ã€ŠImmortal on Earth (Dropped, sorry)ã€‹


 Prologue

    Inside a large jungle was an enormous pyramid. For countless millennia it had been here, undisturbed, but in this time it had been decayed. Its once pristine walls were cracked and partially covered by the jungle around it and large sections had already caved in. But even though it was destroyed like this, the pyramid still held the air of its former glory. No matter animals or humans, no one could come near it. Not that much people had tried anyway as the jungle was located on a desolate planet far away from civilization and was a danger zone filled with monster. But the serenity of this place ended abruptly as a loud laughter suddenly sounded from the jungle around it.

    Suddenly an old man appeared in the air about the pyramid. His clothes were tattered and small wounds were covering his body. It looked as if he had just finished a hard fight. He was breathing heavily, but that couldn¡¯t change the big smile that was plastered on his face.

    ¡°I found it, I finally found it¡±, he mumbled before he slowly descended towards the entrance.

    The interior of the pyramid was even more destroyed than the exterior. Debris littered the ground and the once beautiful paintings on the walls have become mere shadows of their former selves.

    The old man was walking through the ancient hallways until he reached an enormous room right in the center of the pyramid. Under a small hole in the ceiling an old altar was standing. It was covered with gold and precious jewels, and looked untouched by the uncountable eons that had passed, but the old man didn¡¯t pay attention to it. Instead his view was focused on the statue atop the altar.

    Different from the altar the statue didn¡¯t look remarkable. It was a foot height statue of an angel made out of plain stone. But the old man didn¡¯t care for the lack of valuable materials, instead he touched it gently, as if he was fearing to break it accidentally. A slight golden glow appeared on his finger and suddenly a feeling of power could be felt from within the statue, causing a grin to appear on the old man¡¯s face.

    ¡®So much pure Qi. With this it should be possible to advance, even with a foundation as bad as mine¡¯

    The man wrapped the statue into a piece of clothes and put it in a pocket of his robe, then he turned to leave. But after a few steps he stopped and took the statue out again. With a fluid motion he pulled out a dagger and slit across his finger. A single drop of blood fell on the statue. Before the drop even hit the statue the wound on his finger was already healed.

    When the drop hit the statue a slight glow was emitted and then, just like an illusion the statue suddenly vanished leaving nothing but air behind. But the man didn¡¯t seem worried, instead he simply grinned and left the pyramid.

    Outside the man crouched and then leaped into the air. The force was high enough to shatter the ground he had stood and propel him several kilometers into the air. And then, just as he reached the highest point of his jump the man suddenly vanished, leaving behind only a slight ripple in the air behind.

    ------

    High in the sky in a far different realm than the one the pyramid had been in the man appeared again. He stopped for a moment to orientate, then he shot towards the horizon. His flying speed was fast enough that an ordinary mortal wouldn¡¯t even be able to notice him.

    But even though his speed was fast he needed several hours before he reached his destination. An old tower was rising into the sky. Seeing this the old man smiled sadly as a nostalgic feeling rose in the depth of his heart.

    This tower was the ¡®Heavenly Arts School¡¯, the place where he became a cultivator back in his childhood. But this was a long time ago. Now the tower was devoid of life. From the countless students that had lived here he was the only one left. And even he would die soon if he didn¡¯t progress further into his cultivation soon.

    The man landed on a large platform on the side of the tower. Slowly he looked over the platform. The once powerful runic inscriptions that were meant to make it harder to break were long ago faded into nothingness. Small cracks covered it instead. It was likely that the platform would be destroyed in a few years.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    With a careful motion, almost lovingly the man touched the wall of the tower, thinking back towards about his youth. Back then he had been much too hasty. He had made mistakes, some of which were still causing him problems. Neither a genius nor someone with heaven defying luck, he had been damned to never reach the heights of cultivation. Even his current cultivation of the Saint realm was only reached due the disappearance of the Heavenly Arts School. Everyone, from the youngest disciples to the elders, simply vanished as if they had never existed. As one of the few survivors due to his absence during that time he had access to enough cultivation treasures to last for a lifetime. And it still wasn¡¯t enough to reach a cultivation realm in which he would become immortal. Just a few thousand years and he was soon about to meet his old friends again in death.

    Or that would be the case if he hadn¡¯t found the artifact. Now that he had it, he could use it to help himself cultivate. It hasn¡¯t been created for that use, but as long as there was concentrated Qi inside of it he would be able to extract and absorb it himself. That would probably destroy the artifact, but he didn¡¯t really care about that. No, in fact, if even half of the stories about the artifact were true it would be better for everyone if it would be destroyed.

    ¡®I wonder why the ancestors didn¡¯t destroy it. Instead they hid it in an empty planet without much protection aside from a few formations. Lunatics, what if someone else would have found and used it?¡¯

    The man shook his head. The thoughts of those ancestors were incomprehensible to him and anyway, they were long since gone, so he shouldn¡¯t waste his time thinking about it. Now he had to cultivate! With a swift motion he opened the door in front of him and entered the tower.

    A long hallway stretched in front of the old man. If someone would bother to measure it, one would quickly notice that this hallway was in fact even longer than the entire tower wide. One of the many usages of spatial formations. Slowly the old man walked down the hallway and passed by the doors to the old classrooms.

    Alchemy, Runecrafting, Blacksmithing, Martial Arts, one by one the classrooms were passed. The Heavenly Arts School was one of the few schools that didn¡¯t specialize at a single field but instead focused in giving their students a broad spectrum of knowledge. But as a result they also didn¡¯t have one aspect where they truly excelled. Something the old man had often regretted. He had spent centuries to learn everything the school had to offer and he was still behind those disciples of the big sects in the higher worlds. Sighing he left the hallway behind and entered a long stairway

    While mumbling curses he began to climb the long stairway. Higher and higher, the stairs stretched endless. With every step he once more noticed the age inside his bones. His high cultivation guaranteed that he could move almost as good as in his prime, but it didn¡¯t help in alleviating small pains and other age problems. Not to mention if he got a cramp in his tight, those were the worst.

    Finally, after a few minutes of torturous climbing the man reached the top of the tower. Back when the school was still active here had been the office of the headmaster, but with everyone gone the man had changed it to his own use. The many formations around the place made it the most secure place in the whole tower. Unfortunately this included a formation that restricted flying, otherwise he would definitely not use the stairs.

    Slowly the old man sat inside a large chair in front of an empty fireplace. A wave with his hand and a small fire began burning. As he felt the warmth the old man let out a satisfied groan. Truly there was no better place than home.

    His relaxed feeling was suddenly interrupted as the door to the room was opened. A young looking man came inside. It was Xiao Feng, the old man¡¯s first (and only) disciple.

    ¡°Master, you are finally back. Did you find it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it was exactly where I suspected. Prepare a glass of my best wine. I want to go into closed up cultivation as soon as possible.¡±

    With a smile Xiao Feng bowed and left the room. Silently the old man looked after him. It had been already several years since he had met the boy. Back then the boy had been a weak cultivator of the Foundation realm, but now he had progressed with an almost inconceivable speed until he was only a single realm under his own.

    After a few minutes Xiao Feng came back, carrying a large bottle and two glasses. After he filled them the two men sat on the chairs around the small fireplace. Tasting the exquisite fragrance of the wine the old man closed his eyes in delight. That is until he suddenly felt a strange drowsiness rising inside his body. Even his Qi, normally a steady flow within his body slowed down to a crawl.

    ¡®This feeling¡­ Nine Fragrance poison?¡¯

    Panicking the old man jumped up from his chair, before his body went totally still. Xiao Feng remained in his seat and smiled as he looked at him.

    ¡°Looks like you finally noticed it, Master¡±

    With a ridiculing grin on his face he stood up. Unable to move anymore, nor able to use his Qi, the old man could only watch helplessly as Xiao Feng stepped closer. A groan came out of his mouth as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down only to see a large bloody dagger inside his disciples hand. Unable to remain standing he fell to the ground. His disciple came closer and begun searching through his robes. All the old man could do was staring helplessly at his disciple. But with each passing second Xiao Feng became more and more irritated. In the end he screamed at the old man.

    ¡°Where is it!¡±

    All the old man did was grinning a weak but victorious smile at him. Even if he died here he wouldn¡¯t let go of this treasure. Seeing his grin his disciple paled.

    ¡°You¡­ You¡¯ve already bound it?! Dammit. Didn¡¯t you trust me?¡±

    ¡°That *cough* is not something a traitor should ask¡±

    Slowly the old man¡¯s view began to darken and he could feel his life slipping away. His breathing became harder. But then, as he could already feel death itself, something happened.

    Deep within his Dantian was a vast see made out of liquid qi. It was an enormous storage of power, but it was currently restricted by the poison. And within it a large Core made from solid Qi was floating. Dark spots covered its surface, giving it a muddy and dirty look. But within this core was something hidden. A small statue made from stone. Now, sensing its new master¡¯s death approaching, it began to act. Glowing runes began to appear on its side as it used large amounts of the qi inside of it.

    A pale golden light began to surround the Dantian and the old man could feel a powerful suction force coming from it. While his consciousness faded he felt himself getting dragged into his Dantian. And then came ¡­ nothing.

 Chapter 1: Rebirth

    When the being that was once the old man woke up he found himself floating in a black space. Nothing was in here, except for the being himself. And even he didn¡¯t have a real body but was more like a floating blob of consciousness.

    ¡®Is this death?¡¯, he asked himself. Strangely this thought didn¡¯t disturb him at all. Somehow all he could feel was peace, as if every worry he ever had had been washed away. Thinking that it may not be that bad at all he began to think about what had happened.

    The betrayal of Xiao Feng wasn¡¯t all that unexpected for him. In truth he had already been worried for something like that to happen. In the last few years, as he got closer and closer to the old man in terms of power and more independent, there had been signs of him planning such a thing. But he had believed in his ability to deal with Feng. The early bonding with the treasure was more of a security to stop him stealing it and escaping and not really in case of an assassination. But the jubilant mood he had been in had clouded his mind and so he had ended up drinking the poisoned wine. Maybe it would have been better to kill him when he first had noticed his plans, but he was one of the few people close to the old man. He couldn¡¯t force himself to do it and instead he had hoped that Feng would change, even though he knew it was unlikely.

    He sighed in his mind. Was this how a father would feel if his son betrayed him? He and Xiao Feng weren¡¯t related, but they had known each other for so long that he certainly felt that way.

    Suddenly a new sensation interrupted his thoughts. A deep tiredness came over him like a wave. He tried to fight against it, but it was futile and his consciousness faded.

    When he woke up he was back in the darkness. But there was a difference this time. He had a body again! He couldn¡¯t make out details, just that it was humanoid. Did that mean that he wasn¡¯t dead? Was he alive again? Confusion muddled his thoughts as he tried to figure out the situation.

    Before he could find out more about these changes a sudden shift seemed to pulse through the darkness. A light appeared on one side of his view and he could feel himself drifting closer. But as he was coming closer another feeling appeared.

    Pain. Wave after wave of pain came over him, a crushing pressure from all sides. He let out a groan, but suddenly noticed that he couldn¡¯t breathe, his mouth was filled with water. Panicking a bit he began to wiggle his way closer to the light. Somehow he got a feeling that he had to reach it, no matter the cost. Bit by bit he drew closer. And then¡­

    With a last push he reached the light. Immediately he could feel the feeling of air surrounding him. He coughed a bit before he took a deep breath.  Air filled his lungs, stale and filled with a strange chemical scent, but air nonetheless. It made him feel truly alive once more.

    Getting curious he opened his eyes, but his sight was blurry and he couldn¡¯t discern any shapes. The same for his other senses, they were numb and useless. He could hear voices near him, but they were echoing and too blurry to understand anything. After a moment he felt himself getting grabbed by something. He stiffened, but after a few seconds he could feel how he got covered in a large piece of cloth. It got rubbed a few times over his body which felt quite uncomfortable with his dulled senses and he gave out a sound of protest. That continued for a bit before he got laid down and he had finally time to acclimate to his body.

    His body felt heavy and foreign. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he could move if he tried. Anyway, at least the pain was gone. Only after several minutes his senses finally started to clear up and he was able to see where he was.

    He was lying inside a small bed in a large room. Its white walls were illuminated by the light of several large light sources on the ceiling. Strange furniture littered the walls and the ground. The walls themselves were made from a strange stone that looked different than anything he had ever seen before. All in all it gave the whole room a foreign and strangely dead or rather barren appearance.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Just as he was diverted by the sight of the room he felt himself suddenly being grabbed and lifted in the air.

    ¡®Oi! What are you doing! Unhand me!¡±

    He wanted to scream and struggle out of the grab, but being in a new, unfamiliar body it ended in uncontrolled flailing her arms and legs and a yell that wasn¡¯t even an excuse for any kind discernable language, though it was definitely loud enough to show his displeasure. While he was lamenting the weakness of his new body he was turned around and finally got a look at the one who had grabbed him.

    ¡®A giant? No, looks too much like a human for that, not disfigured enough. Though his face¡­ Maybe a Halfling? No, he¡¯s too big for that.¡¯

    The man grinned down, which looked pretty strange with a face like his. He probably didn¡¯t even look that bad originally, but there were quite obvious signs that he didn¡¯t have a peaceful past. His nose had been broken and healed wrong at least 2 times and there were some scars that crisscrossed over his face, albeit they had almost faded. It made the being think of him as an older mortal soldier, definitely not a cultivator, else those scars would have healed perfectly if they weren¡¯t magical. With a strange gaze in his green eyes the man looked down at him who felt a shudder running down his spine and tried to struggle more. Whatever that gaze meant, he was sure it wasn¡¯t good. Ignoring his efforts to escape the giant opened his mouth and spoke with a deep, rumbling voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s a boy.¡±

    Hearing this he stopped moving, confused. The voice was clearly speaking in a strange language, completely different than any he had ever heard in his old life. And yet he could understand its meaning clearly. Aside from that, wasn¡¯t this situation strangely familiar? Somehow he had to think back towards the birth of his nephew.

    ¡®Wait¡­ could it be? I¡¯ve been reborn?¡¯

    Rebirth or reincarnation wasn¡¯t an unknown for him. Back in his old life he had once met one reincarnated individual. And in the higher worlds, which he had never visited but heard a lot about, there were even several clans that were completely focused on reincarnation. They utilized strange cultivation methods that allowed them to come back in a new form again and again, rejecting death itself. Admittedly, there were not much of those clans and they were very secretive, but it still proved the possibility of such things.

    It was a perfect explanation. The person here was no giant, but an adult while he was a baby, obviously there would be a difference in size. Also the strange room was explainable. He was probably inside a world he had never visited before, some differences were to be expected. The same for the language, while most worlds shared the same common language there were still innumerable dialects that were unknown to him. The only problem with this explanation was his lack of a cultivation method that dealt with reincarnation like the clans had. Sure sometimes there were some lucky person who managed to reincarnate without it and there were some powerful cultivators who were rumored to be able to do the same, but he had been much too weak for that. He wouldn¡¯t bet on luck being the reason either. Instead he had a suspicion that it had to do with the artefact that had led to this whole mess. He could remember that it had reacted when he had died, so maybe it was some kind of safety? If the user dies it would reincarnate him? Not really what you would expect to be added in a weapon, but he didn¡¯t have another explanation either.

    His thoughts got interrupted when the man, who he now assumed was his father, moved and gave him to another person. This new person was an older looking woman, probably some kind of midwife or healer. She cleaned him with a towel before giving him back towards his father, who looked down at him with a loving gaze.

    ¡°Say hello to dad¡±

    ¡®I¡¯m a baby you idiot, I can¡¯t speak yet¡¯, remarked the being in his mind. He originally had wanted to retort directly, but remembered that he was a baby and as such would be unable to speak. As he thought this he came over another problem. How should he behave? He was a several thousand year old immortal in the body of a baby, weak and helpless. It would probably for the best if he hid his past, at least until he could gain some strength. So for now he had to appear as natural as possible.

    ¡­What the hell was natural behavior for a baby? He had always seen them as useless small bundles of stink and vomit and not really looked how they behaved. Frowning he looked at his father. Maybe he should just smile?

    He tried it and could feel a slight grin forming. It felt slightly strange, maybe because he was just born and wasn¡¯t used to this body, maybe because he didn¡¯t smile that much in his past life. Either way, it was a success as his father smiled back before he handed me to someone I couldn¡¯t see.

    When he was turned around he could see a young woman was holding him. Her flaming red hairs were glued at her forehead by sweat, but even though she looked clearly exhausted she had a bright smile and her blue eyes shone full of love as she looked at him. Clearly this was his mother. She looked at him and said with a melodious voice:

    ¡°He looks so cute. What should we call him?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t we already talk about it? I¡¯m still for Ezekiel¡±

    ¡°You were drunk when you thought of that, weren¡¯t you? No way that I¡¯ll call my son something like that. How about Jack? Jack Erikson, that sounds at least normal.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t we take it at least as a second ¨C¡°

    ¡°No, definitely not!¡±

    Dejected his father hung his head. Seeing this the being ¨C Jack smirked. It was fairly obvious who the ruler in this relationship was. A bit strange considering most couples in his old lives were dominated by the male part, but it was definitely amusing.

    Anyway, he was quite content with the name. It sounded foreign and a bit strange to him, but at least it wasn¡¯t like the unnecessary long name that he had in his past life. Not that he had used it that much in the last couple centuries, but a short name like this was definitely better.

    He had to yawn as a feeling of sleepiness came over him, the stress from being born made itself noticeable. Slowly his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

 Chapter 2: The Fall

    The room was dark when Jack woke up again. Through a small window dim light was shining inside, but it wasn¡¯t enough to be able to see anything beyond slight silhouettes. The sound of soft breathing could be heard, so at least he wasn¡¯t alone in the dark. Someone, probably his new mother was sleeping near him. Unable to move much, except for flailing with his arms, all he could do was listening to the soft breathing.

    Quickly Jack became bored. Lying around doing nothing wasn¡¯t very interesting. But what else could he do? Silently he cursed his new infant body for being this useless. He couldn¡¯t move even if he wanted to.

    After a few minutes he finally had the idea to try meditating. He was much too young to try cultivating, but simply testing for the potential of this body shouldn¡¯t do any harm.

