Chapter 36: Consuming Gains

I retreated to my bedroom and had the temporary maid draw me a bath. I had a lot of gains to sort through. I almost didn't know where to begin. First I had my system copy all of the techniques. This was a feature I discovered when I sold my cultivation technique to Li Kai. Once they were copied I wouldn't need to worry about what happened to the hard copy manuals, I could even sell them if I wanted. With sufficient materials, I could even reproduce these techniques. It wasn't quite as simple as copying the words and diagrams. Most techniques contained a qi imprint which made it easier to learn the technique. Without the imprint, it was nearly impossible. To leave the imprint you needed to master the technique yourself. This is why manuals were so rare.

I dipped into the warm bath and decided to learn the Kinetic Burst technique I got from Fred first. I read the technique in my system while soaking in the hot water. As the water transitioned from hot to warm I comprehended the technique. I began practicing the technique. The technique called for fire and yang qi to be drawn from the San Jiao which was composed of the three cavities of the torso: the chest, upper abdomen, and lower abdomen. The qi was drawn along the Triple Burner meridian and expelled through the hand. This would be how someone with yang qi would practice. Since I did not have yang qi, I needed to supplement it with more fire qi. In this situation, I would be drawing more fire qi from the heart, drawing it along the meridian of the same name, and expelling it out of the hand at the same time as the fire qi drawn from the San Jiao. The Qi would then be directed into the medium to be warmed while the user visualized many small spheres vibrating and moving about rapidly. The people of Eternia didn't quite know what these spheres were yet, but I did. They were molecules.

I began directing my qi as the technique indicated. It was difficult to maintain the visualization while also directing my qi. My qi fizzled out in the water a few times before I got the hang of it just as the water was getting cold. The technique was meant for warming cauldrons to extremely high temperatures. It made short work of my bath water. Soon I had my water heated to exactly the temperature I wanted. I took a peek at my system for the changes and saw an addition to my abilities.

Static Burst (Superior-Spirit Grade) [Initial Success]

The grading was the same as normal except that the spirit designation indicated that it was for low-level cultivators instead of mortals. The initial success indicated that I had mastered the ability, but there was room for improvement. The ability was fairly cheap to use and only consumed a little over 1 qi per minute. My cultivation technique passively regenerated about 1 qi per minute as well so it was nearly cost-free for me to use the technique.

It was fortunate that my skin was more resistant to pruning or I would be completely shriveled up after my three-hour long bath. It was now after one in the morning, Vivian had already returned and was fast asleep in the bed with Rosie. I wasn't ready to sleep yet. I still had to sort through the rest of my gifts. It didn't look like there was any room in the bed for me anyway. Vivian was sprawled out and Rosie was strategically lying in a spot that left a lot of unusable bed. I checked my new equipment next.

Shadow Silk Robe (Superior-Spirit Grade) Def +128

Eternium Nano-Link Armor (Legendary-Spirit Grade) [Growth] Def +256

Wrath of the Vixen - Folded Eternium Shortsword (Legendary-Spirit Grade) Atk +256

My arsenal was greatly improved in just a single evening. Until now I had just been using normal training swords after my previous sword broke. The new sword would be greatly welcome. I couldn't say no to defensive items either, anything that helped preserve my life was a boon.

Taking stock of my material gains, I saw the fire lotus Fred had gifted me and decided it was a good time to consume it. I walked out to the balcony under the moonlight. I wasn't sure if the yin from the moonlight would affect the absorption of the fire lotus, but I wasn't too concerned. My roots were already supreme grade.

The process of consuming the fire lotus was simple. I merely needed to hold it while I cultivated. The qi within the lotus would naturally be attracted to me during the cultivation.

I pulled out another fluffy pillow and sat on it in the lotus position. I began cultivating my technique and the qi in the surroundings became turbulent as my vortex spun. The dominant yin qi in the air mixed with the fire qi in the lotus and was drawn into my body. The mixture was naturally drawn to my fire root followed by my heart, pericardium, San Jiao, and small intestine meridians. It nourished my fire root and all four fire meridians, but due to the yin taint it nourished my heart and pericardium meridians the most.

It didn't take long before the qi in the lotus was fully absorbed. As I was already cultivating, I decided to open a few more minor meridians. There seemed to be nine branch meridians to each of the twelve major meridians, the two bonus meridians did not seem to have any branches to call their own. I had already opened one of the branch meridians for the lungs so I decided to open the remaining eight. Less than an hour after sitting down I had already finished the task. I checked my system for the changes and saw +8 to the physical stats and qi. My root gave me a surprise though.

Yin-Fire Root (Divine Grade) [Upgradeable]

I was worried that I had lost access to my other elements for a moment, but soon found I could still use them. They had simply been overshadowed. Essentially my yin and fire roots were independently divine grade while the other four elements were still supreme grade. This phenomenon made me wonder what grade my useless yang root was at and if it was possible to nourish it to be equal to my yin root.

