Talent...

Anything higher than that? Seems I'm better off than I thought I'd be. I'd been called a lot of things in my gaming career, but none of them were talented even among the few that weren't insults. I garnered a reputation to make Dive Gaming my job for much longer than many lasted through diligence, working at avenues the majority of players wouldn't, and occasional spurts of ingenuity and luck. The talented ones were the tournament winners, the world cup players, the team headliners. I'd barely tasted the top of the bush leagues, when it came to actual competitions.

There were a few others I'd worked with who thought I could break through, who were against my joining the Cultivation PVE, but now they could suck it. I'd do better here than I ever could have in the MMOs!

That evening, I kept practicing cultivation. Once again, I could have sworn I hadn't been at it for 30 minutes, but since the gong for lights out rang, it must have been 3 hours. In the next day's classes, I wanted to count the minutes until the next free practice. Seriously, would it have killed them to include a System CLOCK in their System?

"All right Class B, we'll continue to practice the basic cultivation technique today. If you feel like you aren't getting anywhere, don't hesitate to refer back to your technique scroll."

All around me, people scrambled to take out their scrolls. I shrugged and did the same, thinking maybe there was something I missed. And sure enough, I found something toward the end that I understood much better now. From it, I gleaned that the sensation of time passing too quickly meant I was close, but I needed to go beyond that state—to extend not just my senses, but my awareness.

I was able to get as far as I had before quickly this time. Extending my awareness was counter-intuitive, since I still needed to let my mind drift without conscious direction, but all at once, it clicked that what I needed to reach was a different state of consciousness, neither conscious nor unconscious, but something between them where I was both at one with my surroundings and still me.

I felt a sudden change. My body was relaxed, my mind was drifting, but those feelings had been pushed to the background. The air around me felt thicker, and warmer. A moment later, I felt a pleasant tingle along my entire body. I kept going for a while, and three times I felt the tingling change, no longer over my body but starting to concentrate toward its center. A few minutes after that, Hasegawa called for us to stop.

"All right. Usually I wait a while longer to say this, but since we've had an unexpected genius already, I'll say it now. If you find you've succeeded at cultivating, let me know as soon as possible."

"Yes Elder," we recited. On the way back to the classroom for Technical Studies, I took a look at my Status. As I thought, I'd reached the third stage of what the System called the first Earth Realm. My stats hadn't increased that much yet, but then I'd barely been cultivating for half an hour.

After Technical Studies was over, I stayed at my desk until the rest of Class B left. "Did you need me for something...Xu Zuhui, was it? I have to get ready to hold detention for the three no-shows from yesterday."

Sure enough, there were 3 others still at desks as well as me. "Yes, Elder. As it happens, I successfully cultivated today."

Not only did Hasegawa raise his eyebrows, he tilted his head a little. "You too? I thought it would be at least a week before anyone but that monster talent Jue Zhu did it. Have you reached the First Earth Realm yet, or did it happen last minute like with him?"

"I am currently at the third stage of the First Earth Realm."

"Very well, as I said, I have a detention to hold, so I'll have you meet me here in the morning before class. Until then, be mindful of your strength. It is all too easy for even a new cultivator to accidentally badly injure or even kill a mortal.

Now, I'm sure you want to continue cultivating, so I won't keep you for now. And congratulations."