    Closing his eyes, Jack began to slow his breathing. He needed a few minutes due to this still unfamiliar body, but in the end he fell into a light meditative trance. He could feel his body and everything in it. On the outside it was the body of a normal human baby, no sign of any cultivation whatsoever.

    But the interior was a different story. When he turned his view towards his Dantian a familiar sight greeted him. The large muddy looking Core was still floating amidst the vogues of a glowing sea of Qi. But it was clearly different from usual, the red coloured sea had shrunk to a fraction of its former self and wide parts were already dry.

    ¡®Probably a side effect of the reincarnation. Something like that is bound to burn a lot of Qi. Whatever, my core is safe, so my cultivation stage should still be the same as¡­ Wait a second¡¯

    Jack was confused. That didn¡¯t make sense. According to what he knew about reincarnated beings he should have no cultivation at all. And honestly it made no sense, cultivation was after all bound to the body, so it should have stayed behind with his corpse. So how could he still have access to it?

    Searching for answers he began to investigate his body closer. But quickly he frowned. What he found was strange. Most people had very small Spiritual Veins inside of them. They were formed during the birth of a child by the Qi around them. These Veins were later used to move Qi from the Dantian out towards the entire body, strengthening and repairing it in the process. This made training much more efficient and healing quicker, so their size was often treated as a sign for the talent a person would have. The bigger the Veins the more Qi could be transported inside them. More Qi meant more support and as such training would become more efficient.

    And right now Jack looked at his own Spiritual Veins and found¡­ nothing. Not even a hint of them existing. Which should be impossible. The few people he knew who had no Spiritual Veins were completely unable to absorb any Qi from the surrounding and were doomed to stay mortals. But he clearly had cultivation. Though where it came from was still a mystery¡­

    Suddenly Jack was worried. What if he was a cripple, doomed to never be able to cultivate? His new life would be a living hell. He could count himself lucky if he wouldn¡¯t be outcasted out by his family.

    Looking for reason for his inability to find his Spiritual Veins Jack decided to check his perception. Maybe it malfunctioned because of the rebirth and that was the reason he couldn¡¯t feel the Veins. Or so he hoped.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Focused to only take the slightest amount possible Jack extracted a bit of Qi from his Dantian and shot it outwards. Without any Spiritual Veins to guide the Qi a large part of it became absorbed by his body before it even left him. Another part stayed behind, forming a small thread of Qi still connected to the Dantian so he could control the remaining Qi better. In the end only a very small drop of Qi left his body, but it was enough for Jack. The drop let out a small wave of Qi that shot out in all directions, ready to scan his surroundings. And the result was¡­ emptiness. He knitted his brows and tried again. Again, just the feeling of a large open space, as if nothing was around him at all, not even the air they were breathing.

    ¡®So it was truly my perception that was wrong. Strange, I expected ¨C argh¡¯

    Suddenly Jack¡¯s body jolted and he quickly turned his sight inwards, back to his Dantian. Instantly he paled. The previously already shrunken ocean had run completely dry, with the last puddles of Qi already starting to evaporate. Hastily he tried to grab onto it, forcing the Qi to condense again, but it wriggled out of his controls and left the Dantian completely. Soon even the ¡®ground¡¯ inside his Dantian began to vaporize, leaving behind nothing as something was sucking all his cultivation out of his body. Several millennia of work were vanishing within the blink of an eye.

    Jack could feel the Qi leaving him and yet he could do nothing to stop it. And the worst of all was that he knew the reason why it did happening so suddenly. It was the thread of Qi that he had used for his perception. Somehow it hadn¡¯t dissipated like normally as soon as the Qi left him, but instead acted like a bridge between his Dantian and the outside. And even though he tried he couldn¡¯t severe it either. Not that that would have helped. After feeling the strength of the suction he understood that even without the bridge his cultivation would have been absorbed, it would only have been slower.

    Helpless he watched as the last drop of Qi vanished. Only the muddy Core was floating in the - now empty ¨C Dantian. A short moment nothing further happened and Jack began to hope that at least his Core would stay unharmed. But then a loud cracking sound resounded inside his Dantian and a large crack split the Core. Large amounts of liquid Qi began gushing out of it, vaporizing quickly.

    In the end, all that was left of his former lifework of cultivation was a nearly empty dantian with a few shards of the broken core, the solid Qi too dense to dissipate as easily as the liquid. Though it was only a question of time until it would vanish, too. The thread of Qi had dissolved itself as it wasn¡¯t supplemented by the Qi from inside any longer. He was a normal mortal again.

    Jack looked at the sorry remains of his past as he began thinking. While what had happened had been bad it was more important right now to find the reason for it. Cultivation wouldn¡¯t disintegrate itself normally. And he had already a hint where to start.

    The whole thing started after he had sent his Qi out, so probably whatever destroyed his cultivation came from the outside. Moreover, it had been sucked out of him, not shattered or cut like an attack would be. And that led to a simple conclusion.

    ¡®¡­A void zone?¡¯

    Void zones were areas without any Qi. They were quite rare naturally and would mostly occur in lower worlds. More often they were artificially created and were used as prisons, storage for sensible materials or even as a shielding against espionage magic. But in all their usefulness he had never heard of a void zone that was strong enough to actually absorb the cultivation of a living body. At most they could absorb magic that was cast outside of it and even then most would simply weaken it. And that was because the suction force of a void zone depended on its size. To get such a powerful suction, just how big was it? Suddenly an old memory came into his mind.

    ¡®It can¡¯t be¡­ I¡¯m inside a sphere?¡¯

    In the countless worlds that were connected by the world stream there existed many anomalies. Strange world that didn¡¯t follow the natural laws like the infinite planes, the origin planets and the spheres. All of them special and mysterious. The spheres themselves were perhaps the most mysterious of them. No one knew how they worked, but they were giant spherical barriers in the world stream that enclosed a large amount of space. It wasn¡¯t even known if they were a natural occurrence or something manmade.

    Anyway, these barriers let nothing through them, not even Qi. So, if there was a world inside of it, then the people that lived on it would slowly consume every bit of Qi in the sphere until nothing was left. The sphere would slowly turn into a giant void zone. A void zone that was strong enough to even absorb the cultivation of a human right out of their body, just like he had experienced just now.

    Jack shivered. Of all places he could have reincarnated to, it had to be here. An empty world where he had no chance to ever cultivate again.

    Powerless he closed his eyes. He was now back to being a mortal, an immortal who had fallen from the Heavens back to Earth.

    ¡®Still better than being dead I guess¡¯

    Exhausted from the ordeal of losing all his cultivation Jack fell asleep again.

 Chapter 3: Old fears and a new hope

    Four days after he lost his cultivation Jack¡¯s parents finally left the hospital he had been born in and took Jack home. When he first saw the small house that would be his home for the next few years he wasn¡¯t impressed. It was a simple three story house with a small garden in front of it and a slightly bigger one behind. Compared to the mansions he had seen in his past life this was simply poor looking. But for now it had to be enough.

    His father carried Jack¡¯s bag while his mother opened the door. The inside of the house had a homely atmosphere. Flowers were gathered in front of the windows and enrichened the air with their scent. Jack looked at them with interest. They looked quite similar some medicinal plants he knew from his past life. But without any Qi those plants should be nothing more than decoration.

    His parents continued walking a stairway to the upper floor and then into a small room. Based on the crib that was placed inside and the colourful paintings on the walls Jack concluded that this was his new room. His farther lifted him up and placed him gently inside the crib.

    ¡°Welcome home, little Jack¡±, he gently said. Then he stood up and turned around.

    ¡°Ah, right on time. It¡¯s time to meet the rest of the family¡±

    Confused Jack looked up to his father. The rest of the family? Did he have a sibling?

    *Purr~*

    Suddenly a loud purring sound could be heard right next to the crib. Slowly Jack turned his head around and looked right in the face of his biggest nightmare. All he could ask himself was:

    ¡®Why does it have to be a cat?¡¯

    ---

    The one thing Jack was ashamed of was his fear of cats. That said it wasn¡¯t a groundless fear, like some people have against spiders, no, he knew exactly why he feared them.

    It all began when he was still an ordinary student of the heavenly arts school. Back then he was 10 years old and had already completed the Qi gathering realm and was now at the beginning of the Foundation realm. For someone so young it was a remarkable achievement, though in hindsight it was solely because he only focused on speed and built an unstable foundation which was the reason for all the problems he later had to advance. Anyway, as a result of his early success Jack had grown to be arrogant and prideful. But then, one day it changed.

    Every year the students of the Heavenly Arts School would go to a nearby forest that was inhabited by monsters. By fighting them the students were able to get valuable combat experience and sometimes even monster cores that they could sell for money or cultivation resources.

    To make these trips safe, the forest was divided within several sections that corresponded to the cultivation of the students. Also there were teachers patrolling through the area, so it was quite safe compared to the normal. That is if you followed the orders.

    But in his arrogance Jack started to travel deeper and deeper within the forest, far beyond any area he had a qualification for. All the while he was hoping to find treasures or having a fortuitous encounter, just like in the stories he heard as a child. But, like so often, stories are stories and after a while he noticed that he was not only in an area with strong monsters, but he had also completely lost the way and had no idea how to get out of it.

    Unable to find his way back he did his best to evade the strong monsters, but after a while the sky darkened and it became night. He needed a place to stay, as it would be too dangerous to stay in the open. There were simply too many nocturnal predators, he wouldn¡¯t be able to evade all of them. Soon he found a small cave and thought himself lucky, but he was quickly proved wrong.

    Unbeknownst to him this cave was the lair of a pair of devil cats, strong monsters of the third realm, far beyond what he could fight. As soon as he entered they smelled the fresh prey that had entered their home and began to stir.

    As soon as Jack noticed them he was terrified. Devil Cats were giant cats with a distant demonic heritage, best seen in the horns that covered their heads and the 3 scaled tails as well as their ability to spit fire. Immediately he tried to escape, but he was far too slower than his feline pursuers.

    It would have been the end for him normally, but the cats decided to play with him for a while, chasing him around through the forest. Occasionally they would attack him, leaving him with small but very painful bruises. Sadistically they found delight in Jack¡¯s pain and panic while they played with him like a normal cat would do with a mouse.

    But luckily, just as he was nearing the end of his endurance, a teacher found him and rescued him. He was heavily wounded, but he had survived. Still, the memory of the cats chasing after him remained and since this day he had a deep fear towards any cat.

    ---

    And now Jack was lying on the ground unable to move while a brown stripped cat was looking down at him. Its green eyes were shining in curiosity, as if it had just found a new toy to play with, an intent that Jack definitely didn¡¯t share. He remained vigilant, but the cat simply sat still and purred.

    *Purr~*

    ¡°Looks like she likes him¡±, Jack¡¯s father injected from the side, oblivious to the plight of his son.

    ¡®It likes me? I bet it just thinks I look tasty. I heard cats eat old people who can¡¯t move. Maybe it thinks I¡¯m the same as¡­ Wait a second, it¡¯s coming closer! No, shush, go away!¡¯

    Helpless Jack flailed his arms, but the cat ignored him and with a small jump landed inside his crib, right on top of him. Fear coursed through Jack¡¯s body and he froze. But the cat simply sat down and rolled itself into a ball, obviously deciding that it had found the perfect spot for a nap.

    ¡®Get off me!¡¯

    Seeing that he wasn¡¯t in danger Jack gathered a bit of courage and tried to shake off the cat. But being a baby he didn¡¯t have any strength and all his efforts were in vain. All it did was that the cat opened its eyes shortly and looked over to him before it went back to sleep. Still, Jack could have sworn that there had been an amused glint in its eyes.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Aww, so cute¡±, his mother commented causing Jack to grumble. Just why were his parents so useless? Didn¡¯t they see that he was having an emergency right now? All they did was standing around and making approving noises. And what was that strange apparatus inside his father¡¯s-

    *Flash*

    ¡®Gyaaah! My eyes! I¡¯m blind!¡¯

    ¡°This picture comes at the fridge, so we will never forget this moment¡±

    ¡®*Sigh* I was a mighty saint realm cultivator. What have I done to deserve this¡¯

    ---

    After what felt like hours Jack¡¯s parents finally freed him. They spent some time in the room, playing a bit with him. But soon Jack began yawning and they decided that he was tired and would need some time to sleep. Quickly they said goodnight and left the room.

    Now lying alone in the dark Jack could finally take his time to look around in the room. It certainly was a room made for a child. Colourful walls which still smelled slightly like paint, new furniture that was littered with countless pictures of small animals (mostly cats), and an army of stuffed animals that filled the empty corners of the crib, all signs that it had been purchased recently. Still, Jack wasn¡¯t that happy about it. In his opinion the whole room was much too colourful, any more and it would start glowing. That thought was proved a bit later when he noticed small glowing stars that were glued to the ceiling.

    ¡®Urgh, the damned room is already glowing!¡¯

    Sighing Jack looked to the still open door. It was the first time in this new life that he was without supervision. Apart from the first night he had slept through each of them and during the days either his mother or father was always there to watch over him. That caused them to notice whenever he tried to meditate and for some reason they tended to get in panic when he stopped moving and breathing strange. But now was the perfect opportunity.

    Jack closed his eyes and after a few seconds his consciousness was back inside his Dantian. He sighed when he saw the destruction in front of him. Somehow he had hoped that it had been nothing more than a bad dream, even though all his senses were telling him otherwise. Hopeless he shook his head. Without the possibility to cultivate he was doomed to stay a mortal. Somehow it was ironic, he had tried to gain a treasure to live longer and had actually been reborn, only to be able to live for what? 100 years? Maybe 200? It had been so long since he had been a mortal, he had completely forgotten how long they lived normally. Anyway, to a several thousand years old Saint it was nothing more than the blink of an eye.

    And what should he even do with this bit of time? His entire life until now was in pursuit of power and immortality. If anything, all the abilities he managed to learn like alchemy or runecrafting, they all worked with and for cultivation. Without it, he had nothing. Neither skills nor a goal to work for in this life.

    ¡®Hah, guess I have to use that bit of time as good as I can¡¯, with a dispirited thought Jack turned his consciousness away from his Dantian, ready to give up on the past. It would be better to forget about the cultivation world and accept a mundane life, otherwise it would certainly haunt him forever.

    But when he turned his perception away from the Dantian he suddenly frowned. Now that he wasn¡¯t focusing on one point anymore he could feel small rivers of energy flowing through his entire body. His Spiritual Veins had been formed.

    Confused Jack looked closer. How was that possible? He knew that they weren¡¯t there when he looked last time. But a short bit of thinking later he had finally an idea.

    He had been born in an area without any Qi, which made the formation of Spiritual veins impossible. But when he had lost his cultivation his surroundings had become filled with Qi. Not as dense as the Qi would be even in the lowest mortal world in his past life and would get further dissipated as time went on, but it was more than enough to create his Spiritual Veins.

    Carefully Jack looked at his Veins, trying to figure out their size. And the result left him surprised. His veins were much thicker than in his past life, enough to be called a monstrous talent. Sadly that wouldn¡¯t really be of use as this world had no Qi, but at least he would be stronger and healthier than normal people of this world. Even right now he could feel the small amounts of Qi that were trapped inside of them flowing around and strengthening him from within.

    Jack chuckled a bit. He was more of a hypocrite than he had realised before. One second he decided to give up on cultivation and his past, but as soon as there was even a slight improvement he ignored his decision and started to hope again. He looked back towards his Dantian.

    But there was still only the emptiness with the floating debris of the Core. Even if he had regained his Spiritual Veins it wouldn¡¯t change anything, he would stay a mortal. Dejected Jack turned his perception away from his Dantian.

    Just as his consciousness left his Dantian Jack noticed something strange. Immediately he turned back. Hidden inside the shards of his core was a strange shape. With a mental command the shards flew to the side, giving sight to a small figurine made from stone. Dumbfounded Jack stared at it. It was exactly the artefact he had found within the old ruin, the reason why his disciple had betrayed him.

    ¡®Why is that thing here? Wait a second¡­¡¯

    After a bit of searching Jack found other shapes hidden within the debris. Pill furnaces, equipment, talismans and even medicinal pills, albeit the last two had lost their Qi together with him and had turned into worthless rubbish. Quickly he figured out what had happened.

    After he had reached the Saint realm Jack had gained the ability to create something called a ¡®soul storage¡¯. It was a separate space in which he could store objects, quite similar to the spacial rings lower ranked cultivators would use. It was a mysterious ability and even after countless tests to locate it Jack had never actually been able to figure out where this space had been located. But now he knew it. The separate space had been actually the interior of his core all along! As such it had been travelled together with his cultivation to his new life. Countless treasures, weapons, tools, everything¡­ useless.

    Without any cultivation he had no way to actually take out the stored objects, and even if he could, what use would it have? Without Qi a pill furnace would be nothing but an oversized decoration. At best he would be able to sell it somewhere.

    Suddenly a thought crossed Jack¡¯s mind and he turned back towards the artefact. Quickly he floated right next to it and began to examine it. Now that he looked closer there was still Qi stored inside of it. The enchantment on it proved much more resistant towards the pull of the void than the Qi inside of him. It wasn¡¯t much, at least compared to the amount it had before, but it would certainly be enough for a single activation.

    With a frown on his face Jack thought about his options. This last bit of Qi could maybe become his saving grace. If he could activate the weapon it might be possible to create a hole inside the Sphere that would allow Qi to enter. Should he succeed he would be able to cultivate again. It would be a new beginning and this time he would definitely become immortal! He was more talented and he knew a lot of cultivation methods that would allow him to build a stable foundation to proceed further than he had before.

    There were only two problems. One, the weapon itself. He knew only a few legends about it, but its might was unimaginable. Back when it was used it had gained the nickname ¡®World Cracker¡¯, because it was able to destroy not only a single planet, but the whole world it was in. That let him hesitate. What if he couldn¡¯t control its power? He doubted that the bit of Qi left would be enough to destroy this world, but it would be bad enough to incinerate the planet he was on. And he doubted that he would be able to survive that.

    The other problem was to actually activate it. Being inside his Dantian he should be able to do that effortlessly. But without any Qi of his own he wouldn¡¯t be able to initiate the control function. He had a way to get some Qi, but to use it would probably harm his Dantian.

