Beat yourself into cultivation

Leonid scratched his head as he watched Dai walk out determinedly. As if becoming a cultivator was that easy! She just said, I'll do it now and that's it? Sometimes Leonid thought that he already knew a little about Dai's character, but then she would do something so strange again. Maybe she had a split personality? Or was she a little crazy?

Dai didn't notice his strange expression and simply sat down outside the shop. She adjusted her position and looked back.

"If Filn wakes up, don't let him disturb me."

"Listen, lass, becoming a cultivator isn't….oh she's already started…." Leonid stopped talking and let out a big sigh as Dai closed her eyes and either lost her perception or simply ignored him.

"Ok, do whatever you want." he finally shrugged his shoulders in surrender.

*****

Dai definitely didn't think that becoming a cultivator was an easy thing. But before she was interrupted she felt she was on the right track. It was that feeling, like when you are on the very edge of understanding something. It's such an uncomfortable feeling that makes you feel like you just have to grasp the thought somehow or you won't have peace of mind for the rest of your life!

She breathed slowly and watched the darkness behind her closed eyes. Slowly, with each breath, bright spots began to appear. They floated by slowly like a flock of fireflies. Dai went through all the cultivation methods she learned from the book, but the lights didn't respond to any of them. She naturally thought that her body just wasn't ready. The system made it clear that her body constitution was lacking. And even though she had gotten a little stronger thanks to the training, she probably still wasn't in the optimal condition to break into cultivation.

The system, however, also said that training in Dimensional Space is three times more effective than training outside of it. So in theory it could be enough.

Now just somehow stuff the Spiritual energy into her body!

Time has passed. Then another. And then another. The lights gave her the cold shoulder. Dai was getting nervous. She really thought she was getting the hang of it. Was she wrong?

She approached them. She was tempting them. Pushed them. Moved them. Nudged them. She even tried to tickle them! She tried every way. The only thing she confirmed was that understanding one's own cultivation method is something one must figure out on their own. So how did other cultivators do it? So why are there cultivation techniques to learn? She thought it was because of this that cultivators were born. Why didn't anyone tell her that they were actually crap techniques tutorials? She was just wasting her time!

Dai was getting angry. She had the impression that they were just making fun of her. She really hated it. She worked hard and honestly. She always felt satisfaction when she did something properly. She was proud.... until someone tried to trample her pride into the ground. And she doesn't have many things to be proud of. Why does someone take even the little they can and try to destroy it?

Dai didn't realize that her meditation had led her to her deeply suppressed feelings instead of cultivation.

It was a small but strong knot of feelings she had that she suppressed when someone devalued what she was proud of. Even little people like her have their pride.

Deep in her subconscious, System watched the owner struggling with herself. After some time, it sent a thin stream of energy toward the knot of repressed emotions.

Dai's mind was slightly shaken. The knot of repressed feelings suddenly began to spin and the threads were loosened.

She heard a roar of rage in her head. She was horrified to find that the eerie sound sounded just like her own voice. She wanted to run away from it, but she couldn't. Something held her in place to face it. Dai began to see fragments of memories and associated feelings in front of her that she wished she could forget, but even ones she didn't know existed.

She saw a woman with a mask over her mouth sticking something sharp into Dai's eye.

She saw a purple thick liquid and a drowning sensation.

She saw dead bodies. Ripped and bleeding.

She saw little Filn, whom she was trying to revive.

She saw the forest and several children running away.

Wild beasts and heard the cries of children.

Dark streets of Shelter. An evasive look. Hunger. Fight. Row. Insult. Abuse. Bruises. Injury. Blood. Hatred. Hatred. Hatred.Hatredhatredhatredhatred. RAGE!

"ENOUGH!" She screamed and hit the knot with all her might. And she hit him again. She didn't even know how, but all she wanted was to beat the monstrosity!

