Lady Sif’s bangle laden wrists shook as she clutched at her abdomen. “D-did I hear correctly? [Phoenix Rebirth Pill]?”

Her outburst wasn’t unique. All around, the nobles especially shouted over each other trying to ascertain the validity of the Grand High Priest’s offer. It was easy to spot the commoners in the crowd as most had no idea of the value of the pill being put for reward. Ren felt much the same, but going by the hysteria sweeping through the audience, and the death grip Kala held his arm with, it had to be immense.

“Silence!” barked the hulking figure seated next to Bethshe.

The giant man who Ren had learned was the Village Lord’s First Consort, slammed a heavy fist on his chest, sending reverberations through the crowd and arresting the commotion before it got out of hand. The force of his glare was a sight to behold, his eyes promising swift retribution to any who dared defy his command. The crowd slowly settled down and took their seats while the Grand High Priest nodded in thanks to the man. There were still excited mumblings, but they had been reduced enough for Harald to continue his speech.

“Dearest benefactors, that is the will of the Divine. I guarantee that the winner would be gifted with the pill for surrendering their harvest to the Temple’s coffers. With it, anyone within the Essence or Qi stages will be able to purify their core, meridians and bodies, clearing the way of obstacles on their journey towards the Chakra stage! There will also be additional awards given to anyone who surrenders any spirit herbs or treasures recovered from the fractured realm.”

The murmurings of the crowd increased in pitch at this announcement. The nobles in the crowd wore a mix of frowns and calculative looks as they discussed amongst themselves. Village Lord Bethshe even had a frown, turning into her First Consort and whispering to him.

“But that is for later,” Harald’s voice floated through the hushed discussions. “Today, let us conclude our memorial for our fallen brothers and sisters. Please join me in prayers to send them off on their journey through the beyond.”

The surrounding was soon filled with the chants of thousands, and Ren felt the ambient energy in the area spike up with the incantations of the praying masses. The rest of the ceremony continued in this way but in his weakened state Ren kept himself occupied with examining the damage the radiated mana did to his body. His curiosity about the unexpected prizes would have to wait.

To his surprise, the areas where the energy passed through did not read as damaged to his internal scans anymore, despite the clear channels he could sense. He tried interacting with the channels by sending some nanites over, but the nanites reported the area as normal and seemed to phase through the channels. This almost felt like … Meridians? Ren gasped in welcome surprise as he made the connection. He noticed Kala’s head whip toward him at the sound of his gasp, but he ignored her and focused on his discovery. These channels caused by the radiated mana mix looked just like Meridians! This could be his chance to become a real Cultivator.

“Idiot. Why do all men act like idiots?” Kala flicked Ren’s ear and his hands shot out catching her wrist. He stopped himself from squeezing and breaking the offending limb once he realized she wasn’t really attacking him, so he let her yank her wrist free. Looking around he realized that the crowd was dispersing and that the ceremony had finished while he’d been lost in his reverie.

“Typical”, she snorted, rubbing her bruised wrist. “Now you want to act strong. A few seconds ago you were pale as a ghost and needed my help to sit. Come, let me take you back to your room where you should rest. You obviously are not healed up from your injuries.”

“Take it easy on him dear. Men and their ego’s seldom make sense.” Mistress Yvonne chuckled. “Remember to stop by my shop this week if you want the discount I offered. I'd also love to hear more about your combat gear ideas”. The merchant bade farewell to both of them and made off with her guards.

Ren was lost in his thoughts as Kala led him away from the ceremonial grounds of the Temple. He had calmed down after his discovery and was now trying to contemplate how best to create his meridians. His initial thought was to simply recreate an optimized version of Priests Keta’s Meridians. He quickly discarded this idea once he thought some more about it. He had recreated a map of the Priest’s Meridians from his recordings. But while it looked complex, it was incomplete. Also the portion he had been able to observe had some glaring pathways that didn’t get enough essence flowing through them. Some were because the pathways had a smaller width than the rest of the Meridians, others were because the channels leading up to them had an abnormally huge pathway sink that diverted most of the essence flow.

