"Lyna... Lyna dear..."

I'm awakened by Mama Bloodcat calling me.

"Mama? What's wrong?" I sit up drowsily.

"Lyna, what is this word?" Mama points to a word on a book.

"Word?" I get up and look at the word. "That's circulate. It means to move around in a certain area, I think."

Mama smiles, "Thank you."

I lie back down and close my eyes.

'Wait, book?!'

I hurriedly sit back up and look at the book in Mama's hands. I then look at the words. Although they're in another language, somehow I can understand what they mean!

'Is it the translator necklace? It must be!'

Excited, I take a book out from one of my rings and start reading. After reading for a few hours, I realize that most of these books are probably useless to me. I have learned a lot from them though.

The energy in our bodies, which our abilities use, seems to be called 'qi', and people who cultivate qi are called 'cultivators'. The majority of the books are manuals on how to cultivate qi, or manuals teaching 'martial arts' and 'magical techniques', both of which use qi to activate.

But again, these are all useless to me, as only humans can use them. Mama is able to use them though, since she can transform into a human. She's been reading books all day, occasionally asking me what a word means.

Even though I can't utilize the techniques in the books, I decide to keep reading them anyway, since it's fun.

"Mama, I found a fire attribute cultivation manual!"

Sadly, out of all of the manuals and books, we couldn't find any information about those symbols, or about the marble on my chest. There were several mentions of 'soul' though, which seems to be what my clairvoyance is. Your soul is your mental power, which some of the manuals imply can be trained as well, but none of them say how. I haven't seen any mention of someone's soul being able to leave their body, though.

We also found out how cultivation works for humans. The main way they cultivate qi is through meditation, where they absorb and circulate qi through their 'meridians', which are qi passageways that cover their entire bodies, in very specific patterns.

Unlike beasts though, most humans are born with weak bodies. In order to cultivate qi, they must first temper their bodies. There are four stages of Body Tempering. The first is called Skin like Leather, which is achieved when the skin is able to withstand a certain amount of force. Most of the training manuals for Skin like Leather involve whipping or beating your skin, then slathering it with medicine or taking a medical bath.

The second, Iron Flesh, is reached when they train their muscles to the point where they can lift a certain amount of weight. Most of the methods for reaching this point simply involve exercises such as running and weight lifting, often recommending medical baths after the training, but the amount of exercise they require is insane!

The third stage of Body Tempering, Tendons like Bowstrings, is when the cultivator has tendons that are extremely flexible, yet also strong enough to lash out with extreme force. Many manuals just teach sets of basic stretches, which can be supplemented with medicine, but one of the manuals I read taught a method where you continuously dislocate your joints, over and over again!

The fourth stage, called Golden Bones, is a little bit vague. Humans seem to be able to cultivate qi after reaching the third stage, making this stage unnecessary, but many manuals have theories on how to achieve it anyway. That's right, theories. According to what I have read, there have been very few recorded cases of Golden Bones, and many people who had it were thought to have been born with it. One theory on how to achieve Golden Bones is to take a certain medicine constantly from birth, but supposedly it's nearly impossible, as the ingredients for the medicine are far too rare. Another theory requires you to break your bones, take a specific medicine, wait for the bones to mend, and then repeat the process many times.

'What's with all of these masochistic training methods?!'

Anyway, the books usually just refer to them as the first, second, third, and fourth stages of Body Tempering respectively.

After a person achieves at least the first three stages of Body Tempering, they can undergo Qi Awakening. Apparently qi exists almost everywhere, and undergoing Qi Awakening allows humans to start absorbing the qi from their surroundings, storing it in something called the 'dantian' which is located in the stomach below the navel.

There seem to be four stages in each cultivation level, but other than Body Tempering, all of the other ones just call them the early, middle, late, and peak stages.

After Qi Awakening is Qi Manipulation. When you reach the Qi Manipulation level, you are able to better manipulate the qi inside of your body, allowing you to use magical techniques and martial arts. Many manuals and books heavily stress the importance of raising a level in cultivation, warning not to cross this point until you can no longer progress in your cultivation, or else risk having trouble cultivating later. Even so, without the aid of medicines, the success rate of Qi Manipulation is apparently relatively low.

The next level, considered to be a peak existence and the last to be mentioned in any of the manuals, is called Qi Expulsion. According to everything I have read, extremely few people reach this level, as few as one every hundred years.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

One characteristic of a Qi Expulsion level cultivator is their lifespan. They are able to live for over a thousand years, and there are even records of some extending their lives past two thousand through unknown means!

Another characteristic is their ability to fly. Some people are able to fly at the Qi Manipulation level through the use of certain techniques, but all Qi Expulsion cultivators are able to fly.

And lastly, the third characteristic of a Qi Expulsion cultivator is their ability to release qi from any part of their body, and then manipulate it while it's outside of their body.

I look at Mama Bloodcat expectantly, "Mama, can you fly?"

She nods, "I have been trying some time now, and I believe I can."

"Haha! I knew you were super strong!"

Mama gives me a wide grin, and suddenly lifts about a foot off the ground!

I'm rendered speechless by the sight. I have seen so many crazy, impossible things since coming to this world, but even so I never thought I would see someone fly. I mean, it's one thing to read about it, but to see it firsthand...

After about an hour of floating and slowly moving through the air, Mama finally lands on the ground.

She flies over to me and asks, "Do you want a ride?"

I nod my head vigorously.

Mama picks me up and soars straight up into the air. The pyramid gets smaller and smaller in my vision, as we fly higher into the sky. Around us is forest stretching for miles in every direction, backdropped by distant mountains.

Past the mountain range nearest to us, far off in the distance, I see a thin, barely visible silhouette stretching up into the sky.

