When Nate finished his story, his little sister had already fallen asleep. Her body had shifted to a side, her head resting on her big brother’s shoulder and her hand gripping his shirt.

It had become a habit for both children to stay outside in the evening. At first, for Nate, it was because he didn’t need as much rest thanks to his cultivation. A plight quickly shared by Stelia, who was more than happy to spend time with her older sibling. Even if convincing their mother and father had taken some time.

But both parents knew Nate was wiser than other children and could be trusted not to abuse his time unsupervised. Something which also made it easier to let them accept their second child wanting to do the same.

For the young boy, his evening time sitting on the roof was also an excellent opportunity to focus on his cultivation and telekinesis training. Hence, the roof quickly became his refuge, from where he could keep an eye on what was happening in the family compound. And where his parents or anyone looking for him wouldn’t have any trouble finding him.

About Telekinesis, some progress was made. While Nate was still restricted to the same range and number of entities, under ten inches and no more than a dozen items, the mass he could hold had massively increased. Before, anything heavier than a feather proved too much to carry, while now, he could move small pebbles up to a gram in weight.

On the other hand, as he continued with his cultivation over the months, Nate realised the moon impacted the nature of Qi. It mainly became significant during the full moon. An unwelcome surprise at the beginning.

Over those six years, Nate mainly had figured out the period when he had to be careful. It also allowed him to confirm that the moon and seasons were roughly the same as in his previous world in the northern hemisphere. The main difference was that while there was a winter, it was a dry one. Snowing days were rare. The most Nate saw until now was a couple of inches of snow.

The days and years were the same length, and the moon also behaved the same way, giving pretext for counting time in the same manner, with months and weeks just as long. One difference was that the Blue Moon wasn’t to refer to the occasional thirteenth full moon occurring in a year but to the Quiet Moon on the first month of the year. There were always twelve full moons a year, each month having the same number of days and days being precisely twenty-four hours.

During those twelve months, there were two full moons during which cultivation had to be avoided at all costs. And another two which were more beneficial for his cultivation.

Of those which were harmful, one was the Quiet Moon, during the longest night. The other was the Thunder Moon, also the shortest night. In both cases, there was an imbalance in Yang and Yin, each being extreme.

As for the full moons Nate welcomed every year, they were that of Awakening and Harvest. The first was three months after the Quiet Moon and signalled Spring. The other was three months after the Thunder Moon when the days became shorter to the point that sunrises occurred after moonrises.

Qi was bereft of Yin during the Thunder Moon, giving the moon a yellowish hue. It also signalled, in part, a tribulation, as the many storms during this period were cause for beasts to be more agitated. But also a period of claiming since people believed it would be an auspicious sign for a birth to occur in the month of an Awakening Moon.

For Nate, the surplus of Yang caused him a sharp pain during his cultivation, to the point it felt like his meridians were burning. The incident was one Nate only faced once. It had been painful enough that he had to take more than a week of slow and careful circulation of Qi before resuming his usual cultivation.

On the contrary, the Quiet Moon was due to an overflow of Yin. In this case, it was also called a Blue Moon.

To Nate, the imbalance this time caused him to feel as if his meridians were freezing. However, it wasn’t the only setback Nate had to suffer. Nasty nightmares also plagued him for several days until his Qi was balanced.

Not only did he seldom have any nightmares since his reincarnation, but the ones after this Blue Moon were particularly disturbing. Enough that Nate knew it was better not to try to remember what he saw, despite his ability to search for it in his memories.

On a better note, the Awakening and Harvest Moons were much more balanced in energies.

The Awakening Moon, signalling the start of Spring, was also called the Pink Moon.

In terms of Qi, it was the moment when a balance between Yang and Yin was reached once more. This new-found balance was the impetus for a gentle flow of Qi, full of life, promoting growth and healing.

Cultivation then became much smoother, and the nature of the Qi made it so that aches from an overflow of Qi in the meridians took much longer before emerging.

