For Nate, to see those four cultivators stepping on air hundreds of feet above the ground was more worrying than anything. While he had welcomed the news of their existence, as it proved his path toward Immortality could be walked on, knowing he might be under their scrutiny was quite different. If they ever discover his uniqueness, Nate doubt he would emerge unscathed if alive.

Because of that, he was thankful that the horde he was part of had arrived just before the last. It might slow their growth for now, but for his interest, it suited Nate better. An opinion which wasn’t shared by the rest of the Starstrong Clan, many of whom lamented over their late arrival and lost opportunities.

On another note, for all the clans reunited to create the city, the four cultivators' public appearance and speech were a cause to rejoice.

Most of the hordes who arrived early knew how their work would be rewarded. Some had even already gotten a taste of those rewards.

Getting food without putting their life on the line every time. To get access to better materials and techniques to build a spacious, protected home in the city’s core. A path to get stronger so they could better protect their clan or another way to learn how to heal the wounded. It was also a promise for a better life as time went on with more learning opportunities for their children.

The verbal confirmation by those four cultivators, who clearly were in charge, was much more effective than any promises and rumours to motivate everyone to work. Knowing they would be safe from beasts so long as they stayed around the city was also an immense relief.

As such, the city became even more active than it was. Especially with the news of a tournament that would decide, a month later, the fate of their clan and families. That another horde of clans was added to the population was only a minor reason.

Until now, what drove everyone forward was, in part, the hope of what they might earn. But mainly the increased safety provided by their vast number.

While before, they were forced to split their tribe because it made them a more tempting target for predators, it never applied to such a large number. Why would they risk increasing the scale of their tribe when they already noticed it became more dangerous?

With their families and loved ones safe in the city area, it was much easier for them to devote themselves to work. Either as a crafter or a hunter. But also as a farmer. Either by growing crops or raising livestock.

It was the second biggest change from sedentary life after the increased safety.

It had been a surprise for many to learn that they might not need to always go out of the city’s boundaries to search for food but could grow their own.

The surprise wasn’t as evident in the StarStrong Clan, especially the Scott family, with Diane already growing potatoes and taro roots. She might have been growing them in pots, but it was only because they were constantly moving. The idea was already there.

For a moment, she felt it was a bit of a waste to have learned all she did only for larger lands to be made available, with also more resources on hand to care for them. However, they mainly were growing wheat, rice and corn instead of the roots she had.

For what concerned the large-scale cultures in any case. Talks of clans having started exploring what other plants could be grown and eaten were happening all the time, and Diane knew there were probably others having the same idea as her. Or even already growing the same plants.

It didn’t prevent Diane from using her distinctive food as prized commodities for trade. Either to barter for other seeds and even animals to raise, but also as gifts for favours and better relationships with the families from other clans. Or when pairing up someone from their family to another. If the partner’s whole family could be convinced to join their clan, all the better.

On all these matters, Nate was more than happy to provide some help, giving some dream lessons to his mother on economics and diplomacy. And while it might not have been something prevalent in his previous life, movies, books, tv shows, and plays were an excellent source of insights regarding those arranged proto-marriages.

This last point was the main reason for all the conflicts that started happening all around. Or rather, the imminent tournament was, but both were directly linked. Indeed, the bigger the clan, the more warriors it had, and the better their chance of getting a favourable ranking. With only a month until the tournament, increasing their number by poaching other warriors was the most direct way.

Only two of the people Nate was closely related to were concerned. One was his uncle Pierce, as he was barely of age to get a partner and thus was expected to convince his eventual mate’s family to join them.

Another was Emerlia. Although she was still 14 years, her parents deemed it necessary to promise her to someone on condition of their support. There had been a lot of talks and gifts, but eventually it was settled. Emerlia wasn’t exactly happy about this. Something she wasn’t shy about sharing with Nate when she had some rare free time away from her parent and future mate.

“I hate it. I know he’s a good warrior, has the scars for it, and is, like, really tall! And strong! Even Dad admit to being a worse hunter. But he keeps showing off as if we owe him something. Like we should always be thanking him when he can hear us.

Then he keeps saying I’m cute. Ha! Well, surprise, I’m still a child. Of course, I am cute!

It’s so–o annoying.”

It was tempting to tell her she could become a warrior herself, so she wouldn’t have to choose a partner. And that she shouldn’t have to worry too much, as there was a good chance her partner might die before she was of age.

Except Nate didn’t want his aunt to risk her life. As for her future mate dying, well, with the tournament coming up and the repeated hunting trips, the chance shouldn’t be low for this to happen. Only, he was still a child. For him to say this would probably raise some flags.

As for saying that, yes, she was cute and would always remain so? No way he was going to upset his aunt by giving reason to the guy she hated!

