Making Progress Over Night

Kai couldn't sleep that night. Partly due to excitement but mostly fear. He still wasn't sure if this place was abandoned so he didn't feel completely safe, so he kept himself busy by lifting rocks all night until he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

One thing he noticed was that there was a clear improvement in his body overnight due to the workouts. He had gained one point in both his External Strength and Defense which was a testament to the work he put in.

His rock lifting technique was perfect, his body was in such a position that all the muscles within his body could be worked out which was intriguing to Kai. Twig helped him balance while lifting the rocks which meant he made fewer mistakes during each set.

Morning came and Kai looked like a completely different person. His body was still skinny, but there were now slight traces of muscle definition on his arms.

The previous night, Kai had created a few more manuals out of the table, chair, wardrobe, and other miscellaneous things he could find. The results were less than satisfactory. Those were the worst possible duds he could have gotten in Kai's opinion.

...Flashing back to the previous night...

=New Record entered=

[Martial Arts Cultivation Manual]

>[Unnamed Martial Arts Manual] [F-Rank based on Grade 1 Chair]

[Practitioners of this manual can perhaps gain the favor of the King of Thrones]

[Technique]:[Active]: Sitting on a chair will allow you to increase your reading speed by 1 word per minute.]

=System Warning=[level not high enough to own two manuals in this category, would you like to forget "Twig" to learn this New Martial Arts Manual?]

As a result, he didn't learn any of the new manuals despite making over 5 of them. Sure Twig was useless, but at least he didn't need to sit on a chair to use it.

The worst manual had actually come from the table. It required him to stand on all fours to gain the ability to make the food taste slightly better...

....that's it.... that was the entire skill!.

The manuals were so ridiculous that Kai thought whoever was behind the system was playing a horrible joke on him.

During the cool-down time, tried meditating to see if he could absorb Qi faster using the Dragon Subduing Law, however, he found that the absorption was passive and could not be sped up. Thus he could only earn 1 Qi per day unless he actively hunted beasts to absorb their Qi.

"It seems the manuals created by the system are unique in that one does not need to be talented in cultivation to practice them". This worked well in Kai's situation.

He knew quite well that this body had no potential for Internal cultivation because he had no spiritual root. In this world, a cultivator's potential was measured by the grade of their spiritual root. Those with the highest grade roots would be able to cultivate faster and more efficiently than those with inferior roots. This was an unavoidable fact of the world. Being born without a spiritual root meant you were doomed to remain mortal for their of your life.

However, this did not mean that mortals could not cultivate. Mortals who practiced Body cultivation techniques to temper their bodies could also attain unimaginable strength and resilience, However, this did not increase their lifespans by much. Meaning no matter how powerful a body cultivator became, his life span would only be around 150 years at best. Internal Cultivators would have their lifespans increased to ridiculous numbers.

The current Emperor of the Unified Empires is known to be a powerful Internal Cultivator who has ruled for over 1000 years!.

Kai shook his head and came back to reality.

He stretched his arms out and enjoyed the warm sun for a moment before he decided to forage around the hut. There Kai found a few berry bushes. These weren't enough to satiate him so he filled the rest of his stomach with water from the river then went back into his hut to continue lifting rocks.

...

Later that evening, while feeling exhausted from the continuous weight training, he felt a sudden bout of heat coming from his chest.

=[Host has gained 1 Qi. Congratulations on entering the world of cultivation]=

Kai sat down in a meditative pose. Although he couldn't use meditation to accelerate his Qi gathering rate, he could still use it to concentrate on, and follow the path that his Dragon subduing manual used to circulate the Qi.

He watched the small sliver of Qi circulate throughout his body following a mysterious pattern. Along the way, small and narrow passageways were created. These passages connected and unblocked his meridians. After having made one full circulation, the sliver of Qi came to settle at the base of his stomach before it dispersed through to every part of his body.

=[Congratulation, host has broken through to the First Level of Qi Condensation]=

Kai quickly opened up his Status.

=[Status]>

[Name]: Kai (No Last name)

[Age]: 14 [Life expectancy = 32 years]

[Internal Cultivation] level: First Level of Qi Condensation

[Body Grade]: Mortal Grade 1

[Health]: 15/20

[Qi]: 1/100

[Qi Gather rate]: 1 Qi/day

[Status]: Weakened/ Malnourished

==[Stats]==

[External Strength]: 2+(0)

[External Defense]: 4+(4)

[Internal Strength]: 2+(0)

[Internal Defense]: 1+(0)

==[Cultivation manual]==

==[Internal Cultivation Manuals]==

>[Dragon Subduing Law] [F Grade-based on Grade 1 Fishing Rod]

[Limit]: Qi Condensation level 12

[Qi Gather rate]:1/ day

[Ability] You can absorb Qi from a beast you have caught yourself. Limited to 2 Qi per beast. Limit increased based on cultivation level.

[Current level]: Level 1

[Qi Breakthrough Requirement]: 100 Qi (Second Level of Qi Condensation)

"I've entered the first level of Qi condensation!", Kai said aloud. He felt the newfound power course through him and it was everything he ever wanted and more. The pure high of power was intoxicating, making him feel like he was unrivaled in the world.

Kai stood up and looked at his body. There were no obvious physical changes. He stretched his body while looking at the menu.

"I can now get 2 Qi for every beast I catch?...I'll have to test this out eventually since it looks like my passive Qi gathering rate won't increase...". [Dragon Subduing Law] seemed to be a very active Manual. He would need to catch monsters to get stronger.

"Oh, I also got 2 years worth of lifespan!"l. He could now live for another 18 years. Kai didn't think about his lifespan much. He was better off thinking about how to survive today rather than 18 years from now.

Kai went outside the hut and heard the sounds of nature in the evening. "It seems my senses have been somewhat heightened. I can even see a few meters through the darkness. Incredible!".

Kai walked over to a nearby tree. This was the same tree he had tried to turn into a manual the previous day before.

He concentrated his mind on the flow of Qi he had witnessed and focused on the [Dragon Subduing Law] manual. After a few seconds, Kai had gathered Qi within his fist.

He then punched the tree but not with all his might, he didn't want to break his hand after all. However, the results astonished Kai. Before his fist even landed on the tree, the had already begun to get ripped off. Then when his fist landed, the spot he hit imploded slightly, before it completely caved in around his fist.

Kai was baffled. The hole was not deep at all, but it was there and it was fist-shaped. He had not used much physical strength in that punch. He only wanted to test the power of Qi-based attacks so there was no point if he used too much physical strength.

"Amazing, Qi-based attacks are too good!. All I did was Enhance my first with some Qi and it became this destructive. But the way it imploded... it seems there is more to it than just destructiveness."

Kai looked at his Qi pool and sighed "Well, there goes my only Qi"

[Qi]: 0/100

"The attack used the entire sliver of Qi from waiting the whole day, but it's so worth it."

Kai didn't regret using his only Qi. He needed to know just how much stronger he had become and now that he knew, he felt more confident about his survival.

He walked back to the hut to continue his rock training. As for tomorrow, he would go on the hunt for beasts whose Qi he could absorb.