Chapter 15: 3rd Stage Of Qi Cultivation ...

-2 years later-

2 years have passed since I trained with titan over the summer. Honestly, I miss the big bloke and have thought about going back to train with him a few times but I decided against it. He doesn't need some kid running around driving him crazy what he needs is time or a solid kick in the ass. But that will have to come from someone a lot closer to him than me to make a difference. He is one tough s.o.b after all.

Thinking about titan or Owen Daniels life kind of bums me out. He went to Sizemore university for the htcp there. Htcp being the Hero Training Certification Program. Its the program a few colleges have to train supers who want to be heroes in the future. The program and schools are open secrets. Everyone knows about them but no one except for the attendees and staff know where the training actually takes place or who the trainees are. It is important as a hero to keep your identity secret so if it is exposed at school you immediately fail out of the course. But anyways back to titans past. After he graduated and did his intern he and a few other heroes he graduated made a team called "The Gentle Hammers" where they grew in popularity over time together. But eventually, Titans' name surpassed all the others and he became a household name. He was known for his impeccable record and family values. Everything was going great until the scandal-hit. He was caught on a secret camera having sex with a teammate. That wouldn't have been that bad but the problem was the teammate was a male. After being outed as a secret homosexual he was hounded by the media and instead of facing the problem head-on he decided to run away to Colorado. He had been gay for a long time but had convinced himself that he loved a woman because of her personality. This went so far as to having a child with her. But once he was outed he panicked and ran away like a coward. Although I understand the struggle he must be going through I still think he made the wrong choice by running away from the problem instead of facing it head-on.

But none of that is important! Well, it's important to him and his family but it isn't important to me now! What is important is that I am about to break through to the 3rd stage of Qi cultivation. Looking at the manual in my mind I see that I should be removing the impurities from my skin, be able to block telepathy of an average telepath, and increase my life span by 50 years! But none of that is the cool part, well it is cool, but the really cool part is that I'm going to be able to fly. Yes, FLY! I don't know how I'm going to be able to fly but I'm going to be able to fly. So yeah, that pretty badass.

Now, knowing that I'm going to have impurities removed from my skin I guess the best place to cultivate today will be in the shower. So walking down the hall to my bathroom I enter the shower. The bathroom I have upstairs is quite nice. Marble counters, double sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower. Now the shower is really impressive. Its one of those ones with like 20 jets coming out of the walls and ceiling with a touch screen controller so you can adjust the exact temperature and what jets you want on. I love it. Taking a shower in here after a long training session is one of the greatest pleasures of my 16 years on this life. And yes I do put that above all of the strength and power I have gained since living here. It's that good. Now getting in the shower I just put on the rain function so it lightly sprays water from the ceiling on to me while I sit in the lotus position. I will turn on all of the sprayers after I breakthrough but this is a good start.

Sitting there I begin to cultivate and feel the Qi start to condense and turn into its liquid form, but this time it's different compared to the other times I have broken through. instead of the Qi pooling at the bottom of my dantian after making a circle of my body this time its acting strange. It first goes to my brain and seems to build some kind of wall around my mind. I'm guessing this wall is meant to keep out telepaths. But I can tell the wall isn't perfect. For most telepaths, it will do a fine job of keeping them out, but for the truly strong it is little more than a hindrance. With a little time and dedication, they can worm there way past it and still gleam my thoughts. But it is a good starting point so I'm not complaining.

Next, the qi seems to go to my heart and does ... something. Honestly, I'm not really sure what it did but I guess whatever it did it was for the purpose of increasing my lifespan. I honestly thought I don't really feel any different. I guess if I was really old and just got an extra 50 years added to my life span I would feel great! But since I am only 12 it honestly doesn't feel any different. But I am still grateful for the fact that the extra years were added.

Now the Qi seems to be heading to my back where it starts to form a seal? Formation? Random designs for the hell of it? I don't know! I'm no expert! But whatever it is I'm guessing once I drive my qi to it, it will allow me to fly so that's badass. I was wondering how I would fly but it seems to be through this formation, yeah formation lets call it that. I wonder if you can see it like a tattoo?

finally, it seems the qi is making its way to my skin. once there it starts to spread around my body covering every available millimeter. Then all the qi starts to shake simultaneously. I can feel all of the little imperfections start to leave my body as the qi shakes everything loose. The feeling isn't painful, on the contrary, its quite nice, like one of those scrubbing face washes that are meant to clean the pores. But instead of only my face, it is covering my entire body cleaning it all at the same time.

After what feels like an eternity but is really like an hour or so it's done! opening my eyes I look at myself and notice the black sludge being washed away by the shower. Unfortunately, I can still smell it and it smells like death. If you have ever come upon a dead animal that's been out in the sun for a long time you know what I'm talking about. Turning on all of the jets I take a nice long shower to clean myself then go and dry off. While walking by I see myself in the mirror and can't help but be impressed. Standing at an impressive 182cm(6 foot) and weighing about 81 kgs(180lbs) I am one impressive and big ass 12-year-old. Now the differences in my looks are what have me amazed. I was already quite the handsome guy. with blue eyes, dark brown hair, a nice jawline, and light tan skin I was damn good looking for a kid. but now I am at a nearly supernatural level. For one, my eyes have become more clear and deep, like an endless pool, my hair has become shinier and more healthy-looking. But the most drastic change in my skin tone. It has become very pale, not see-through pale but white. It honestly looks like I'm some kind of vampire that needs to get out more.

Its a little discerning, but whatever ill get used to it.

Going down to the Batcave I decide to go and test my flying ability. After unlocking it I can feel the knowledge of how to fly and control the formation in my head and honestly its quite simple. All I have to do is direct qi into it and like a big switch, I can fly. To control my flight I just have to have an idea about what I want to do. It works more on the subconscious level than the conscious, so I don't have to really think about it I just do it. This is nice because if I have to fight someone in the air I would rather not be thinking about how I'm going to keep myself up but instead of how I'm going to kick the guy in front of me's ass.

Getting down to the training room in the Batcave I activate the formation and take off into the air. Honestly, its really simple, the only problem is looking down, I kind of forgot that I am afraid of heights. Thinking about it, why the hell did I ask for this power again? Flying back to the ground I start to think about it, and honestly, I think I'm just going to have to get used to it. But come on, who's stomach doesn't do a flip when they look down from over 20 meters(60 feet) and see the ground so far away with nothing to support your body except some bullshit energy shit.

Sighing I get back in the air and over the course of 2 hours I get used to the feeling, kind of. It will take some more practice but I did reach my current speed limit! It seems that I can only fly about 60 mph which is good, but not great. But just like everything else you have to start somewhere.

Though I bet once I break through the 3rd gate of my body cultivation art I will be able to increase that speed. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.