Laying the Foundation

Bestie chose this time to appear on the compad screen, jumping up and down with an exuberant smile.

{Good job, Ryker!} she said, face beaming with excitement.

{With this, some of the integral features of the system have been unlocked!}

"I see..." Ryker said, rubbing his chin, "'Gacha' must be like those gacha capsules, back home, but what's the 'Borrowing' function do?"

{'Borrowing' will let you borrow a portion of the power, skills, and knowledge of a selected friend,} Bestie explained, {The stronger your bond with them is, the more of their strength you can use! There's a time limit of ten minutes, though, and a cooldown of 24 hours before you can use it again.}

Mini C fiddled with some of his functions, the spinning 'analyzing...' circle popping up over his head. Dozens of analysis nodes he had set up to monitor the embedded Friend System started to send streams of information to his processing unit, detailing the properties of the unlocked functions and the items Ryker received.

[I see,] he said, processing the data he received.

[Perhaps with this, your chances against that Nascent Soul elder aren't so bleak.]

"Huh? You finished analyzing already?" Ryker asked, tilting his head quizzically.

Mini C just looked away, exhaling as he crossed his arms.

[...We'll fast-track the analyses from here on out. I'll put my trust in our freeloader, for now.]

{M-Mini C...!}

Bestie put her hands over her chest with a touched smile, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Aw, isn't that great, Bestie? Mini C likes you, now!" Ryker said with a big grin.

[...Let's continue with our discussion.]

Mini C pulled up some diagrams pertaining to Ryker's cultivation, highlighting areas that still needed work.

[There are still a few things with your cultivation that could be improved, but I believe you're ready for the next step in breaking through. Would you agree, Assistant B?] he said. He'd taken to referring to Bestie as 'Assistant B' during their time helping Long Meiling.

{That's right! And with the Foundation Coalescing Pill, even those small flaws will be taken care of!}

She quickly popped the Foundation Coalescing Pill out of Ryker's dimensional pocket for him, as well as one of the Foundation Establishment Pills.

{Just take one of the Foundation Establishment Pills the system gave you along with the Foundation Coalescing Pill, and you'll achieve a perfect breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment realm!} she said, shoving the pills into his mouth with the compad's telekinesis function.

Ryker swallowed the two pills with a loud gulp, exhaling as he felt the energies of the pill immediately getting to work.

"Uh, do I have to do anything in particular after I swallow them?" he asked, putting the compad down and getting up into a meditative pose on the bed.

[Start circulating your qi in accordance with the Cosmic Unity Scripture's qi flow pattern, and keep the flow steady as you're breaking through.]

{Oh, and see if you can incorporate some mana into your foundation as it's being formed!}

Ryker gave her a curious look, knitting his brows in confusion.

"Wouldn't that be kinda bad? Mixing the two?" he said.

[I'm guessing you're counting on Ryker's current mana tolerance to help with the clashing of the two energies?]

{Right, that, and a quirk specific to the Cosmic Unity Scripture. This particular cultivation method is unique in its ability to harmonize energies that would usually conflict, like ice and fire. It should be the same case for mana and qi!}

Mini C and Bestie started to discuss the ins and outs of Bestie's suggestion, with Bestie bringing up several diagrams to clarify her point. Ryker simply nodded, perhaps not in understanding, but he was willing to give it a go, regardless.

"Dunno what that's all about, but I'm counting on you, Bestie!"

He started circulating his qi in accordance with the Cosmic Unity Scripture, feeling his energy rising as both of the Foundation pills worked their magic. Not just his dantian, but even his meridians started to undergo a qualitative change, increasing in size, durability, and elasticity. His dantian was also rapidly increasing the rate at which it could pull in spiritual energy.

This was the 'Foundation' that the Foundation Establishment realm was referring to; the improvements to all of the basic cultivation functions of the body played a large part in how far a cultivator could go, in the future.

The Foundation Coalescing Pill fixed all of the small flaws in his meridians and dantian, while the Foundation Establishment Pill provided the energy he needed to breakthrough. At the same time, he gathered some mana like Bestie had suggested, not bothering to refine it as he had it flow alongside the qi in his body.

There was a slight pain as the qi and mana reacted to each other, but nothing he was unfamiliar with. In fact, as the mana ran the same circuit as his qi, his meridians and dantian seemed to become more used to the sensation, and even incorporated this new energy into themselves as he broke through. What effect this would have, however, was still a mystery to him.

"Phew..."

Ryker exhaled as the breakthrough process was wrapping up, a gentle, breeze-like qi flowing forth from his body as he did. Contrary to what he thought, the whole thing was rather relaxing, without him having to do much, really.

[Excellent work,] Mini C said, with Bestie bouncing excitedly beside him.

{Yeah, good job! You're one step closer to standing at the top!}

"Thanks. That wasn't so bad," Ryker said with a grin, flexing his hands and feeling the newfound power coursing through his body.

Unlike mana, which he needed to consciously use to strengthen himself, qi seemed to boost his basic physical abilities by quite a bit, even when he wasn't circulating it. Adding in the myriad of techniques he could use with it, he could see a new path for himself with the power of cultivation.

Although he couldn't use spells like everyone back home, these cultivation techniques were basically like magic, right?

"Oh, yeah, so what was the point of taking in mana, during all that?" he asked.

{After seeing how effective your body refining technique is, I figured that you can utilize body refining techniques from this world with both qi and mana, increasing its effectiveness,} Bestie explained.

{Although you'll have slightly less capacity for qi this way, I think we can make up for that and more with a more effective body refining!}

Mini C rubbed his chin in thought, going over the new data from Ryker's body scans pertaining to his cultivation.

[An interesting theory,] he said, [And probably one worth investigating. Body refining is Ryker's specialty, after all.]

"Hm, but I'd rather be a sword cultivator than a body refining expert..."

[With your talent? Even with the system's advantage, you're still just above average, in terms of the sword.]

"Ugh, the truth hurts..."

{D-don't worry, Ryker, even if you don't become a sword cultivator, you can still use swords!} Bestie said, attempting to console him.

{And Long Meiling is a cultivator focused on the sword! You'll get lots of sword related items and perks if you keep a good relationship with her!}

Ryker just sighed, flopping back down on the bed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Oh, speaking of Meiling, what about that other stuff we got?"

Remembering the items he received from the system for growing his relationship with Long Meiling and Luo Shuchang, he took them out of his dimensional pocket and looked them over.

The five flying swords were the things that immediately grabbed his attention. They were short, hiltless blades, inscribed with complex runes and tassled with a luxurious string.

"How do you use these things?" he asked, picking them up and inspecting them.

{Sorry, you'll need a special technique for controlling swords before you can make them fly,} Bestie said with an apologetic smile.

{More importantly, you got a special sword constitution, as well! If you can activate it from its dormant state, maybe you'll really be able to become a sword cultivator!}

[The Body Reformation Pill seems to have a reconstructive effect on the body, repairing it to a complete state. Not terribly useful, right now,] Mini C observed, going over his data.

[As for this Treatise on Fate and Karma... Assistant B?]

{Hmm...}

Bestie tilted her head to the side in thought, wracking her brain and the system's item database for any relevant information.

{I... Don't know?} she finally said. This item that was given by the system... Actually wasn't in the system databases?