    But in the end Jack ground his teeth and decided to try it anyway. Even if it was dangerous, he didn¡¯t want to end as a normal mortal, no matter the cost. If there was even a single opportunity to get back on the road of cultivation he would grasp it.

    Jack concentrated at a few shards of his former core. Formed from solid Qi they didn¡¯t dissolve immediately but stayed inside of him. But now, the first shard began to melt, a glowing liquid Qi forming on its surface. Drop after drop gathered, but simultaneously Jack began to feel the consequences.

    It began with a slight discomfort. His stomach grumbled. Then begun the pain. He felt as if his intestines were set aflame, a blazing fire just where his Dantian was. Jack let out a pained growl, but he didn¡¯t stop.

    Inside his Dantian shard after shard turned into liquid Qi. Finally, after his entire Core had been dissolved Jack started moving his Qi. A large stream of liquid Qi formed and flowed towards the artefact.

    On its way large amounts of Qi evaporated, turned into mist and shook of Jack¡¯s control over it as it got sucked to the outside, just like the rest of his cultivation before. But the small part, maybe one hundredth, still managed to reach the artefact. The stream twisted and turned as it coiled around the artefact like a snake. Slowly a bright glow to cover the artefact and Jack could feel it connecting to his mind, as if it suddenly became like one of his arms.

    A slight grin crossed Jack¡¯s face, but in the next second it flickered as a new wave of pain hit him. His entire body was covered in sweat and his breath laborious. He didn¡¯t have much time anymore.

    With a humming noise the statue inside his Dantian began to activate. Suddenly Jack could feel the space around him. The whole room was laid bare before his senses, as if he was standing right in front of it. But what he could feel right now went beyond what he could see. Under the material plane was another layer, a very fine mist that filled everything. That was the barrier that formed the Sphere. Instinctively Jack knew what he had to do.

    The statues eyes began glowing in a bright blue as Jack inserted his will into it. And then, in the next moment, a small dot of light suddenly appeared in the air above him. Where it was, the fog vanished, as if it was melting. But that was only for a few seconds, then the dot paled and dissolved, leaving behind a small hole inside of the fog.

    Exhausted Jack let out a sigh as he looked at the small hole above him. It was small, a sphere barely a millimetre size where the barrier had completely vanished. He could already feel a slight amount of Qi coming from it. And albeit it wasn¡¯t much it carried within it the hope that one day he would be able to cultivate again.

    Quickly Jack focused back inside and searched his body for damages. What he found let him grimace. Just like he had expected the release of the dense mass of Qi inside of his untrained Dantian had caused great damages. Last time the small thread of Qi had acted like a lightning rod, causing the Qi to move out without doing any harm. But this time it was different and his Dantian had been damaged. Not only that, there were also signs that the Spiritual veins themselves had been hit by the backlash. While it wasn¡¯t too severe and would heal given enough time it would still take several years to heal properly. And until then the damage would cause him to get sick easily. But for Jack that was just the blink of an eye and definitely well invested. Slowly he closed his eyes and let himself falling asleep. Soon, he would become a cultivator again.

 Chapter 4: Partial recovery and a new friend

    Concentrated, Jack read the book in front of him. His emerald coloured eyes were shining as he read the old book, but after a few minutes he shook his head and closed the book.

    ¡®Still nothing. 9 years and I haven¡¯t found anything¡¯

    Jack looked at the many books he had gathered on the desk. Many of them were old and all of them had to something to do with old myths and sagas. They were filled with monsters and magic, he had even found stories about cultivation, so Jack was sure that there was at least some knowledge the people of this world had retained from the time they were still connected to the worlds outside. But none of them had a single hint at the Spheres or actual facts about cultivation, just fictions, some closer to the truth, others filled with misconceptions.

    In the beginning he had started his search for the knowledge of his old world more because of nostalgia, but the more he read, the more interested he became. Why had the people here forgotten so much about cultivation yet retained knowledge like the existence of monsters and other races, some even so good described that he could identify the actual races back from his old world?

    He placed the book at the staple of already read books, then he grabbed for the next. But then he stopped, his hand still in the air as he let out a quiet groan. A strange feeling coursed through his body, like thousands of ants crawling all over his skin while his inner organs started to pulse in a strange pace, hurting as if they were threatening to rupture. When it finally vanished his whole body was covered in sweat and he felt exhausted, as if he had just run a marathon. But on his face was a large grin.

    ¡°Finally!¡±

    A triumphant smile was on his face. This feeling was what he had been waiting for the last 9 years. Finally, after all this time his Spiritual Veins had finished healing. It had taken even longer than he had expected due to the low amount of the Qi in the air. And to fully heal his Dantian would take even longer. But now he had at least completed the first step to recovery.

    A grin filled Jack¡¯s face. With his Spiritual Veins whole again he should be able to cast at least magic again. Maybe he should try it out, just for old time¡¯s sake? He leaned back inside his chair as he concentrated on the flow inside of him. Quickly the Qi inside the veins started to move.

    If a person wanted to use Qi to change the world around them they had two basic ways to do it. First they could send out their own internal Qi and command it to do whatever they wanted. That was what cultivators would do when they used Martial Techniques.

    But sadly Jack didn¡¯t have any internal Qi inside his Dantian, so he had to use the second way. Manipulation of external Qi, or as it was called most of the times, Magic. It was slower and less potent than Martial Techniques, but in exchange the user didn¡¯t need to be a cultivator. Additionally Magic could make use of any element in the surroundings while a cultivator would be bound to the Element their internal Qi possessed, so it was more flexible in its use.

    Over the years a lot of Qi had come through the hole inside Jack¡¯s room, but most of it had already left, being absorbed to the outside by the void zone. Another part had been absorbed by the walls, ceiling and floor, strengthening it in the process. Jack pitied whoever would try to get a nail into the walls of his room now.

    But a small part of the Qi was still bound to the air and this Qi was what Jack planned to use now. With the Qi inside his veins moving quicker and quicker he began to envision what he wanted, a small ball of water hovering over his hand. Suddenly the Qi inside the air which had been unmoving until now began to move, matching its speed to the Qi flowing in the Spiritual Veins.

    Slowly the Qi began to gather and absorb the moisture in the air before it floated towards a single point. It took a few seconds, but slowly a small ball of water appeared, floating in the air. Jack let out a happy laugh. Finally he was able to use magic again. And soon he would be able to cultivate agai-

    Suddenly Jack¡¯s thought got interrupted as a heavy weight landed on his lap. As soon as he was distracted the ball of water fell down and submerged his desk. Jack cursed.

    ¡®This damned cat!¡¯

    Rolled into a ball on his lap was the family cat, which was called Mia as he knew now. She was another problem in his life. When he made the hole he hadn¡¯t thought about it, but she was quite often in the room, giving her a lot of chances to absorb the Qi. When Jack first noticed that he had been truly afraid that she would soon become a monster and then kill him and his family. But even though years had passed since then nothing had happened. Still, Jack couldn¡¯t shake off his suspicions that she had started to absorb Qi. After all, in the past few years she didn¡¯t look as if she had aged. Right now she was 11 years old, already a ripe age for a cat and still she looked and behaved just like the day he first met her. It was unnatural.

    To make matters worse she had a habit to come to him whenever he sat down for more than a second and to use him as a bed. It really made Jack wonder if cats were drawn to people that didn¡¯t like them. But at least it had helped him to get a little over his fear.

    With a sigh Jack reached out and placed her back to the ground as he stood up. Now that he had his Spiritual Veins healed he could finally start training his body. It was necessary, too. Due to not going outside and his sickness he had gained a pale and feeble body. This simply went against his pride as a cultivator. There was just one problem.

    Unfortunately he didn¡¯t know where to start. If this was still his old world he would be able to simply sneak out and train in the wilderness. Unfortunately he was now living in a civilised country and there wasn¡¯t any true wilderness. The closest would be the small forest on the other side of the street, but that place was crowded with joggers and other people and there weren¡¯t many places to truly train.

    After much thought Jack had decided to ask his parents if they knew a place where he could train. He was just uncertain how they would react. Growing up sickly his parents, especially his mother, tended to look after him closely. Training his body was hard work, so she would be worried. Resolving himself he stood up and walked out of his room.

    He halted for a moment as he saw himself in a mirror. Inspecting himself for a moment he winced. He looked sickly and his entire body was still covered in sweat. Maybe he should take a shower first, his parents could wait for a moment longer.

    ---

    Doubtfully Jack looked at the narrow building in front of him. It looked like a gym, but it was old and shabby. In some parts the colour was missing and a few windows had cracks. Truth be told it did look as if it had been abandoned years ago.

    ¡®Am I really supposed to train here?¡¯

    Jack thought back towards the discussion he had with his parents this morning. At first they had been against it, but then his father had started to have a thoughtful look on his face.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Why do you want to train?¡±, he had asked and Jack had truthfully replied: ¡°I want to stop being this weak. I want to become able to defend myself¡±

    His father had nodded. Then, slowly a grin had formed on his face.

    ¡°If it were only for training your body I would have recommended going to the gym in the city. But to learn fighting¡­ I guess I have to ask an old friend of my father. If he wants to talk to me that is.¡±

    ¡®Grandfather¡¯s friend?¡¯ Jack had though unbelieving. He had met his grandparents a few times and nothing even hinted that they knew anything about fighting. But then he had frowned.

    ¡®Wait a second, he said his father. If I think about it, I never met my father¡¯s parents, but only my mother¡¯s. I wonder why?¡¯

    While Jack was lost in thoughts his father hesitated for a moment, then he continued speaking.

    ¡°But if you want to start training with him you have to be prepared. It won¡¯t be easy. No, in fact it might be better to call it torture. So, do you still want me to ask?¡±

    And so, after a few hours and a phone call from his father later he stood in front of a rundown gym, lamenting if his choice had really been right. Maybe he should have tried one of these normal gyms in the city his father had mentioned?

    Taking a deep breath Jack stepped forward and knocked. A few seconds nothing happened, then the door opened with a creaking noise. A young boy looked at him, maybe as old as himself. His dark eyes were half covered by his short brown hairs.

    ¡°May I help you?¡±

    He asked Jack, a hint of wariness in his eyes. Now that Jack looked closer, he noticed that although the boy was looking normal and relaxed, he was anything but that. His pose, even though it looked normal was in truth optimal for battle. A slight movement and he could attack or defend. His weight was focused on the front of his feet, making quick manoeuvres possible.

    Seeing this Jack had to grin. He had come to the right place.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Jack Erikson. My father had told me that here is a good place to train.¡±

    The boy relaxed a bit. His eyes wandered shortly over Jack¡¯s body. He didn¡¯t look too impressed.

    ¡°I¡¯m Sam Long. My grandpa had told me that we would gain a new member today. That is probably you. Come inside.¡±

    He stepped to the side and allowed Jack to enter the building.

    The inside of the building was in even worse shape than the outside. But that wasn¡¯t because of lack of maintenance this time, but because of overuse. Large parts of the wooden floor were broken and the marks of fists and feet could be seen everywhere. Whoever trained here had definitely used more force than a normal human should possess.

    Inside the hall were several other people, the youngest only a bit older than Jack and Sam, the oldest maybe as old as Jack¡¯s father. They all were currently training. Unsure what he should do Jack stood a bit to the side.

    Quietly he looked at the people training. Something about their movements seemed¡­ familiar. Jack narrowed his eyes. An old memory came into his mind. Body refining.

    Body refining meant to break down your body and rebuild it stronger and better than before. That could be done through normal training, but most people would use body refinement methods to quicken the process. Most of these methods would need at least a bit of Qi, but there were some that didn¡¯t. They were mostly slow and even a small improvement would need weeks of training, but for the few people who didn¡¯t have cultivation it was perfect.

    ¡®Or for people that are trapped inside a sphere¡¯, thought Jack. These movements certainly resembled those of the non-Qi using methods. And it would explain the damages inside the hall. Still, to use body refining techniques without Spiritual Veins like these people here was dangerous. Who knew what consequences they would have in the long term without the enhanced healing the veins provided. It could be even harmful if the small internal wounds caused by the training would heal wrong.

    Suddenly the sound of people training stopped and he looked up. A white haired man had come into the hall through one of the door in the back. Respectfully a few of the trainees bowed and Jack knew that this person was probably one of the teachers here.

    ¡°Ah, grandpa! Over here¡±, Sam waved with his hand to get attention. With a smile the old man came over to them. As he came closer Jack noticed that despite his old age his movements were powerful and fluid. He didn¡¯t even need the cane he was carrying in his right hand. Instinctively he knew this man meant danger.

    ¡°So you¡¯re Markus¡¯s grandson, huh¡±, the old man got right to the topic. ¡°It had been a while since I have last seen him. That old bastard is still traveling all around the world. Now, what do you want? Training or training?¡±

    The way he said the second training let a shudder run down Jack¡¯s spine. A cultivator would always learn to listen to his instincts and now they were telling him to run. To run as far and as quick as he could. But then he shook his head. He needed to train, the harder the better. Besides, he was an ancient cultivator, he had seen his fair share of hard training. How bad could it possibly be?

    ---

    Mo Long looked satisfied at his new student. The boy, a grandchild of his old friend Markus, was promising. True, he looked feeble, but there was something different about him. Mo thought that it was his eyes. A fierce determination was burning in them, as if the boy was willing to fight the entire world if he had to.

    Mo had seen eyes like this before. Maybe this boy had inherited more from Markus than his black hair. He definitely had more of him than his father Daniel.

    Daniel Erikson had been Mo¡¯s student, just like Jack now. But while Jack looked feeble, Daniel had a body that was perfect for martial arts. However he lacked that determination he could sense in that boy and after only a year he stopped participating in the training.

    Back then he had been very disappointed. But now fate had sent him a worthy replacement. The old man looked at the boy that was currently being trashed by his own grandchild and started to chuckle. Oh, he would make a martial artist out of him. Or break him trying.

    A shudder run down the back of the other students in the hall when they heard the chuckle and more than one started to pray for the poor boy that had come in the old man¡¯s focus. They knew he would need it.

    ---

    On a dark road two figures could be seen, staggering forward. Only the dim moonlight showed them the way. The two were Jack and Sam. But they looked very different from before. Their whole bodies were covered in bruises, sweat had soaked their clothing and their breath was heavy. In short, they looked like as if they had seen hell.

    ¡°Ugh, my whole body hurts. That old man is the devil.¡±

    Cursing Jack made another step forward while leaning heavily at Sam¡¯s shoulder. Sadly the other boy wasn¡¯t in a much better condition and it almost ended in the two falling. As they finally managed to get their balance back Sam replied apologetic:

    ¡°Well, you have been better than most of the students on their first time, so he got a bit too much into it.¡±

    ¡°He does that often?!¡±

    ¡°Much too often. You get used to it.¡±

    That explained the pitiful and empathic looks of the other students during the whole ordeal. Probably they had to think at all the times they had to go through the same experience. And it certainly had been a horrifying experience.

    As a cultivator he had gone through some body refining techniques himself and he had also his own share in getting wounded and hurt. But this, this had been no different from torture. Albeit a helpful one as it would strengthen the body, it was torture nonetheless.

    First it had been endurance training while carrying weights. At first it hadn¡¯t been that bad, but after several hours it began to really hurt. Especially with Jack¡¯s body still weakened from the years of recovery. And just when Jack had decided to give up it had ended, as if the old man exactly knew what he had thought. Then the weight training began. Again and again Jack was brought to the limit before the old man finally changed to the last part. He had called Sam to come and then the sparring began. Again and again, no matter how they got hurt, all under the watchful eyes of the old man that didn¡¯t let them rest at all. Jack had quickly learned that the cane of his hurt like hell.

    Sam looked to the other boy. Even though the training had been horrible, it had at least caused the two to become friends quickly. There was nothing better to connect to each other than a fist to the face.

    In truth Jack had been honestly impressed by the boy. The boy was a genius to learn fighting like he did when he was still so young. He was even better than Jack and he had several thousand years of fighting experience! If he had been born in Jack¡¯s old world he would have certainly be called a monstrous talent.

    In 9 years had passed since he had been reborn on Earth, Jack had been a lonely child. Oh, it wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t trying to get contact to other children his age. But it was a simple truth that he was far older than them mentally and somehow they noticed that he was different and always tried to keep their distance. It had caused his parents a lot of worries, though Jack himself was happy about it. Being lonely was something he was used to and it was definitely better than having to play all day with children who had nigh inexhaustible energy. But now he had finally found someone he could talk with.

    With a wry grin he looked at the other boy.

    ¡°Sorry that I hit you.¡±

    Sam looked surprised at his apology.

    ¡°No problem. It was a fight, after all. Sorry that I broke your nose.¡±

    Jack let out a slight laugh as he touched his face. The next few days would be certainly painful, but at least it would heal quickly now that his Spiritual Veins were actively repairing his body.

    ¡°No problem. I have a feeling that will happen more often in the future.¡±

    ¡°It would be better if it doesn¡¯t. We have already enough punching bags in the gym, we don¡¯t need one that actively hits back¡± A playful grin was on Sam¡¯s face.

    Jack had to grin. He really liked the boy. Maybe he should introduce him to cultivation in the future? Though his last disciple had been a failure given his betrayal¡­

    While Jack was deep in thoughts a sudden knock on his head interrupted him. Frowning he looked at Sam while rubbing his head. That had hurt.

    ¡°By the way, I think we have arrived.¡±

    Hearing this Jack finally noticed that he truly was standing in front of his house. When did they get here? He had been so absorbed doing one step after the other that he almost didn¡¯t notice how long they had been walking.

    Jack said goodbye to Sam and promised to come again soon. While he was walking to the door of his home he suddenly got the feeling as if he had forgotten something important. But he couldn¡¯t remember what, no matter how he tried. In the end he simply shrugged and opened the door.

    ¡°Jack Erikson! Where have you been?! Do you know how late it is? You wanted to be home hours ago! And what happened to nose?!¡± His mother sounded absolutely livid.

    ¡®Oh, sh*t!¡¯

 Chapter 5: Preparations

    After a long, long talk Jack¡¯s mother finally calmed down. But not without forcing him to promise to never come back that late again. He had to agree or she would probably make him stop training altogether.

    The next day he stayed at home after he returned from school. From what he had learned yesterday the gym was closed today, so he couldn¡¯t go there to train. Not that he wanted either way, his body felt as if every muscle in it had been ripped apart. Every time he moved it hurt.

