8 Breakthrough & System Upgrade?

Concentrating on the Essence Cultivation, Aser's body relaxes as he feels the already absorbed essence flowing through his cells, enlivening them and making him stronger. He realizes that when he focuses his mind on a certain area of a body, the cells seem to develop faster than normal. Testing it out, Aser figures out that every time he focuses on an area, the Essence surrounding him are projected there, resulting in the faster speed he experienced.

Deciding to let his body naturally decide where to use the Essence, Aser focuses back to his surrounding Essence and began absorbing the brightest motes as fast as he could. He would occasionally find the higher grade Essence gas, paying more attention to absorbing them as well. During his practice, he noticed that most of the Essence was dispersed throughout his body but a small sliver always made it way to his lower stomach. Remembering the descriptions he read about human anatomy in an old book about evolution, he realizes that it's where his dantian is. Curious about why so much Essence was being stored in his dantian instead of other parts of his body, Aser decides to ask Ashes to create a book about effects of Essence on the body.

Unknowingly, almost 5 hours pass, with the day turning over to night and the city falling silent. Already past midnight, Aser suddenly feels that there are some abrupt changes inside him, especially his bones and muscles. Feelings his bones creak and muscles burn, Aser sees all the Essence stored inside different parts of his body moving towards and activating the cells filled with Essence in his bones and muscles. He could feel the cells in his bones and muscles growing stronger, changing their intrinsic quality and releasing the stored impurities out through his body's pores. Each strand of muscle was breaking and repairing itself, while the bone marrow in his bones turned clearer and the cells inside growing and evolving.

As the feeling gradually passed, Aser woke up from his cultivation. But instead of feeling refreshed and filled with clarity, a foul stench started emanating around him. Looking at himself, Aser saw that he was covered in the impurities and sweat that was released earlier. Unable to bear the pungent smell of the filth and sweat, Aser quickly goes to wash up. Cleaning the impurities, and looking at his sparkling skin, he felt as if he had a shed a full layer of skin. He also noticed that he had slightly grown in height and his hair was longer as well. Finishing his bath, Aser tied up his loose hair with a string as is common with most people in the Southern Seas, and wore some fresh clothes. Aser also realized that he hated the feeling of filth and dirt instinctively. As a commoner and orphan, he had grown up playing in mud or being covered in sand, or wearing ragged clothes. But he never felt disgusted like how he had at the sight of the impurities. It felt like he hated being dirty to his core, but he didn't know why he just started feeling it now.

Unbeknownst to Aser, Sister Tully had made sure that even if the environment and clothes for the children were not the best, they would always be very clean. So Aser feeling his abhorrence for dirtiness for the first time wasn't surprising. All the times he was seemingly "dirty", such as being covered in sand or playing with mud wasn't that dirty to begin with either, as the clean air and mild weather of the island ensured that even its soil was of a good quality and not filled with viruses or inherent diseases, even in the commoner's district. The Guild wouldn't want large amounts of people falling sick on an island due to its environment, that would just invite a plague someday.

Back in his room and laying down on bed, Aser asks if Ashes is there.

[I'm here Aser. You know I can't really go anywhere right? Either way, congratulations on your advancement to Unknown Level 1. The first step of many, but at last you've embarked on the path.]

Hearing what Ashes said, Aser couldn't help but put on a large grin again. He knew he had a breakthrough earlier to Unknown Level 1, but confirmation was always a great feeling no matter what. Looking at his Statistics, Aser gave another large smile.

...

[Name: Aser Sholt]

[System Class: Mind's Eye - Ashes]

[Age: 7]

[Race: Human]

[Rank: Unknown Level 1]

Essence to Unknown Level 2: 0/200

Knowledge:

1. Southern Seas topography (10/50)

2. Shelfield Seas topography (12/25)

3. General History of the Enlightenment Era (2/100)

4. General Descriptions of Aquatic Beasts (1/30)

5. General Knowledge on Beginning Essence Cultivation (1/20)

6. General Knowledge on Professions for advancement from Unknown Rank (1/70)

Innate Skill:

1. Mind's Eye (S) (Rank 1): Your body has unlocked the mind's eye. Your inner eye allows you to sense the [Essence History] around your surroundings, changing it into knowledge. By actively using the skill, you are able to sense within a 5ft. area around you, as well as investigate other people and objects. [+5 Base Int]. Upgrade Conditions: Observe more people (0/50).

