2 Joining A Sect
"What that smell?" Walking through the busy streets, a young man asked while looking over towards a small convenience store. He saw how people were entering and leaving, each time the door opened, the smell of the food within releasing to the outside world.
Interested, he entered and saw how people were gathered at the front of the register, where a handsome man in his 30s was cooking, and taking others' orders. walking up, he was enchanted by the smell of the food. he couldn't help but remember what he heard about Qi.
Both the earth and water would absorb Qi, causing them to become more pure, and have a unique effect. the earth would slowly grow bigger while its land gained the power to grow more high-grade crops, while the salt in the sea would slowly lose its taste as the QI would overwhelm it. leaving the sea tasting sweet, while having great benefits on one health
as for the animals, they were already transforming, their animal instinct taking hold, causing many of them to grow strong enough that bullets were nothing before them. right now, many cities on Earth have fallen, luckily, many humans have moved away from the forests, with the huge clans pushing back these animals that had absorbed Qi.
Lizards began to take the first steps to becoming dragons, the same for fish. Chickens could also one day evolve to become a dragon as well, with some birds having the chance to become phoenixes.
the animals once killed and eaten could have huge benefits to one health, and could even help them cultivate. it was said that such food tastes are so heavenly, that the human taste buds can't fully comprehend their beauty.
before him, someone was selling such food, and on top of that, the food was being cooked masterfully. such skills in cooking, it was like something seen right out of the movies. the timing was perfect as if he could see the smallest of details within his cooking.
The line was large, but he stood awaiting his chance to have a meal. why wouldn't he? if this meal was truly what he thought it was, then he could improve his overall body capability. cultivation brought forth quality change to one being, strength wasn't the main goal for cultivation. Cultivation was pretty much taking the heaven and earth energy to help yourself evolve to a higher lifeform.
Your lifespan would improve, your overall senses would improve, along with your body capability, and so on. you would even go a long time without the need for sleep. This is what cultivation was, so everyone was rushing to be a cultivator.
this is because the higher one cultivation was, the higher the chance for them to get a better job. this is because every job wanted workers who could work longer without the need for rest, and do more things which would normally need tools to do.
With Qi, many things needed to be upgraded. trees would grow stronger and need stronger tools to be cut, and phones and other such things would die sooner thanks to Qi. Their battery would need to be improved, electricity would need stronger power sources, and the list went on and on.
If your electricity bill was only 200 a month, now that would increase to 2k a month, and that would only increase with every passing day. many guess it would soon be over 20k a month, only the rich could have electricity.
Just the meal this middle-aged man was cooking costed a lot of money. enough to make many people have heartache, but they had no choice. compared to other food with such benefits, this was considered reasonable.
Of course, this cook was Alex. After uses the remaining of his savings to buy this store, and even buys these high-end ingredients from cultivators. Alex was now completely broke, but he was quickly regaining the money he used to buy these stuff. after all, he was selling this food at a high price.
It's been 2 weeks since Alex found himself with a system, and after 24 hours, he had truly gained his ability. [The Almighty] gave him the power to foresee all possible futures, while gaining the power to take hold of a possibility to bring into reality. He has seen many things through this ability, allowing him to gain many abilities as well as become immune to many of them.
Of course, there was some limitation to him bringing a possible future into reality. for one, each possible future had a chance of happening. the harder it was for said possible future to happen, the harder it was for me to bring it to reality. because of this, I was limited to picking a possible future that wasn't impossible with my current capability, or too hard to believe.
With [The End], he found that he could instantly master any ability he saw to 10%. even when using [The Almighty], [The End] ability could show its effect. although I could only instantly master any ability to 10%. it would also increase my learning speed by a huge amount, allowing me to become a super genius.
'This is too easy.' I thought while going on to close the shop once I ran out of food. indeed this was too easy. by looking at the store with the [The Almighty], I was able to see the best way to have this convenience store grow. I of course picked the possible future which was the most useful for me. Of course, since I had picked a possible future that was far into the future, there was a chance unforeseen events could happen.
"I made a huge amount today," I said while flipping through the paper dollars. after collecting the money, I closed the store and headed to the supermarket. a supermarket owned by the cultivators. I went to go buy a few pounds of meat, bread, and many other things. I clicked my tongue slightly seeing how expensive the food was, the price just kept increasing. but I bought the amount needed and headed back home.
Pulling up to my driveway, my eyes narrowed seeing someone at the door. stepping out, I looked at the beautiful Latino, before going on to the trunk of my car to grab the food I bought.
"What's all that?" Sarah asked softly, I just ignored her while opening my door. after 2 weeks without seeing her or even hearing her voice, the only thing I got from her was a picture that James sent to me, to mock me... well, I grew numb to her existence.