    His mother and father were both working. Bored Jack sat inside his room. He had no idea what he could do. He had already read all books inside his room. Reading them again was useless. The only thing that came to his mind was playing around with Magic, but that became boring quickly, too.

    In the end he decided to go once more back to his studies about this world. Or like most people would call it, he went down into the living room and watched news on TV. Jack had done this a lot of times in the past years to learn more about the world he lived now. He still remembered how he had nearly died of laughing after he noticed that they somehow had managed to abolish the aristocracy in most countries. Nobles, that useless plague from his old life were almost extinct here.

    For Jack this world was a true miracle. Its people were completely different from those of his old life, the technology they had created made work ridiculous easy and, most of all, it was safe. Sure, there were some areas where wars were waged, but all in all there wasn¡¯t much danger. Back in his old life you could never be sure if you would survive the next day as a single crazy cultivator was enough to destroy an entire city.

    So far Jack hadn¡¯t seen much of this world. In fact except for a few trips in elementary school he had almost never left his hometown. The only exception was one time when his parents had taken him along on a vacation to Japan. It was an interesting place as the appearance of the people there reminded him a lot of those in his old life. Moreover their language resembled the one he had used, though it was quite distant. Maybe another remnant of the time as there was still cultivators around.

    Both the cultivation stories as well as the similarities in culture pointed him towards Asia. Maybe that place had some old ruins back from when this world had still been connected to the outside. That would be worth a trip. Jack grinned. Graverobb- *Ahem* Archaeology was one of his favourite hobbies in his past life. So why not continue it here? Maybe he could even find out more about the Sphere itself. He refused to belief that such an amazing thing simply appeared out of nowhere.

    After a while Jack got bored again and turned off the TV looked around for something to do. The house his family lived in was quite small and there wasn¡¯t much to do. He could try to read his parents books, but those were mostly his mother¡¯s romantic fictions. Not really what he considered as worthy to spend his time with. But the thought of his mother and her hobbies gave him another idea. Quickly he put on his shoes before he walked out of the house.

    The house of Jack¡¯s family was placed in the outskirts of the city. He just had to cross the road and he had reached the forest. However compared to the forest of his old life this one was quite tame. No monsters, no plants that hunted for human flesh, not even dangerous animals lived inside of it. Instead the forest was brightly lit by daylight and the calm song of birds could be heard.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Quickly Jack left the treaded parts and walked deeper into the forest. A few minutes later he had found what he had searched for.

    ¡®Ah, starlight moos¡¯ Jack sat next to the small plant. It was just a patch of normal moos with slightly star formed petals. Carefully Jack began to dig the Earth around it. Normally this plant could only be harvested under the light of stars, else they would lose their potent medical effects, but without Qi those limitations were not as important. It didn¡¯t take long and Jack had the fist sized patch of moos and earth in his hand.

    ¡®Let¡¯s see. If I exchange the Sun dew grass with the Starlight moos it would make for a good basis for the body tempering fluid. But stars huh~¡¯

    Instinctively Jack raised his view to the sky. Up there, hidden by the bright daylight, countless stars were burning in their cold fire. He still couldn¡¯t get used to it. The worlds he had visited in the past had one or two stars normally, not entire galaxies of it. While Earth itself was only a tiny planet compared to the giants he had seen before, the world around it was far bigger than anything he had ever seen.

    The next ingredient was a small Tranquil Flow flower, a simple looking white flower that Jack could easily identify because of the tear shaped petals it possessed. Jack found it near the small river that flew deep inside the forest. And after that came Fog sprout, Live Vine and a ten year old Silver Leaf flower.

    One by one he gathered the ingredients for the body tempering fluid he planned to create. Finally after a few hours he had finally gathered all of them and returned to his home. He borrowed a few of the pots his mother wasn¡¯t using and planted the ingredients in them before he placed them in his room. Without Qi all the ingredients would be normal, useless plants, so he had to give them some time in the Qi filled air to absorb it. Jack guessed it would take at least a few weeks to see the first results and then he could try his hand at alchemy again.

    Now that he had gathered his ingredients he had again nothing to do. But before he could get too bored he heard the doorbell ringing. Curious Jack walked down to the front door and opened it.

    To his surprise Sam stood outside. Today he wasn¡¯t in training clothes, but instead in jeans and t-shirt.

    ¡°Hey, I heard from my grandfather that you have to stay at home. Mind if I come in?¡±

    ¡®How the hell did the old man know about that?¡¯ ¡°Sure¡±

    Jack opened the door further and let Sam inside. Maybe having house arrest wasn¡¯t that bad after all.

    With interest Sam looked around in the house. His view fell on the masses of flowers that crowded the place before the windows.

    ¡°Wow, there are a lot of flowers here¡±

    ¡°Yeah, my mother grows them. But you have to be careful near them. If you damage them your life will be turned into hell¡±

    Sam laughed. Jack didn¡¯t. While it might have been a bit exaggerated, his mother truly was quite protective of her flowers. If someone even dared to touch them ¨C Jack shuddered. Sometimes his mother really scared him.

    ¡°Anyway¡±, he tried to turn the talk away from the flowers, ¡°why don¡¯t we go to my room?¡±

    ¡°Sure¡±

    Sam stayed for a few hours, then he had to leave. Jack accompanied him down to the door, but then he suddenly frowned. There was a small cloud of Qi around Sam. That in itself wasn¡¯t strange, it was just a small remnant of the Qi in Jack¡¯s room that had been become attached to Sam¡¯s skin. But there was something different about it.

    Looking closer he could see that inside Sam¡¯s skin small openings had started to appear, the most obvious signs for Spiritual Veins. They were still small, but were greedily sucking in the last wisps of Qi inside, causing them to grow a small bit.

    But that was supposed to be impossible. Spiritual Veins did form during birth. Not years afterwards. In Jack¡¯s case, it was a bit different because he had been born in a Qi-less environment and he was born a few hours beforehand, so his body was still flexible enough. But Sam should be completely without Spiritual Veins and that wasn¡¯t something that a bit of Qi could change. Otherwise Jack¡¯s parents would have formed theirs years ago.

    ¡°Is something wrong?¡±, Sam had noticed Jack¡¯s frown and asked worriedly. ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing¡± Jack shook his head with a smile.

    ¡®A genius in the martial arts and this strange formation of his Spiritual Veins. Sam gets more and more interesting. I better watch him closely. ¡¯

    Spheres, a gigantic universe, genius martial artists, strange spiritual veins and technology the likes he had never seen before. The longer he stayed in this world, the more mysterious it appeared to Jack. And that excited him a bit. Just what would the future hold for him?

    With a slight smile on his lips he bid Sam farewell before he closed the door.

 Chapter 6: A first taste of Alchemy

    Carefully Jack placed the flower pot onto the kitchen table. Three weeks had passed since he had gathered the herbs in the forest and finally they were ready for use, so he had decided to try his hand at alchemy. He would first try to create a batch of Body Tempering Fluid.

    Body Tempering Fluid was one of the most common supplies for those who had just started body refining. Once drunk it would break the body down from within and then cause it to grow stronger and more durable afterwards. Sadly the effect would become less and less the more often the Fluid became consumed, but it was enough to easily double a normal humans strength.

    And that was something Jack needed direly. Looking at his body he could see the new muscles his body had started to develop after only a few weeks of training with Sam¡¯s grandfather. That however didn¡¯t change the fact that till now he had managed to lose every single spar against Sam. A several thousand year old cultivator was losing against a 10 year old boy. That was something that went completely against Jack''s pride as a cultivator.

    Was it unfair to use the Body Tempering Fluid to become stronger and defeat Sam? Probably, but Jack didn¡¯t care, he just wanted to win.

    With a critical looked Jack looked over his new workplace. He had been able to gather the herbs he needed a few weeks ago, which wasn¡¯t difficult, most of the ingredients were rather common or could be easily exchanged to other herbs. However he did lack in an alchemistical pill furnace. One of those was stored inside his Dantian, but he couldn¡¯t access it. As such he had to use the next best thing. The kitchen and a pot filled with boiling water. Honestly, if anyone from his past life could see him right now they would probably die from laughing. Especially the professional alchemists that always prided themselves in their equipment and their achievements in the art of Alchemy.

    Alchemy was in fact a very delicate art. Alchemists had to know the exact properties of the herbs and plants they were using and how they would interact with each other. Some of this knowledge came from the gathered knowledge of their ancestors and teachers, but most of the time alchemists would try to test new recipes, searching for useful results. There was nothing an alchemist would find more pride in than having invented a new kind of medicine and most of them would protect their recipes with their lives.

    Jack himself was only a dabbling alchemist at best and could only use what he had learned when he was still visiting the Heavenly Arts School. So it couldn¡¯t be helped that he was a bit rusty. But for Body Tempering Fluid, which was one of the easiest alchemical concoctions his abilities were more than enough.

    With a quick movement of his hand Jack picked a scissor and cut a few pieces out of the Starlight moos. Afterwards he carefully separated the leaves from the stem before he threw the leaves into the pot. After a few moments he started to concentrate. Carefully he moved his Qi through his Spiritual Veins and influenced the Qi rich medical essence that had been stored inside the leaves to diffuse and gather in the water. As a result the leaves dried up and their wrinkled remains floated on the surface before Jack used a spoon to take them out.

    Next he cut off the stem of the small Tranquil Flow Flower with his scissor. Carefully he pressed out the inner fluid before adding it into the pot. Instantly the boiling water became coloured in a soft green tone. As soon as it did, Jack started to move the Qi inside the pot in a special pattern, forming a small rune inside the pot. Slowly the Qi from the leaves as well as that from the Tranquil Flow Flower fluid started to move in a circular movement. And when it did, the two different Qi infused liquids started to fuse. The liquid in the pot changed into a bright aquamarine colour.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Content Jack nodded, then he lowered the heat inside the pot. Quickly the liquid stopped boiling. Then he took the next plant, the Live Vine. This ingredient was in fact the most important part of the Body Tempering Fluid. While the others were interacting to break down the body, the Live Vine would transmit a powerful vital energy, which would be used for the rebuilding.

    Taking out a small kitchen knife Jack cut the Life Vine into small pieces. Then he scrapped out the bright green coloured inner part of the vine. It was much too potent to use. That was the only problem for the Body Tempering Fluid. The destructive effect and the restorative effect had to be balanced out. If it wasn¡¯t in balance, drinking it would either do nothing or even harm the cultivator. So Jack had to be careful about the dosage.

    Jack took the pieces of Life Vine and threw them into the pot. Carefully stirring the liquid he waited for a moment. But nothing happened.

    Jack frowned. Why didn¡¯t it react properly? By now the pieces of the Live Vine should have started to dissolve and mix with the rest. Instead they were simply floating atop of the liquid. Maybe the Qi inside the pot wasn¡¯t enough to fuel the changes?

    After a moment of hesitation Jack focused on the air around him. Even here, outside of his room, was a very slight amount of Qi in the air, so he took a bit of it and carefully infused it into the pot, trying to not disturb the already existing Qi inside of it.

    For a few moments nothing happened, then the pieces started to dissolve and the liquid became coloured in a dark turquoise.

    Jack grinned. It worked, perfect. More power was sometimes the best solution. For the next part Jack plucked the petals of the ten year old Silver Leaf Flower and chopped the Fog sprout, a small grey mushroom, into pieces. One by one he threw them inside the pot and watched how they dissolved, changing the colour bit by bit into a dark grey.

    Seeing this Jack nodded in satisfaction. It was ready. Now all he had to do was concentrate the fluid. He pressed a button on the stove to maximize the heat while using his Qi to press the outside air into the pot. The liquid began boiling again and began to quickly lose volume. It also became more and more viscous and turned into a paste like substance. All was good, but then Jack began frowning.

    The Qi inside the pot was rapidly vanishing. Unsure what was happening Jack looked a bit closer. Small red points had started to appear on the surface of the paste. Perplexed Jack scratched his head. Why did this happen, he had followed each step of the recipe, so it shouldn¡¯t -

    *Boom*

    With a deafening sound the paste inside the pot suddenly exploded, showering Jack in boiling liquid.

    Coughing Jack tried to clean his eyes to see what had happened. But the jelly like consistence of the liquid hindered his efforts. Only after several minutes could he finally open his eyes again. As soon as he did he gulped.

    The kitchen was ruined. The slowly hardening jelly was everywhere. Even the ceiling was covered.

    ¡®Shit. Mom will go berserk.¡¯

    Frantically Jack tried to think how this disaster happened. What he did was done without the proper instruments, but that should at most lower the quality of the body tempering fluid, not turn it into a strange jelly.

    In the end he concluded that it was probably the plants. The first problem, the pieces of the Live Vine that didn¡¯t dissolve was already a sign for that. Even though they looked like the ones he had used in his past life he couldn¡¯t be sure that they had the same medical properties. Alchemy was a difficult art and even the slightest variations could have disastrous outcomes. Just like he had seen right now.

    With a sigh Jack decided to bury his plans to use Alchemy for now. If even something as easy as the Body Tempering Fluid became a failure, then the more difficult ones would surely be impossible. Luckily he knew a few techniques that would allow his inner Qi to inspect the exact properties of herbs. Then he could compare them to what properties the herbs had in his old world and try to change the recipe to counterbalance the differences. But that meant that he had to wait until he regained his cultivation to try again.

    Sadly most other crafts he had used in his past life like the Inscription of weapons or the creation of talismans would also require him to become able to use his internal Qi. Others, like blacksmithing for example would need a workplace and equipment, both currently impossible. So Jack had no other choice than to give up on his crafting fantasies. For now that is.

    Instead he would try to gather as much plants and materials as he could and store them in his room. Who knew what use some of the plants of this world could have if they were properly infused with Qi. So when he finally could begin crafting in earnest he would have enough materials to experiment. Given that many ingredients became stronger the longer they had been immersed in Qi he should start as soon as possible.

    ¡®After I finish cleaning this mess that is¡¯

    Quietly Jack started to clean the kitchen. However he didn¡¯t manage to clean it all before his parents came home. That day he saw hell.

 Chapter 7: Round two, start

    Carefully Jack observed his opponent. His posture, the angle of his hand, even the twitching of a finger was noticed. They had already fought often enough for him to know exactly what to look out for.

    Right now the two had their arms raised and were standing in a fighting stance. It was just a game of patience and whoever made the first mistake would lose.

    His enemy moved first. With a step forward he hit towards Jack¡¯s side. But Jack was prepared, with a swift movement he blocked the attack and countered. A swift fist hit his opponent, but because his opponent was quite fast it barely glanced by his chin.

    Unperturbed his enemy used his momentum, jumped back a bit and kicked against Jack¡¯s chest, forcing him a step backwards. Jack coughed as the kick forced the air out of his lungs. Inwardly he cursed. His body was much too frail without cultivation. And even though he had started training his body years ago, his Dantian still hadn¡¯t recovered and without the strength cultivation brought he just couldn¡¯t fight like he used to. And his opponent was a true monster.

    Seeing Jack stepping backwards his opponent took a step forward. With all his force he hit towards Jack. Still slightly out of balance Jack couldn¡¯t evade and had no other choice but to rise his arm in a desperate attempt to block the hit. The two arms connected. The next second a disgusting sound came from them.

    *Crack*

    With a snapping sound Jack¡¯s arm broke.

    ¡°F*ck¡±, Jack cursed out in his mind as he ground his teeth in pain. Why did this happen all the time?

    ¡°Ah, Jack are you alright?¡±, concerned his opponent came closer. He hadn¡¯t wanted to break Jack¡¯s arm¡­ again.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sam. It¡¯s not as if this is the first time this happened. A week or two without moving the arm and I¡¯ll be fine¡±, seeing the concerned look of his friend Jack had to grin even though he kept grimacing in pain. Guided by his Spiritual Veins the muscles inside his arms were pushing the bone back towards its old place and worked as a plaster to stabilize it there. But the process hurt like hell.

    It had been 7 years since Jack and Sam had first met. Since then the two had been always together. Training, fighting and sometimes just playing like normal children, the two were nearly inseparable. Jack was one of Sam¡¯s few friends and the only one his age that wasn¡¯t alienated by the fact that he was a martial artist. In return Sam was Jack¡¯s only friend because his mentality was close to the one a cultivator had. So after they had finished elementary school they decided to plan ahead and went together to a new one.

    Contrary to his expectations Jack¡¯s school life wasn¡¯t just sitting around bored and easily succeeding. To be honest he had thought that he could pose as some sort of genius. But instead he had come to realize that he had serious deficits in his education, especially when it came to modern sciences like math. Or worse, physics.

    Sure, as a cultivator Jack had lived for a long time and had learned quite a lot. But his focus had been formations and alchemy. Other topics simply weren¡¯t needed and what little he knew had turned rusty over the centuries. And something like physic was completely meaningless when it came to cultivators. Who cared after all why a rock would fall down if they could simply lift an entire mountain with nothing more than their will and some Qi? So Jack didn¡¯t have a head start like he had expected and was more in the upper middle of the grades for his class.

    Jack¡¯s school life had been normal till now. That is until a few months ago. Due to a slight misunderstanding Sam and Jack had ended up being thrown out of school and had to find a new one. Honestly Jack thought it was unfair. Sure, the 5 other boys that had been involved had multiple broken arms and legs, but they had been the ones that had started it, too. But at least Jack wouldn¡¯t have to repeat the last year and could simply continue in the 11<sup>th</sup> grade.

    Anyway, a lot had happened and today it was the last day of their holidays before the new school term in a new school would start for them. And obviously they would use this time to train.

    With a sigh Jack looked at his arm. While it wasn¡¯t a complicated break it would still need a bit of time to heal. Not ideal for a first school day. What if his new classmates thought he was a delinquent who got into fights daily? He kind of was, but that didn¡¯t mean he wanted to be thought of as such.

    Sam slowly walked closer. Shaking his head he grinned wryly while looking at Jack¡¯s arm.

    ¡°Sometimes I really doubt that you are a human. No human should be able to heal from broken bones in a week. Are you sure that you aren¡¯t a monster that has taken human form?¡±

    Jack rolled with his eyes.

