Chapter 2: Rumination
The nauseating smell of blood encompassed the wagon as the young boy sat alone. Breathing in was getting difficult but what could he do about it? Get out? No, that would just be stupid, he knew his survival depended on him getting somewhere safe. For now he had to deal with taste of iron and and the scent of rust in the air.
The young boy thought of a way to alleviate the discomfort of his current situation. He closed his eyes and thought about his situation, his life, his body, and his future.
Just as he closed his eyes, he also stabilized his breathing, vivid images of his past then began to replay in his mind.
Teemed village, located to the west on the outskirts of Void Crows Cities boarders, it's streets were muddy and gave off the sent of dirt, it's three thousand or so inhabitants all lived in olden wooden houses that stretched some distance into the forest, and it's almost barren fields produced the bare minimum which was required to feed everyone.
Life in the village was simple, wake up, go to work, come home, sleep, then repeat , only on special occasions would a commoner break out of that cycle, most of the time many families would worry about if could afford their next meal.
This was the case because Teemed barely produced any food at all, well, it wasn't enough to feed everyone, so hunting and outsourcing food were many peoples only options when it came to filling their stomachs.
These two options also had their downsides, one was dangerous and the other expensive. Still, people strived and survived, everyone was doing what was needed to feed their families and hoping that one day everything will get better.
The ones that had it the worst were the people without families, the orphans. The orphanage would provide orphans with food and shelter until the age of 12, where they then had to go out into the harsh world and fight for their place.
They had to do this with no support at all, the only support some would receive were of their own efforts, but that in and of itself was a very hard thing to accomplish for a 12 year old.
This would often lead to orphans doing jobs that were less than ideal. For most orphans, this road would either lead them to their deaths or turn them into an adult full of depravity.
Koshin saw this happen year after year to multiple people as he grew up. He saw people leave completely normal human beings, and after that? They either never appeared again, or they were turn into this twisted amalgamation of human and beast, people he thought who would never kill turn into beasts who would kill others over the pettiest of things.
He understood that they did it for survival, and in a sense he was jealous, why? Because of his accursed body, unlike the others he was weak and brittle.
From the moment he was conscious of his surroundings Koshin realized that he was different from the other kids, he was slower, weaker, more fragile, and lacked stamina. Everyday he could feel himself getting weaker, as for going to a doctor? Who would pay for him?
The people of Teemed already thought that they were contributing enough to the orphanage. Why would they pay for Koshin's check up? And so what if it was curable, who could afford to spend the money on the medicine? And even if they did, what use was the child after he was cured?
Knowing this Koshin fell into a spiral of dread, unlike most kids who grew stronger by the day, he grew weaker, this made him think about how he could be considered useful. In his mind if he was useful, then the people would see his worth and provide him with treatment.
But how could he be useful? Wait, intelligent people were useful right? This thought sent the boy down the path of developing his smarts, he thought that maybe if he was smarter than the others he would be considered useful, so he studied every chance he got, reading every book he got his hands on, learning everything he could from the words of people around him.
He did his best but nothing changed, 'But why' he thought.
It was only then that the realization hit him, intelligence was valued, but health was even more valuable. What was the point of being intelligent if you weren't alive to use it?
That day, the realization made the boy lose all reasons to live, he had reach the pinnacle of helplessness and despair. What was the point of living like this? He would rather go out of his own terms.
Walking toward a nearby lake he knew of, the boy thought of all he could've accomplished in his life if he had a healthy body, the family he could've had and the friends he would've made.
Walking through the forest the wind blew on his dying flesh, the sound of shifting trees blowing in the wind entered his ears and the beautiful scenery from the sky, clouds, trees and even dirt appeared in his eyes. It made him feel alive, but at the same time it all felt pointless.
To him, without hope for a future, this was all pointless, this beautiful feeling of being alive was nothing to him, he didn't care anymore.
Reaching the bank of the lake, Koshin looked out onto it. The lake was small in size and fully surrounded by the forest. Not many people from the village came here so he thought it was a good resting place.
Sitting down on the bank, Koshin wanted to take in the surroundings once more before he entered the lake.
Looking around, Koshin looked at the sky, clouds, birds, trees, water, and sand. Looking at the small stones that lined the bank, Koshin's eyes caught a peculiar looking stone.
This 'stone' was all black and had two pointed ends, it looked more like a crystal than anything.
This stone peaked Koshin's interest, but then, he remembered what he was about to do so he looked away, or at least he tried to. Koshin realized that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his eyes or turn his head away from the crystal-like-stone.
