Waking up, the first thing Elijah felt was the warmth of the sun on his face. As Elijah squinted from the sun’s brightness, he took in the other things in his environment. The gentle breeze against his skin. The feel of the ground and grass. The sound of the trees and different animals.
Taking a deep breath, air filled Elijah’s lungs and his mind sharpened. His first cultivation attempt was a success. Elijah didn’t need to hear a voice in his head or see words on a virtual screen to let him know he was successful. He could clearly feel that he had reached the initial level of the skin tempering stage.
Lying on the ground, Elijah felt pain and pleasure from his mind and body. Pain came from the intense cultivation he recently put his body and mind through. Pleasure stemmed from the recovery that his mind and body were currently undergoing.
As his body recovered, Elijah could feel that his body had become stronger. Although it was slightly more difficult, he could still sense that his mind had improved as well. Also, he could clearly sense the increase in the containers for his physical and mental energies.
“Hehehe. Hahaha. HAHAHA" Mad laughter erupted from within Elijah and resounded throughout his backyard. Elijah’s laughter, birthed from his joy brought him pain due to his movements agitating his recovering body and mind. But Elijah didn’t care.
Currently his mind was consumed by the numerous dreams and fantasies he had as a child. He imagined himself flying through the air, wielding magic and fighting dragons. He pictured himself as an immortal swordsman capable cutting the moon in half with a single swing of his sword.
“Woah. Easy, easy. Baby steps.”
Eventually Elijah was able to calm down and bring himself back to reality. Once he did Elijah became aware of a faint stench in the air. After a brief investigation, Elijah realized the source of the stench was his own skin.
After one whiff of his own body odor, Elijah was ready to puke out the contents of his stomach. He was only able to stop himself by using his powerful will. Once Elijah became aware of the horrible stench coming from his body, it became impossible for him to not notice how dirty his body and clothes were. He was in desperate need of a bath.
Looking down, Elijah saw that his once clean white shirt was now stained black. His gray shorts looked the same, but his arms, legs and bare feet looked different. They were all covered in a thick black gunky residue that emitted a terrible smell.
This black gunky residue was impurities that Elijah’s body expelled. As Elijah cultivated, astral energy would purify his body allowing it to return to a natural state. The more Elijah focused on the impurities, which were the substances in his body that were either harmful or unnecessary for his cultivation, the dirtier he felt and the more disgusted he became.
“Got to take the good with the bad.”
With a face twisted in disgust, Elijah walked toward his house with a plan to take the most thorough shower he had ever taken in his life. If he didn’t scrape off at least two layers of skin, then he wouldn’t stop scrubbing himself. Once that thought entered his head, Elijah began to wonder how tough his skin was now that he tempered it. Was it even possible to scrape off a layer of skin?
As Elijah walked to his room, he pondered about the current strength of his body and the strength he would obtain in the future. Elijah also thought about his recent cultivation session. He mentally reviewed the mistakes he made and thought about how he could fix them, but he also applauded himself for using his willpower to push through the exhaustion he was feeling. Otherwise, he would have failed to reach the first level of the skin tempering stage.
Elijah smiled as he let himself feel proud of his achievement, but his smile slowly turned into a frown the more he thought about his cultivation session. Elijah realized he shouldn’t have been able to reach the initial level of the skin tempering stage. According to his future self, cultivation in the real life was less effective due to the lack of astral energy the world contained. Therefore, it should be impossible for Elijah to reach the initial level of the skin tempering stage after one cultivation session.
Currently, Elijah’s cultivation technique was at the first stage in real life. Although Elijah had to start practicing his cultivation technique from the beginning, he still had the same proficiency that he obtained in the game. Also, he would be able to reach a higher stage in his cultivation technique a lot quicker.
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Since the real world had less astral energy, Elijah shouldn’t have been able to absorb the astral energy he needed to reach the initial skin tempering stage. Also, Elijah realized he used a lot more energy than he should have needed to complete one cultivation session. The more Elijah thought about the recent cultivation experience the more questions appeared in his mind.
Perhaps he found a way to forcefully absorb more energy which caused him to use more stamina and mental energy than he normally would. This was the most likely answer, but there was another more unlikely answer that Elijah found himself drawn to. Maybe his backyard was actually a special natural area that could boost a person’s cultivation.
“Aye, your phone’s ringing.”
“Aye! Your phone’s ringing!”