"Mama, what is that?" I ask, pointing to the shadow.

She shakes her head, "I do not know."

"Should we head towards it?" I ask.

"It might be dangerous." she warns.

"But if we don't explore it, I might die of curiosity!"

"But curiosity kills the cat." she says slightly sarcastically.

"..."

She can't fly indefinitely, since flying actually takes a lot of qi, so we eventually have to return to the ground.

After a slightly more serious discussion, we both decide to should travel towards the shadow in the sky. We're about to continue our journey, when suddenly I hear someone start talking.

"What are you doing in my territory?"

As I look in the direction of the deep voice, my eyes are greeted with the sight of a huge turtle!

"Sorry Mister Turtle, we're just traveling through."

"You can understand me?" asks the turtle, clearly confused.

"Mhm, these help us." I show him the star necklace.

"Oh... well, make sure to hurry."

And so I talked to a turtle!

After getting the translation necklaces, we have been able to talk to most of the animals we meet instead of fighting, just like Mister Turtle. But even being able to talk to them doesn't solve all of our problems.

Standing upright in front of me is another red horned-bear. It's a bit smaller than the last one that I fought, and seems much stronger. It's covered with scars, and a murderous intent is leaking through every pore of its body.

"Uh, I don't suppose you would be willing to let us pass?" I ask.

Not even gracing me with words, it merely roars at me and assumes an attack posture.

"Careful Lyna, this beast is very strong." warns Mama from the side.

"I'll be careful!"

A grin materializes on my face as my heart starts beating faster.

'Finally, a strong opponent!'

I don't let the bear make the first move as I dash to its left side and lunge at it. Roaring again, the bear swings its right paw at me while shielding itself with its left. Twisting my body in mid air, I avoid its attack, directly biting its left arm.

"Raaaa!"

I kick the bear's arm to propel myself away, taking a chunk of the bear's flesh with me, and just barely dodging its second swing. After I land on the ground, I immediately run towards the bear's legs. The bear takes a few steps back and lowers its posture. As I near the bear, it swings its right paw at me again. Quickly slowing my advance, I jump at the bear's shoulder after it finishes its wide swing. But before I can grab its shoulder, the bear twists its body, dodging me.

After it dodges my attack, I sense the bear start to build up qi, so I go in for another attack before it can finish. The bear clumsily raises its paws in defense, but it's not fast enough. I slip past the bear's paws and headbutt its abdomen.

With a grunt, the bear tumbles to the ground, and I roll forward past it. Steadying myself, I turn around to see the bear standing up again, with its back facing me. As quickly as I can, I run towards the bear, jump up, and bite the back of its neck. The bear swings at me, but I dodge it by twisting my body as I stay latched onto the nape of its neck.

"ROARRR!"

I sense a massive release of qi. Putting strength into my back legs, I jump away again, lacerating its neck in the process. The bear turns towards me, appearing haggard, but its eyes tell me that that it's not over yet.

Its right paw starts glowing bright red as it takes a large stride towards me, after which it swings its arm at me as if it's throwing a baseball. A red ball of qi shoots out of its paw and flies straight at me. I easily dodge the attack, and look at the bear suspiciously. There's no way the attack should be that easy to dodge. Eyes still glued on the bear, I suddenly sense something dangerous behind me.

Boom!

I hear an explosion, the blast wave of which quickly lifts me up and pushes me away from the source. Still in midair, I hurriedly activate my shield necklace, causing a large circular shield to appear in the direction of the explosion, which hovers about a foot away from me. Immediately after I activate it, I hear the sounds of shrapnel battering the translucent blue shield. Activating the shield, as well as defending against the attack, winds up draining about a quarter of my qi. As I land heavily on the ground, I still have my eyes on the bear.

Glaring at me, the bear once again lifts its right paw up, which is still glowing red, albeit dimmer than before. I stand up and prepare for the attack. With some effort, the bear swings its paw at me a second time. As the ball of qi hurtles towards me, I duck below it and proceed to jump at the bear. As soon as I hear the bear's attack explode, I erect a shield behind me. Soon the blast wave catches up to me and propels me forward faster, straight at the bear. By the time I near the bear, it already has its paw raised again, staring wide eyed at me. Just before I reach the bear, it starts to duck out of the way, but I'm able to swipe my paw at it as I fly past, delivering a strong blow to its head.

Boom!

The qi that it was storing up in its paw explodes and propels me forward even faster, straight at a massive tree. With a painful smack, I hit the tree and then slide down to the ground.

Thump.

I hear the sound of an impact behind me, and turn my head. There, the red horned-bear is lying on the ground, missing part of its right arm, and riddled with small puncture wounds. A billow of red fog rises from its corpse and heads towards me, indicating that it's most certainly dead.

"Haa, haa, haa..."

I find myself breathing heavily after the fight. I used to think that I didn't need to breathe, but sometimes I get an overwhelming urge to, such as right now. I'm not really sure if it's because I need to breathe though, or if it's just a habit born from when I was human.

"How do you feel?" asks Mama Bloodcat sounding a little worried, as she walks over to where I am.

"Great! Haa, I haven't had a battle that good in, haa, in forever!"

"I realize that you have gotten much stronger recently, but why did you not use your ability to fight it? The battle would have been finished much sooner."

"It would have been over too quickly, haa, it's more fun if it's a challenge!

Mama sighs and shakes her head, "Okay, hurry and bring out the Eggshell so you can heal."

"Nah, all I have are a few, haa, a few welts and bruises, those will heal in no time."

"Do what you will, but I had better not hear any complaining while we travel."

I reconsider my decision, and decide to summon the Eggshell after all.