The Harvest Moon, also called Hunter Moon or Blood Moon, was when a balance in Yin and Yang was reached. It was the last moment before Yin became once more a dominant presence in the natural Qi permeating the world. The moon then took a reddish hue, signalling when Yang could last be harvested. The term Blood Moon partly came from that. The other reason for the word was the nature of the hunts during this period. Rather than when human hunters would seek their prey, it was the time of being hunted. Indeed, it happened just before many beasts went into hibernation. As such, there was an increased activity in the wilderness in preparation for the colder season, and the City more often faced attacks from beasts. The fields, thus, were often flooded with blood.

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Contrary to the other time of the year when Qi was balanced in energies, the Worldly Qi available during a Hunter Moon was more potent than usual. While it benefited Nate’s cultivation, this event also had its drawbacks. One that was shared with the Quiet Blue Moon. That is the appearance of nightmares tormenting him.

At least, it only happened during the full moon. In between, the nature of Qi was in a transitionary state. Not only were the effects less apparent since the moon wasn’t full, but also because the ratio of Yang and Yin wasn’t at a threshold. Then, there were also more variations depending on whether it was the day or the night. The situations Nate noticed were made a few hours around dawn and dusk, as otherwise, the Qi was more chaotic. While it had its advantages, since it was possible to cultivate easily for a long period, it was also much less effective.

Those discoveries on the different natures of Qi allowed Nate to understand that starlight had much to do with how Qi was flowing around the world. To have confirmation that the moon could affect a person’s state of mind was also good to know. He did suspect it at some time before, thanks to his mother, but now, at least, he could confirm that rather than the moon, it was only an indirect influence caused by how Qi changed depending on the moon’s orientation.

Then, there was also what it meant for other fields. Not only did it give Nate more ideas for how to improve his cultivation, but also how to make use of it concerning the cultivation of plants. While Spring and Harvest were moments already known, the fact that Qi had as much of an influence was invaluable.

With Nate growing up and proving he could be responsible, it also was the opportunity to not rely as much on his mother for his experiments. Not that he didn’t any more, just that he could begin to test how Qi influenced plant growth.

Something Nate was still thinking about as he rose from the spot on the roof, carrying his sister in his arms before going to their dormitory.

He had begun to plant a few medicinal herbs three years ago. They were gathered thanks to his mother’s work in the Hall of Life, giving her access to samples. With the Scott family having moved to another compound within the City’s Inner Ring, it became much easier to have a small garden belonging to each household. Thus, Nate could grow his plants without being bothered and fearing an outsider finding his experiments.

Until now, the plants he had were quite bland. Primarily herbs and flowers, as well as a few berries. In the case of the berries, Nate had kept a few from his meals to plant them. In the beginning, Diane had been over-watching her son to teach him. By now, she only looked once in a while and talked to him about it, knowing he knew how to manage his little garden.

As Nate was already 6 years old, he believed it was time to change how he trained himself. Until now, most of what he did had to do with improving his Qi and abilities related to his Soul. Now, though, he could start training his body correctly. What little physical exercises he did until now were only helpful in staying healthy. But not in building up muscles and even less in tempering his body to pave the way for when he could start body cultivation.

From what he had learned over those last years, thanks to gossip and the two other tournaments happening, Nate knew the warriors could temper themselves. Thanks to intensive training and fighting and precise concoctions prepared by the Sects.

While he couldn’t fight yet, training was another matter. The same could be said of experimenting with plants to learn alchemy. A study which would undoubtedly become helpful. Since Nate was now more confident in manipulating his Qi, and his experiment on plants had allowed him to increase their usefulness, he decided it was time to get more creative.

Albeit after a restful night. One spent dream-walking with his sister, Stelia. His other siblings, Nilah and Allik, were still too young, three and one years old, and thus were sleeping in a crib beside their mother’s. It was for Nate a good occasion to use his Dream Manipulation/Walking ability to explore the City with Stelia, as his sister could already walk and run. She had already seen all that their residence had to offer.