His next thought was to simply follow the neural pathways within his body. Since he was not human, his neural pathways were planned and built like an electrical circuit - clean and optimized to give him full range of motions and sensors. This idea made the most logical sense to Ren. He would not have to reinvent the wheel, and would just follow a working prototype for energy flow. However, a Meridian based on this blueprint had its issues. The biggest issue was the complexity and length of his neural pathway. Ren’s focus shifted to his core which was slowly being pressurized by the radiated Qi mix.

It was difficult, but Ren tried to get an estimate of the quantity of radiated Qi he had trapped in his core. From what he could observe, he had a decent amount, but he did not have enough to burn through his body following his neural pathway. For the first time in a long while, Ren felt hints of despair flowing through him. He was so close to achieving his dream but ironically, the one way he had to achieve said dream was not enough. He would have yelled if he felt it would fix anything, but he was too pragmatic for such nonsense. What he needed to do was –

“So, what do you think?”

“What?” Ren asked, confused, as he was drawn out of his musings.

“Take your pick. Of the Fractured Realm the Village Lord spoke about or the [Phoenix Rebirth Pill] the Grand High Priest has offered in exchange for rare spirit herbs.” Kala replied as they made their way down the street leading up to their rooms. “Can you imagine the glory of fighting for resources in a whole new realm?”

“Definitely,” Ren chuckled. Afterall, that’s all he’d been doing since he went through the black hole. “But I don't expect glory when I fight. I expect to kill my target before they kill me.”

“Bleeding stones!” she cursed, shaking her head. “Well, of course, Ren. But this is different. Tell me, have you ever wondered why there are so few high ranking Qi Cultivators in Greendale?”

“Because someone keeps killing them?”

“What? No! Nothing so morbid!” Kala threw her hands into the air in exasperation. Leaning into Ren, she continued in a conspiratorial whisper. “I heard this from a friend, who heard it from a Priest that fancied her. It’s easily overlooked but the Qi core is one of many thresholds that determines the potential for cultivators. The higher the quality of mana used to form the Qi core, the easier it will be to move up cultivation tiers and levels.”

“And let me guess, this Fractured Realm is full of high quality essence stones?”

“Not just essence stones,” Kala replied with awe in her voice. “No one is sure how Fractured Realms are created but these realms contain weapons, cultivation methods and treasures containing impossibly pure concentrations of essence. There have been rare stories of people coming back with Chakra treasures as well. Of course, no one has been able to verify this but I suspect the Elders of fortunate cultivators who come back with such treasures, do whatever is necessary to conceal that information, to protect the young protégées.”

She went on to explain that the treasures brought back from the fractured realm of Grothluk’s Demise, would be split evenly between the cultivator as well as their sponsor. The Village however required the cultivator to register their loot and strongly encouraged them to exchange any extremely valuable treasure for something more mundane from the Village vault. The new offer from the Temple added a new wrinkle into the mix. That would explain the annoyed look on the Village Lord’s face after Harald’s announcement.

But treasures containing Chakra were priceless because when properly harnessed, they could push Cultivators with horrible Qi cores, several tiers higher than their faulty cores normally allowed. The cost of this forced advancement was total stagnation without the hope of ever advancing further along the cultivation path. But what did this matter to Elders who had been stuck in low Tier Qi cultivation stages for decades already? The boost to their lifespan by moving up 3 to 4 Tiers was a satisfactory exchange as far as they were concerned.

So why would the Elders leave such an opportunity to their young clan members when they could just as easily silence the lucky fool and keep the Chakra treasures to themselves? And if the junior threatened to make a fuss, well, the sewer rats could always use some extra nourishment. Ren’s dealings with the underbelly of human society had given him a good glimpse into human nature. The majority of people tended to be relatively nice and didn’t go out of their way to hurt their neighbor. It was just unfortunate that the few who were truly callus, held all the power. And power was all that mattered in controlling the masses on Earth.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Nothing he had seen of the people in this new world was enough to dissuade him off that notion.

“By the way, what do you call this wor –”

The words caught in his throat as an overwhelming surge of vertigo assaulted Ren. This was so much worse than the earlier bout he’d experienced and before he knew it, he was sprawled on the ground groaning in pain.

