He leveled up for a total of eight times, making his Level rise up to LV8.
"What a strange feeling."
He could vaguely feel his soul strengthen, as well as his senses recovering a tiny bit. It was not a new feeling per se, but the experience of being rewarded for such an insignificant matter was strange.
"I have killed so many, but this is the first time I got rewarded for taking a life. Anyway, this is pretty efficient in its own way to accumulate experience in our soul."
He also got 5 Attribute Points per level for a total of 40. For a test, he tried to put one point in STR stat. But, something unexpected occurred.
[Warning! Your STR is maxed out at LV0. Increasing it any further will collapse your body.]
[To increase your STR further, refine your body attributes to LV1.]
"This is...expected, I suppose?"
Even in cultivation, breaking through a Realm increases your maximum capacity, and you cultivate in that realm to fill that capacity up. Of course, the increase was not the same for every person. Many factors played a role in this.
"Then I should hurry and start my cultivation. The first cultivation realm mainly trains the body anyway. Also..."
The Himalayan mountains couldn't be any better to initiate his cultivation. In the past, many ascetics and sages also chose to meditate in these mountains, far from the impure and distracting energies of the world.
Now, the himalayan mountains had already transformed into a special place. This was also the reason he chose this place to come.
"Bur before that..."
He approached the carcass of the Snow Yeti and muttered slowly. "Absorb."
[You are absorbing the energy of the monster 'Snow Yeti(LV30)'.]
[The absorbed energy is being refined into Pure Energy by your physique.]
There was no fanfare or showy effects as he absorbed the leaking energy and life force from the carcass through his body. And before long, all the energy was refined into Pure Energy which he then used to enhance his natural recovery.
[Your natural recovery rate of the body has increased significantly.]
[You can now recover a lost finger.]
"Done."
Next, he searched for a suitable cave dwelling, as these cavities had an abundant amount of energy because of the peculiar inner energy circulation of the mountains.
After easily finding one, he made himself comfortable inside it and sat in a lotus position.
"My second round of cultivation...from the scratch. It is a bitter emotion." Rihan sighed, but determination was oozing out of him.
The first step of the cultivation started with Qi Opening, otherwise known as the Zeroth Realm of cultivation. It was actually held as a ceremony of sorts in Cultivation Clans and Sects to measure the initial talent of the prospective cultivators to check whether they even had talent to cultivate and how much.
Qi Opening was done in three steps.
The First Step—Qi Sensing.
Rihan adjusted his State of Mind, and emptied his mind of any distracting thoughts and impurities. It was a simple task for him. Many need external help for this step, like Heart Sutras or Mind Calming Jade, but for Rihan, it was as simple as breathing.
Slowly, his mind started drifting in his surroundings. It was a state of sereneness that connected us to nature on a deeper level and let it be seen through our mind purely.
[A new sense is being opened!]
Gradually, his senses honed and became heightened and then dulled to nothing. It was like a new Sense was opening inside of him as he suddenly started to see tiny specks of light in his dark surroundings. It was the Qi he was trying to reach to. Amidst the countless types of energies in the air, sensing only qi required a tiny bit of effort from him.
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[Qi Sense has been opened. Now, you can distinguishly sense and manipulate qi.]
'First Step complete...'
Next, the Second Step–Qi Breathing.
After sensing the Qi in the air, the next step was absorbing it through a Qi Breathing Technique. But he didn't need such a thing.
[Trait 'Spiritual Body' boosts your cultivation.]
His Spiritual Body directly absorbed these particles of Qi through his pores. It was countless times more effective than breathing qi.
[You are quickly absorbing the atmospheric qi.]
The absorbed qi particles quickly filled up his meridians and circulated throughout his body.
'One, two, three... six, seven... ten.'
He slowly counted his Inherently Opened Meridians which surprisingly amount to ten. It was...quite something. The number of Inherently Opened Meridians was another indicator of raw talent. Generally, three was considered a minimum standard to be called a 'talent'. Five was a rare talent, six was a prodigy, and seven and higher was the standard of heavenly geniuses. Nine was the highest ever.
Previously, he had seven Inherently Opened Meridians. Although ten was not the limit, as there were a total of hundred meridians in the body, the starting point decides the end destination—how many meridians one could open in total was heavily affected by Inherently Opened Meridians which then affect the strength and cultivation of a cultivator.
He was able to open eighty nine meridians previously.
'How many will I open this time?'
Anticipation and a rare emotion of excitement sprouted in his heart. The effect his [Spiritual Body] showed was just that amazing. He only got something like this when he was already pretty advanced in his cultivation progress, but it's real worth could only be shown when owned from the start.
...
The absorbed qi continued to cycle throughout his body and also slightly nourish it. But the importance of this step lay in strengthening the Meridians to I Level Strengthened.
[Your opened Meridians are being nourished with qi.]
To do this, he simply had to supply qi and his once barren Meridians would greedily devour the supplied qi. For the I Level of Strengthening, it was enough.
But how could Rihan simply stop at that? It was his second try at cultivation, and he would do it with his own personal touch added.