Between his senses and the memories he could see of his mother, recreating a dreamscape depicting the City wasn’t difficult for the young child. What was harder was to include other people so that the place wouldn’t look like a gloomy ghost City.

It was a welcomed side-effect if the moment also allowed Nate’s sister to become more curious and comfortable at running and moving.

As he woke up barely four hours later, Nate left Stelia in her dreams while he took his time to cultivate Qi. A couple of hours later, before dawn, he went out in the yard to start with his training. Until now, he hadn’t wanted to kickstart his physical training as he remembered it could impede growth. Now, though, he was confident in his abilities to prevent any exercises from causing trouble.

As such, Nate’s early morning was spent running, interspaced with push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, weigh-lifting and other similar exercises. It wasn’t that hard to find items to use for his training. He took a rod holding two buckets full of water for weight. Then, he looked for ropes for skipping and climbing. The only inconvenience Nate found was how small the yard was for his runs. It made for a rather dull and repetitive training. While also making it cumbersome to arrange where to exercise without disturbing others.

By the time the most early riser had awoken, Nate was already washing himself with a wet cloth, ready to start his day. This meant returning to the dormitory to ensure his sister wouldn’t worry over his absence if she was already awake. Today, she was still sleeping, so Nate had to stay by her side until one of the adults responsible for them came. They might all be cousins and sleeping in the same large room, but Stelia still felt more comfortable seeing her brother or an adult when she woke up. Otherwise, she often got moody and only wanted to keep sleeping.

Before long, Laellia – a great-great-aunt – came looking for them. She, along with the other elderly women, oversaw the children most days. She was carrying Allik – Nate’s little brother – and another babe. Nilah – Nate’s youngest sister – walked groggily at her side, holding onto the woman’s dress.

Laellia was a petite woman with shoulder-length brown hair. Her eyes were blue, as were most of the Scotts. Nate was among the rare people who had a different eye colour. Compared to Stelia, though, Laellia and most other people’s eyes were much darker. Some, like Nilah, had perse eyes, a blue tainted with green.

“Good morning, Aunty, Nilah. Did Mama already leave?”

“Hello, Nate. Did you sleep well? I’m not sure. She still was around when I picked up Allik, Nilah and Illa. You might catch her if you hurry?”

“’ onin’ Naah~aate…”

“I did, yes! I dreamed of running in the City with Stelia. It was fun!” At that, he approached his younger sister and hugged her, using the moment to check on her health. There was rarely something to do since he had become much more proficient in his abilities. And when he needed to do something, it could be done quickly, Body Manipulation not requiring as much time as Qi Manipulation. Then, he also hugged Laellia, during which he checked on his little brother.

“Gotta go, see you later, Aunty, Nilah! Give a kiss to Allik and Stelia for me when they wake up, alright, sis?”

“Have a good day, deary, don’t be too loud, alright?”

“Uh-uh!”

His relatives had all started to get used to his independence and knew he would be easily found if they ever needed him to help with something. Nate often went to help care for the garden or craft things, so they rarely needed to call for him.

As he left the building, Nate went to look for his mother, if she still was within the family compound. It was as much to see her as to monitor her health. Unfortunately, she had already left, earning many more responsibilities over those few years.

She still contributed to the Hall of Life. Still, most of her current duties were as one of the five Starstrong group leaders responsible for alimentation. While at the beginning, it had only been to oversee their food production and how to make it better, now it also involved a restaurant and a bar they owned.

No matter how much people pursued strength, the increased safety provided by the City made it easier for everyone to rest more often. Thus, there was an increasing number of facilities popping up here and there, from restaurants, bars and taverns to dancing halls and shops of all kinds.

Not having anything left to do, Nate went towards his garden to see how imbuing Qi into plants could influence them. Or how to use Qi to process them and create better medicine or more mystical elixirs.