    ¡°You are one to talk Mr. ¡®I¡¯m 16 years old and have already a black belt in 5 martial arts¡¯. If there¡¯s a monster here it¡¯s you.¡±

    A look of irritation passed over Sam¡¯s face when he heard the title, but he kept quiet. Mostly because it was true, when it came to martial arts Sam was a monster. Even though he had long since recovered from his broken Spiritual Veins and had millennia of experience Jack wasn¡¯t able to win any of their fights.

    Inwardly Jack frowned at the thought. He and Sam were by now stronger and quicker than most people their age because of their Spiritual Veins helping them grow as well as due to the constant body refining. But they still teenagers, so even if they were quite strong, should they compete against a professional athlete the outcome was uncertain. It still annoyed the old cultivator that he was weaker than a mortal, no matter if they trained or not.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    He sighed. Some day he would have to explain everything to Sam. He just didn¡¯t know how his friend would react at the fact that his friend was several thousand years older than himself. He just hoped it would work out well.

    ---

    After changing back into their normal clothes Jack and Sam left the old gym building. A few of the other students nodded to them, but didn¡¯t bother them further. In their time here they had gained a certain reputation, Sam for his talent in martial arts and Jack for his ability to take even the worst injuries and still being able to continue fighting. That reputation got even more increased when the two of them got attacked by some drunken teenagers five years ago. That time the other students had been close, but they had chosen to stand back and watch the show. It wasn¡¯t a battle but more akin to a massacre.

    Unfortunately it was during that time that Sam¡¯s grandfather noticed Jack¡¯s abnormal healing ability. As a result his training got even more intense and the sparring became brutal. Since then he had broken bones every few weeks.

    When he first came home like battered like this Jack¡¯s parents nearly went crazy. Well, mostly his mother, his father was more laid back. His mother on the other hand tried to forbid him to go to train again, an order he obviously ignored. Nowadays they simply tried to feign ignorance to his injuries even though they were still concerned.

    Leaving the building the two friends quickly said their goodbyes. Sam apologized again for breaking Jack¡¯s arm, but he just made a dismissive gesture and said:

    ¡°No problem. You know that it doesn¡¯t bother me. See you tomorrow at school¡±

    Jack turned around to go home, but when he made a step a strange feeling of weakness came over him and he stumbled.

    ¡°Jack! Are you alright?¡±

    Concerned Sam came closer. But Jack shook his head with a slight grin.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Just a bit dizzy, nothing more¡±

    ¡°Should I accompany you home?¡±, still worried Sam looked at his friend. But jack shook his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not some rich princess that needs a guard. Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯m fine¡± ¡®Better than fine to be honest¡¯

    With these words Jack ended the topic and started walking home again. But as soon as he was out of Sam¡¯s sight a big smile appeared on his face and he started running. In his mind he was already celebrating. The feeling just now was his Dantian finishing the healing process. He could finally cultivate again!

    ---

    When Jack reached his home he didn¡¯t even bother greeting his parents and run directly to his room, closing himself in. Worried his mother came to his door and asked if he was alright, but he just told her that he was fine.

    ¡°Did you have an argument with Sam?¡±, worriedly his mother asked. While she didn¡¯t like that Sam would often hurt her son, he was his only friend. So she had to make sure that the two of them stayed together.

    ¡°Huh? Ah, no. he broke my arm again, nothing more. I just want to sleep early for tomorrow, that¡¯s all¡±

    ¡°Ah, ok, that¡¯s go- wait, your arm again? Sigh, I have to call Mr. Long . This really has to stop¡±, mumbling Jack¡¯s mother went downwards to find a phone.

    In his room Jack listened to the distancing steps and sent a small prayer to the old man. His mother could be terrifying if she was enraged...

    He shook his head to clear his thoughts. That wasn¡¯t important now.

    Jack sat down in a meditative pose and took a deep breath. The Qi filled air rushed into his lungs. With a small thought Jack filtered the Qi from the air in his lungs. It wasn¡¯t much, just a small cloud of Qi that shimmered in a dim white colour. Inwardly Jack shook his head at the low purity of the Qi. Back in the world the Heavenly Arts School had their tower every breath of Qi would fill his lungs with a cloud that shined bright like the sun. He would have to purify it a lot more often than before to create a good foundation.

    With his next breath the air was expelled from his lungs, but the Qi remained behind. Another thought and the Qi began to move slowly away from his lungs through his Spiritual Veins.

    Carefully Jack guided the Qi towards his Dantian. The traveling Qi left behind a slight glimmering thread as part of it was absorbed by his body, strengthening it slightly in the process. The Qi began to vanish bit by bit, but simultaneously a few of the impurities became filtered out of it by the Spiritual Veins, causing its glow to become a bit brighter. In the end the small cloud he had started with turned into a few strands of white glowing mist when he finally reached his Dantian.

    Right now Jack¡¯s Dantian was just an empty space. There was no Qi whatsoever as even the last remnants of what he had in the past had long since vanished. The only things inside of it were the remains of his Soul Storage, floating around aimlessly. But with the arrival of the new Qi this changed. The few strands of mist began to float around aimlessly inside of it. Gently Jack started to guide the mist to condense further and the volume of the mist began shrinking. Further and further he pressed, until finally the Qi changed into a single liquid drop. It was miniscule, almost unnoticeable compared to the size of the Dantian, but for Jack it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. This small drop was the sign that he had started again on the path of cultivation.

    But it still wasn¡¯t enough. Greedily Jack began to cultivate further. Breath after breath he sucked in Qi and stored it inside himself. Simultaneously the Qi filled air inside his room began to become less and less dense as all the Qi was sucked into him.

    After several hours the small drop of Qi had increased to become a small fist sized puddle floating in the middle of the empty Dantian. But now its expansion had reached a stopping point. A transparent membrane covered the Qi and it was unable to expand beyond it. Seeing this Jack finally stopped his Qi absorption and opened his eyes.

    Jack¡¯s body felt strangely bloated but filled with energy. This was a clear sign that he had finally reached the border that separated non cultivators from cultivators. All it would take was the last step. He closed his eyes again.

    He concentrated back at the Qi inside his Dantian and slowly it began moving. It began to push against the barrier surrounding it. Instantly cracks began to form until finally¡­

    *Crack*

    With the sound of shattering glass the barrier broke and the Qi inside of Jack gushed outside. Most of it still remained in the Dantian, but a small part split of and left it. It began to move through the Spiritual Veins and became dispersed within his body which became stronger in the process. Jack had finally reclaimed a bit of his cultivation and had reached the Qi gathering stage!

    But when he opened his eyes again, a large frown was on his face. This had been way too easy. The boundary between a normal mortal and a cultivator was normally quite difficult to break through, way more difficult than the other boundaries within the Qi gathering stage. Some people even needed weeks to break through it, not a few seconds like himself. And there was another difference to normal cultivators within him. His Dantian was much too big. He hadn¡¯t noticed it beforehand, because he had stopped looking at it after the first year, but now it became obvious. Even though it had shrunken down after he had lost his cultivation it hadn¡¯t returned to the size he should have as a new cultivator should have. In fact it was roughly ten times as big.

    In the end Jack concluded that it was probably because of the cultivation he had retained during his reincarnation. He had already been a cultivator beforehand, though it had been only a short time before he had lost it. So the bottleneck towards becoming a cultivator was weaker than it should be normally. And the Qi that had been inside the Dantian before must have bloated it artificially.

    That was both good and bad. Good, because breaking through bottlenecks easily was always helpful. And with a big Dantian a cultivator could store quite a lot of Qi. So he would be able to fight a lot longer and use more Qi in the fight than a normal person at the same stage. On the other hand it was a burden. Before he could reach the next stage of cultivation, the foundation stage he would have to fill his Dantian completely with Qi. This Qi had to be as pure as possible, to create a good foundation for his further cultivation, so he would need to refine it many times. And with every time he would need more Qi. Normally that wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but the size of his Dantian would magnify the Qi he needed to a terrifying amount. Especially since he had only a very small supply coming through the hole. Would he even be able to reach the foundation stage?

    With a sigh Jack shook his head. For now this wasn¡¯t important. Right now he should simply be happy that he had taken the first step back on the path of cultivation. A slight grin on his face he returned into his relaxed seating pose, to cultivate even more.

    But unbeknownst to him there was something else that was strange inside his Dantian. While most of his Qi was glowing in a dim white a very small part that was different, sparkling sometimes with a slightly greenish tone.

    And so Jack kept on cultivating until the next morning, not knowing of the changes that would come soon.

 Chapter 8: Cracks in the wall

    Until the morning light fell through his window Jack kept cultivating. During the whole evening and night he had kept absorbing the Qi inside the room. In the end he had managed to absorb almost all of it and only the steady trickle of new Qi from the hole was keeping the air from becoming completely empty. By now he needed almost a minute to gather enough for even one drop, so it simply wasn¡¯t effective to keep cultivating. After a last breath got added to the now bottle sized puddle of Qi in his Dantian Jack stopped cultivating.

    When Jack opened his eyes, a slight glow appeared inside his eyes before vanishing quickly. Then he stood up and stretched.

    *Haaah*

    Jack loved the feeling of cultivation. Every cell in his body felt invigorated. And even though he hadn¡¯t focused on it, a small part of the Qi was constantly leaving his Dantian and entering his body during cultivation, strengthening and healing it. Though it was miniscule compared to the wave that came during the breakthrough of a level, it was a passive effect that would allow him become stronger by the day and heal wounds with an incredible speed.

    Carefully Jack moved his arm. Yesterday it had been broken and hurt with every movement, but today it had been almost completely repaired. Only a slight unease could be felt from it, but that would vanish soon enough, too.

    Cultivating could be used as a convenient way to heal oneself within a short time. That is if the damage was not too much. Several or more complicated wounds would take a long time to heal and in this time it would be very hard to make any progress in cultivation, because the body would instinctively concentrate on the healing. If the wounds were too extreme it was even possible that the cultivation would start to shrink to heal the body.

    Finding no problems in his arm, Jack punched the air. With a slight sound the arm went through the air, a bit quicker than before the break. Yesterday he would have been roughly on par with a professional athlete. But today he had gotten stronger by around 5%. That was still in the realm of what a human could reach, at least theoretically, but it was still an impressive increase for barely a night of work.

    Then he decided to go a step further. He needed to know how strong he could be if he gave his all. And so a very slight amount of the liquid Qi inside Jack¡¯s Dantian started to change. It lost its glow and turned into a dull grey colour. Instead a small, glowing cloud of pure energy gathered around to it.

    Next Jack guided the cloud of energy out of energy out of his Dantian and into the network of Spiritual Veins that surrounded it. Another thought and quickly the energy moved through the Veins towards Jack¡¯s arm. There the energy left the Spiritual Vein and infused itself into the surrounding flesh, bones and tendons.

    Jack swung his arm again. With a sharp sound the arm parted the air. Another 5% increase in strength. He nodded satisfied, then he removed the energy from his arm and guided it back to his Dantian where it recombined with the Qi it came from. A bit of the energy had been lost in the process, but that would recover automatically as long as he stayed near a source of Qi.

    Suddenly he noticed the clock at the wall and cursed. He barely had half an hour until school would start. He had to go now, or he would be late to his first school day.

    Still in the clothes from yesterday he jumped up and ran out of the room. But, just a few minutes after he had left, a soft noise sounded in the empty room, echoing through space itself.

    *Crack*

    If there was someone around who was able to see Qi, they would see that the space next to the small hole, which Jack had burned into the sphere, had changed. A few hours ago it had started to vibrate in a very slow frequency, but bit by bit it had gotten faster. Soon it had reached a point where it vibrated faster than the eye was able to see. But more than that, the space around it had started to follow the vibration and began to fluctuate slightly.

    But the space couldn¡¯t move as freely as the hole. The reason was the Sphere that covered it partially and stabilised it. But with the ever increasing fluctuations it was only a matter of time until the changing space became too volatile for the Sphere to handle. And so, with a resounding crack the Sphere started to break.

    When the space broke free and started to become more and more unstable the vibrations of the hole slowed down until it became still once more. But the damage was already caused. Slowly small cracks began growing around the hole, bleeding Qi into reality. Sadly nobody was around to see it, but it was the beginning of a new, chaotic era for Earth.

    ---

    Ignorant to the changes inside his room Jack had finally reached his new school. If he had to find a word to describe it, it would be ¡®Ugly¡¯ or maybe ¡®hideous¡¯, ¡®disgusting¡¯ or any similar word.

    Build nearly 50 years ago its outer appearance was a large block of grey concrete, without any redeeming features except its remarkable similarity to a grey coloured brick and a severe lack of windows. But the insides were even worse, especially the carpets. Someone, whose mental qualities were at best questionable in Jack¡¯s opinion, had thought that it would be a wise idea to use carpets as the floor for a school where nearly a thousand of children would pass over it every day. Worse yet, the floor hadn¡¯t been changed even once since it had been placed during the building and that was easily noticeable. It wasn¡¯t without reason that there were rumours that the carpets were secretly alive and would hunt for students during the night.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Walking towards his new classroom Jack shuddered as he looked down. He had the distinct impression that the carpet under his feet was in fact wriggling and moving. A feeling of nausea flooded him.

    *Nope, definitely nope*

    Quickly Jack turned his view back upwards. Out of sight, out of mind, right? He tried his best to ignore the slightly squishy feeling under his feet while he was trying to walk a little bit faster.

    Luckily for him it didn¡¯t take long to finally reach his classroom. And, even more lucky, as it was in a part of the school that had been renovated recently it had been freed from the green-brown (was that even its original colour?) menace that covered the floors in the other parts of the school. The classroom itself was bare, only a single map of Europe covered one of its white walls.

    Jack observed his new classmates for a moment. Instantly he became dejected. If you ignored Sam who already sat on a lonely table in the back of the class, the rest of the children in the class were normal. Numbering 23 in total, 11 boys and 12 girls, they were just a normal class of normal children without anything that made them interesting for Jack.

    Disappointed Jack walked towards Sam. He noticed that some of the children were looking at him curiously, but decided to ignore them. They were just normal mortals after all.

    ¡°Good morning! How¡¯s your arm?¡±, concerned Sam greeted him.

    ¡°All well. I think it didn¡¯t actually break completely. It- *yawn* doesn¡¯t hurt anymore either¡±

    Right in the middle of answering Jack had to yawn. Even though he was a cultivator now, he was still young, so he still had to get a lot of sleep. But he had cultivated through the entire night so he was rather tired.

    The fact that he had felt strange ever since he had left the house didn¡¯t help either. Now that he had properly cultivated instead of just gaining a lot of Qi while he had the body of an unprepared infant, the void wasn¡¯t strong enough to pull it out of his body. Still, it continued to try to pull him to all side at once, a feeling that made him extremely uncomfortable.

    Sam looked a bit worried, but before he could say anything the teacher entered the room. He was a middle aged man with black hair and a friendly smile on his face. Still, Jack could tell on the first view that this man was their new math teacher. They all had that certain aura of bleakness around them. After a short moment the man introduced himself as Mr. West and began the class.

    ¡°Alright class, now, I know it¡¯s a new school year and right after the holidays, so you have a lot to talk about, but please be quiet for a moment. This year we have two new students in class, so why don¡¯t we play a little game to get to know each other¡±

    The ¡®game¡¯ was throwing a small ball from person to person. Whoever caught the ball had to introduce him- or herself. Honestly Jack thought that it was just a stupid and inefficient way to waste time.

    When the ball finally reached Jack he hesitated for a moment. Everyone else had told not only their names but also their hobbies and dreams. Was he expected to do that, too? After a moment of thinking he shrugged. It wasn¡¯t as if anyone would believe him even if he did tell the truth.

    ¡°My name is Jack Erikson. In my past live I have been an immortal cultivator. In this life I plan to gain true immortality and stand on top of this world¡±

    As expected the only reaction was laughter. Even though they probably didn¡¯t even understood what a cultivator was these kids still had the nerve to ridicule him.

    *Bah, kids these days*, cursed Jack before passing the ball to the next child. He threw it a bit harder than he had originally planned, still not completely used to his new strength, but luckily the girl could catch it, although only barely.

    Grinning Sam leaned closer to Jack. ¡°Still reading those strange novels? Aren¡¯t you a bit too old to play make-belief?¡±

    Jack rolled his eyes. A few years ago he had wanted to prepare Sam to becoming a cultivator and had decided to do it by introducing him to cultivation novels. That way he would have at least some base knowledge. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t work, as Sam disliked the unrealistic and flat main characters and stopped reading it after a few chapters. Which, Jack had to admit, wasn¡¯t even wrong, most of these guys were much too stupid and narrow-minded to be tolerable, though they were certainly close to some people he had met in the past.

    Jack opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted when the ball was thrown towards Sam. Obviously he caught the ball effortlessly. He gave a short, playful grin towards Jack and began to introduce himself.

    ¡°I¡¯m Sam Long. I¡¯m a martial artist and will one day stand on the top of this world, even if I have to destroy thousands of enemies¡±

    Jack nodded thoughtfully. Indeed, a martial artist had to strive to be the best, no matter who opposed them. As such Sam was truly a perfect example of his profession.

    The other children unfortunately didn¡¯t seem to share his opinion. Loud laughter filled the class again. Even the teacher looked a bit strange at his two new students, though he didn¡¯t laugh.

    Sam didn¡¯t appear to be faced by the laughter, but Jack could see his eye twitching a little bit. To lose control over his expression like that, he had to be pissed. And how couldn¡¯t he be? Even though his speech had been exaggerated because he wanted to show up his friend, but in its essence it was still what he believed in. And these children dared to trample on his conviction?

    With a sharp movement Sam passed the ball over to the next child. Jack opened his eyes abruptly as the ball shot forward with an incredible speed and hit the child, a boy with short red hair, right in the face. He wasn¡¯t sure if even he would be able to throw the ball this fast. Truly, it was a throw that was bordering at the limits of what was humanly possible.

    Luckily the ball was filled with a very soft material, otherwise the child would have been hurt. But as it was, the ball simply deformed upon contact before it fell down to the ground with a soft sound. The child that was hit simply sat still for a moment as if he hadn¡¯t noticed anything. Then suddenly tears began to fill his eyes and he started crying.

    Sighing Jack shook his head. Way to go, Sam. Now their first impression was ruined.

