Chapter 29: Eric. Obstacles of life.

I was up and back at it the next day, bright and early. I showered at the bathhouse, shower house? Scrubbing facility? Whatever. Then I dressed and headed to the arena district. I was heading to the massive racetrack building. It was just a massive oval-shaped building that had a central area where the obstacle course would be and a track for running around the outside.

As I walked over, I noted how good my body felt. Working the muscles of old Eric's body with so much Qi flowing through them did wonders for me. The increased stress had pulled some impurities from deep inside my body. Not a lot, mind you, but a bit. Impurities were odd; there was the stuff mixed in with the Qi outside the body that would be drawn in and need to be filtered off. Then there was the stuff in one's meridians and then, further still, the impurities embedded in the body. The meridians were the focus for clearing, but they only accounted for a small amount of the impurities in the body, as the etheric connection they had to the realm of the physical was tenuis at best, meaning they only contained a small percentage of the total impurities within the body.

Having cycled my Qi at such a high level for so long yesterday and then exerting myself had sent my Qi deeper into my body than it had ever been before. This lets the pure, well, purer Qi pull out the impurities. There was some reaction going on at a smaller subatomic level that I just could not get a feeling for right now. But I knew that this process was going to be important in the future. The best I could tell with this body purification process was it was going to function something like Qi over time, purity over time, and pressure or density. I doubt I was the first cultivator on this planet to figure this out, and I hope to get access to a library or something soon so I can learn more about common knowledge on how to use Qi in this world.

I was a bit late to arrive today, and there was already a decent-sized line formed for the competitors. The line was nowhere near as long as the day before. If I had to guess, maybe over ten thousand people competed in the strength tournament. It was a staggering number of people. And to think at the same time, all over the Endless Mountain Sect in dozens of similar arena complexes for each district, the same or more people would be competing. Not all the competitors were from the exterior sect, as the mortals could compete if they wanted. But there were very few from the mortal cities around the sect that had the dedication to take their small core spaces and cultivate them with the dedication and focus needed to even reach the levels of an exterior sect member. But that's not to say it did not happen, and when you have populations the size I think this sect is, even zero-point one percent can return staggering numbers.

Waiting in line for my chance at the obstacle course left me with only one thing to do. Ponder. It's not like my fellows of the exterior sect were going too much up for conversation. It was early, and everyone was more focused on preparing themselves for their one chance at the obstacles that awaited them inside.

This world held so many weird similarities to things from back on earth, and those similarities meant only one thing. I was not the first person from my Earth to make it here. The cultivation, portal, Isekai, and transmigration stories that I had read in my previous life might have been inspired by the things that had happened here. If it had happened to me, being transmigrated, that is, then it most certainly could have and did happen to others. Erath legends and myths are full of stories of people disappearing and then reappearing later. It's almost a genre of mythology in and of itself.

The fact I was in a sect that used and cultivated this stuff called Qi, well, in the literal translation of the term, it was heavenly jizz power, but I digress; the parallels were striking. I had seen mostly humans in this part of the sect, but there were a few non-humans. I had caught glimpses of a few tails, pointed ears, and things that just did not line up with people being fully human.

The overarching theme, though, of the stories about sects I had read from my world worried me. This place was most certainly on track to follow all the worst cliches from those stories; the fact I hadn't run into a young master was solely due to the fact I was in the crusty shit part of the outer, outer sect. One of the most logical and best stories I had read was about a transmigration case to a cultivation world and that MC had gotten the hell out of dodge. I hope he was okay. And how the hell had the story gotten back to earth? So many questions. I wanted to follow in the same vein, at least in the beginning, but the visit I had gotten from Bjorn had that idea of running headfirst into a Qi-reinforced wall. And what was up with the Scandinavian cultivator guy? I guess it wasn't so odd that this world would have the ethnic blend of humans from Earth, but still, the all-Asian world I had half expected was nowhere near the reality of what I was faced with in the day-to-day in this world.

I finally reached the inside of the building. The line snaked through a lobby and down a hallway. An outer sect guy was standing to the side of the room, repeating the same announcement every so often when enough new people had shuffled into the building.