'Mana was it? Let's add it to the roaster.'
He took out a small vial containing a blue liquid, which swished around. Tiny specks of lights floated inside of it so beautifully that it would make anyone mesmerized just by looking at it.
It was the highest-grade Mana Awakening Potion, which he got from the God of Earth.
Just like qi, mana was also a mystical energy that could help one to walk on the path to godhood. Though, inherently, they were different.
While qi was an energy that came from the Spirit and helped to better excavate its potential, mana was related to the Soul and helped in its growth.
𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘱!
[You have taken a highest-grade Mana Awakening Potion.]
[Your mana has started to awaken.]
[Your Upper Dantian is opening.]
𝘖𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘨...
A low growl came out of his body as the surrounding mana rushed inside his body and mingled with his qi.
[Mana is nourishing your Meridians.]
But at that moment, something happened...
𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮...
"Cough."
[The mana and qi are clashing!]
[You have sustained a minor injury.]
'Not enough. It's still not up to my standards.'
As if he was not satisfied even with this, he was determined enough to notch it up even further.
'Spirit and Soul are present. Only... Body remains.'
Spirit housed qi, Soul emitted mana, then what was that the Body produced?
'Blood. The liquid of life which contains all the vitality of the body.'
"Burn."
[Spiritual Body takes effect. You ignited the blood in your body.]
[Life Energy, Prana is being condensed!]
[Prana has started to nourish your Meridians!]
[Body of Evolution takes effect. Your body tries to eliminate the negative aspects.]
...
[Your body has evolved!]
[Your mana and qi are now safely harmonising through your blood.]
[Your HP is decreasing at a rapid pace.]
[...]
[A Special Achievement!]
['Above and Beyond'.]
[Your Soul grows.]
[A part of the condition to unlock the Skill has been fulfilled.]
—––
[Above and Beyond]
Type: Achievement
Grade: A Little Special
Description: You are someone who has gone above and beyond to accomplish something only a few ever achieved in the history of Universe.
• Effect(1): Harmony between mana, qi and prana.
• Effect (2): You can strengthen and nourish your Meridians perfectly and more easily.
—––
[Your meridians have been nourished and strengthened once.]
[A perfect work! You gain EXP.]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[You have gained the Rare Trait 'Pristine Meridians(Incomplete)'.]
—––
[Pristine Meridians(Incomplete)]
Type: Trait
Grade: Rare
Description: A rare form of meridians nourished with the energies of Spirit, Soul, and Body—three of the four pillars of existence, at the same time.
• Effect(1): No energy wastage during inner energy circulation.
• Effect(2): All three Dantians can be opened at any time.
•Effect(3)[Locked]: Synchronized. Your mana, qi, and prana reinforce each other through perfect harmony.
—––
'Now onto the third and last step.'
The Third Step–Dantian Opening.
After nourishing the meridians to an appropriate degree, the opened Meridians gained some resiliency to withstand the impact of the Third Step of Qi Opening.
But, then again. Rihan's Meridians were not just 'okay' level to only be able to allow for a simple opening of a dantian.
'Let's open all three.'
Upper, Middle, and Lower Dantians. In a usual cultivation trend, these were opened gradually, one after the other, after achieving a proper Cultivation Realm and fulfilling certain conditions.
'But I have all the right things needed for their opening.'
Mana did not exist in Saha World. And prana, another mystical energy was also unknown. But here was he, playing with all three of them.
'Although, it will be dangerous.'
Opening a single Dantian exerted pressure on the body. After all, the importance of opening it was related to the awakening of the latent energy in oneself, which gushed out into the body with quite the force. Opening all three at the same time would put a tremendous pressure on the body.
'It will be the best time to advance my cultivation a notch further. Okay, let's start.'
The three mystical energies mingled and harmonised with each other in his body. He picked them apart separately carefully.
'Hmmm...'
[You are multitasking.]
[Your 'Endless Spirit' Trait helps in your endeavor. Your mind grows.]
Controlling each of the energies separately, he manipulated them perfectly and with precision to direct them towards his three Dantians. Qi drifted toward the Middle Dantian, Mana flowed toward the Upper Dantian, and Prana rushed toward the Lower Dantian.
[Triple Energy Awakening is in progress. Please be careful.]
[Your HP is down to 60%.]
Dantian, what many believed it to be, was not a space filled with qi or energy. What many imagined was actually something like a separate space that is connected to our body through energy centres in our body. These energy centres were what were referred to as Dantian. And the correct term for that separate space was 'Inner Energy Dimension'. Though why they existed was still unknown, at least on Saha World.
Anyway, what separated these Inner Energy Dimensions and the Dantians in our body was a peculiar barrier. This barrier was there to prevent our body from exploding just after being born—the time it was believed an existence formed these dimensions—from the influx of energy innately possessed by an existence.
The Third Step mainly involved destroying this barrier. But, of course...
'I will just absorb it through my physique.'
At the end, the barrier was also formed by some kind of energy.
[Attempting to break through.]
𝘉𝘢𝘮!
The triple energies slammed into the barrier.