These were bad feelings accumulated throughout her life that she suppressed because she couldn't vent them. She knew well why she suppressed them. Because when you're nobody and you have nothing, that's all you can do. Everyone did it. However, she had no idea that this terrifying thing had formed inside her. She felt that if she didn't destroy it, it would eventually destroy her.

Each of her blows destroyed the memory. Dai didn't forget them and they didn't disappear either, but they stopped being a ticking bomb.

The scream receded into the background, the intense negative feelings faded, and a ball of white light was revealed beneath all those sinews. Finally broke it free and floated out of the knot. The knot of negative feelings shrunk and dissolved. Dai stopped and looked at it. Subconsciously she knew what it was. She took it and looked around. She felt a little empty now. Not joy. But not even anger. She was exhausted.

Everything around her went quiet and the points of light of energy reappeared as if they had just escaped before but now returned to their favorite spot.

Dai looked at the orb she got and sent it in front of her, and finally what Dai had been striving for all along was happening. Lights of energy began to approach the orb and merge with it.

The orb settled in the center of her Cultivation Sea, and all the energy points in the vicinity began to pull towards it. Dai focused on the whole scene in her mind and felt a sense of relief.

Orb glowed slightly and began to pulse, like a beating heart.

Dai felt slight discomfort and opened her eyes.

"Achhhhhhh!" she began to choke.

She rolled onto her side in surprise, clutching her neck with her hands, and felt something push up through her neck. She panicked and tried to free her neck. It makes gagging noises similar to a cat coughing up a ball of fur. Finally, a lumpy black substance rolled out of her mouth, which she spit on the ground.

She could finally breathe. Her eyes and nose were running and she stared in horror at the thing on the ground.

"What the hell?" she shrugged in disgust.

"These are impurities. Wow. So little? I almost drowned in mine!" Leonid's voice rang out and Dai flinched. She looked at him.

"Impurities?"

"Yes. Just the accumulated mess in the body that your pure cultivation pushed out." he shrugged.

Dai rested for a moment before starting to wipe her face. She felt disgusting!

The black impurities began to disappear by themselves, she was glad for that. She probably wouldn't be able to clean it.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Leonid asked, looking at Dai, but to his surprise...she didn't look any different. That is, except for the fact that she was pale now, but that was probably due to exhaustion.

"Like shit," she replied.

Leonid smiled at her harsh speech.

"Well, it seems it had the opposite effect on you than it did on me. I then felt full of vitality. But that will pass. I must congratulate you, Dai. You are now a cultivator."

"Yeah...hurrah..." Dai grumbled unenthusiastically.

Leonid raised an eyebrow, he didn't expect to be in such a bad mood. After all, this is what she was after, wasn't she?

"Um… what was it like?" he wondered.

"Terrible. I hope I don't have to go through anything like this again. It's no fun fighting yourself." she replied, slowly standing up. She swayed a little as she felt weak in her knees. Leonid grabbed her elbow to support her.

"Did you fight yourself?" he was surprised. He did not remember what happened. When he broke through he was out.

"Hmmm. I basically had to beat up my feelings. Heh… I actually beat up my cultivation." it sounded ridiculous to her. Leonid looked at her, again considering her sanity.

Dai was starting to feel a little better, the conversation with Leonid had a calming effect on her. She tried to feel any difference, but all she felt was deep exhaustion. She also had to think about what happened.

She seems... to really have a penchant for beating things up. She had a hard time coming to terms with it. She still didn't feel like it was something she liked to do. But… she had to admit she felt a little relieved.

System: Task Completed

Description: Obtain Low Realm cultivation within one week.

Reward: Connections folder unlocked

Note: Sometimes even a person is his own enemy. You nailed it, boss.

System Notice

Unlock the Status feature.

Note: Thanks to your newly acquired cultivation, the System has received enough energy to unlock another function. Now you can monitor your progress with your own eyes.

Warning: Keep in mind that the statistics are indicative only. Don't rely on it.

Dai was surprised. She knew she would get the function to get into the Connection feature. But did it also unlock the function to track her Status?

Dai wanted to look, but she needed to wash first.