Wait. Pain? He had missed it earlier but ever since he got to this new world, he had been experiencing vivid sensations that were supposed to be muted. Something weird was happening to him but he could barely focus on not losing consciousness. That was another thing. He never truly lost consciousness on Earth. He usually only entered states of temporary hibernation but even then, at least one of his scanners was left active. But since his arrival, he could already count a couple of moments when he lost consciousness. Right now, the pressure the radiated Qi exerted on the walls within his core was unbearable. He knew he had to find a way to release the pressure but he’d wanted more time to prepare a safer method. He still felt the phantom pains from releasing a portion of the radiated Qi and he dreaded having to do so once more. Somewhere incredibly far away, he heard Kala’s concerned voice calling out to him.

“Huh?” he barely managed to respond as Kala picked him up, tossing him over her shoulders like his weight meant nothing to her.

“I am taking you to the healers pavilion. Just hold on.”

“No.” Ren called out weakly and was ignored by the sprinting Kala. “No Kala, check my pockets.”

She slowed down into a fast walk, trying to reach into his pockets. After a few seconds of uncomfortable attempts, she finally dropped him gently on the ground. She reached into his pockets and pulled out the Cultivation Token with the image of the blind Deva.

“The Temple of Aster?” Kala asked in confusion? “This is a Cultivation Token. You want me to take you to the Temple of Aster’s Cultivation room?”

Ren nodded weakly. “Diviner Estrid..Cultivation..room.” He managed to get out. Luckily Kala didn't ask any further questions. She hesitated briefly, before deciding to take him where he needed to go.

Since his hands had been forced, Ren decided to find ways to simplify his neural network template, so he could build his Meridians. What he wanted was to create a modular blueprint that he could build in several sessions. Since he did not have enough radiated energy in his core to build the quality of Meridians he wanted in one shot, he would build the base foundation with what energy he had in his core. Then in the future, as he got more enriched radiated energy, he could build upon the foundation he set today.

Ignoring his jostling head smacking against the small of Kala’s back as she ran, Ren took his first step of his Meridian blueprint by splitting his mind into multiple processes, each one responsible for tracing out the main connections of his neural network. Usually, a task such as this would take him microseconds to complete but with the mind-bending pain he was experiencing, he was finding it hard to complete the task even after two minutes. Ren noted that he was back on the ceremonial grounds where the memorial had been held.

Acolytes and volunteers were in the process of cleaning up the space as Kala slowed down to weave her way through the area. A couple of concerned looks were thrown their way and Ren thought he heard Kala exchange words with someone, but his pain-addled mind could not spare the effort. Biting his lips to garner some concentration, Ren focused on the processes mapping out his neural network. Four minutes had passed and he noted that he had mapped 96% of his network. He mentally sighed in relief as he wasn't sure how much more pain he could withstand with most of his computing power diverted to the mapping process. After what felt like an eternity to Ren, he smiled in relief as he heard a small chime, alerting him that the neural mapping process was complete. And in good time too, because Kala had just arrived in front of the statue of the blind Deva, who he had come to realize was called Aster.

With herculean effort, Ren devoted half of his computing power to dulling his sense of pain. He needed a clear head for what came next. After entering the building, Kala made a few turns different from what he remembered from his last trip here with Algor, and in no time, she was reaching back into his pockets to pull out the cultivation token.

“What’s wrong with him? This is not the Healing Pavilion.” The stern woman manning the reception desk reprimanded Kala.

“You think I do not know that?” Ren heard Kala snap back at the woman. She shoved the Cultivation Token she had pulled out of his pockets towards the receptionist as she continued. “Here, he needs to use the cultivation room.”

The receptionist opened her mouth, likely to refuse but her eyes widened when she noted the silver color of the token. “That is Diviner Estrid’s Token. How did you get that?”

“We do not have time for this.” Kala gruffly replied although she was just as surprised at the news. “He needs the room right now. And unless you want us reporting back to the Diviner that you obstructed someone she favors, do your job and point us to the right room!”

“Yes Miss!” the receptionist hastily replied with a bow, fearing the outcome of delaying any further. Her eyes drifted down to Kala’s red belt and after seeing the 5 white stripes, a frown slowly formed on her face. The receptionist was a 6th Tier Essence Cultivator and she had just shown subservience to a junior. However this junior seemed to be on a mission from a Diviner so there was nothing she could do at this point. To avoid any more potential issues, she left her station and personally led them through a series of corridors to the door of the room. She placed the Token into an insert by the door and a hum of energy signaled that the room was ready.