Passive Skill:

1. Starlight (S) (Rank 1): The starlight is your friend, you are blessed by the stars and have gained their trust. [+2 Int per rank]. Upgrade Conditions: Unknown.

[System Report: Updated information regarding statistics.]

[System Report: Added 1 Attribute Point for reaching Unknown Level 1]

[System Report: Added Knowledge requirements for completion. [Library] added.]

[System Report: Included Innate Skill ranks and Upgrade Conditions.]

…

Looking at all the little changes in his system panel and then the system report, Aser understood that Ashes, just as him, was constantly evolving due to the [Essence History]. Realizing that he also didn't know everything about certain Knowledge and being able to upgrade his skills also made Aser understand that this is just his first step.

[You're right Aser. I updated the information on Knowledge and Innate Skills due to your insistence on practicing them yourself. Previously, all the information was technically known for the "Knowledge" field, but it was such that I was the one that knew it, and so had set them as known completely by you. After our earlier discussion, I've already gone through and generated books for each of the Knowledge fields available for use in the system and have added an auxiliary function called the [Library]. Each book you finish will advance your Knowledge by that amount. For example, right now you have read about 10 books in "Southern Seas topography". Once you read another book regarding this subject in the library, it will change to (11/50) instead. Since all of the information I've gathered is in the [Essence History], the Knowledge you gain will also depend on where you are currently situated. Due to being in the Southern Seas as well as the Shelfield Seas, you are able to learn Knowledge regarding these areas from the [Essence History].]

[Regarding the Attribute Point, the User will receive one for each increase in level. His attributes will also increase as the User's phsyical and mental quality changes as he grows up. For example, your previous Charisma was 4, which has now been increased to 6 due to your physical improvements after your level increase as well as your experiences today interacting with different people.]

[Finally, all the Skills area has also been updated to differentiate between "Innate Skills", "Active Skills", "Passive Skills" and "Inheritance Skills". I have also found suitable Upgrade Conditions for these skills and have added that as a function. If an Upgrade Condition can't be found in the [Essence History] around us, then either it can't be upgraded or the [Essence History] around us doesn't have the information. For now, your [Mind's Eye] skill can be upgraded by using it to observe living beings and objects, as it is still too early for you to venture in to the [Essence History].]

Listening to Ashes's explanation, Aser felt that he had a lot of things to work on now. He set his goal to increase both his Knowledge and Cultivation as soon as possible, as well as to work on increasing his [Mind's Eye] skill whenever he got the chance.

"Grumble grumble grumble."

Suddenly, Aser's stomach starts growling, and he finally realizes that its very late. Getting up to head to the kitchen and get some food, he finds out that its already past midnight and he had been cultivating for around 7 hours in total today, with 6 hours in cultivation and an hour to breakthrough to the next level. Realizing that he can cultivate for 6 hours in total, Aser questions why even though his body isn't that great than the normal Unknown, he can cultivate much longer than them. Once again listening to Ashes explanation, Aser realizes that Essence Cultivation limits aren't just about the body, but also in regards to his consciousness. Ashes told him that its because of his [Mind's Eye] skill once more. He can find the purest Essence much faster than most people. The average cultivated spends most of their time finding the Essence itself, which is what puts a lot of pressure on to their bodies due to them not being able to materialize the consciousness yet trying to probe the outside world. It's similar to a prisoner reaching out through his jail cells trying to find pieces of bread in the darkness. A lot of the time is spent on finding the pieces, and so their endurance is much lower.

Aser on the other hand is similar to a prisoner with a flashlight. He can use the flashlight to find the biggest pieces of bread faster and also exert less effort. In the end, Aser simply had a higher efficiency in cultivation than others, but he was still a prisoner, as he knew that he couldn't materialize his consciousness either. Due to his [Mind's Eye], Aser was able to wade through the decay in the Essence world and find the pure Essence easier.

Finally, Aser starts thinking about what to use his Attribute Point on. It would be a good idea to develop the attributes he was currently very weak at such as Constitution, but thinking again, he decides to save it. At the moment, there wasn't any need to waste a valuable point in something that might not prove useful in the future. He also didn't know what to path to take in terms of Profession and wasn't sure if there were attribute requirements for certain Professions, so he would save it for emergencies for now, and use it when he was sure.

Finishing his food, Aser heads back to his room feeling full and relaxed as he falls asleep after an eventful day.

Next chapter