Right as Elijah was about to run outside and examine his backyard, he heard his ringtone go off. With a frown on his face Elijah picked up his phone and saw that it was his friend Chris. The call was unexpected, but Elijah had a feeling he knew what it would be about.
“What’s up?” Elijah answered his phone and put it on speaker.
“Dude when are you going to upgrade your phone?”
“If that’s all you had to say then I’m going to hang up now.”
“Aren’t you tired of not being able to talk face to face?”
“And why would I want to look at your ugly face?” Elijah and Chris bantered back and forth for a few more seconds before Chris finally brought up his main reason for calling.
“Have you heard of a game called Fallen Heaven? Dude, you have to try it this game is so realistic?”
“I knew it,” Elijah thought to himself. “Isn’t that what they say about all virtual reality games nowadays?” Elijah asked Chris. “Don’t tell me you actually fell for that overused marketing tactic. Now that you wasted your money on some game, you’re trying to con me into wasting my money too.”
“I’m telling the truth. Plus, the game is free, so it won’t cost you anything.”
“Does that even sound right to you? The most realistic game ever and it doesn’t cost you anything. Now I know your trying to scam me.”
“Dude just look it up. The game’s name is Fallen Heaven. Trust me once you do your research, you’ll definitely want to play it.”
“Beg me.”
“What.”
“That’s right. I want you to beg me to play the game.” Elijah now had a sinister smirk on his face.
“You want ME to beg YOU to play Fallen Heaven. You realize I said all this for your benefit, right?”
“Yup, now beg me.”
“Fine. Fine! Please download and play Fallen Heaven.”
“Good, now was that so hard.”
“It was unbearable.”
“Hehe, don’t get mad but I actually started playing the game already.” After a brief moment of silence Chris finally responded.
“You’re a real asshole you know that.” Laughter erupted from Elijah’s side of the phone. “You’re a sick. Twisted. Demented. Freak.” With each insult Elijah’s cackles grew louder and louder.
“Where did you choose to start playing?” After Elijah stopped laughing Chris asked him this question.
“The wilderness.”
“Good then that means you’ll die soon.”
“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Oh, it will,” Chris happily replied. “From what I read, everyone who started in the wilderness had their characters die within the first few hours of the game.”
“Don’t compare me to those noobs. Don’t you know you’re speaking to a pro right now.”
Chris scoffed at Elijah before he continued speaking. “Once, your dead-”
“I won’t die.” Elijah interjected.
“-you should choose to start in a clan.” Chris continued. “Although it’s unlikely for us to be in the same clan there is still a chance. Plus, most clans should be similar. What I learn in the current clan I’m at can be used by you in whatever clan you end up in.”
“Thanks for the support, but you don’t have to worry. I got this wilderness thing in the bag.”
“Talk is cheap. I’ll wait for you to come crawling back and start begging me for help. Then we’ll see if you still have the face to call yourself a pro.”
“Like you said before talk is cheap. You act like everything is under your control, but you might actually be doing worse than me right now.”
“Try not to cry when you hear this, but I was recently chosen by an old expert to become his close door disciple. He gave me a legendary cultivation technique and my cultivation level has been rising like crazy ever since.”
Elijah smirked when he heard Chris describe the luck opportunity he obtained. Elijah knew that this lucky opportunity was actually a huge misfortune. After Chris’s cultivation reached a certain level that old expert would drug him and possess his body. This would effectively kill Chris’s character and force him to start from the beginning. At least that’s how things were supposed to play out according to the memories of his future self.
Naturally Elijah didn’t have any intentions of informing Chris about the dark future that was ahead of him. Although dying in the game sucked, it wouldn’t have a huge repercussion on their real bodies at their current level. This would simply be a great learning experience for Chris and what kind of friend would Elijah be if he got in the way.
Chris and Elijah talked for a little longer about their experiences in Fallen heaven before they both hung up. Once he ended the call, Elijah immediately went to his backyard. Although Elijah still thought it was possible for his backyard to be a special area that could boost cultivation, he realized he wouldn’t be able to properly examine things in his weakened state.
Instead, Elijah entered the backyard to hose himself down. He thought it would be best to rinse off the majority of his impurities in his backyard before he went to his shower for a more thorough scrubbing. The last thing he wanted was for his impurities to stain his shower or mess up his plumbing. Once he was done, Elijah would eat, rest up, and then head back into the game.