"I'm sorry. James was wrong..." Sarah wanted to speak, but I closed the door in her face. Sarah stood there frozen for a moment. She was quiet for some time before opening the door and headed inside where she saw me storing the food away. she was slightly stunned seeing how many fridges I had bought.
"I came to give you divorce papers," Sarah said while showing me the papers she had brought.
"Put them on the table, if thats all you can leave," I said calmly, not bothering to look back at Sarah. Sarah grew downcast seeing how I ignored her.
"You can't blame me... you have no talent for cultivation, I have no talent for cultivation. I am sorry but for my daughter's future, is this not for the best? Am I wrong for this? Shouldn't our daughter come first? This is about to become an era in would the strong can survive, we have no strength. we will never have strength. our fate is written in stone. but our daughter is different. do you want her to struggle?" Sarah asked with slight tears.
"I don't care, go and do as you wish. I have no daughter or wife. Justify your reasoning all you want, in the end, you just up and left me for another man. No words, or warning. I wouldn't even know it was James if your daughter had said nothing." I said without caring to look back at her,
"..." Sarah went quiet at my words. How was she to tell Alex her fears and worries? how was she to break any of this down to someone as prideful as Alex?
"You try and justify your reasoning, at the end of the day when things got hard. you up and ran, leaving me behind." I said making Sarah at a loss for words once more. She opened and closed her mouth for a moment before she turned and walked away.
I didn't bother to look at her, and simply finished packing up the food and went on to head out to the bank. I was truly indifferent to everything that just took place. with how many pictures I have seen, along with the videos of Sarah with James... I just didn't care anymore.
'Should I rent out my house?' I thought while looking at the homeless people on the streets. the housing market has shot up. many people had lost their jobs and couldn't afford to pay for the bills. It was said that thousands of people died every day from hunger.
the so-called virus was just the first step to anyone's dreams of surviving. the aftermath of Qi was far worse, with many people losing everything.
{Host, if it bothers you so much, just conquer the world.} the system said making my eyebrow raise slightly.
{the human population would drop at the rate things are going. right now, the human population should be 8 billion, but as time goes on, it will drop by more than half. think of the animals growing stronger, and those within the sea. the humans would be overwhelmed by numbers. this isn't even adding human greed or things from outer space. In total, humans need a leader to take control, the cultivators would ignore those less talented, if those with high talent gave birth, it would just mean that their children would have a higher chance of inheriting their parent's talent.} The system said making me think slightly.
Indeed, I was bothered by how the world had just become dark and gloomy thanks to these clans popping up, taking over everything. they were pretty much-forcing people to throw everything and look towards cultivation, those who couldn't should just die. this was something they could care little for.
'Are you trying to give me a goal to aim towards?' I asked calmly since I didn't have a goal. my goal right now was just to survive. With my family out of the picture, that was indeed the only goal I had.
{... yes. having nothing to aim towards would greatly limit what you could truly do. having something to push yourself would be for the best.} the system said while I thought for a moment.
'You need not worry... I want to become the strongest. the feeling of having everything I own destroyed just because someone didn't like it, enraged me to no end. I will destroy this so-called cultivation system they are trying to rebuild.' I thought with a sharp look.
I soon arrived at the bank and deposited my money into my account. Before heading towards a sect that wasn't too far away. I could copy anything, abilities, powers, techniques, and so on. human or non-human. even if one was a shark, I could copy the ability of the shark I saw, such as breathing in water. [The End] was broken, as every ability was at my fingertips. All I needed was to see it. of course, I have already seen people cultivate, So, I have gained the talent to cultivate
online, there were many videos of people cultivating, and teaching others to cultivate. there were even simple cultivation techniques to help people cultivate. Pretty much, I have the unique power to copy other cultivation talent. but sadly, 10% of their talent, and over time I could gain their full talent.
"Greetings, I was scheduled to come and have my cultivation talent tested today," I said calmly while entering an office. the sect was a school which was converted into a sect,
"Mr. Alex?" the woman behind the desk asked, to which I nodded slightly. at that, she made a call, and soon a young man came to get me.
"It's a bit odd you waited so long to get your talent tested." the young man said while looking at me weirdly. indeed, everyone above the age of 12 had already got their cultivation talent graded. The age was so high because humans still needed more time to adapt, only teens should be cultivating for the time.
"Yea. Many things happened... a bit of a long story" I lied, if they heard I had already done a test and came back as a failure, they would kick me out of the sect.
"Alright, Our Grand Thunder Sect is a sect that mainly focuses on the lightning element. if you don't have a talent for such an element, you would not be valued as much." the young man went on to tell me a few things, to which I just nodded my head. I had done my research on things.
Due to having no attack power at the moment, I picked this sect which used the lightning element. they were fast and deadly. adding my other ability would mean I have high attack power, powerful defense, and powerful speed.