Kala nodded her thanks to the lady and was stepping towards the door with Ren still on her shoulders, when the receptionist stopped her.

“Only the person with the Token is allowed inside. You will either have to go in alone, or he will have to step inside himself.”

“That's fine, I’ll go in alone.” Ren said through gritted teeth as Kala helped him to his feet. He nodded in thanks to Kala, then turned to the waiting receptionist. “How long can I stay in the room?”

“There is no set time for Diviner Estrid’s cultivation room. This room is usually allotted to promising cultivators she favors, so the Essence is dense in the room. It should take about a week for an average Essence Cultivator to deplete the concentration.”

Ren nodded absentmindedly as he placed his hands on the door and pushed it open. He stepped inside and immediately spun around in surprise as the door slammed shut behind him. His quick movement was ill-advised in his current state as he quickly found himself sprawled on the ground without knowing how he got there. Slowly getting up, he looked around at the room. It was completely empty save for a mat in the center of the room. Walking on shaky legs, Ren walked to the woven mat in hues of red, yellow and white. The center of the mat had the image of Deva Aster smiling benevolently with her hands outstretched in an open invite. Unsure of what to do, Ren glanced around the room one more time, before sitting on the mat.

Immediately afterwards, a rush of dense essence rushed into the room with such force that Ren had to brace himself to avoid being pushed off the meditation mat. He would have loved to scan the essence rushing into the room to determine its source, but he was quickly reminded of the time crunch he was currently in. The rampaging radioactive mana in his core fell still for a moment, before going absolutely berserk. The sigh of relief Ren had just been releasing was interrupted as the radioactive mana changed course and tripled its effort of breaking out of his physical core. It almost felt like the crazy thing had felt the rich essence in the room and was intent on getting some of it.

‘You crazy piece of shit.’ Ren growled out, fighting to corral the berserking energy in his core. ‘You want out so bad? Well, have at it. But you go where I tell you!’

He quickly reviewed the Meridian blueprint he had created. The main Meridian channel he had mapped out covered all his extremities from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. In order to be able to extract essence from stones or treasures, Ren had made sure there were secondary channels running from each of his pores to the main channels. These connections were what he estimated would use up most of the energy he had stored in his core at the moment but he was certain that this decision would pay dividends for the next step of his plan.

After confirming that everything looked right with this first iteration of his Meridians, Ren overlaid the blueprint over his body and opened up a small section of his core, focusing on controlling the radioactive energy pouring out of his core. He screamed in pain as the radioactive mana burned through his body, fighting to ensure it followed the path he had laid out for it. The mana stubbornly fought against him for every inch he forced it to traverse. It kept trying to connect to the ambient mana in the room by taking the shortest route, but Ren couldn’t let it do that and ruin his long term plan. If he had normal human vocal cords, he would have been hoarse by now. Unfortunately, he wasn’t human, so he had to endure his own screams while being unable to stop due to the ongoing pain.

Like this, the first hour passed with Ren screaming alone on the cultivation mat, in the seemingly tranquil room. The second hour came and went with Ren’s Meridians only 20% complete. At the 7th hour, Ren could no longer take the torture of hearing his own screams, so he manually short circuited the connections to his audio receptors. Luckily he did not have to do anything to prevent his nanites from healing the damage since they were treating the damage caused by the radiated energy as priority. Hours passed with Ren in agony but finally his first iteration of Meridians was complete. Checking the time, he realized it had taken him 23 hours as his body slumped into a heap on the ground to rest.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t fated for any rest as his newly created Meridians acted like a tornado furiously pulling in the previously tranquil essence hovering in the room into his body. Having been inundated with pain over the past hours, Ren barely made a whimper as the force of the dense essence pushed its way into his meridians through his pores. A few seconds later, Ren almost cried in joy as the essence relieved his tired body of pain and passively began enhancing his synthetic muscles and bones. The sudden relief made Ren smile slightly as his eyelids slowly closed. He was finally a cultivator.

Just before he fell into slumber, his eyes jerked awake. The emergency data packet he had stored during the assassin attack had just been released and its contents were quickly made known to him. Ren re-experienced the intense fear he had felt after meeting the hooded deity. The missing pieces in his memory about that night were filled in and —

“Holy shit, that was Brynjar!”

With that he fell into deep sleep as his body greedily absorbed the dense pure essence in the cultivation room.