014

The sound punches being thrown resounded throughout the classroom. Although none had mastered the skill, Serpent Strike yet, they were doing their best.

Only about an hour has passed since Miss Lauren demonstrated the skill.

Glenn had brought his practice to an end after he had begun to feel light headed. His stamina was 6 points and although it was already higher than unawakened his age, it wasn't that high and almost an hour of using and replenishing his QI to practice the skill has almost completely drained him.

For this reason, Glenn sat on the ground, away from the others, and took in slow deep breaths. After a few minutes, his QI returned back to the max, his gathering speed having increased already.

He opened the system to see the changes in his stats

*********

[Stats]

Strength ~ 4

Speed ~ 6

Agility ~ 4

Defence ~ 2

Intelligence ~ 8

Perception ~ 4

Endurance ~ 7

Stamina ~ 6

***********

The only stat of his that seem to be increasing was endurance and Perception however, this didn't bother the boy at all as he folded his legs and got into the lotus position. His Attributes didn't really involved him needing those stats and besides, Glenn hadn't begun cultivation yet

When he opens even just one marginal in his body, his strength will increase by leaps and bounds.

Clearing his mind and sinking into the endless void that was his subconsciousness, Glenn recall what he knew about marginals.

The first five marginals of the human body represented the first level of Cultivation.

These marginals were located in the leg, arms and chest. The legs marginals represented speed and agility, the arms marginals represented strength and the heart marginal represented vitality or life

When a haman begins the journey of cultivation, the must open all five marginals. Only then would they be able to increase their level and gather more QI

The first level of cultivation covers Level 1 ~ 10. After that is the second and third and so on.

To open the first five marginals however, was a difficult task for many and it isn't usual that one would fail on the first few tries. Including five other sub-marginals, there was a total of ten marginal to open at the first stage of cultivation.

Sitting in a lotus position in the endless sea of darkness, stars, orbs and energy, Glenn focused on drawing QI into his body and directing them into his QI pond.

When the pond was filled up, Glenn began to difficult process of opening up his marginals.

The QI in his body trembled violently as he tried to move it from the pond and into his veins. Unlike with using QI for the Serpent Strike where he had just needed to push the QI put of his body, it was more difficult than directing QI into his blood vessels.

The thick liquid that was his blood didn't seem to accept the presence of the foreign energy and pushed against the strains of QI that tried to enter his veins.

Glenn felt his veins tremble furiously like it could collapsed at any moment. Or maybe it would explode. His heart beet picked up, pounding against his rip cage and loudly audible to Glenn even as his breath came in short gasps.

poow..

'ah..' Glenn felt light headed when he heard the sound of his vein bursting open.

He was about to stop immediately but the voice of Zero entered in ears

[Internal injury as a result of cultivation error has been spotted. Regeneration of busted vein was successful]

Glenn let out a sigh of relief when he heard those words. "Does this mean I won't have to worry about injuries during cultivation?" he asked the AI

[Yes. All injuries receive during cultivation will be healed completely. Although I'd go into a temporary shutdown afterwards, I could show you how to safely circulate QI into your veins and open a marginal safely. It will reduce the chances of exploding another vein by 70%]

"Temporary shutdown? How long?" Glenn asked

[5 hours. All access to the system will be unavailable for that period of time but your Attributes will not be affected at all]

With a nod, Glenn focused back on his body

"Go ahead then"

A warm energy slowly entered his body, flowing with his blood and entering the vessels. Glenn saw strings of QI raise from the pond and moved towards his superior vena cava. The QI entered his vein and the vein trembled lightly, however, instead of the string forcing it's way through the blood as Glenn had been trying to do, it dissolved back into it's liquid form and flowed with the blood towards his heart.

More and more strings of QI followed the first, all dissolving the moment they make contact with blood and moved towards the heart.

Although Glenn could no longer see the QI once they reached his heart, he could feel something gathering there and after a few more strings gathered, Glenn felt his heart tremble and something tearing open.

This time however, it wasn't his vein or his heart. A new sort of energy filled Glenn and for the first time in a while, he felt undeniable strength fill his body.

Smiling, he let himself return back to the real world. He had successfully opened a marginal.

Glenn opened his eyes and gasped when he saw how clear his vision had become. Although it wasn't much different from before, it had definitely increase a bit.

This change also included his perception. Glenn guessed that because the heart marginal represented vitality (life), it enhanced his scenes and probably, his stamina and endurance too. However, this enhancement does not include his speed or his strength and defense.

Glenn got up and immediately, Miss Lauren's head lifted from the book she had been reading and looked at him.

A look of surprise and shock washed over her face and she was about to speak but stoped when Glenn moved a finger to his lips, indicating she doesn't.

Understandingly, Miss Lauren face morphed into a grin and she settled for a thumbs up instead before returning back to her book like she hadn't noticed anything.

Glenn smiled. It was a close call. Personally, he didn't mind showing off if he needed too, he didn't want to put anyone under unnecessary pressure.

Glenn didn't continue to cultivate anymore as Zero was in temporary shutdown and he didn't want to risk busting anymore veins when the AI wasn't there to automatically repair them.

Besides, he had used up most of all his QI and didn't have enough to open another marginal.

Continuing to practice the Serpent Strike was also a no for the moment. See previous.

Settling for reading instead, Glenn excused himself to the school's year one library to find a good book to read.

The library was huge, very easily the largest room on the year one floor, right after the general training/battling hall, the lunch room and the assembling hall.

The book shelf were high, reaching the roof and were stacked with books of all kind arranged according to their kind.

Glenn made a beeline to the novels section. The books there all had appealing titles and covers. Glenn picked his old time favorite *Misfit of the Demon King Academy*.

He enjoyed the book but hadn't had the chance to watch the animation. Looking at the satisfying picture of the smirking MC, Glenn chuckled at how same yet different situations could be.

He was about to find a chair to sit when his path was blocked by rather large figure.

"So, you're Glenn Back?" the person standing in his way said. The voice did not sound friendly at all, even having a hint of anger in it

Glenn raised an eyebrow, his lips pulled into a straight line. In his life, one of the things he hates the most was people who find his trouble for no good reason. He hated them, had had never had any intention to be 'nice' to such a person

"And your problem is?" he asked, nicely.

******************

Sensible me => I should really try updating daily, and fix my chapters.

Lazy me => Nah, I'll try it next time.