I opened my eyes and saw the lotus had completely withered. I touched it and it scattered into fine ash. It was now two in the morning. I needed to sleep soon, but I still wanted to consume more of my presents. The next item in my sights was the concoction my father had made. I was already in the ideal position for it.

I opened up the flask and toasted Altalune before turning the flask bottom-up. I tossed the flask aside and focused on the feelings elicited by the potion.

I felt a minty feeling go down my throat, then spread out from my stomach before it touched my spine and traveled back up to my mind. As soon as the feeling reached my brain it was like a flashbang grenade went off in my face. My ears were ringing. An image appeared in the black void of my mindscape that was like the opposite of an old CRT television turning off.

A small white dot appeared in my vision before expanding rapidly to fully encompass my vision. It didn't stop there, it continued to expand and the white light was all around me. I blinked and my surroundings gradually resolved. Wait, blinked? I was in my mindscape. There should be no need to blink, nor should I have surroundings, but I did now. Even more disconcerting was that I could see all around me in 360-degree vision.

I was standing on what appeared to be dark water with blue lights swirling in the deep. The surface of the water under my feet was placid, but the deeper waters were churning like a spring rapidly filling up.

I looked to the horizon and saw a massive tidal wave in all directions. The tidal wave was moving away from me as if I were the epicenter. It appeared to be pushing a barrier back. The barrier was black with a white halo. It reminded me of how light bent around a black hole. Terrifying, yet beautiful. The barrier was a perfect sphere around me. Right now it was expanding as the tidal wave pushed it back. It felt like a hollow space was opening in my brain. This was just an illusion though. I knew from the books I read in the library that the sea of soul didn't occupy physical space. That being said, the entrance to the sea of soul was in the brain. Mental and spiritual attacks directed there would connect with the sea of soul.

The expansion stopped at what appeared to be one thousand meters. The tidal waves collapsed, the water sloshed, and then became still like the water I was standing on. The water level continued to rise until the half-way point was reached. The churning in the deep stopped. Instead, the luminous blue water swirled gently through the dark water. The space I was in was neither light nor dark, but I could see everything within perfectly. I could also see myself within the sea of soul standing on top of the water.

Now that the spectacle was done, I pulled myself out of the sea of soul. As soon as I did my vision expanded to cover an entire kilometer. I could see every house, person, mouse, and grain of sand regardless of obstructions. This was way more information than I was ready to process and I quickly struggled to turn my new ability off. Fortunately, it only took a thought to disable it.

I gasped in the cold night air to stabilize myself. That was way too intense.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Engaging_Kitten

Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.

NAME: ZOEY SEEKER

AGE: 13

LIFE-FORCE: 192

LEVEL: QI-GATHERING (PEAK - 23/14 MERIDIANS)

TECHNIQUE: HEAVENLY QI DEVOURING (DIVINE GRADE)

PHYSIQUE: LUNAR 9 FORMS BODY (SUPREME GRADE) [UPGRADEABLE]

BLOODLINE: SEEKER FAMILY BLOODLINE - SEEKER OF POWER (CURSED-SUPREME GRADE)

SPIRIT ROOT: YIN-FIRE ROOT (DIVINE GRADE) [UPGRADEABLE]

TALENT: DIVINE* GRADE [UPGRADEABLE]

PROVIDENCE: DIVINE* GRADE [UPGRADEABLE]

HP: 37800/37800

QI: 289/289

STR: 189 (378)

AGI: 189 (378)

CON: 189 (378)

CHA: 108 (216)

LUK: 78 (156)

EQUIPMENT: TIGER-RABBIT FOOT BRACELET (SUPERIOR) LUK +8, SHADOW SILK ROBE (SUPERIOR-SPIRIT GRADE) DEF +128, ETERNIUM NANO-LINK ARMOR (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) [GROWTH] DEF +256, WRATH OF THE VIXEN - FOLDED ETERNIUM SHORTSWORD (LEGENDARY-SPIRIT GRADE) ATK +256

TECHNIQUES: KINETIC BURST (SUPERIOR-SPIRIT GRADE) [INITIAL SUCCESS]

ABILITIES: DIVINE SIGHT (DIVINE GRADE, 1000M), QI-SENSING (COMMON GRADE), FORBIDDEN REALM UPGRADE (CURSED GRADE), S<null> @! WR@TH (<div0>)

SKILLS: ATHLETICS LVL MAX, SURVIVAL LVL MAX, CENTAURIAN LINGUIST LVL MAX, CENTAURIAN CARTOGRAPHER LVL MAX, ENGINEERING LVL MAX, CHEMISTRY LVL MAX, FOUNDATIONAL ALCHEMY LVL MAX, ANATOMY LVL MAX, DIPLOMACY LVL 3, MISCHIEF LVL 3, LANGUAGE(ENGLISH) LVL 3*, PHYSICS LVL 4*, GEOLOGY LVL 1*, FOUNDATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS LVL MAX, FOUNDATIONAL SWORDSMANSHIP LVL MAX, EMOTIONAL MASTERY LVL MAX*

02:17 10/02/1030

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