“Right,” Ethan thought as he returned up the stairs. “Let’s figure out this new way of cultivating.”
He lay down on the surface, closed his eyes, and focused on his core and the strange separate space.
“So,” Ethan inspected it. “It’s filled with some form of mass or sludge. Can I move it?”
With a flex of his will, the mass moved. It seeped through the walls of the space and moved to surround his core. It spun around it until it tightened and merged with the core. A rush of energy flowed through Ethan as a notification appeared.
[Level up! Fifteen Stat points Earned.]
“Fifteen?!” Ethan reeled and snapped out of his meditation. “How is that fair? How is anyone supposed to defeat a dragon if they have these kinds of boosts? Heh. I’m the dragon now, so maybe I should stop whining.”
He returned to his internal spaces and focused on the new space.
“So, I can use it to improve my core,” Ethan mused. “But, can I do something else with it? Let’s see if I can use Qi for something.”
He channelled some Qi into the mass, and a large window appeared before him with several options.
“Woah!” Ethan almost lost concentration at the amount of options. “Oh, wow. This is cool. Strengthened Muscle tissue, Hardened Bones, Flexible Bones, Malleable Skin, Eldritch Digestive System, Eldritch Heart, and many more. Holy crap! Alright, Ethan. Think this through. Most of these are far too expensive for me. I can only afford one at the moment. It’s got to be the Digestive System first. Increased yield and wider range. I can consume inorganic matter and gain biomass, which is what all the options cost. Also, more biomass from each creature. Yeah, that’s the one. I think I’ll go with the Improved Pathways next. Faster cycling of Qi sounds pretty strong.”
Ethan mentally selected the Eldritch Digestive System and felt a squirming sensation in his stomach. It wasn’t painful or even uncomfortable, just strange.
[Mutation Complete: Eldritch Digestive System.]
“Awesome,” Ethan smirked. “That took almost all my biomass and quite a bit of Qi. Hmm. Let’s put the rest of the biomass into my core. I think there should be a couple of levels remaining there.”
[Level up!]*3
“Oh, nice,” Ethan cheered. “Three levels. I'm level five now, and I have lots of stat points. Maybe I’ll try to balance my stats a bit more. So far, I haven’t encountered any limiting factors, but a few stats into storage and efficiency now will do little. I’d need a lot of levels before I could begin using my skills more often. I’ll have to rely on my physical body until then and channel Qi to empower my body.”
With that, Ethan began balancing his stats.
Name:
Ethan Marshall
Race:
Dragon
Type
Eldritch
Level:
5
Stage:
Lesser Core(Draconic)
Stats
Body:
Strength
24
Agility
24
Vitality
24
Mind:
Intelligence
20
Wisdom
20
Willpower
20
Spirit:
Essence
30
Harmony
20
Attunement
30
“Looks good,” Ethan mused. “Now, let’s figure out if there’s another way to cultivate for me, or if I’m really stuck with this way.”
Ethan settled down, and tried to draw Qi from the air. Qi flowed into his lungs, and into his blood, but refused to infuse into his body. It simply flowed through his blood, then back out with his exhale.
He spent a few hours trying, and testing, but nothing changed, except he noticed one thing that raised his spirits.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Oh, nice,” Ethan smiled. “I passively regenerate Eldritch Qi. It’s not fast, but it’s better than nothing. I wonder if the crystal with Void and Spatial Qi still works.”
Ethan opened his eyes, and went to summon the crystal, but learned that his ring was gone.
“What?” he exclaimed. “Where is it?! What the hell? Did someone- Laila!”
Ethan rushed toward the staircase, but froze.
“I’m an idiot,” he grumbled. “I transformed while wearing the ring, and holding the crystal. I-hm. Perhaps if I transform into a humanoid form, it’ll be there?”
Ethan frowned, and sighed, but activated Shapechange.
His skin began to boil and ripple as it turned numb. He felt his bones and flesh shift in his body, and his form shrank and turned bipedal.
Ethan groaned as he rose to his feet. He dragged a hand through his hair, and felt the horns extending from his temples. A weight on his back revealed his tail as well.
“No wings, at least,” Ethan mumbled as he stretched his body. “Not quite the same as my human body, but close enough. Now, let’s see.”
He raised his hand, and sighed as he saw the ring on his finger. He focused and accessed the storage, but quickly learned that the crystal was gone.”
“Figures,” Ethan bemoaned as he shook his head. “It was probably absorbed, or something, to fuel my transformation. Perhaps it was the main cause for my transformation.”
He took a few steps around the ruins as he adjusted to being bipedal again, before he walked down the stairs.
“Let’s check on Laila,” Ethan thought. “It hasn’t been more than a few hours, but it can’t hurt, right?”
Ethan approached the wall, and it opened for him, revealing a frustrated looking Laila leaning against the side of the room. She looked at him, and her eyes widened.
“Holy-” she exclaimed. “Ethan? Is that you?”
“Yeah,” Ethan nodded as he checked the room. “Humanoid shape. Quite useful, but expensive. What’s going on?”
“It’s not going well,” Laila groaned. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but the egg isn’t releasing much Qi anymore.”
“Hmm,” Ethan scratched his chin, wincing as his claws drew a line of blood. “Shit! Ah, right. The Celestial Heart probably had some form of array or something that helped it.”
“So, I’m screwed?” Laila asked through gritted teeth. “I took the egg, and doomed us both?”
“Not necessarily,” Ethan raised his hands, palms forward. “I have an idea.”
“How?” Laila narrowed her eyes.