Getting up, he slowly walked toward the stone, he then stood in front and it and just looked down at it.
It was only when his eyes started to burn did he realize that he had gotten up and moved toward the stone.
"When-" he said aloud out of confusion.
He didn't understand why but it was like the stone was calling him.
Slowing, he bent down and picked up the stone, and just as it got in the palm of his hand something appeared in his view.
A rectangular box appeared in front of Koshin, this sudden appearance scared him so bad that he fell backwards, the stone in his hand was also flung further into the lake.
Seeing this he quickly got up.
"Ow ow ow" he said in a strained tone as he rubbed his backside.
He then walked toward the stone again, but before picking it up, he calmed himself.
'Lets be more careful this time' he thought as he pinched the stone with his index and thumb. He then raised it towards his eye level, and just like before, a rectangular box appeared in his sight.
This again made him flinch but this time he held his ground. Koshin was left baffled looking at the mystifying scene in front of him, so much so in fact the words in the transparent rectangle didn't even register in his mind.
Only after a few seconds of not moving did Koshin read the words in the box.
-Omni-Blood Inheritance-
-Accept (Yes/No)
'Inheritance? Like a cultivators inheritance?', Koshin thought as he looks at the box.
He had heard about them before, cultivators, they were able to fly, move faster than lightning, bend the elements to their will and live forever.
He had seen some before, but never saw them in action, he also heard about these inheritances, apparently they were left behind by powerful cultivators who either wanted to pass on their legacy to someone worthy or cultivators who died and wanted their legacy to live on.
There were probably others who wanted to give their legacy for other reasons but Koshin heard those two reasons the most.
But who would've thought that he would get something like this by merely picking up a stone.
"Why is something like this here?" Koshin questioned as he looked around the lake. From his knowledge this lake was called Calmery Lake, but before that, it was called Hell-Fire lake.
Apparently long ago there was a massive explosion in this very lake, people said something from out of this world crash landed here. There were even people who said that after the crash, a fire appeared that was as tall as the clouds and how it burnt for hundreds of years.
These rumors were passed down from generation to generation. Of course many people didn't believe in these rumors, Calmery wasn't the first and won't be the last place with these types of folklore.
'Isn't it because that rumor was fake that they changed its name?' Koshin thought.
'Maybe there was some truth to it after all' he reasoned.
But that didn't matter to him right now, as the inheritance was in his hands now. To him it was his only way out, whether it was the right or wrong decision he didn't care.
'How do I accept?' He thought as he tried to press 'Yes' on the box, however his hand passed right through the screen.
"Hmm," he pondered, until it hit him.
"Ah, got it, Yes, I accept" he said out loud as he placed the stone in his palm.
-Ding-
-Inheritance accepted, beginning blood extraction-
"Blood what?" Koshin said with wide eyes.
His right arm which was holding the stone then shriveled up like a raisin, pain shot through his entire body as he fell back onto the sand.
"Argh!" Koshin released a blood-curdling scream as rolled around on the sand. He tried to let go of the stone but found that he couldn't.
He could feels his vision getting burry, he then began slipping in and out of consciousness. Just as he thought he couldn't hold on anymore the pain stopped and his body went limp.
Another box then appeared in front of the half dead child.
-Omni-Blood Inheritance-
-Blood extraction - 30%-
-Would you like to continue? (Yes/No)-
Breathing in an out heavily Koshin responded,"Hell no,"
He then looked down at his palm only to find that his healthy shade of skin turned pale white.
"Wha-" the boy panicked, but he soon realized that he couldn't move his body. Whatever happened to him had left him in an extremely weakened state.
'Calm down Koshin,'
'Ok, let's see, it's obvious that it extracted my blood, so If had to guess, I'll need to do this three more times to reach 100%,' he reasoned as he closed his eyes.
'There's no way I'll be able to reach 100% this month, my body won't be able to handle it,"
Koshin then laid still for a few minutes trying to figure out how to reach 100% without dying.
About 10 minutes later he was able to move his body again, but he was still extremely weak. Still, he didn't mind since he knew that he would be like this for awhile.
He had a plan, the plan was to use the extraction method at the start of every month, he would then recuperate for the rest of the month until the start of the next, where he would then repeat the process.
This meant that he would be in this weaken state for the next three months, but he didn't mind since he would be able to step on the path of cultivation.
Stuffing the stone in his robe Koshin turned around and began his walk back to the village. Although his body felt weak, he himself felt a lot stronger, the flames of opportunity burning within him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone