Chapter 18: Blood Enrichment

Sitting on the floor of his room, Thirteen meditated with his eyes closed and spirit stones in his hands. Today was the sixth day of the week, his free day. Just yesterday he had been awarded a Fundamental Refinement pill for winning three spars consecutively. He had waited until today to use it though, as he needed a lot of free time to make the most of the pill's effects.

Currently, he could feel the pure qi of the spirit stones coursing through his arteries, fusing with his blood. The final push of Blood Refinement was taking longer to complete than Thirteen had thought, as his blood was almost completely refined so part of the qi he intended to fuse with his blood was already overflowing into other parts of his body, leading to inefficient waste.

'I'm sure I can finish without using this whole refinement pill though.' He thought. 'When I'm done, I will finally have a complete refinement.'

Having a complete refinement was very different to being in the 'refinement process'. For example, when Thirteen's blood was completely refined, it would have finished undergoing its qualitative change. It would no longer need to be purposefully improved, instead, the quality of his blood would always improve with his cultivation, acting as his foundation along with the other four fundamental refinements.

Thirteen had a troublesome time in calming his mind to cultivate, always thinking of the next step and the one after that, and the descriptions of powerful cultivators he had heard from Nicholas.

After another three hours of meditation, Thirteen felt the sign. 100% of the qi his lungs filtered into the arteries and veins of his body, was being expelled and sent to wash over the rest of his body, none of it being integrated into his blood.

Stifling the excited cheer that he felt bubbling to the surface, Thirteen focused on his blood and waited. Currently, his blood was in a turbulent state as it finished its change. He needed to calmly wait for it to settle back into its ordinary rhythm.

Thirty minutes later, Thirteen let out a long breath filled with excess qi his blood could not refine.

Looking at the ground before him, Thirteen could see two books and a box laying in wait. One of the books was thinner and rather ordinary looking with a soft cover. That was the Fundamental Body Refinement Manual, the most rudimentary and foundational method of body cultivation required by almost all others. Even Nicholas did not know how old this method was, but it had a history longer than any other he knew about.

Next to it, there was a much thicker, hardcover tome. It's corners were gilded gold and it certainly didn't look cheap. 'I wonder if any books are cheap?' Thirteen thought as he looked at the Grand Life Tome before him.

'I now have two cultivation methods. I need to enrich my blood with the Life Tome, and I need to begin my next refinement with the fundamental method. I'll have to sort out a schedule on my free days for practicing them both, but for now…' His eyes turned to lock onto the thicker, hardcover book. 'This will give me a much greater advantage'.

Opening the Grand Life Tome, Thirteen once more read up on the enrichment stage to confirm his thoughts. 'Enrichment is basically just another step in the fundamental refinement.' He thought. 'If currently, my refined blood is capable of passively absorbing qi to better itself, Enriching it will make it undergo another change, allowing it to absorb life force to improve.'

Opening the box of resources he was given at the end of his first week here, Thirteen assessed what was within, comparing them to the appendix at the back of the thick tome to confirm what each object was.

'The three flowers… are Lifebloom flowers? And this small red gem. It looks like the Virile Fox Heart described in the book.'

Thirteen further read each of their uses. 'So the Lifeblooms are used like spirit stones. Each of their petals contains vibrant life force that can be absorbed with one of the Life Tomes cultivation methods. That explains why the petals each have a faint glow.

'And the red gem, the heart of a Virile Fox. Consuming it while employing yet another of the Tomes cultivation methods will greatly enhance the baseline of one's lifeforce.'

Thirteen was surprised at the effects of the small heart. A living being's lifeforce could be broken down to two types: Expendable lifeforce, and non-expendable lifeforce, often referred to as the baseline.

Expendable lifeforce served many roles. It acted as what most call 'Stamina', but also assisted in the healing of wounds. It had a profound, albeit invisible effect on the ability of the body to keep things working.

When Thirteen begins to enrich his blood, if he does not use the lifebloom, he will expend this lifeforce to cultivate. Of course, just as one's stamina returns after a rest, expendable lifeforce too will be recovered so long as the non-expendable remains.

Non-expendable lifeforce, often called the 'baseline' of lifeforce, determines both how much expendable energy one can generate, and how quickly it returns after exhaustion. If ever someone dies of exhaustion, it is because they emptied their expendable lifeforce and then kept consuming even their baseline.

By increasing the baseline of one's lifeforce, the expendable amount generated will also increase.

'Cultivating one's baseline is the second stage of the Life Tome, the one after enrichment. That said, there is no risk in consuming the fox heart now, so long as it's just the one.'

