An Upgrade

Inside the depths of his mind, James was beginning to form his Dao. The Qi within him continued to expand as he was screaming with his actual body. In addition, there was a new kind of space forming within the depths of his mind.

James had no idea what this was quite yet but he knew that whatever it was it was going to be important. Since he knew this he didn't try and stop it as it formed and instead helped the process by giving it a constant stream of Qi.

As James filled it with Qi he suddenly felt like he couldn't put any more in the new area of his mind. However, now that he couldn't add anymore he felt his soul or whatever form of consciousness he currently had to be sucked inside of this new area.

When his eyes were able to open again James found himself on a tiny sand dune in the middle of a small lake. The way he was able to tell it was a smaller body of water was due to the fact he could see the end of the water. At the area where the water ended, there was a large black barrier like an endless abyss denying the water to spread any further.

James soon realized that this water had a darker color as well reminding him of his own Qi, 'Maybe this will work.' James thought to himself as he concentrated on the water in front of him closing his eyes before trying to move the water like the Qi within his body.

When he tried to do this there was a slight reaction at first with ripples appearing in the water and slight droplets raising from the pool but soon after there was a splitting pain in James' head, "AHHH!" James shouted in the world and outside his head as he shot backward in agony.

It definitely seemed like moving the entire thing at once was well beyond his capabilities at the moment. The most he thought he would be able to do from there is a drop or two.

The most surprising thing to James was the fact that his body was so tired after trying to move the water. Even at the beginning with James learning about Qi he never really became exhausted from absorbing it or training it.

Sure there were times when he took a break but he never felt as drained as he did at that moment from trying to move the water. There seemed to be some sort of punishment involved with unsuccessfully moving it so he dare not try it again.

'I do feel a lot stronger physically and it feels as if my reserves are a lot larger.' James thought to himself as he rested closing and opening his fist slowly while looking at his Dantian deep within himself.

When he did this he felt like he could also enter the area in his mind that he currently resided in accessing it like his Dantian in some form of new sense. It was something he wasn't fully adept at quite yet but was making vast improvements like with the Qi lake moments prior.

After messing around in the area for a bit longer James decided it was finally time to leave the zone and let the others know that everything was alright. Since James was finally deciding to leave it was also time for him to learn how to let himself leave.

James tried jumping up and down, walking deep into the Qi pool, and shouting leave or exit multiple times but none of them helped in the slightest. It wasn't until he finally sat down cross-legged and concentrated on leaving the place and being back on his bed that he was able to open his eyes to the real world.

"Am I back?" James questioned as his eyes fluttered under the new light having not opened his pupils to light in over 2 hours in the real world. Soon after the words escaped his lips two pairs of arms wrapped around him in a large bear hug making all of them smile in happiness.

"I'm back~" James said with a smile as he returned the hug to the two girls showing how grateful he was for both of them sticking by him even for a perfectly boring situation like this one.

He knew that watching him with his eyes closed probably wasn't the greatest thing but with them being there James felt a lot more confident in his chances succeeding. For some reason it felt like that as long as he was with them in some way then his luck would be out of this world.

The hug between the three lasted for a few moments before James finally pulled them off a little bit but still have their arms hooked around his own, "Good job love~ I knew it was good to have full confidence in you." Noel said with a bright smile as she was happy that the small inkling in her head was wrong and that he was able to pass the test with no issues.

Cara on the other hand had a guilty expression on her face as she looked at James, "I'll admit I was more worried about you getting injured than Noel. I just wanted nothing to happen to you since if it did I would kill whoever I needed to and their entire family." Cara said with a crazy smile spiting the cultivation gods as they would be the reason James was unable to pass if it were to come to that.

When James saw this he tightened his grip on the girls pulling them close as he smiled, "I love you both so much~ You are the best~" James said happily making the two immediately go silent from shock. This was the thing that created his Dao. This feeling with these people was unlike anything he had ever felt before even with his previous family. While he did miss them more than life itself there were some differences.