Opening his eyes, Elijah took off his gaming helmet, got out of his bed and stretched. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of his toes stretching out on the grey carpet. He felt great.
Currently, Elijah was extremely energized. Over the past few days, his body and mind have always been in an energized state when he left the game. Elijah guessed that this energized state could be connected to his cultivation level, cultivation technique and his soul.
Unfortunately, in the memories from his future self, Elijah didn’t find any information that would help him confirm his guess. However, Elijah’s instincts were telling him that his guess was correct. Also, Elijah did his best to use logic to figure out why he felt energized after he left the game instead of feeling tired like he initially did when he first started playing.
Finished with his stretch, Elijah immediately left his room. Since his body was in an energized state, he would make use of it to have a longer and better cultivation session. This was something he did every time he left the game over the past few days.
Heading downstairs, Elijah was accompanied by silence. Once he arrived at the ground floor of his home the silence became more prominent. No, it wasn’t the silence that Elijah was taking note of it was loneliness. That’s right, he was all alone.
Inside his large house, the only occupant was himself. Both his brother and his sister joined the military and were no longer living with him. As for his parents, they were on another planet.
Elijah lived on his own for approximately ten years. Yes, there were still some days when he talked and interacted with the rest of his family, but he was, for the most part, on his own. As for how he felt about that, he was fine.
By now, Elijah had already gotten used to the solitude. At least, that’s what he told anyone that asked him about how he felt. As for how he really felt about the situation he was in, well…
Shaking his head, Elijah cleared his mind and refocused on the present. It wasn’t the time to think about such things. Now, was the time for cultivation.
As Elijah thought about cultivating, the excitement made his dark brown eyes turn golden. He made his way to his backyard and ignored the lonely air that surrounded him. After he arrived at his backyard, Elijah broke into a jog so he could quickly arrive at his specific cultivation spot.
Standing in front of a hole on the ground, Elijah did a few stretches in preparation for his cultivation. The hole in the ground was his attempt at mimicking the village core he had in Fallen Heaven. So far, there was no guarantee that his efforts would allow him to establish a territory in the real world like he did in the game, but he continued to guide the astral energy he gathered through cultivation into the hole.
Why? Although Elijah wasn’t sure his actions would give him the result, he wanted he did see that his actions were having some effect. Over the past few days, Elijah noticed that the hole started to emit some astral energy.
The hole didn’t emit a large amount of astral energy. In fact, it could be said that the amount of energy it emitted was insignificant. However, that wasn’t important. What was important was that his actions were doing something.
Plus, Elijah wasn’t planning to increase his cultivation at the moment. Therefore, he could afford to send the astral energy he gathered during cultivation into the hole instead of using it to temper his physique. Of course, Elijah still had some improvement even though he didn’t increase his cultivation level.
Currently, Elijah was still at the Initial Skin Tempering stage of the Body Tempering realm, but his cultivation technique had risen to the third stage. Each time the stage of his cultivation technique rose, Elijah could feel that an increase in the potential of his physique and his foundation became sturdier. Elijah didn’t become stronger or faster, but his physique became… better.
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One of the benefits of Elijah’s ‘better’ physique was that he required a lesser quantity of food and didn’t need to eat as frequently. For an ordinary person, this benefit may or may not be a good thing depending on their eating habits. However, for Elijah this was an essential benefit.
After Elijah reached the Initial Skin Tempering stage, the amount of food he needed to take in significantly increased. He couldn’t simply stuff his mouth with junk food to satisfy his bodies increased desire for food. He needed proper nutrients and vitamins to maintain all the functions of his mind and body.
For now, he was able to easily manage to obtain the food he needed, but the amount of food he needed would significantly increase as his cultivation increased. His game character needed a lot of nutrients as well. However, the need for food in the game wasn’t as obvious as it was in real life. This was due to one important aspect. Astral energy.
Unlike the abundant astral energy in the game world, the astral energy in the real world was very sparse. In Fallen Heaven the air was saturated with astral energy and the astral energy was naturally absorbed by all things. For humans, the astral energy they naturally absorbed didn’t improve their physiques in any way, but it did make them more energized and made it easier for the characters in the game to live their lives in general. Also, the astral energy made the plants and animals more nutritious.
The real world was like a desert. However, instead of lacking water it lacked astral energy. Every drop of astral energy was a rare and precious commodity that was extremely hard to obtain. This would become more obvious as more people started to cultivate and fight over the limited amount of astral energy.
“Ha…ha…ha,” Elijah panted as he stood with one hand pointed toward the sky and another hand pointed toward the ground.
Closing his eyes, Elijah took a few seconds to enjoy the wonderful sensations echoing throughout his body. Since he didn’t absorb any astral energy there were no improvements to his physique. However, Elijah still made minor improvements in his cultivation technique.
Practicing his cultivation technique was currently the most enjoyable activity that Elijah could do. Even if he didn’t make any improvements, he would still receive a great deal of joy, pleasure and accomplishment after he finished completing the movements of his cultivation technique. Of course, alongside those positive emotions came the feeling of exhaustion.
Wiping the sweat of his brow, Elijah looked down at his sweat-stained t-shirt as his breathing quickly returned to normal. He flapped his shirt a few times and enjoyed the cool sensation that was created. As he did so, Elijah considered practicing his cultivation technique without his shirt on. However, before he came to a decision his attention went back to the hole he created.
At the moment the hole was completely full of astral energy. Elijah was used to seeing the grey mist fill the hole after he finished one repetition of his cultivation technique. However, it would usually disperse after a few seconds.
Now, more than a minute passed, and the grey mist was still there. Elijah eyes began to shine with excitement when he noticed this change. He saw it a sign that he could establish his territory. Sadly, the moment Elijah was about to begin jumping for joy, the mist began to rapidly dissipate.
The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Elijah only let himself be immersed in his negative emotions for a few seconds before he shook it off. Although things didn’t go the way he thought they would, there were still some gains.
First, the hole now emitted slightly more astral energy than it did before. Next Elijah noticed that the soil in the hole had a slight grey tint to it. Another good sign. Satisfied that he was making some progress, Elijah began to head inside to eat.
Elijah already prepared several meals, so he always had something to eat. After he finished refueling, Elijah would prepare some more meals to eat in the future. As he did that, he would also search the internet for information about Fallen Heaven.
By now, seven days passed since the game began. There would definitely be plenty of people sharing information and talking about the game online. Although Elijah had the memories of his future self, he didn’t know everything about the game.
The next time he entered the game, Elijah planned to wander through his territory looking for natural treasures. It would be a shame if he missed out on an item simply because he didn’t realize it was a treasure. Since his own knowledge was limited, it made sense to rely on the knowledge of others.
Once Elijah finished preparing his future meal, he recovered the stamina and mental energy he spent during his earlier cultivation session. Elijah planned to cultivate again before he washed up and headed back into the game. At that time, it should already be dawn and that meant it would be time for, that’s right, you guessed it, more cultivation.