If he were to increase his baseline too greatly before completing the enrichment stage, his physical body would be too brittle a vessel for that much energy. Just one Virile Fox Heart though, would instead be nothing but an advantage.

Having made his mind, Thirteen set aside the Fundamental Refinement manual and took the small fox heart into his hands. In truth, the thing looked like a gem, barely the size of a thumb segment.

Putting the gem-like heart on his tongue, Thirteen began to cultivate one of the methods within the Life Tome. Gradually, as the gem began to melt ever so slowly in his mouth, Thirteen felt a vague sense of something expanding within himself. It was like a cloud that constantly pushed against the borders of his body, becoming denser as it grew.

After half an hour, Thirteen, with a red face, spat the gem out of his mouth, back into the resource box.

Panting heavily, he once again closed his eyes to meditate and calm himself.

'That was stupid.' He thought. 'Just because I'm able to absorb it now doesn't mean I can do the whole thing at once. I felt like I was forcing five spirit stones into my body.'

After a while, his breathing became controlled again, and he instead grabbed a Lifebloom flower. 'I still have the effects of the Refinement Pill. It assists my body in adapting to qi quickly to allow longer cultivation sessions. If what the book says is true, it should also work with lifeforce.'

The Grand Life Tome had mentioned that Lifeforce, like most energies in the world were simply a transformation of qi. Thirteen had decided, based on that, to see if the fundamental refinement pill would exhibit the same effects on it.

He was correct.

As Thirteen held a lifebloom petal in his mouth, he began to absorb the life force within, using the control methods of the Life Tome to imbue it into his blood and begin the enrichment process.

Time passed slowly, as Thirteen used one petal after another. The day ended with Thirteen sleeping in his bed, and began again as he sat back on the floor and continued. Enriching the blood was a quick process in comparison to the original refinement. All he needed to do was change the nature of his qi infused blood to accept lifeforce instead.

Thirteen hadn't bothered with breakfast, instead cultivating all the way until an hour before noon, when finally, something changed. Thirteen, with his eyes closed, felt the qi being breathed in by his lungs cease their approach, as instead, another external energy found itself pulled to him.

The tiny amounts of lifeforce within the surroundings, whether they be expelled from the dead or bestowed upon the land by the sun, found their way to him through his breathing, funneled into his arteries through the lungs and heart.

The blood enrichment was complete, as Thirteen's arteries and veins served as channels not for qi-infused blood, but rather enriched blood, filled to the brim with life. With this, Thirteen would be able to use that blood to manipulate his expendable life force and perform the simplest techniques of the Grand Life Tome.

Opening his eyes, Thirteen looked at his hand, and then followed the steps for the first technique, attempting to will the enriched blood to pull and coalesce his life force near his eyes.

He failed twice, giving himself a headache, but succeeded on his third attempt. Thirteen's vision began to change, as the world faded to tones of dark grey. Looking down, he could see that his own hand was a light grey tone, distinct from the surroundings. Looking up to the door, Thirteen jumped in shock at a completely light grey figure, humanoid in shape walking towards him.

Moving back and making a stance, Thirteen ceased the technique to see properly what had snuck up on him, only to realize the room was empty.

A cold shiver ran down his spine as his hairs stood on end, thinking of the horrid tales of phantoms beyond sight.

As he froze up however, Thirteen saw his door open wide.

A sweaty and exhausted Nine entering and looking at the on guard Thirteen strangely. "You alright?"

Activating his new sense once more, Thirteen realized the light grey figure was in fact Nine. Looking to nine, then back to the door that had been closed, Thirteen relaxed his shoulders "..Yeah. All good.".

'Idiot' he thought to himself. He had read this ability's description more than once, but he so easily scared himself.

'Lifesight. The ability to focus one's visual senses on detecting lifeforms larger than an insect. Able to perceive through walls to a small extent.' He recalled.

'It makes everything else so much harder to distinguish between.' He thought as he activated the art once more. 'Everything's so monotone, and it even appears blurry. It probably wouldn't do me much good in a fight the way it is now.'

According to the Life Tome, each technique taught by it would become more powerful as he advanced his cultivation of the tome, even allowing newer ways to use the abilities.

'Aside from Lifesight, I still have a few more things to test, but….' Clutching at his stomach that now growled like a hellhound awaiting its due, Thirteen turned to Nine. "Are you heading to the dining hall?"

"Soon. I need to get out of this first" he said as he gestured to his sweaty training clothes.

"Alright, i'll meet you there" And so, Thirteen left the dorms to fill his stomach before anything else.

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