    It took the teacher several minutes to get the boy to stop crying. And then it took some time to get the rest of the class back to focus. They even continued with the game, though the teacher reminded them to be more careful this time. In the end the teacher collected the ball before he frowned for a moment.

    ¡°There is still someone who hasn¡¯t been introduced¡­ Ah, right, she¡¯s excused for today¡­¡±

    With that he put the ball away and finally began the class for real. It turned out that Jack had been right and Mr. West truly was their math teacher. That meant that the time seemed to slow down to a crawl while he waited for the torture to end. When the class finally ended the teacher made a last request to the class.

    ¡°And please do not forget to inform your parents about the annual visit to the museum next month. We will need their written agreements until next week or you won¡¯t be allowed to come with us.¡±

    After that he left the room and after only a short break the next lesson started. Sadly it wasn¡¯t much more interesting than the math classes. And so the hours passed slowly. During the breaks Jack and Sam kept for themselves. Their classmates stayed away from them, no doubt because of what had happened before. In short, it was boring and for Jack it seemed as if time had slowed down to a crawl.

    Still, after an eternity of boredom school finally ended for the day. Jack and Sam parted ways, as Sam had to buy groceries for his grandfather while Jack went home straight. There was no training this afternoon, as he had been apologized because of his arm, so he had the remaining day free to cultivate. His parents wouldn¡¯t be home until the afternoon, so he would be undisturbed. With a spring in his step he walked home.

    But as soon as he opened the door he froze. A small gust of Qi filled air flew towards him. The entire house had been filled with it, far more than the small hole should have been able to provide in the few hours since he had emptied out the area.

    Worried Jack run towards his room. The closer he came the more dense the Qi became until it reached a level that could compare to a world of his old life. A world in the lower parts of the mortal realm, but still¡­

    As soon as he reached his room and looked inside he turned pale. The small hole floating in the air had begun to crack. Small extensions spread away from it like a spider web. And Jack could feel that they were still growing bit by bit. The sphere that had protected Earth had started to break apart.

 Chapter 9: The Seal

    With a pale face Jack stared at the crack hovering in front of him. Though it was invisible for a normal mortal¡¯s eyes it looked like a harbinger of calamity to him. With a shivering hand he touched the crack. A warm feeling of Qi washed over his fingers, but even more concerning was the slight quivering he could feel in the space around it.

    ¡°Augh¡±

    With a sharp yelp jack pulled back his hand. A deep cut had formed across the back of his hand. The cut was unnaturally clean, even the most sharp knife would be unable to cut a wound like this. And that was because the wound was created because the space between the cells of his hand had shifted.

    Grimacing Jack looked at the wound. It hurt exactly like an extremely deep papercut. Still, the feeling was enough to take him back to reality. Nervously rubbing his chin he started to think how to deal with this. He had to somehow stop the still growing cracks, or maybe the whole Sphere would start collapsing.

    Quickly he went through the knowledge from his old life. Magic wouldn¡¯t work, as it had to be cast perpetual. That meant he had to use a formation made of runes. But which one? The Sphere was something that was outside of normal space, so formations simply wouldn¡¯t work. At least non that Jack knew about.

    So he had to take another approach. For Jack it was clear that the unstable space around the cracks was somehow responsible for the breaking of the Sphere. So if he could stabilise the space itself the cracks should stop spreading.

    After a bit of thinking Jack finally found the right formation. A simple formation that would stabilize and reinforce space inside of it, originally meant to stop teleportation and summonings for weak cultivators. Originally it was meant for cultivators of the Foundation realm, so Jack wouldn¡¯t be able to use it right now. But if he modified the formation to cover only a few meters instead of dozens and cut down on the amplifying runes, that would surround the core of the formation originally, it should be possible. Probably.

    Jack opened the drawer on the underside of his desk and pulled out a small knife he had hid inside. Some might question why a teenager was keeping a knife inside his desk, but Jack had learned the hard way that nothing in life was safe, not even one¡¯s own home. He had long since lost count how often people had tried to break into his room, back in his old life.

    Carefully Jack cut a hole inside the carpet in a circle with a 2 meter radius around the crack. Then he pulled of the carpet to get to the bare concrete floor beneath it.

    With careful use of the knife Jack started to work. A small amount of energy flowed from his Dantian into the weapon, making it sharp enough to cut through the hard concrete floor. The runes he needed were still clear inside his mind. First a circle made of 144 runes one and a half meters around the floor and then a small quadrat made of 44 runes, 10 per side and 4 for the corners, inside of it. And every single one of the small and twisted runes had to be carved as perfect as possible inside the floor.

    After half an hour Jack had finally finished the formation. Sweat had long since permeated through his clothes while he was working as careful yet quick as he could.

    But even though the formation was ready, it still wasn¡¯t completed. It still needed Qi and, even more important, a conductor which would disperse the Qi through the whole formation. Hesitating for a moment Jack looked down at the knife, but he knew he had no other choice. There was simply no other conductor he had at hand right now.

    With a swift movement Jack stabbed the knife into the wound on the back of his hand. It had already been healed a bit, but with the stab it started immediately to bleed again. Quickly Jack dipped his finger into the blood and used it to paint the formation in a bloody red, carefully following the carved lines.

    When the whole formation was covered Jack looked over his work carefully. Not noticing anything out of place he nodded satisfied. Finally the formation was ready to be used. Jack placed his hands at two large runes on the outer circle, then he concentrated. Slowly the Qi stored inside his Dantian started to react.

    Slowly the glowing drops of Qi started to lose their light as Jack extracted the energy from it. It was much more than he had used for the simple Qi Infusion a few hours earlier. This time he used everything he had and in an instant the entirety of his Qi, a small puddle of it, became grey and lifeless as its energy left it. The energy gathered inside two bright glowing spheres before it left the Dantian, flowing through Jack¡¯s Spiritual Veins until they exited his hands, one light, the other left.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    But it wasn¡¯t enough. The formation barely started to flicker with a white glow. Jack, being just on the very beginning of the Qi gathering realm simply didn¡¯t have enough energy to activate the formation, no matter how much he had modified it. He hesitated for a moment, but then he gritted his teeth. This situation was his fault and he had to stop it, no matter the cost. With a gut wrenching feeling he ripped the grey remnants of the Qi from his Dantian, losing his very cultivation.

    But Jack ignored the feeling and continued to guide the Qi towards the formation, feeding it more and more of his power. Because even if the Qi had lost some part of its energy, the liquid itself was also a very potent form of energy given material form. One a cultivator would only use in the direst situations.

    Finally, after he had lost almost all his cultivation again, the formation started to light up with a pale white glow. After a moment the air over it seemed to ripple as the space became stabilized. Watching it for a moment Jack let out a relieved sigh as he saw that the crack had stopped growing.

    Jack stood up unsteady. His head felt as if had been filled with cotton and he had trouble concentrating. With slow movements Jack stumbled towards his bed. Still clothed he fell inside of it and fell asleep instantly.

    ---

    When Jack woke up it was already afternoon. Carefully he stood up. He felt as if a train had been driving over his head. But that was normal. Losing Qi like he did always caused a very unpleasant feeling of weakness and nausea, no matter how small the lost amount was.

    A quick look showed that the formation was still running properly. Now that it had been properly activated it was able to attract some of the Qi around it to keep itself working longer. But he would still have to recharge it every day just to be safe.

    Then Jack grimaced. Contrary to what he had thought before the formation hadn¡¯t been able to stop the expansion of the crack. It just slowed it down. Jack could feel how the crack continued to spread, albeit almost unnoticeably slow. That was something that the formation was unable to stop as it wasn¡¯t because of instability in space but because of the Sphere itself breaking.

    And that was very bad. It proved that the Sphere that surrounded Earth had begun to get unstable. True, his formation had slowed it down, but sooner or later the Sphere would vanish. And when that happened, hell would break loose. Qi would begin to spread across the world, Monsters would appear and hunt people. And that was only the beginning. Who knows what else could happen when this helpless world was finally opened to the outside. Rogue cultivators, plunderers or bandits, everyone would be able to come and take whatever they wanted. The amount of people who would die was unimaginable.

    And all of it was his fault. Jack looked at the small crack with a guilt filled look. The Sphere had been here since eons and would have probably continued to do so, but then he had to go and poked a hole into it. In hindsight it was obvious that such an action would have consequences.

    Suddenly Jack started to think back at his action all this years ago. He had used an unknown artefact that had the potential to destroy the entire world just because he wanted to become more powerful. He even knew what could happen and he did it anyway. He had valued his own life more than the life of every human on this planet. Sure those were only Mortals, but it was an entire world he had doomed. How could he be so stupid?

    And he was sure that the breakdown itself was also related to him. He had just started to cultivate again and not even a day later the Sphere had started to break. That was certainly no coincidence. Not only once, but twice had he acted thoughtless and risked the entire world he was in and now it was coming back to bite him in the ass.

    Letting out a sigh Jack shook his head. That way of thought was useless. For now he had to think of a way to deal with the situation at hand.

    Unfortunately, no matter how hard he thought about it he had no idea how to fix the Sphere itself, nor did he have a way to stabilise the cracks. So all he could do was preventing as much of the damage as he could. And that meant trying to find a way to slow down the breaking of the Sphere and slaying monster as soon as they appeared. But Jack knew that it was impossible to protect everyone. He was much too weak right now and he couldn¡¯t be everywhere.

    In fact the area he would be able to protect was small, he would probably be unable to even protect the city he lived in. At least if he was alone. He closed his eyes and pinched his nose as he thought what that meant. He had to finally tell Sam about his past and help him to become a cultivator himself.

    At that thought Jack felt a bit of fear. How would Sam react? It was entirely possible that he would lose the only friend he had. And it wasn¡¯t only Sam. His parents would definitely learn about it. And then he would be forced to tell them the truth, too.

    In the beginning he had though his parents as strange and sometimes annoying, but over time they had grown to him. Having a family again was great and he didn¡¯t want to lose it again. So obviously Jack felt nervous at the prospect of having to tell them.

    Sadly, even when he told Sam it wouldn¡¯t change much. Jack didn¡¯t have the illusion that it would be possible to prevent the monsters to kill everyone if they were only two cultivators. Two people couldn¡¯t do anything when the whole world was changing into a monster paradise. No, he would need an army. Or better, an Order, a group of cultivators that would live and die for each other. But he had no idea how to get other people to become cultivators. The people of this world had all been born without Spiritual Veins, so none of them should be able to cultivate. Sam had showed that there was an exception to that, but since then no one else had showed signs of forming Spiritual Veins, no matter how much they had contact to Qi.

    And worst of all he had no idea how much time he had to prepare himself either. The cracks were growing slowly, but that was only a part of the problem couldn¡¯t rely on that.

    With a suspicious look Jack viewed at the walls that surrounded the room. They were the main reason that the Qi couldn¡¯t leave the house as they absorbed the biggest part of it. But every material had a saturation point after which it wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb Qi as well as it did before. And as soon as that point was reached the Qi inside his room would be able to pass to the outside. Sadly he had no idea what the saturation point of concrete was. Before the crack that wasn¡¯t a problem, as the amount of Qi was too pitiful to have any chance to reach this point, but now¡­

    Jack sighed. One problem appeared after the other. It was ironic. The last few years were peaceful, in fact almost nothing ever happened. It was just a normal, sometimes even boring childhood. And now, just a few hours after he had finally started to cultivate again he had managed to suddenly start an apocalypse. That had to be a record. Though it wasn¡¯t one Jack wanted to have.

    For the moment all he could do was to become stronger. He had lost a part of his cultivation to seal the crack, so he had to start again from the bottom of the Qi gathering realm. Still, with the increase of Qi that came through the crack he should be able to reclaim his lost cultivation soon.

    With a last look at the crack Jack closed his eyes and began to cultivate. It would be a long night for him.

 Chapter 10: First Encounter

    Tired Jack looked down at his math book. Two nights without sleep were showing their consequences. The short time he had when he passed out after the loss of his Qi didn¡¯t really count as it was closer to fainting than actual sleep.

    At least the loss of sleep had been put to good use. By now he had around 2 litres of Qi inside his Dantian. Its purity was still too low, so he should choose a cultivation method soon to start refining it. And then he would have to cultivate even more afterwards.

    He let out a sigh. It was now that the negative side of his large Dantian showed. He had no idea how much Qi he had to have inside his Dantian before he could break through to the next level. He just knew that the amount had to be far more than normally. And with the refining he had to do he had no idea how long it would take to really break through.

    That is if he just kept cultivating normally. Maybe he should look into Alchemy again? Now that he was a cultivator again he should be able to analyse the plants he had stored in his room and finally create real potions and pills again. That should be able to cut down on the time he would need. At least if the plants had the right medical effects and weren¡¯t just useless decorations.

    Again Jack let out a sigh. There was simply so much he had to do that he didn¡¯t know where to start.

    ¡°Hey Jack, are you alright?¡±

    Jack looked up. Sam was looking at him, a worried look on his face. Honestly, Jack wasn¡¯t surprised that his friend was worried about him. If he did even look half as tired as he felt he would still look like shit.

    And it wasn¡¯t only Sam that was worried about him. His parents had been concerned about him closing up inside his room yesterday after they finally came back from work. They even went as far as to barge into his room unannounced. Luckily he had been able to hide the formation back under the carpet just in time.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine¡± Jack gave Sam a weak smile. He knew he had to talk to him about cultivation, but he really didn¡¯t want to. Still, after a moment of hesitation he opened his mouth.

    ¡°Listen Sam, after the school has ended we ¨C¡°

    Jack stopped right in the middle of the sentence. He could feel something. It was incredible faint, but it was definitely the feeling of Qi. A moment he panicked. Had the Qi already started to spread outside of his room? But then he felt the Qi moving. Slowly it came closer.

    Jack looked to the door of the classroom, just as it opened. A girl was standing inside the door. She had dark blonde hair and blue-grey eyes that seemed to pierce through everything they looked at. Her crimson shirt bulged over her voluptuous chest. All in all she looked stunning.

    Jack frowned as she stepped inside the classroom. His eyes followed her every movement. He was sure that the Qi originated from her, but how? She clearly wasn¡¯t a cultivator, she didn¡¯t even have Spiritual Veins. And more than that, the Qi around her felt strange, somehow stale and hollow. It was nothing like he had ever felt before, even though it was so faint that he had sometimes trouble to perceive it.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    A sharp pain in his side suddenly interrupted Jack¡¯s investigation. Jack looked towards Sam who had still one finger pointed under his rib. He looked somehow annoyed at Jack. Maybe because he had suddenly been distracted during their talk?

    ¡°What are you starring at the girl over there? Don¡¯t tell me you fell in love at first sight or something silly like that¡±

    Somehow the way Sam looked at him creeped Jack out. Quickly he shook his head.

    ¡°No way. I was just¡­ curious because I haven¡¯t seen her yesterday, that as all¡± It didn¡¯t sound very convincing, but Sam nodded thoughtful.

    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right. She must be that student that was excused¡±, Sam also looked closer at the girl with a frown on his face. Jack noticed that his friends view hovered conspicuously long on her chest area. Internally he nodded, his friend had finally entered puberty. He had been worried before, because he didn¡¯t seem to have interest in women, but now he had finally taken the first step. Jack himself had only little interest in women. Sure, there had been one or two in his last life, but most of the time he had spent alone.

    Suddenly Jack noticed that the girl had stopped walking and was looking over to them. Her view passed shortly over Sam before it focussed on Jack. A moment she frowned, as if she was unsure what to think about him, then her eyes narrowed into a glare that seemed to pierce through Jack.

    ¡®Shit, did she caught us staring? Not good, I need to be more careful around her¡¯

    As long as he didn¡¯t know what the strange Qi around her meant, Jack had to keep her under close watch. All he knew she could be reincarnated just like him. But a moment later he shook his head. No, it was unlikely that she was a reborn person. Not only was the chance of it happening to two people of the same world quite low, it didn¡¯t explain why her Qi felt like this. No, it was more likely that she was a simple mortal and had found something that still stored some Qi. Some sort of artefact that would lose a bit of Qi constantly because of the void zone and that she was carrying with her right now.

    The girl continued her glare for a few seconds, then she walked away and sat on her place. Still, every other minute she would look over to them. Wasn¡¯t that a bit too much for simply staring at her? Suddenly Jack had another though and he paled.

    ¡®Wait, if I can feel the Qi that comes from her, could it be she can feel mine, too?¡¯

    A feeling of dread came over him. He had just started cultivating again and not used to his newfound strength, no matter how meagre it was. So it would be the perfect time to attack him. Unconsciously he started to ready himself for a fight. If she were to attack now¡­

    But then he chuckled and forced himself to relax. No, that was stupid. Even if she could feel the Qi inside him, why would she attack him? He hadn¡¯t done anything bad. At least not to her directly. So there was nothing to worry about. Not to mention that she was probably just a mortal and had no way to fight against him. Still, a bit caution wouldn¡¯t be wrong around her.

    A light tugging at his shirt caused Jack to look back towards Sam.

    ¡°Are you sure you are not interested in her?¡±

    ---

    With a loud ringing tone the lesson finally ended. The girl, whose name was Rin as Jack had learned, stood up immediately and left the classroom. Quickly Jack stood up and followed her. After some thinking he had decided to at least try to talk to the girl. During the whole lesson she had kept looking over to him, so he had become sure that she could feel his Qi. And maybe she did know more about the strange Qi that was around her.

    The girl walked fast. Jack tried to call after her, but she either didn¡¯t hear him or outright ignored him. Cursing lightly Jack started to run after her.

    After a few minutes he finally caught up to her inside one of the older hallways. The mould coloured carpet floor gave of squelching sounds as she turned around to look at Jack. Her usual glare was piercing into Jack, but he tried to ignore it.

    ¡°Hello, may I talk to you for a moment?¡±

    The girl snorted. The Qi around her suddenly started to flare up until it rivalled Jack¡¯s own in power. Alarmed Jack moved into a fighting stance. But the girl remained still, her eyes glowing in a silver colour. For a moment none of the two moved and the hallway was still as if in anticipation of a battle that only waited to unfold.

    But then a group of students passed by the corner to the hallway, talking and laughing. Immediately the girl¡¯s Qi calmed down and her eyes loosed their unnatural shine. Her glare didn¡¯t lessen though. When she finally opened her mouth the sound of her voice was quiet, but it held a deadly promise within.

