation establishment, refinement, and completion levels of cultivation.

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The area we live in is weak compared to the rest of the world so this is all you need to know about for now. Remember though, this world has become very militaristic. After our families lost the war, the great clans either submitted or were dispersed. Clans and their sects no longer control the world, the world is now under a strange royalty system. If you ever run into someone who says they are a noble, be sure to avoid them. Did you have any other questions?”

Running through the information in his head, Kael realized he was truly screwed, that this really was a world of cultivation, and all those cultivation techniques and skills he ignored would have been really helpful. That is not even to mention the fact that according to the system, his body had severe qi deficiency.

Pausing for a moment while sorting out his thoughts, Kael asked, “Mom could you go over each of the ranks and what they mean for me? I understand that each is stronger than the last but I don’t understand what they mean, or how much stronger they are.”

“Sure baby,” Alavarah replied, “Body refinement is the process of strengthening your mortal body. This is done with techniques, qi, and things like herbs.”

“Wait, mom, what is qi?”

“Qi is the natural energy of the world, honey. It is the basis of cultivation for all things. Without qi in the world, there would be no cultivators, special herbs, ores, and beasts would not exist. You could say it is the backbone that holds up this world.”

“So what happens if a person can’t use qi mom? Do they die?”

“No no honey, they will just live their lives as a mortal.”

“How do they live when they are so much weaker than everyone else?”

“Oh baby, this is not something a child should worry about. You need to remember that strength is often more important than anything else in this life though.”

“Ok, thanks mom, can you tell me about the rest now?”

“Of course, after body refinement cultivators begin to refine their qi. Most of the lower class people think this is all about having more and more qi. That is because the nobles say they are Spirit Warriors, not Qi Refiners. This is very important. While your qi will grow during the refinement process, the most important part is still refinement. The process is supposed to remove impurities from your qi and temper your meridians.

Without pure qi and strong meridians, there is less of a chance someone can break through into Xiantian, the Saint stage. Even worse, they will never exceed the Saint stage. Changing the terminology used for cultivation was intentional to make the uneducated weaker and have a more difficult path to follow in life. Remember baby, the so-called nobles do not want anyone to challenge them.

Setting that aside, after qi refinement, there is soul refinement. Just like your body and qi, your soul also has impurities. Your negative thoughts impact the soul. The main purpose behind the soul refinement stage is to purify your soul while determining your nature and moving towards that nature. Remember, you must always follow your nature and live with no qualms.”

Sighing, she continued, “The three foundation realms should be considered the real beginning of cultivation. Stepping into the foundation realm happens when your body, qi, and soul are all at the peak of what can still be considered mortal. As you step into the foundation stage you must liquify the qi cyclone in your dantian first, this will begin a chain reaction. The ripples from the newly formed qi lake will flow through the body, further refining and strengthening it, bringing it above the houtian stage and into the xiantian stage.

Once your body is no longer mortal it can house a stronger soul. Your soul will naturally expand as it has been compressed and refined earlier. As your soul expands it also steps beyond the realm of mortality and you will develop a spiritual sense. That means you can see with your soul in the area around you, it is very beneficial to cultivators.”

“Wait, mom, slow down, what is a dantian?” Kael asked as he tried to grasp all of the information he could about cultivation.

“Honey, you are such a smart boy I sometimes forget you are only 5 and don’t have everyday knowledge yet. Your dantian is located a few inches below your navel. As you finish body refinement you will open the meridians connected to it. The dantian is the core of cultivation, it is the energy storehouse for qi. As your body absorbs the qi in the world it will run through your meridians before being stored in the dantian. Later, when you need to use your qi, it will gush out from your dantian and flow through your meridians, waiting for you to direct it as you like.”

“Thanks, mom, I understand now, can you continue please?”

“Of course Kael, the following stages are just like the spirit ranks. Establish the foundation for future cultivation, refine it to strengthen and purify it, and then slowly compress the lake into a solid. As soon as you start the long process of creating a core, you are in the completion stage, that continues until you have made the core at which point you will exceed the saint ranks, and your body and soul will go through another chain reaction.”

Alavarah’s dark golden eyes were clearly immersed in past memories after reflecting on the process of cultivating. Looking at her son she shooed him outside with a “Kael, run outside and play, your mommy needs to start dinner for you and father.” before standing up and slowly walking into the kitchen. Kael could see a trail of small wet spots on the floor following his mother's footsteps.

Knowing the story was definitely more complicated and painful then his new mother explained, he knew that they had truly fallen from heaven to hell. An indescribable rage filled him while considering the various scenarios that his parents could have went through. Even though he only met his mother today, he found that he actually loved her. The cycle of samsara really does its job well he thought, before abruptly remembering all of the errors he received. Which he then remembered all of the vague mentions of not buying a family package. With a wave of sudden guilt crushing him, he promised himself he would help raise his parents up and out of this tiny village that was located in the ass end of the boonies.