Training

"Are you freaking kidding me? We are not gonna…" I was about to completely rant about it, but I was kinda concerned that my family members might hear about it. So instead, I talked to him through our mind connection. {Look, we are NOT gonna steal! No. Absolutely not! I'm gonna tell you why. First of all, how the hell am I, a person with no particular skills, gonna steal the sacred pills from a sect filled with cultivators? Like, they surely will have a tight security around it, right? So, you want me to go steal the pills from there? I am not an assassin who can stealthily move plains, you know? And secondly, stealing is against my personal creed. It's a grave sin! I just can't do it.}

[Okay then. Let me debunk your points then. First of all, you don't have to worry about how to steal and stuff, because you got me by your side. So, there you go. And as for the second point… Well, if you're gonna go by your creed, please do. But, it's either you staying by your creed and stagnating in your current stage and eventually dying or you saying f*ck off to your creed and stealing the pills, enhancing your body and learning to cultivate, which in turn will help you to survive. So, what's your choice? You could be an idiot who abides by her rules in an already bloody world for no reason or you could play smart.]

I stayed silent for a while. I had a lot to think about at this point. Goldy was right. It's a dog eat dog world. And only the strongest can abide by the rules they set. And here I am, the weakest among the weak trying to follow a creed that I set up for myself. I couldn't be any more stupid than this. I sighed. "Hmm, but how are we gonna do it though? Like I don't know which sects hold which pills. I know of a few, but I don't think just a few would suffice for me. And I can't carelessly ask around either. So, how are we gonna find out who has which pills?" I asked.

"Well, you see… Unlike you normal folks, I can sense someone's Qi level just by looking. So, if I am to see like a collective of people, I can identify each of their levels. So, I'll know who uses the sacred pills on a frequent basis, which would mean they have them in possession or they are sponsored by someone. And if we are to do that, we could also look at the ones a level or two above you too… That way, we'll secure the info for our future endeavors." Goldy explained.

"I see… But how are we gonna gather this collective? It's not like I have the influence to do such a thing!" I replied.

Goldy sighed. "Are you stupid? There is one particular event in a few months that's gonna bring in almost every sects in existence together…"

"Ah, the rookie tournament!" I exclaimed after realizing it.

"Exactly. Bring in a pen and paper to the tournament and we'll write it down." He replied.

"Ha… I see. It's a plan then." I spoke. Then I realized that we glossed over a vital point. "Damn, it's in FIVE freaking months! What are we supposed to do for that five months?" I asked.

"Well, there's a lot of stuff you could do for five months,you know? Like, preparing for the future events." He replied.

"What kind of preparations?" I asked.

"You do know that you won't be able to use your "cultivated power" for at least the first time we steal the sacred pills, right? So, we're gonna build other aspects of your body. Like, the previous owner of your body really didn't develop her body since she thought of it as useless without the ability to cultivate. However, that's because she doesn't know about a man who challenged the heavens without using Qi or cultivation. Just with his brute strength. Ah, that was truly a sight to behold. But, the records of it got erased and people to this day seem to think that cultivation is the only way to increase your strength." Goldy sighed.

"Hmm, I'm fine with that. So, how are we gonna build the other aspects of my body?" I asked.

"Let's see… What does a person need if they are to become a burglar? Agility? Stamina? Flexibility to pass through any difficult looking places? We're gonna develop these parts. And maybe we can chip in some martial arts too. Even though you can't use Qi, basic martial arts kinda work better without it, so that's fine." He replied.

"Wait, you really think I'm gonna be able to ace it all within five months? I've seen people take years developing the stuff that you talked about." I put forth my doubts.

"Ah, don't worry about that! You just have to train non stop for five months without rest and you'll be set!" He smiled after making an absurd request.

"But I'll freaking die if I'm to do that kinda stupid shite! How the hell can I train nonstop?" I asked.

"With this." He tossed a Qi pill towards me.

"Qi pill? Didn't you just say that it won't work on me?" I asked.

"Well, it can't be used for your Qi development, but it certainly has different uses! You know it can revitalize a person? Well, you won't, since you never really felt that fatigued. But you'll get what I mean soon enough!" He replied with an ominous smile.

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After I agreed to Goldy's notion, he made it clear that the training was gonna be hard as hell, which in turn meant that I had to get away from my family for another five months. Therefore, I lied to them saying that I'm going to hang around with my friends for five months. I don't how they believed that bull sh*t but they did for some reason that I had real friends! And with that Goldy led me to a rather secluded place and we began working on my training.

In the beginning, we started slow… at least, slow by his means. He made me do a hundred pushups, a hundred sit ups, a hundred squats and a ten kilometer run every… should've been everyday, but the guy made me do it repeatedly without fail. Like he made me do it at least thrice a day. And when I'm popped, he'd put in a pill on me and I would be forced to do it again. He told me that he got the inspiration for it from my memories of a certain anime that I used to watch. He made me do this for one whole month NON-STOP! Thankfully, I didn't go bald and it did help me in my conditioning. After a month, I could run long distances without feeling tired and my punch packed great power as well. My body looked the same though, for some odd reason. So, there's that.

After that, we started on my flexibility. So, we learned acrobatics and then upgraded to parkour. So, I'm really set on quick feet with high flying ability. And then finally, we began on honing my martial arts. And it really seemed as if Goldy was right about what he told. Even without using Qi, my martial arts looked really great. Like, by the end of five months, I could break rocks and stuff with my bare hands. Breaking a rock usually meant that a person's in the third stage of their cultivation. So, my punch packed the power of a third stage cultivator, which is absurd!

So, five months went by in a jiffy and I ended up in a far better state that I imagined. I thought that even a quarter of the power that I currently have would be insane and now I ended up with a considerable amount. Sure, I might absolutely lose against a real third stage cultivator in a one on one fight, but since this power I gained is more for burglary purposes rather than fighting, it's more than enough!

And with that, I went back for yet another emotional union. My folks are real crybabies, if you ask me. But, I can't really blame them for it... So, rather than ranting about it, I just let them make a huge deal of it.

Since I had a planned schedule, I reached back to my home exactly one day before the start of the rookie tournament. Although, I didn't know the names of all the clans or about who belonged to which one, Goldy seemed to have trust in me to know it naturally when the time comes, since Hua Liu, the previous owner knows of it. So, rather than surfing through some random databases to check upon people's names, I spent that day secretly lurking in the shadows of my house, to check whether my skills were up to par. At this point, there's nothing else for me to do other than this and excitedly wait for the rookie tournament!

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