"Alright, go and place your palm in that orb. it would send energy into your Meridians, it would test them. if they are good and fit for cultivation, the orb would light up." the young man said, giving me a simple explanation of this orb. To cultivate, one Meridian must be able to absorb and refine Qi. These meridians were pretty much pressure points that were all over the body.
when one absorbs Qi into the body, they have to refine this energy, before following a cultivation art. This would allow them to break through levels in cultivation. of course, one could simply absorb Qi and not use a cultivation art, they would still break through levels, but at a much slower speed and this was less effective. cultivation art could help one gain unique abilities, or even cultivate a unique physique.
5 people who cultivate without a cultivation art would be needed to defeat just one person with a cultivation art, of course, if said cultivation art was of high grade, it would need more people.
I stepped forward and touched the orb. at the same time, my pupils went through a change as I grew extra pupils. Within my sight, possible futures played out. I quickly went through them all and picked one to my liking. using my mental power, I took hold of that possible future and brought it to reality.
after a moment, the orb glowed with a Green color. there were grades to talent, and each one had a color.
No talent, the orb would not glow
Human-grade talent, the orb would glow Black for the first tier. Gray for the second tier, or White for the 3rd
Earth Grade talent, the orb would glow Yellow for the first tier, orange for the second tier, and Green for the third tier
My talent in truth was only Human Grade of the first tier. But I could still find a possible future where the orb made a mistake.
"... Is this good?" I asked while looking at the young man who was stunned by the sight before him. For a moment, the young man could not say a word, but he rushed to report this, and after some time, the sect leader came down to personally see the sight before him, along with many higher-ups of the sects.
"Go ahead and try again." the sect leader said with excitement in his eyes, the sect leader was a middle-aged man around the same age as myself. he had a thick beard and seemed to have native American blood running through his blood. All of the high-ranking members of this sect seem to be of a native American background.
I nodded slightly, I went on to place my palm on the orb, while secretly using [The Almighty] to cheat. and like before, the rob glowed green, causing the middle-aged man to smile brightly.
"Thats great, might I know your name?" the sect leader asked while those high-ranking members of this sect looked at me with joy. Why would they be so moved by Earth-Grade talent you may ask? simple, because this was the 3rd highest talent held by anyone worldwide. In other words, my current talent means that I was among mankind's most talented. out of 200 million people, it was safe to say I was among 50 to 100 people
"Alex West," I said respectfully, the sect leader nodded his head slightly while sizing me up. If I was white, there was a good chance he would have killed me. after all, wasn't it the white man who took their ancestor's lands? it was reasonable for him to hold hatred towards those of the current era.
Alex was of mixed blood, his father was black, while his mother was of Japanese blood. Alex was a lean, light-skinned man. His eyes were large, sparkling a light hazel before tapering into a light green-to-gray color. He was handsome and looked far younger than his true age.
"Well, Alex why do you want to join my sect?" The sect leader asked with a serious look, just because one was talented didn't mean one could enter the sect.
"... to change my fate. My wife just left me with my daughter to be with another man. My business was destroyed as It was rejected by the cultivation world. I realize that I never truly had any control of my life, just like that it was all taken from me." I said leaving the sect leader quiet for some time, not expecting my words
"I have nothing, this is the only place I thought of coming to while struggling to recreate a new business for myself and stand on my own two feet," I said, moving the sect leader slightly. He nodded slightly while holding out his hand.
"Than Alex, what do you say of becoming my disciple?" He asked with a bright smile, leaving me stunned for a moment. but I nodded with a look of joy...
With Alex joining the sect, he was given many things. such as the sect uniform, as well as the rules of the sect. He was also given a cultivation art. The cultivation art I was given was called the Thunderbird Cultivation Art, it was a copy of the original Heavenly Thunderbird Cultivation Art. Although it was much weaker than the original, it was considered stronger than many cultivation arts out there. the sect leader couldn't give me the original as I wasn't worthy due to many things, such as I wasn't a member of their tribe, and I wasn't talented enough.
After being given everything, I was told to go and try and comprehend the cultivation art. The scroll which was given to me was told not to leave the school,
'System, if I have master control of Qi down to... let's say to the atomic level, would I be able to break through levels without worrying about my foundation?' I thought, thinking about the [6 eye] unique ability to give one perfect energy control down to the atomic level.
One couldn't simply break through countless levels of cultivation without worrying about leaving behind flaws. the more you break through at high speed, the weaker your foundation shall be, leaving your future breakthrough extremely hard and filled with difficulty
{yes. With control down to the atomic level, it could give you the power to do so. but after reaching a high enough level, you would need energy control that goes beyond the atomic level.} the system said while I went through the scroll. I instantly comprehended 10% of this art, and by simply closing my eyes, my understanding of this cultivation art improved by 1% every minute.