    ¡°This is my last warning. Leave this class and me alone. Or else I¡¯ll not show mercy.¡±

    With this she turned around and left. Unsure Jack looked after her, his arms still raised defensively. While he had no idea what just had happened and why the girl reacted as she did, he was sure that it wasn¡¯t good for him.

    ¡®Okay, now I am worried¡¯

 Chapter 11: Late visit

    Carefully Jack placed the small stone into the ground. A glimmering rune was sparkling in the light of the afternoon sun before it got covered under a thin layer of dirt.

    ¡°Hah, finally finished¡±

    With a content sigh Jack pushed his sweat soaked black hair out of his face. Finally, after 5 days of hard work, he had finished securing his home. After the talk with Rin he had been deeply worried. Her behaviour was definitely not normal and she knew about his cultivation. Or at least she felt that he was more than a normal human. Either way, it left him feeling vulnerable.

    And so he had decided to secure his home. A series of over a hundred small rocks, enchanted with a simple rune, that would create a single razor sharp blade of wind, were placed in a circle around the house. A last stone, the one he had just placed, would be used as the centrepiece to coordinate it. As soon as someone unauthorized stepped inside the house without any of his family nearby, the runes would get activated and wind blades would get shot at the intruders. It was a simple defence measure, but it had been annoying to set up. He did have to carve the hundreds of small attacking runes and the complicated controlling rune as perfect as possible. And that not only once but twice. On his first try he had forgotten to exclude animals from the list and the whole formation had started to fire at everything bigger than a mouse. All his work gone because of a single mistake and he had to set it up again. Luckily the cat hadn¡¯t been there, otherwise the consequences would have been dreadful.

    But now that the formation was ready he could finally feel safe inside his home again. While every wind blade alone would be weak, working together he was sure that he would be able to defend his home against anyone in the Qi gathering realm. At least if they didn¡¯t have protective treasures or defensive techniques¡­

    Sighing Jack shook his head. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was enough. Rin¡¯s strange reaction at his attempt to talk to her worried him. And her voice had been filled with so much aggression that he almost thought that he had harmed her personally somehow. Such a person could do anything. But the worst was that he didn¡¯t know anything about her, neither why she reacted like she did nor if there were other people like her who would help her should she decide to act against him.

    And so he had used the last few days to prepare the formation as a protection. Sadly that had impacted the other parts of his life much more than he liked. With his constant work on the formation he hadn¡¯t managed to cultivate any further, as any new Qi he gained was immediately sacrificed to create more runes. He also hadn¡¯t talked to Sam like he had planned before. That was partly because he didn¡¯t have the time, but also because he was worried. Rin could feel his Qi, he was sure of it. So if Sam would start to cultivate now she would surely notice. And Jack didn¡¯t want to endanger his sole friend like this, not until he knew who exactly he was going against.

    Hell, he didn¡¯t even know if Rin was really his enemy. All he knew she could have just a really bad day before they met¡­ Okay, that was not very likely, but still, it showed how little he knew about her. That had to change soon. And luckily he knew just the right way to do that.

    A faint smile on his lips Jack walked back inside the house. He had to make a few last preparations, then he could start.

    ---

    The afternoon sun had long since sunk under the horizon. Darkness filled the empty streets. But there was still someone out there. Covered in black clothes Jack looked at the house on the other side of the road.

    A short question to his new classmates had been all he needed to find out where Rin lived. As soon as it had gotten dark he had left his home and went to the address. Luckily his parents had already been asleep in front of the TV, like every day when they came home late from work, so his departure wasn¡¯t noticed. And now he was in a district of the town he had never visited before, as it was on the opposite side of the town to where he lived. And that was the only reason why he hadn¡¯t already noticed the house before.

    The house- if you could call a large 3 storied mansion a house- was beautiful and looked very expensive. It was surrounded by a large garden and a nearly 4 metres tall brick wall. But for Jack, the most important was the feeling of Qi that filled the area. It was the same strange Qi that he had felt around Rin, just less concentrated.

    Frowning Jack looked at the Qi. How wasn¡¯t it already being dispersed by the void zone? He squinted his eyes as he tried to see more details. After a few moments he understood. The Qi wasn¡¯t simply in the air, it was concentrated in small threads that spread through the whole area. Someone had enchanted all these threads and put them here.

    It honestly made him nervous. If anything it told him that Rin definitely wasn¡¯t a single person who just happened to find an artefact randomly lying around. No, there had to be someone behind her, an organisation of some sort. And a powerful one given the expensive looking mansion.

    A moment Jack hesitated. Maybe he should stop here? The threads were probably part of some alarm system and a sophisticated one at that. If he made a mistake and got caught he would antagonise an entire group of people. Still, he needed to know more. Thinking carefully Jack looked at the wall that surrounded the garden. Climbing it would probably activate another alarm and simply jumping over it would be stupid. He would have no way to know if he would land near the threads or not. So he needed another way to get over it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Jack started to walk around the large property, always looking for a way inside. Finally he found a small tree whose branches stretched over the wall that surrounded the garden.

    Quickly Jack climbed the tree and followed the branch until he was right over the wall. Looking down into the garden he tried to find a spot that wasn¡¯t near any of the enchanted threads. After a few moments he finally found what he looked for and jumped down.

    The soft grass cushioned his landing and without a sound Jack had successfully reached the garden. But now came the hardest part. Carefully Jack started to walk towards the house, always avoiding the small threads that were in his way.

    Most of the threads were on the ground or in the height of his ankle, but some were higher until chest height. Slowly Jack weaved his way through them, often crouching and crawling under the near invisible threads.

    It took the better part of an hour, but in the end he managed to get through the threads and reached the area around the house. Here there weren¡¯t any threads anymore and Jack could finally relax. Now he just had to get into the mansion unnoticed.

    Jack was about to try opening one of the large doors, but then he stopped suddenly. The soft sound of footsteps could be heard. Hastily Jack turned his head and looked for a place to hide himself. A small bush came into his view and immediately he leapt into it.

    Not a moment too soon, cause just as the rustling branches of the bush stopped moving two men came around the corner of the mansion. They were clothed in wide, dark clothes that failed to completely hide the pistols that were on their hips. Inwardly Jack cursed, it was a guard patrol and a well-armed one, though at least none of them had any Qi. Slowly the guards walked around the mansion, one of them lighting their surroundings with a bright flashlight. When the light of the flashlight passed by the bush Jack tensed.

    It was in moments like this that Jack was envious at cultivators with the darkness element. If he could cover himself in shadows like they could, staying hidden would be easy. But as it were, all he could do was trying to stay as still as possible.

    Luckily the light remained only for a moment on the bush, then it wandered of and the guards walked away. Jack waited until the guards had vanished from hi sight, then he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been way to close for his taste.

    Jack left the bush. Silently he cursed as his clothes got torn by the small thorns. Who in his right mind placed a thorn bush inside a garden? When he was finally out he was covered in small scratches and small broken branches stuck to him. Luckily the bush itself didn¡¯t look different from before, so no one should notice that he had hid inside.

    After making sure that he was alone this time, Jack walked to the door. Obviously it was locked. But that could be changed easily. A small amount of Qi left Jack¡¯s Dantian and floated towards the hand that was on the door¡¯s lock. It seeped out of his skin and caused a small cloud of Qi to intrude inside the lock. For a moment Jack narrowed his eyes in concentration as he manipulated the cloud of Qi, then with a clicking sound the door unlocked.

    Jack grimaced as the feeling of losing part of his Qi coursed through his body. He had become a bit more used to it after the work on the formation, but it was still unpleasant. He waited for a minute, then the feeling faded slowly. Breathing a sigh of relief he twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

    Behind the door was a small stairway. Silently Jack walked inside. After following the stairway upwards he reached a dark hallway. The inside of the hallway was decorated with expensive looking wooden carvings and colourful carpets covered the floor. Sadly there weren¡¯t any hints of Qi and so Jack continued his search.

    Slowly Jack followed the hallway, always listening for the sound of footsteps or other signs that someone came closer. But the hallway stayed silent. Carefully Jack began to look through the doors that covered the sides of the hallway, always searching for more information about the owners of this mansion. But most rooms were either empty or simple storage rooms.

    After several minutes of walking Jack finally found a more interesting room. A wooden door led inside a large library. Slowly Jack walked inside. Most of the books here looked ancient, their backs brown and unreadable. But a few ones were younger. Interestingly most of them were covering mysticism and legends, similar to the ones Jack had at home. His lips twitched for a moment as he read the title of one of the books.

    ¡® ¡®The Karmasutra ¨C how fate fucks you every day¡¯ ¡­seriously?¡¯

    Jack shook his head before he continued his way through the library. Searching his view wandered over the titles, but he started to worry about the time he had already wasted here. While the library was interesting, it didn¡¯t help find him out more. And any moment he stayed here was¡­

    Suddenly Jack stopped. A feeling of danger coursed through his body and instinctively he jumped to the side. With a swishing sound a blade passed by where just a moment before his neck had been. Quickly Jack turned around to face his enemy.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would be stupid enough to intrude in my home, demon¡±

    Opposite of him stood Rin, glaring at Jack with her steel coloured eyes. A blue glowing sword was tightly grabbed in her left hand.

    ¡®Well¡­ Shit¡¯

    ---

    Frowning Jack looked at Rin. She glared back and tightened the grip around her sword. As always the Qi around her felt strange, but now he could clearly feel that it originated from the sword and not from herself. It was an artefact. And one that looked quite sharp.

    Jack made a wry smile.

    ¡°Is there any chance that we can talk about this?¡±

    *Swish*

    The answer was another swing of the sword targeted at his neck. Jack evaded leaning backwards. His right hand reached down to his hip. He grabbed inside his pocket and pulled out a small knife. It was the same he had used to cut open the carpet floor inside his room a few days ago. Quickly Jack used his Qi to reinforce the weapon and the knife began to glow slightly.

    Seeing that Rin swung her sword again, Jack lifted his knife to parry the strike. With the sound of metal hitting metal the two weapons met. A moment the two weapons stopped in this position, then Jack frowned and jumped back. He looked down on his knife and paled.

    The blade of the knife had been cut through halfway. That was Qi infused steel, Jack didn¡¯t want to imagine what the sword would have done to his body. He looked to Rin who readied herself for another attack. He couldn¡¯t see any way to win this fight. Rin was as strong and fast as he was, so he couldn¡¯t overwhelm her quickly. And the longer the fight would take, the higher the chance that the other residents of the mansion would notice it. On the other hand her weapon was incredible sharp and would make his useless within the next few hits. So, if he couldn¡¯t win fair, he would have to fight dirty.

    With a decisive moment he threw his knife at Rin. Effortlessly she evaded the flying blade. But she slowed down and that was all Jack needed. He infused a bit of energy into his legs and started running towards the door. His strengthened steps made him far faster than a normal human could match and even Rin wasn¡¯t quick enough to catch him.

    A few moments later Jack had reached the entrance to the library. But instead of a way outside, what greeted him were two guards standing in front of the door. He didn¡¯t know if they came with Rin or had been attracted by the noise, but Jack didn¡¯t have time to wonder about that. Already he could hear Rin coming closer behind him. He grimaced for a moment, bracing for the feeling of losing Qi, then he casted a small spell. A bright flash of light came from his risen hand. Blinded the two guards stumbled backwards. Quickly Jack used this chance and ran in between them towards the door.

    Luckily the hallway outside was still empty. This time he didn¡¯t care about the noise he made, so he decided to take the fastest way outside. As soon as he found a window that lead to the garden, Jack acted. With a shattering sound the window broke as Jack jumped through it, ignoring the countless small cuts he got in the process.

    With a fluent roll Jack landed inside the garden. Behind him he could hear Rin starting to curse at him, but he ignored her and started to run inside the night. This infiltration hadn¡¯t worked out like he had planned.

 Chapter 12: Consequences

    With a dark frown on her face Rin looked through the broken window. Far in the distance she could see the fleeing back of the demon that called itself Jack Erikson. The bastard had possessed the arrogance to break into her home and that after she had mercifully let it of the first time. Rin tightened the grip round her sword. She should have killed it as soon as she noticed the scent of Spiritual Energy around it. But no, because they were in a public place and there were innocents nearby she had hesitated.

    Now she regretted her hesitation deeply. Not only had the demon possessed the audacity to try intrude into her home, no it had actually managed to do it without causing any alerts. If she hadn¡¯t by chance watched one of the screens for the surveillance cameras, the intrusion might have been completely unnoticed until it was too late.

    Rin shuddered at that thought. A scene appeared in front of her eyes. A burning house was in the distance, its ceiling caved in. Broken walls surrounded Rin, blocking her view to the sides. And amidst the debris of the walls were corpses of people. Some of them were without any wounds, as if they were merely asleep, but others had been torn apart violently. But for Rin the worst was a young couple lying right next to her, their lifeless eyes staring towards her, judging her. And within the carnage around her stood a bloodied figure with eyes that glowed in an infernal red. The sword inside her hands, a relic of an age long ago, trembled as she raised it and prepared to-

    ¡°Young miss, the master wants to see you¡±

    Deep in her thoughts she hadn¡¯t noticed that a guard had appeared behind her. Shaking her head she dismissed the last remnants of the scene. That was in the past and she wouldn¡¯t allow it to happen again. No matter what she had to do for that. After a last look at the garden she turned around and walked away.

    A few minutes later Rin was back in the library. Normally the quietness and the scent of old book would calm her down and help her relax, but tonight it was different. After the fight with the demon it felt as if this place had changed. Gone was the peace and quietness and now a silent trepidation filled the air. It was as if this place had been defiled.

    Slowly Rin walked farther inside the library until she finally found the person she looked for. Standing with his back towards her was her uncle and current patriarch of the Weiss family, George Weiss. With a frown the man looked down at a small knife lying in his hands. It was an ordinary knife that looked as if it could be bought at every supermarket and yet Rin could feel faint traces of Spiritual Energy coming from it. Which should be impossible. Every object she had ever seen before that had Spiritual Energy inside of it had been a relic of ancient times, created before the Energy started to vanish from Earth and the techniques to create them had long since been lost in the endless stream of time. So, how could something like this knife exist and be in the hands of a demon?

    ¡°Ah, Rin there you are.¡± Finally her uncle noticed her and turned around. Heavy bags had gathered under his blue eyes and his grey hair was unkempt. Still, it didn¡¯t soften the sharp aura around him, a result of countless battles against humans and other beings.

    ¡°Our visitor is gone I assume?¡±

    With a sigh Rin nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I couldn¡¯t stop it.¡±

    ¡°A pity I would have liked to talk to him¡± Her uncle shook his head sadly.

    ¡°Should I follow it? We know where it lives after all, so it should be easy¡±, Rin asked eagerly. But her uncle waved his hand dismissing her proposition. ¡°For the moment we will merely keep him under watch¡±

    ¡°WHA-? It¡¯s a demon, uncle! We have to take care of it before innocents are harmed!¡±

    Rin shouted in outrage, but her uncle kept calm. ¡°There have been ¡­irregularities about him.¡± He glanced down at the knife in his hands before he continued. ¡°Maybe this demon is even connected to the reason why we are here in this town. Come with me for a moment, then I can explain it to you¡±

    Her uncle turned around and left the library while Rin followed behind. Despite the late time the rest of the mansion was quite lively. Guards were patrolling the hallways and confused people were wandering around trying to find out what had happened. But that was only natural after an intrusion like this.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    A few minutes later the two arrived in front of a small office room. As soon as Rin¡¯s uncle opened the door Rin could see a scene that could only be described as pure chaos. Papers and notes were lying around in disordered stacks, always threatening to topple over if someone touched them.

    ¡°I really should clean up sometimes¡±, her uncle grumbled before he guided Rin to a small table in the back. On it she could see a picture of Jack together with other information about him. It wasn¡¯t much given that they had started their investigation only a few days ago, but it gave a rough overview of his whole life.

    ¡°Now then, let us start¡±

    ---

    With a heavy sigh Jack closed the door of his room behind him. Silently, so he wouldn¡¯t disturb his parents who were still sleeping downstairs, unaware of all that had happened in the last few hours. His entire body was covered in sweat because he had run the entire way home. But now that he was home he could finally relax. Behind the protective formation he should be safe from sword wielding girls that were after his head.

    ¡®Speaking of her, what was with that sword? I have never seen anything like that before¡¯

    The sword confused Jack. Sure, he could tell that it was enchanted, but that wasn¡¯t the unusual part. What he couldn¡¯t understand was how it was linked to Rin. A normal enchanted sword would need a bit of the user¡¯s Qi to work properly, but this sword had actually given Qi to Rin. And honestly that scared Jack. Qi wasn¡¯t just a useful form of energy, no, it was a part of a cultivator. No cultivator would have the exact same Qi as it would be shaped by their personality and body. But simultaneously they would also become shaped by their Qi in return. For a mortal, who was even more susceptible to these changes than a cultivator, to accept Qi that was already changed by someone or something else like Rin had done was extremely unusual and risky. Normally that would happen when mortals stumbled over places of power where the wild Qi polluted the air itself. There was no telling what the Qi would do to them, so no one would be insane enough to actually create weapons that would send Qi to their owners.

    Jack shook his head. There was something strange going on with this girl. The sword was only the beginning. Why did she hate him so much (the intrusion into her house aside)? And why did she call him a demon? This whole trip had caused more questions than it gave him answers.

    At least now he knew that the Qi around Rin truly didn¡¯t come from her. It had to come from an artefact, though it was probably not the sword. After all she hadn¡¯t carried it with her back then.

    Still, right now he had a new worry. He had intruded into the house of an unknown organisation and had been caught doing it. It was very likely that they wouldn¡¯t like that, which meant that Jack had to be careful of repercussions from them.

    In the end it all came down to one fact. He had just poked a wasp nest and he had to prepare himself for the consequences. And the only way to do that was to get stronger. With a look at the still slowly growing crack Jack sighed.

    The strong would rule and the weak would die. Have enough strength and every problem could be solved. No matter if it was in his last life or this one, it was always the same. So he had to gain more strength. Just that this time he would have to gain strength quicker than ever before.

    Sitting down on his bed Jack started to cultivate again. Though he had only been away for a few hours, the crack had caused the air in the entire house to be filled with new Qi.

