Exploration (1)

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Time had flown by, and before Matthew knew it himself, it had already been six days since he had arrived in the Dashos continent.

During the past week, he had spent most of his time hunting animals and beasts around the area, trying to increase the skill of his abilities.

Though the beasts here were just too weak compared to the panda he fought, they were still strong enough to give him a challenge once they started to become united.

Of course, with one use of {Domain} and most of them died nearly instantly with his pressure alone! However, he also spent some time on controlling his {Domain} so it would only completely restrain his prey, or at least not send it to eternal slumber with its entire body crushed inside out.

His actual strength had grown quite a bit over the days as he gained more and more experience using his new abilities, however, that wasn't the only thing he was doing the entire time...

Considering the thin amount of natural energy here, which doesn't seem to be the main energy in this world, meaning the place he's currently at should be a normal forest that has only been slightly enhanced with the energy here.

He's also found out another reason why natural energy was so thin here. As he expected, it was also due to the fact that this world wasn't strong enough to contain, let alone use natural energy, so the abundant energy now is Qi.

Actually, Qi was a diluted type of energy from the 'natural energy'. However, instead of targeting all energies at the same time and slowing down the process, the Qi he was absorbing only focused on breakthrough energy and just enough external and internal energy to balance it out, raising his cultivation speed again!

Thankfully, the energy Matthew had cultivated before seems to fit all types of energies, especially effective with the {One With Energy} ability. Even though the energy he was used to absorbing was too thin to have any effect, the surrounding Qi was quite abundant, so with his {One With Energy} ability, he began to assimilate that energy into himself.

Matthew had also found more... convenient uses for it instead. Since it was possible to stave off hunger and thirst in the {Mystical Bamboo Forest}, he had been finding other uses here as well. Especially due to his fine and precise control over his energy, he could use it quite often, whether it was to dry himself after bathing, eliminating stains that got on his robes, or even sustaining fire throughout the night for some extra warmth.

To many cultivators, this would normally be a great waste of Qi, but there were also a few sects and organizations that had even encouraged this behavior, mainly to increase a disciple's control over their Qi and creativity of using it as well.

"Let's hope I don't run into any widespread cult members or anything like that..." Matthew glanced at the mountain range in front of him.

'I probably just jinxed myself... shit...' Although Matthew wasn't superstitious, in a world where literal Gods exist, that also meant that things like destiny and luck would also exist. Even if it only partially affects his life, it's still scary to think, that your fate is being controlled by a higher being to some extent.

Taking a small sip from his water pouch, Matthew continued to roam the forest, cleaning out as many animals and beasts as he could.

Although he was killing beasts on a massive scale, the amount of qi here already seems to be enough for all animals and beasts here to be able to reach adulthood in only a few days and have several dozen children for each pregnancy.

Plus, with every beast's death, the surrounding area would also receive a slight portion of Qi that was released from its corpse, giving birth to many herbs, which Matthew collected several stalks of every time he went on a rampage. There was no need to waste!

And no! He did not watch that happen to gain that kind of information, it was Edmund that told him! He was not a pervert nor did he have the time to waste! Well... at least not in that sense...

Currently, he was resting on a tree branch, poking the {Idle} panel with boredom.

It had already been six days since then, and today was the seventh day! Now, all he had to do was to wait for his {Idle} rewards to pop up once the cooldown was finally over!

"Just about an hour left... I can wait..."

After releasing a bit of his aura, and scaring away all of the beasts within a thousand feet, Matthew began to do his daily meditation.

Inhale~

Huuuuuuuuu~

Reaching a state of emptiness, his cores started to absorb the Qi around him, slightly strengthening his body once again.

Swoosh~

Small streams of Qi swirled around Matthew, slowly entering his body and cores. Each strand was put to use with no wasted energy at all!

Woosh~

As the remaining wisps of Qi finally entered him, a hint of a breakthrough leaked from Matthew.

There was no trembling, no sudden wind, no craters, but he was able to just flow from the 1st stage of Qi Body Realm to the 2nd stage without a single problem!

Spending the rest of the leftover Qi inside of him to consolidate his realm, Matthew immediately opened his eyes once it was over.

"Well. It seems like I can finally use Qi at its full capacity now!" Matthew clenched his fist excitedly.

'Let's see how effective Qi is then-'

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[Ding~]

[The rewards in {Idle} can be claimed! Do you wish to claim the reward?]

[Y/N]

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Matthew jumped from the abruptness of Edmund's message, almost falling from the tree branch he was sitting on.

"An hour already passed? Perfect timing!"

Without hesitation, Matthew pressed yes, 'Please don't be absolute garbage...' He prayed.

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{Mystical Bamboo Forest}

[Rewards: 5 Kg of {Mystic Herbs}, 10 Kg of {Mystic Bamboo}, 10 Kg of {Mystic Wood}, 10 Liters of {Mystical Spring Water}

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[Well, I suppose that's not the worst reward you could've gotten... Tehee...]

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'Tehee? What do you mean by Tehee!? I waited a whole week for this!' Matthew showed a crooked smile, thinking if he should just use one of his chances to rerun the instance, he had five chances anyway.

'Well... at least the herbs seem nice. Might be able to make seem decent medicine and other items once I learn how to make them.' He contemplated.

Although it was just called {Mystic Herbs}, it was actually a mix of grass, leaves, and other plant parts. However, some parts were larger than others, so the ratio wasn't completely even.

Since he had just broken through, Matthew spent the next hour gaining more control over his cultivation and Qi!

With a flick of his hand, the Qi from inside his body and the surrounds began to gather on his palm, creating a ball of diluted natural energy.

"Interesting... but it seems like I don't have an element yet. Pretty sure there's like... several dozen types of qi ranging from fire qi, sword qi, and stuff like that right?" He asked Edmund.

[I suppose an explanation is required this time. With your current abilities, your bloodline keeps impure energies away from being completely absorbed. Say, for example, {Nature's Body} alone does technically give you all natural attributes, however, with your other abilities and I, who gave you said abilities that enhanced you abilities which became a mix of all natural energies combined!] Edmund said with a proud tone.

"Well... You did give me them, I admit, but it seems like I still have to train them to actually be proficient, correct?"

[That is correct! Hard work pays off, after all!]

Matthew was speechless at Edmund, but he was right. Although Edmund would help him, the best way to get stronger would be through himself!

Getting used to the new major energy type he could use now, he went on to test his physical limitations.

This time, he noticed that with one interval stage breakthrough, his strength had increased quite a bit compared to when he skipped entire realms. Although it may not be as large, but it could already be said that his combat prowess could now reach those in the Half-Step Harmony Realm!

The actual increase in strength wasn't astronomical, but Matthew's control his own body seems to have reached a new level. His entire body were crazy flexible, and even his energy channels seemed to have been upgraded with the help of Qi.

'The gains weren't small at all... I guess this is fine...' He settled with what he had now. At least he was alive and well, plus, one week wasn't so long anyway!

"Well, I hope next week's reward is better..."

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