"Stay in line, and when you reach the starting point, give your name to the attendant. You will have one attempt at the obstacle courses. Your rank will be determined by how many obstacles you complete. If you complete all the obstacles, then your rank will be determined by how quickly you finish the course. We will not allow any reattempts, and we will post your rank at the end of the day. I will give you a bracelet that will prevent you from becoming harmed if you fall. You will return the bracelet at the end of your obstacle course run. Good luck." His voice was dry, board, and had the flat, clear monotone of those resigned to their fate. Poor guy.

I don't know how long it took to reach the starting platform, shorter than yesterday, but that was a low bar to jump. I told the attendant, with the green glass tablet in her hand, my name, and she went through the same motions as the day before of pulling up my name and selecting it.

"Once you cross the starting line, your time will start," she said, motioning me to get into the position. She handed me a cloth scrunchy bracelet from a bowl, and I slipped it onto my wrist. I felt something, nothing as pronounced as when I put the ring on, but I knew some kind of Qi magic stuff was going on. She waited for more than a few minutes, presumably to let the guy in front of me fall or get far enough ahead that I would not catch up.

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"Start!" she said in a clear, sharp voice.

I started circulating my Qi at what I called level 2, burning 20 points of Qi every six minutes. The start was a few stores in the air, and the platforms let me take a half-dozen steps before dropping to the ground. I saw angled platforms about the size of two doors in front of me. The angled platforms were opposite each other and spaced close together.

I jumped, angling to the left side and the first of the inclined platforms.

Then, it was a straight shot back and forth, back and forth, down the whole length of the novel Colosseum. It was easy, and I leaped from platform to plate form as they decreased in size and began spacing out. By the end, the angled platforms were the size of small salad plates, and I had to pay close attention to how much force I was pushing off with, or I would overshoot the small targets.

The first obstacle was done, and I smoothly landed on the platform and went right to the next obstacle. A series of large rings hung by ropes from some kind of scaffolding. My Qi was still cycling, giving me an easy boost in power as I grabbed the first ring. My momentum started carrying me forward, and with an effortless slight pull upward, I swung to the next and next and next. There were twelve in total, and I flew from the last to land on another platform.

Obstacle two was done, and on to the third. One of the platforms was a ladder, not the normal kind, but a salmon ladder. I grabbed the bar above my head and pulled myself up with enough force to jump the bar to the next set of notches. Back down, then up again with a jump at the end. Over and over. I noticed also my weight was increasing as I made it up the ladder. A field of some kind was settling over my body, and I felt my weight increase. At the top, I was about to double my normal weight, and even when I stepped onto the next platform, the weight did not go away.

Obstacle three was done, and they ran and jumped to the fourth. This was a series of ropes. I had to swing from one to the other. I had to reach out with one and almost jump to the next to grab the next rope, then I realized and swung to the next one. This series of ropes led all the way to a plate on the ground. My hands burned, and the Qi running through my body was the only reason I could complete the trial at double my body weight. I landed on the ground and stared up at the next obstacle.

Obstacle four was in my rearview mirror now, and I hopped into the tower. Two walls opposite each other climbed back into the sky. I jumped back and forth, angling up words with each jump. The only way up was from the power of my jump, and my weight once more increased. At the top, I had to be three times as heavy as normal. Halfway up, I increased my cycling to level three. The added Qi easily canceled out the increased weight, but I was now burning 40 points of Qi every three minutes. I jumped onto the plate from the top of the tower.

Obstacle five was done, and I was staring down the ramp of obstacle six, still three times my normal weight. I took a moment to gauge this obstacle and the next. In front of me was a balance board with a sphere on the underside. I would have to stand on it, keep it level, and then descend the rail that dropped off the edge. It was just a small square bar of some kind that angled down and then up at the end of the curve. I would be going really fast with my increased weight, and there was no platform at the end. Instead, I would have to catch a completely inverted handhold for the next obstacle.

I got on the balance board, taking more than a few seconds to get used to the wobbly, weird board. My Qi cycled, and it did increase my sense of balance, luckily. I scooted forward, knees bent, and moved the sphere onto the ramp.

I fell forward, my speed increasing dramatically as the added weight from the field pushed me down faster and faster. I had to keep not only myself balanced but also the sphere on the sloping rail.

