Chapter 19 – Tired of Training

Ken took the first gray pill and concentrated on its Qi in his body. The Qi inside the pill was running through his meridians to his skeleton and slowly attached to his bones. The process of the Qi assimilating into his bones was painful, making him groan during his cultivation.

However, it was nowhere near enough to make him lose concentration. He kept controlling the Qi with precision and followed his plans. He changed the Qi manipulation technique in every step, maximizing the effect at every given moment.

The process ended an hour later, and Ken let out a sigh of relief. Concentrating so hard for a whole hour took a toll on his mind, and he had to rest for a few minutes before he took the next pill. 3 hours later, he finished taking the third Bone Strengthening Pill and fell asleep.

'The results are close to what I estimated initially. Instead of 50%, I only improved by 45%, but that 5% was sacrificed for assimilating the whole thing into my constitution. As I grow up the effect will triple at the very least, so in the long term those pills improved me by 150% or so.'

He was opening a large gap when compared to Sol, and he knew that her worth to him would decrease as they climbed the stages. However, he planned to squeeze the benefits of having a test subject dry before discarding it.

He was starting to appreciate her company as well; even Ken who didn't trust other humans felt a need to have people around him, it was a natural urge no sane human could resist.

'Now it's time to test what I've been working the hardest for. I did my best to change the recipe for the next three pills and change my cultivation manual with them, in order to prevent the heavy decrease in their effect.'

He took the fourth gray pill and started the process of assimilating it into his bones. This time, he used the godly energy in his body as an intermediate to absorb the Qi of the pill differently, and to his delight, his theory proved right.

The pill was absorbed into his bones, and the effect was weakened much less than it was in Sol's case. While each of the first three pills gave him a 15% boost, those gave him a 7.5% boost. By changing the pill and his absorption process, he managed to have half the effect instead of a twentieth of it!

When he finished absorbing the sixth pill, he was too tired to continue, and too much time passed, so he left his concocting room and called it a day.

The next day, he did what Sol couldn't; he absorbed the seventh pill. Again, he used his godly energy as an intermediate and tweaked the recipe as well as his cultivation manual. This time, he managed to get a boost of 2% per pill, and he contemplated whether to continue.

'If I take the fourth set of the pills, I will get only a 0.2 percent boost per pill, and I'm not sure if it's worth the bother. However, since I have no problem getting the ingredients and those boosts make a significant difference in the long term, let's do it anyway.'

Thus, he did what nobody in the sect would ever do and used a fourth set of pills. After those ones, he chose to stop with the gray pills and move to the red ones.

The days passed, and Ken absorbed 6 pills every day, strengthening himself repeatedly and rising to new heights as he felt his power constantly increases.

He was sitting now with a dark red pill in his palm, the Brain Strengthening Pill. This one was the pill he made the most preparations for, since it would determine his future potential.

He swallowed the pill and soon felt an excruciating pain runs through his head as if someone was banging on it with a rock repeatedly. He groaned but didn't lose focus for a second. He was prepared for the pain and lay on the floor since the beginning, so he wouldn't lose focus when he falls from the sitting position.

By the end of the process, he estimated that he absorbed around 97.5% of the pill's effect. He was rather satisfied with the results, and after a short break, he took the next one. This time he had experience, and old horses know the road best (1).

He could deal with the pain better and got a better result of absorbing 99% of the pill, and on his third try, he could finally fully absorb it.

'Three more sets to go. This pill is much more painful than the others, maybe I should just take three.'

Despite saying that, he knew he wouldn't cut any corners now, and with a sigh, he started absorbing the next set. Now he understood why Sol was trying her best to avoid taking those pills.

'I need a break; I've been only training and studying about cultivation ever since I came to this world. I should be strong enough to take care of myself now, and I doubt anyone would cause problems with the son of two elders.'

He returned home and sat for dinner with his parents. By neglecting the world outside, he had neglected many other things as well. He noticed he never met any of his grandparents, or any other family member until now.

There were guests occasionally in their home, and some of them were his parents' friends, but none of them were introduced to him as family.

"Dad, Mom, there is something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes, Kenny, what is it?"

"Do I have grandparents?"

His parents' smiles froze as they looked at him and hesitated before answering. Eventually, Mei looked at Haoran for help and his father was the one to answer.

"Mom's parents were mortal and they have already died of old age. She has a few siblings, but as they are all mortals as well, we aren't in touch with them."

"Are they different because they are mortals? Are we immortals?"

"Haha, no. We all aspire to become immortal one day, but we still aren't. Although we can also be considered mortals, we are cultivators. We live much longer than normal humans who don't cultivate and are much stronger than them."

"So are we better than mortals?"

Ken asked his parents. He was reminded of his old life, where those who had power stepped on the weak. The rich turned richer, while the poor became poorer. Despite not saying it out loud as it wasn't politically correct, it was obvious that some people considered themselves better than others.

Haoran looked at his wife for a moment before answering. He didn't want to say bluntly that they were better, as it would come out offensive to Mei whose family was mortals. They spent everything they had to send her into the sect, and she managed to get where she was today through a mix of luck, hard work, and talent.

"I wouldn't say we are better, but we are different from them. We pursue other things in life and evolve as human beings beyond what the heavens have given us."

Haoran phrased his answer carefully and answered to the best of his ability.

"Do cultivators reign over the mortals?"

Ken didn't believe that the cultivators were good people who didn't take advantage of the weak, and soon he got the answer he expected.

"We do, but we don't involve ourselves in their lives unless something beyond the power of mortals appears and harms them. When something like that appears, the power which controls that area sends cultivators to deal with the threats. In exchange, they provide us with food and resources for our cultivation as taxes."

Ken felt that he was right; the strong took advantage of the weak in every world and every society. Those cultivators basically took from the mortals and only helped them when other cultivators caused problems. He also realized that his father only talked about his mom's side of the family.

"What about your parents?"

He asked his father who looked lost. This time Mei came to the rescue and replied instead of her husband.

"We aren't in touch with them. They live far away to the north from here, and we haven't seen them in decades. I'm sure they would be very proud of you if they met you, Kenny."

Ken felt that she was hiding something but didn't know what. He came up with a few theories but couldn't determine which one was more probable.

"Kenny, there is something we need to tell you as well. Soon… you'll have a little brother or a little sister."

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(1) Old horses know the road best – Chinese idiom meaning the elders are experienced and know the right way to deal with problems. Here just used to say Ken has experience in absorbing the Brain Strengthening Pill.