“Aunty is prettiest aunty!”

“Yes! I’m the pretty one. You’re the cute one. Thanks, little guy.”

Watching all his relatives getting busier by the day and socialising with others reminded him of when his old life’s family was still around. When he still had his siblings and children coming for holidays as well as their own children. It was a nostalgic feeling that made it hard to convince himself that seeking Immortality was a good idea. He hadn’t meant it to happen, but it was easy to get attached to people who showered you with love.

Did he want to avoid the illnesses of old age more than its loneliness? He wasn’t sure. Although getting used to loneliness was possible, given the choice, he’d instead not be forced to watch his descendants die before him.

For now, though, his objectives hadn’t changed. It didn’t matter if he wanted to focus more on his own cultivation or on finding a path allowing his relatives to follow him. Improving his ability to manipulate Qi was still the priority.

By the time the tournament was due to start, Nate had made some promising headways on that front. His biggest problem had been translating each meridian’s different attributes into a method to promote the circulation of Qi inside his body.

One thing which stood out was how some characteristics were more relevant to the medicinal application of Qi than its nurturing nature. The more obvious was the timeline during which meridians could be stimulated to alleviate one symptom or another. Nate had tested this thanks to his mother – himself being in perfect health so far – as he wanted to know if the hours applied similarly. They did, a good thing at that, as it would otherwise have meant many, many more tests until he could figure out the new timeline.

It was only a medicinal usage because it allowed to maintain the balance of Qi, of Yang and Yin, but didn’t improve the flow of Qi.

Yang, as such, was to designate the organs related to the outer body – the digestive system, thus the organs being hollow. Their role was transporting and transforming food, extracting Qi, and ejecting waste.

And Yin was those organs related to the inner body – like the heart storing blood, thus the organs being solid, their role being to create and store Qi.

It wasn’t hard to link outer and inner with what was more often referred to in fantasy stories: Yang as light, fire or male and Yin as darkness, water or female.

The last aspect Nate managed to figure out, although it was more intuitive than from any test, was for their elements. It also was the final piece of the puzzle enabling the young child to devise a cultivating method. Or at least to prepare himself so that he could later cultivate.

It was one part based on how elements interacted with each other: The iconic diagram of the five elements on a circle with a pentagram in the middle. Where Wood feeds Fire but is cut by Metal; Fire release Earth but is extinguished by Water; Earth gives birth to Metal but is dispersed by Wood; Metal holds Water but is melted by Fire; and Water nourishes Wood but is contained by Earth.

And on another part on how they enable progress: In which Metal was associated with Harvest; with the usage of tools.

Earth with Transformation; for its malleability and association with alchemy.

Fire was linked with Growth; one element Nate had already guessed when he saw it in the first place among his memories upon discovering Qi.

Water then was related to Storage; since the only way to see water was if it was contained. Like in a bowl, a lake or a sea. Otherwise, it would disperse into the Earth or the air.

And finally, Wood for Birth; as the only element being organic.

From all of this, as well as many trials and errors, Nate managed to devise a rudimentary cultivation method. He had to sit cross-legged with his hands and feet touching each other to form a loop. Then he could simulate the exercises, enabling him to circulate his Qi.

He was still too young to move as he should, like what might be done in Qi Gong, not having enough stamina to maintain each pose for a long enough time. However, his ability to use his spiritual senses to manipulate his body could bypass those limitations.

His cultivation method started by inhaling three times, once while cycling Qi through the hand’s lung meridian, while harvesting air and Qi from the world, another with the leg’s stomach meridian, transforming food into energy, then a last one with the hand’s large intestine meridian, harvesting nutrients from what was digested.

Then a long exhalation while stimulating the feet’s spleen meridian, transforming this energy along with Qi.

The next four steps were breathing deeply two times to circulate blood and Qi, promoting their growth while stimulating the last four hand’s meridian; heart, small intestine, heart protector and triple burner.

Then another two breathing cycles, one to expel waste and store Qi, the other to create fuel and blood to enable the birth of another cultivation cycle.

While Nate was indeed storing Qi, it wasn’t anything like real cultivation should be. He was only improving what the body already did by itself. That also meant he didn’t have more Qi at the end of a cycle than before. What it did was to re-vitalise his Qi, then his body, to improve his health.

There was still a noticeable side-effect. To Nate, at least. He doubted others would realise anything until a few weeks or months later, maybe even a year. Nate could feel from his body that his growth had sped up slightly after keeping up with his cultivation for a whole week. If it continued as he could see it, by the time Nate was five years old, he might have more than a year of growth ahead of his peers.

It might not seem much, but one has to remember that Nate was still making progresses. By the time he could figure out how to manipulate Qi itself and then how to cultivate plants, his cultivation speed would vastly improve.