Chapter 4: Absorbing Qi

'Damn, that was some good food,' Eric thought, way more than satisfied with his breakfast.

Back on Earth, he used to mainly eat canned food and stuff like instant ramen. He hadn't eaten a real, home cooked meal that tasted good in ages and now that he got to eat one, he didn't hold back.

He was fortunate that this was a 'real game', because if not, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to taste such good food.

Jane smiled as she looked at her son. She was still happy that he had decided to cultivate; along with that, she also somehow felt like he had matured overnight. She didn't think much of it, though and after Eric was finished eating, she said she would call him when his dad got home.

Upon hearing this, Eric started thinking about his dad.

Blake Tyler, the leader of the 'Roaring Dragon' Mercenary Group and most of all, Eric's father, was a rather important figure in the Aldair Kingdom. His strength was most of that reason but his status contributed to his fame as well.

The Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group was a pretty large organization and operated fully independently and unbiased; yet still adhered to morals and didn't commit serious crimes or cause other problematic issues.

In the eyes of the public, the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group and their leader were role models. They had power, status, respect, money and were independent and unbiased; the last quality was hard to find in large organizations.

A lot of people used Jacob's legendary ass kissing technique and affiliated themselves with government officials, military officers, royal family members or even big sects in order to get their backing; and therefore indulged in a lot of favoritism and basically became those people's lackeys.

Politics was almost unavoidable even in a game world of cultivation.

Eric sighed as he compared this world to his previous one.

'No matter how different two worlds are, they will almost always have their own annoying types of politics. What kind of a game simulates real world problems such as opportunistic people latching on to influential people and groups?'

Eric sighed again and decided to divert his attention to something else instead.

After going back upstairs to his room, Eric decided to read the next part of the Basic Soul Cultivation Method. He had sensed Qi and felt it around him, but just merely feeling something and actually absorbing it within oneself were two completely different things.

Eric opened the scroll and started reading the second verse.

'After sensing the Qi around you and getting used to its presence, the next step is to gather that Qi and absorb it into your dantian. This is a similar process to the first step, but is slightly more complex.

In order to absorb the Qi in the dantian, you first have to feel one with the Qi and guide it to the center of your stomach, where the Dantian is present.

The second step in this process is to be in the same position as the first step except for the hands. With the hands, form two cup shapes and put them one on top of another in front of the Dantian; forming an oval like shape with your hands near your stomach, with the palms facing each other.

Once in this position, enter the meditative state from before once again and focus on your body.

While focusing on your own body, also start feeling the Qi around you; more specifically, the Qi nearest to you that directly envelops your body.

Once you feel that you are close enough and able to move this Qi around like your own body parts, slowly and guide it towards your Dantian; which will naturally absorb it.

Constantly gathering the Qi nearest to you on your body and then sending it to your Dantian is the crux of the Basic Soul Cultivation Method.

The reason to keep your hands closest to the dantian is because the hands are the part of the body which people use the most and are therefore the most proficient at using. Since the Qi around your body basically becomes a part of it, it will also function like your body.

The Qi around your hands will be the easiest to manipulate and gather and therefore should be placed the closest to the Dantian for maximum efficiency.

To actually start absorbing Qi would take an average person about 6 to 12 hours depending on the natural talent.'

After this, there was a pictorial depiction of the hand sign which was mentioned and that was the end of the Basic Soul Cultivation Method.

Eric was very impressed after he read the method. It was the most simple and readily available cultivation method but it was still quite impressive. The way it optimized the intake of Qi with the hand gesture was in particular something he found quite ingenious.

Eric put the scroll away inside the bookshelf in order to prevent his parents from noticing and looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly outside and it was between 9 or 10 in the morning.

Lunch would be served at around 2 in the afternoon so Eric had plenty of time to practice the Basic Soul Cultivation Technique.

Without wasting any time, he got into position and started doing what the method instructed.

***

Eric was sitting still, breathing calmly and was starting to feel warmth envelop him, yet he didn't sweat even a little bit and this warmth made him feel a sense of comfort instead of heat.

It felt like he was wearing a layer of clothing which surrounded the entirety of his body, but it didn't suffocate him, nor did it make him feel hot and stuffy. Eric realized that this was what it felt like to have a concentrated layer of Qi completely surround his body at such a close distance that he could physically feel it.

Following what the cultivation method said, he started to guide it towards the spot in between his palms, right in front of the Dantian. As soon as he thought of that, he felt it all steadily move to one part of his body. First, the layer of Qi surrounding his hands was almost instantly absorbed into his dantian.

As this energy was absorbed, Eric felt like a new power had awakened inside him. It was as if his whole being was filled with energy. The speed of absorption seemed to drastically increase as well. Now that the speed was faster, Eric seemed to understand the process even better.

The energy accumulated itself on the surface his body and then used it as a medium to reach his Dantian. It first surrounded his back and then moved through it to his arms and reached the Dantian, similarly it went down from his head and reached his Dantian, as well as starting at his feet and going through his legs to the Dantian.

The outer surface of his body was a medium through which Qi reached his Dantian.

Upon his understanding of this, the speed of accumulation of Qi sped up even more and was smooth enough for him to use it constantly without putting all his focus on it and going in a trance like state; apart from the obvious increase in the speed of absorption.

Eric opened his eyes and smiled at his achievement. He felt like he was a different person altogether.

'So this is what it feels like to absorb Qi, huh?' he said to himself, checking the Scam System.

Sure enough, there was a notification congratulating him for absorbing Qi and being one more step closer to becoming a real cultivator.

Eric looked outside the window and saw that the sun had gone a little down and the heat was more subtle than before, but it was still not noon.

It had been about an hour since he had started and Eric had already successfully gotten the hang of absorbing Qi.

'What is this absurdly fast speed at which I seem to do this stuff? Maybe I am actually some sort of a fantasy novel protagonist,' Eric thought as he happily ran down the stairs to tell his mother about his achievement.

Jane was shocked once again, but after what she saw earlier in the morning, she had come to terms with how her son was in fact some sort of a genius which the world had never seen. As a mother, she was immensely proud of Eric and proceeded to hug him multiple times congratulating him.

For a 24 year old guy in the body of an 11 year old, this was quite awkward and uncomfortable; but he knew that Jane meant well and respected the sentiment by not rejecting her embrace.

Eric had started to accept this game as his world, for now at least. He could feel the warmth and love from his mother's embrace; he could taste the luxuriously cooked meals; he could feel his entire being fill up with strength whenever he cultivated.

This single player 'game' he was playing was already way better than his past life on Earth.

After his mom was done expressing her love, Eric decided to go back to cultivating in peace before until lunch; and after eating lunch cultivating again until his dad came back home.

Before he knew it, Eric had become a cultivation addict.