“It’s strange,” Ethan grimaced. “But, I get these flashes of instinctual knowledge. This one, in particular, sounds helpful for you, since it’s about how a dragon nurtures their eggs. Now, I don’t know if it’s possible for you, since you haven’t formed your core, yet, but it’s worth a try, I think.”
“Alright, I’ll bite,” Laila mumbled. “What do I do?”
“Circulate Qi,” Ethan explained. “Place your hands on the egg, push your Qi toward one hand. Ensure it’s Fire attuned Qi, and not unattuned. If it works, the egg should accept the Qi. Then the base instincts of the phoenix within the egg should activate and use your Qi to cultivate. Once it’s finished with one cycle, it’ll push the waste Qi through to your other hand.”
“Right,” Laila frowned. “But, how does that help me? That’ll only slow down my cultivation further, won’t it?”
“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “But, it’ll advance the egg’s. Also, if you learn how to expel and burn the waste impurities, the remnant Qi would aid you. Now, once the first cycle is done, the egg should release a larger amount of Qi, which you can draw, then cycle again. Eventually, the amount of Qi it releases should be enough for you to push your limits and expand your core space. At leas-”
Ethan stopped and frowned.
“Wait!” his eyes widened, before he snarled. “What the fuck is going on? All that implies that dragons should be able to cultivate! Why can’t I?”
“Ethan, what’s wrong?” Laila asked, worriedly.
“Uhh,” Ethan rubbed his forehead. “Just realised something. There’s a lot to learn about my new form. Things are complicated.”
“Oh, right,” Laila mumbled as she glanced away. “So, this works?”
“I think so,” Ethan nodded. “Although, I’ve never tried it before. It’s either that, or head out to find source of Fire-Qi, right?”
“Yeah,” Laila nodded and sighed. “Let’s do it.”
Ethan sat down to watch, and followed Laila as she sat down by the chest and put her hands on the egg. She closed her eyes and Ethan began seeing heat-waves surrounding her. Ethan focused, and tried to channel Qi to his eyes, ears and other sensory organs. Nothing happened, except improving the senses slightly, until he accidentally channelled Qi into his horns.
Suddenly, his mind was awash in a blaze of colours, sounds and other sensory details he couldn’t describe. He reeled as it faded away.
Ethan took a breath, and repeated the process, steeling himself. The discombobulating sensations reappeared, but Ethan powered through, and soon found himself witnessing the flow of Qi through the air, through Laila’s body and into the egg. Ethan smiled as he saw his idea worked.
“The egg is accepting the Qi,” Ethan saw the flow enter the egg, and circulate around a blurry shape within. “Let’s see if the rest of the plan was correct.”
Over the next hour, Laila emptied her core space into the egg, and a minute later, a wave of black, brackish-looking Qi flowed back into her. Ethan saw her desperately working on expelling the waste, as the Qi in the egg became incandescent.
“Come on, Laila;” Ethan silently cheered her on. “Yeah, that’s it””
He watched the impurities be expelled through her skin and breath, though some lingered in her pathways. Ethan didn’t get the time to examine the trace impurities though, as the room suddenly filled with Fire-Qi.
It looked like the egg had exploded, though it looked the same. Fire-Qi burst from it in waves, and Laila scrambled to inhale and start circulating it. She funneled it into her core space, and Ethan witness how it filled to the brim, and expanded.
Laila frowned, and gritted her teeth, as the strain of the expansion tested her will, but she held firm, and before long, most of the Qi had been drawn into her. She then repeated the process and began pushing the Qi back into the egg.
Ethan watched for hours, mesmerized and enraptured.
“It’s working!” he grinned. “She’s doing it. Wait, what’s that?”
As Ethan watched, a white hot mote of energy flowed along with the Qi, from the egg and into Laila. Ethan saw her face morph into excruciating pain as the mote surged through her body and into her core space.
He frowned as he watched her keep cycling Qi, as if unable to stop, but as he rose to help her, she shook her head and spoke through gritted teeth.
“Don’t” she groaned. “It’s beneficial for me. It burns the impurities, and will make me stronger. The phoenix said so. Please, let me do this.”
Ethan frowned, but sat back down, grimacing.
It took several hours more before Laila stopped cultivating and rose to her feet. She was breathing heavily, and sweating, but she grinned.
“That was awesome,” she sighed. “Painful as hell, but awesome. Thank you, Ethan.”
“No worries,” Ethan mumbled as he also rose. “What was that?”
“Oh,” Laila scratched her neck. “Well. It was a bit of the phoenix’s essence. It shared it’s potency with me as a thanks for helping it. Turns out, it was dying before I began that process.”
“Oh, wow,” Ethan shook his head. “Lucky.”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “It really helped, actually. I’m about as far as I’ll get in my cultivation now. I think I’ll need some levels to bridge the gap. Why is that, by the way? Do you know?”
“Well,” Ethan sighed and looked at the ceiling. “I don’t know, but I think I have a theory. The System aids us. It doesn’t make cultivation possible, but it makes us able to do so, and helps us get there. I think it would have taken years of cultivation to bridge that gap, slowly but surely, without the System’s levels.”
“Oh,” Laila frowned.” But, why make us fight to gain levels then? Why not just give us the Qi, or whatever?”
“Worthiness?” Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know, Laila. I get the impression that the System doesn’t reward mediocrity. You have to fight and earn whatever aid you get from it, I think.”
“I see,” Laila frowned. “Makes sense I guess.”
Ethan nodded and stepped aside as Laila walked past.
“I’ll head out to fight some things then,” she said. “I’ll see you around?”
“Sure,” Ethan smiled. “Have fun.”
“Right,” Laila smirked and ran off.