The downword plunge ended, and I braced my knees as the weight from the change in momentum forced extra Gs on my body. Then I was up the other side and flying, the board falling out from under me. I had given just the slightest of jumps at the end. My arch would take me just under the ceiling of the next obstacle.

I reached out at the top of my arch and caught the handhold with one hand before I could plummet back down to the ground that was entirely too far below.

I swung my right arm out to the next hold, and as soon as I grabbed it, my left-hand hold dissolved, and I dropped forward swing to the next. Grabe, hold, and the other dissolved. This one was long, and the gravity increased again, and I cycled up to level four to make it to the platform.

Obstacles six and seven were done. I was four times as heavy, and I was burning 80 points of Qi every minute and a half. We reached the swing mallet portion of the obstacle course. Can an obstacle course really even be called such without the aforementioned swing hammers of bludgeoning?

My Qi cycle and I knew there had to be some technique or something to help with this, but I had no idea what it might be. So, I just went for it, fast walking out onto the thin balance beam that ran through the center of the swinging hammers. I relaxed my mind, widened my peripheral vision as far as it would go, and just let go. I moved, letting the subconscious part of my mind take over. Forward a step, pause for a second, leap, step, dash, pause. I refrained from counting the hammers or consciously perceiving the pattern. I just moved and relaxed into it.

I slammed my left leg as I stepped onto the end platform. The force spun me like a top, and I flew across the platform, sliding to the edge and over. I shot my hand out and caught the lip dangling over the edge. I pulled myself up easily.

Obstacle eight was done. I checked my leg. It wasn't broken, but the entire lower portion of my left leg was going to be a massive bruise in only a few hours. I had no time; I had to go forward. I had to keep going forward.

Another balance board with a sphere was in front of me, waiting, taunting. I looked over the edge. Another massive drop and curve. This time, though, there was only another downward-sloping rail on the other side. I was going to have to launch from one and land on the other.

I balanced on the board and rolled over the edge. The force of my increased gravity sent me falling faster than a stone from a bridge, and I gathered speed quickly. The bottom came, and the increase in G's, which I was ready for. I focused forward and launched off the end. I crouched, grabbed the board, kept it securely under my feet, and locked my eyes on the thin rail I had to land on.

Gravity lessened on the downward fall, but I did not let that distract me. Focused, I hit the rial on the other side of the gap in a crotch and rode the rail to the end. Hopping from the board lightly and landing on the last platform.

Obstacle nine was done and was, in reality, F'ing crazy. How was anyone without my level of cultivation supposed to make it over that?

I started jumping up the tenth and final obstacle, another tower with walls on either side, this time with gaps that grew in size. My weight increased and cycled up to level five. Sweat soaked my clothes, and I thought I might fall as I heaved myself from side to side and up, always up.

I lunched out of the top and landed on the platform, swiveling to check for the next obstacle. I only saw a board-looking attendant with a green glass tablet in his hand. I let my cycling fall away as he spoke.

"Congratulations, your time was fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds. Your current rank is 20. This is not your official rank, and at the end of the day, your final rank will be posted or checked by one of the attendants at the other tournaments. Please exit using the stairs."

It was such an unfulfilling revelation. The lack of enthusiasm killed any sense of accomplishment I had by finishing. Fuck that guy, I thought and headed to the stairs. My limp started on the walk down. My left leg was going to be a mess.

I left the arena. My leg was a pulsating mass of pain as I hobbled out of the district and back to my shit tenement. I showered but barely cared. I reached my room and lay on my bed.

My leg was a problem, and I needed it fixed fast. That's when I thought about the lecture if you could even call it that, but the person, what was their name, not that it matters, right? They had said you could influence your Qi.

I started cycling, this time only at level three. Instead of just letting the Qi improve me across the board, I focused on healing. I thought about a nice, warm, numbing sensation washing over my body. Then I pictured what I knew about cells dividing and repairing themself. I envisioned my left leg, a mass of black and yellow bruising, healing quickly. The bruise receded as the cells repaired themselves and took the waist away. I let my mind fade, only keeping my cycling going and the thought of healing drifting lazily in my mind.

I don't know how long I did that, but I fell asleep to a buzzing, warm tingle spread throughout my whole body.