    Quickly Jack absorbed the Qi and his cultivation started to increase. From a mere 2 litres that he started earlier it grew, drop by drop. Until finally it reached the size of a small puddle and he had reached the border to the next level of the Qi gathering realm.

    Again there was a transparent barrier that had formed around his Qi. A short moment Jack hesitated. Should he really break through right now? That would make refining his Qi later harder than it would be if he waited and started to refine it right away. But in the end he shook his head. He needed more strength right now, even if he got a few problems later on. So he concentrated to break through the barrier around his Qi. And after only a few pushes the barrier broke down and he had reached the second level.

    A wave of power rushed through Jack¡¯s body and instinctively he let out a satisfied groan. Small bits of liquid Qi began to break of from the main mass and drifted out of the Dantian. Through the Spiritual Veins they quickly dispersed over Jack¡¯s entire body and he could feel himself getting stronger as his whole body got infused with more and more Qi. It was an incredible feeling, almost addictive in its intensity. Jack grinned in satisfied as he revelled in the feeling.

    But his elation was cut short as a small cracking sound trembled in his room. Jack¡¯s eyes snapped open and he stared at the crack a few metres away. The side of it that was closer to Jack had a new fissure, nearly 5 centimetres long and splitting into small a small web of breaks to the edges.

    ¡®Fuck, I completely forgot about that¡¯, Jack cursed in his mind.  He watched the crack in muted horror as a small wave of Qi gushed forth from it.

    The last few days he had carefully made a few experiment s that had shown him that absorbing the Qi next to the crack didn¡¯t influence it. So he had assumed that it should be safe to keep cultivating in his room. But now he realised that he had made a big mistake in his thinking.

    The problem wasn¡¯t cultivating but breaking through. Breakthroughs were often accompanied with disturbances in the surroundings of the cultivator. That was mostly a problem for stronger cultivators that could accidentally create storms or giant craters around themselves when they broke through. But even the small and almost unnoticeable disturbance of a weak cultivator like Jack could have horrific consequences if he was next to something delicate and important. Like, for example an instable hole inside an ancient Sphere.

    Worried Jack looked at the crack, but to his relief after the sudden expansion it had calmed down again. Still, the damage was done. Whatever time he had before the Qi would start to spread to the outside had just been drastically shortened.

    But in the end there was nothing he could do about it. With a sigh Jack combed through his hair as he made a note in his mind to search for a new place to break through in the future. Maybe inside the basement? It should be far enough away¡­

    Now that the high of the breakthrough and the fear afterwards had vanished Jack felt finally how tired he truly was. It had been a long day after all. After a last look at the crack, Jack fell on the bed and closed his eyes. But even then he needed some time until he truly fell asleep. Too much worries plagued his mind.

    When he fell asleep he dreamed of flying like a bird in the wind. And under him a giant horde of monsters teared apart a village filled with humans.

    When Jack woke up the next day he was covered in cold sweat. No matter what, he couldn¡¯t allow for that dream to become reality.

 Chapter 13: Cultivation Methods

    ¡°Did something happen between you and Rin?¡±

    Curious Sam looked towards the other side of the class. Jack followed his view.

    Rin sat on her usual place and glared towards him. But whereas before she would simply look annoyed by his existence, she looked absolutely livid right now. If looks could kill Jack was sure he would have died on the spot, only to reincarnate a moment later and die again.

    ¡°She looks as if she wants to kill you¡±, commented Sam. Jack only made a wry smile. That was probably really what she wanted. Looking closer Jack noticed that Rin¡¯s aura of Qi had changed a bit. It had gotten weaker, but why this happened he didn¡¯t know. Maybe it was because of their fight?

    ¡°I have no idea why she looks like that. Maybe she just had a bad day?¡±, lied Jack. Sam didn¡¯t look convinced and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. But in the end he let it go and instead changed the topic.

    ¡°Anyway, before I forget it, grandfather wants to speak to you. He said it was urgent¡±

    ¡°The old man did? ¡­It¡¯s not about more training, right? I will seriously die if I train even more than I already did¡±

    Sam chuckled at that. Both of them had experienced far too much of the old man¡¯s training and, while it wouldn¡¯t be worse enough to die, it was enough to make you wish to be dead. Especially if he choose to create a special training course. Like that one time they went into the mountains and had to survive for a month. That had to have been the worst summer vacation Jack ever had.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that it¡¯s about training, but he refused to tell me¡±, Sam pouted. Jack grinned at that, it was a habit Sam had as long as he knew him. In moments like this his shoulder length hair and slightly feminine face let him almost think that his friend was a girl. Jack shook his head at that thought and changed the topic.

    ¡°By the way¡­ what is that?¡±, Jack asked and pointed down at Sam¡¯s part of the desk. On it was a piece of paper with a painting of something, but he couldn¡¯t really identify it. Maybe an elephant from the front? Or a fat duck?

    ¡°That? It¡¯s my painting for the art class tomorrow¡±, Sam answered as if that was obvious. Jack kept quiet. The painting they should make was a self-portrait.

    ¡®Maybe it would be better to not teach Sam about formations. If he can create such an abomination of himself, I don¡¯t want to know what he would do to runes¡¯

    ---

    After the school had ended Jack quickly walked back home. But he had only walked a few steps when he felt something. A tingling feeling on his back, as if he was being watched.

    Trying to act normally Jack kept walking. When he turned a corner he could get a quick look at his pursuer. A single man standing in front of a small store. He looked ordinary and fit quite well into the crowd. If Jack wasn¡¯t as experienced as he was he wouldn¡¯t see him as anything other than a random passerby.

    Worried Jack kept walking, always ready for an attack. Was that man a part of the same organisation Rin was a member of? Would she come at him again, her sword drawn? Unconsciously Jack¡¯s hand moved down at his pocket where another knife of his was placed. If someone would dare to come at him, he would be ready.

    But when he reached his house after half an hour, nothing had happened.

    ---

    Quietly Jack sat on his bed. His consciousness was currently residing within his Dantian. But this time he wasn¡¯t cultivating. Instead he had started to inspect the leftover parts of his former soul storage. To be more specific he what he looked at right now was the library he had amassed in his former life, hundreds of thousands of books, manuals and recipes. Slowly Jack began to look through the amassed knowledge.

    ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ Ah, there it is cultivation manuals¡¯

    Cultivation methods were one of the most important parts of a cultivator. They were used to take a cultivator¡¯s Qi and refine it into a more pure, but also more specialised form. As such a cultivation method would largely shape a cultivator¡¯s abilities and even his own body. And some of them could even give special abilities.

    Most cultivation methods changed the cultivator¡¯s Qi to gain an element. After training enough the use of magic and martial arts of this element would become much easier. But simultaneously the use of any other element would become much harder, sometimes even completely impossible. An exception to that was of course magic as it relied on the external Qi. As such cultivation methods that allowed for more than one element or even rare elements with special properties were sought after.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    But there were a lot of differences between cultivation methods even if they gave the same element. Take for example the wood element. One cultivation method to this element was ¡®Birch¡¯s spring¡¯. Cultivating it would give access to the wood element, sure, but over time the body of the cultivator would change to become more and more flexible and become able to bend like a birch in a storm. Another method of the wood element would be the ¡®Stout Oak reinforcement¡¯. Instead of flexibility this one would harden the skin of the cultivator over time until he could withstand iron weapons unscathed. Another difference was the speed and stability. Some methods would favour a quick refinement that would ultimately lead to an unstable foundation while others would slowly refine the Qi as best as they could.

    As such Jack took great efforts in his past life to gather as much cultivation methods as he could and stored them inside his soul storage. He had prided himself in his collection, even though he hadn¡¯t made any effort to actually read most of them. But now the sheer amount gave him a new headache.

    ¡®Which one should I choose?¡¯

    Not only was a cultivation method a cultivator¡¯s greatest treasure, it was also almost impossible to change it afterwards. At least not without heavy consequences. It was however possible to modify the method by changing parts of it, but a single fault could cripple a cultivator¡¯s potential. So he had to choose carefully.

    After carefully sorting through the manuals Jack had three separate stacks in front of him.

    The first stack was in fact only a single manual. It was the ¡®Flaming Ocean Technique¡¯, the same cultivation method Jack had used in his past life. It was a method that had quite a lot of flaws, foremost its creation of an unstable foundation. But Jack had solved most of those problems already in his past life and modified the method accordingly. What spoke more for it than anything else was, he already knew it. Every small shortcut, every challenge he had already completed.

    The second stack were the manuals that came from the Heavenly Arts School. These ones were mostly better than the ¡®Flaming Ocean Technique¡¯, but Jack didn¡¯t know as much about them. Still, he would at least think about it.

    The manuals from the last stack on the other hand were from quite a lot of sources. He had found them next to dead enemies, in old libraries or ¡®liberated¡¯ them from old ruins. In short they had quite questionable origins. And that led to another problem. He had no idea if these things were secure or not. Challenges were a normal part of cultivation methods, ensuring that anyone who used them had the qualifications to do so. Sometimes they would even split a cultivation method into several parts to become more and more powerful the more challenges were won. These challenges could be anything, from simply having a certain level of cultivation to getting the personal approval of a spirit that had been placed inside the manual. But these challenges could be also used as a trap. Far too many young cultivators thought that they had made the found of their lives only to die in an impossible challenge. The methods that were used by the Heavenly Arts School were obviously safe from these dangers, as they had all been cleaned of such traps, but the unknown scrolls could be dangerous.

    Jack scratched his head while he kept thinking. Every choice had its advantages. His familiarity with the ¡®Burning Ocean Technique¡¯ and the secure and more advanced manuals from his old school were an easy choice. But on the other hand, some of the manuals, especially those from long forgotten ruins were incredibly powerful. At least if that wasn¡¯t just a trick to lure him in and kill him.

    He let out a sigh. In the end it was always the same choice. Play it safe and stay weak or risk everything. Either you would die or become strong. And soon he would need every strength he could get, be it because of the organisation behind Rin or because of the growing crack and the danger it brought. Thinking that he was probably making a horrible mistake Jack started to look through the third stack.

    ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ ¡®The Origin Manual¡¯, purifies the Qi by forming it into runes before compressing it, becoming matter in the process. Later stages of this method will start to form an entire personal world inside the Dantian. Everything inside the world can be used by the cultivator, including the energy of stars and every single element¡¯

    Jack frowned as he read the introductory page of the first manual. The whole thing sounded too good to be true. Reading further his suspicions became soon true.

    <sub> </sub>

    ¡®¡¯However because the Qi is stored as matter it will need to be transformed back to become used.¡¯ So, in other words you will be too slow to truly use it in combat. So it is useless for me. Next¡¯

    The next book, an ancient looking tome, almost crumbled when Jack opened it with a small tendril of Qi.

    ¡®¡¯Mysteries of the surging Sea¡¯ ¡­Urgh, I hate it when they give it such stupid names¡¯

    After reading a few lines more Jack shook his head and let go of the book. Also useless, though it gave a powerful ability to create giant bodies of water that would maim any opponents. To cultivate it he would need several mystical materials, all of which he had never even heard of.

    One by one Jack read through the books. Some were discarded because he didn¡¯t met the requirements, others because they would be useless for him. And a few ones were discarded because they made Jack feel sick. He didn¡¯t even want to know whose ill mind had created a cultivation method that needed the sacrifice of children to be used properly.

    With a shudder Jack proceeded to the next book. It was an ancient looking tome, covered in heavy leather. A picture of stylised flames was on its cover and the title ¡®The blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ was written in golden script under it.

    Frowning Jack looked at the title. It was quite different from the names normal manuals tended to have. Where had he gotten this thing? After a few minutes he finally remembered. Shortly after the fall of the Heavenly Arts School he had started adventuring through the worlds near it. And one day he had found a small ruined tomb, a relic from ages past. It had already been found and plundered, but driven by curiosity, Jack proceeded deeper into the eternal darkness of the ruin.

    Not even an hour later he had been already lost his way inside the maze-like structure. Stumbling to find a way back out he instead got somehow into a part of the ruin the raiders didn¡¯t find. He didn¡¯t find anything at first, just normal storage rooms filled with long decayed materials. But after a few days he finally lucked out and found a small treasury. Another day was spent to break through the defence formations until he could finally open its doors.

    The treasury had been a mess. He didn¡¯t know when, but sometime in the past one of the protective spells had malfunctioned, incinerating and destroying half of the room. But the other half was filled with riches beyond belief. Countless gold coins sparkled in the lights he had casted. There were even some artefacts. And somewhere in this whole mess was a small collection of books. ¡®The blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ was among them.

    Carefully Jack opened the book and started to read. But quickly he frowned. The description was ¡­lacking. No to be more exact, it was almost non-existent. The manual would create a special, fire elemental Qi, but the details were simply omitted. He had no idea what abilities came with these flames, nor what the long term effects of the cultivation were. If he were to guess from the term Netherflame it should be flames that would turn anything they touched into oblivion, but he couldn¡¯t be sure about that. Obviously with the small amount of information Jack should discard the manual and look for another one.

    Yes, that¡¯s what he should do, but there was something with the manual that let him hesitate. His instincts were screaming at him to use it, reason be damned. There was something calling out for him in there. And if there was one thing a cultivator would learn it was that instincts were something you should be listening to.

    For a few moments Jack kept staring at the manual then he gritted his teeth and pushed a sliver of his Qi inside the manual, reaching for a small crystal that was hidden inside of it. It was in this crystal that the true manual was stored, the rest of the book nothing more than a casing around it, just like it was with any other manual. His Qi touched the crystal and became absorbed. A moment nothing happened, then the world vanished inside an explosion of white. The last moment before he lost consciousness Jack heard a faint voice echoing around him, ancient and raspy, but more powerful than anything he had ever heard before.

    ¡®Qi intrusion detected. First challenge starts¡¯

    Then the world turned dark around him.

 Chapter 14: The first challenge

    Startled Jack woke up. He felt strange, as if he was floating in the air. Curious he opened his eyes, but he couldn¡¯t see anything, only darkness. Not the normal darkness of a lightless room, not even the darkness that he had seen after his reincarnation. No, this darkness was something different. It felt almost alive as it throbbed and moved all around Jack. A shudder ran down Jack¡¯s spine.

    Silently Jack cursed at himself. Why did he have to choose this method? There had been so many others he could have chosen. But no, he had to take the one where he was thrown in creepy darkness.

    Jack tried to move, but whatever this darkness around him was, it wasn¡¯t just a simple absence of light. He could feel it straining against his every movement, the motions slowed down to a crawl. It felt as if countless small tendrils were coiling around him. In fact, when he looked down at his arm he could really see the darkness taking form and creating small tendrils, darker than even the darkest night, that were constraining him.

    A few moments he stayed like this, straining against his constrains. But then, with a wet snap the tendrils of darkness around him ripped apart.

    Suddenly the darkness around Jack began lightening up and he found himself standing inside a small room. Surprised by the sudden change Jack staggered for a moment. Making a quick step forward he stopped himself from falling. Quickly he looked around.

    The room he was in was, in one word, plain. The walls were in a dull grey paint and there wasn¡¯t any furniture except a small stand a few steps ahead of him. There was Qi in the air, mostly of the earth element. That was a sign that this room was somewhere underground.

    Careful Jack walked towards the stand. It was made completely from the same grey stone the walls had been made of. A series of letters scratched in the surface stand caught his view and Jack leaned closer.

    ¡®Hmm¡­ Yep, can¡¯t read this¡¯

    The letters weren¡¯t of any language Jack had ever seen before. They were angular, vicious looking scars inside the stone, as if someone or something had carved them inside with a sharp weapon. Or a claw, a part of Jack¡¯s mind offered helpfully. Jack banished the thought.

    Jack gave up to make sense of the writing. Languages had never been his strength. Instead he started to inspect the stand closer. It was the only thing of note in the room, so there had to be something that would help him to get out of here, right? But even after several minutes of looking at every nook and cranny of the stand he got nothing.

    Seeing that the stand wasn¡¯t able to help him Jack started to wander around in the room, always looking for a hint at what he should do here. This was a challenge after all, there had to be something. But he found nothing. After nearly an hour of looking intensely at grey walls in the empty hope that he would find anything, Jack returned to the stone stand. Suddenly he stopped.

    The letters on the stand had changed. Gone was the illegible language and instead neat and beautiful letters covered the stone. Most importantly, it was in English, so Jack could effortlessly read it.

    ¡®To prove thyself, you have to be tested thrice. The shape, the form and the power¡¯

    That was all. Jack groaned, he hated riddles like this. Especially the part about ¡®shape¡¯ and ¡®form¡¯, didn¡¯t these two words have the same meaning? Maybe the translation was a bit off. But at least he now had a direction and didn¡¯t have to stare at walls anymore. Quite literally actually.

    With a grinding sound one of the walls started to retract into the ground. Jack frowned at that, he had been sure that wall had been massive, but he could only shrug his shoulders. Curious he walked closer to the new opening.

    A dim lit hallway greeted him. The light came from small stones in the ceiling, but it was barely enough to see a few steps. Jack knew these stones. They were Sunstones, a form of crystallised light elemental Qi that could sometimes be found under places with a lot of sunlight. For example under the sands of a desert. They weren¡¯t rare, but expansive. Deserts were dangerous after all.

    Slowly Jack walked down the hallway, his eyes wandering around, always on the watch for traps or other unpleasant surprises. But nothing happened and a few minutes later Jack stepped into another room.

    The new room was as empty as the last had been, but something was different. A dense mist of Qi was filling the air inside this room. It was so dense that it felt like it was threatening to suffocate Jack under it.

    Jack looked at the Qi with a frown. The riddle had said something about test, the first being ¡®shape¡¯. And now that he saw the Qi he could guess that he would probably have to shape it into something. In other words his magic abilities were tested. But wasn¡¯t that too easy?

    Jack made took a step inside the room. The moment he did the opening behind him became blocked as, with a deafening grating of stone on stone a wall rose from the ground. Frowning Jack looked at the wall. He had a very bad feeling about this.

    His feeling was right. A moment later the Qi inside the air started to move. An endless flood of Qi rushed at him, its sheer presence already overwhelming his senses. Jack let out a gasp as the Qi slammed into him. He felt his body getting crushed.

    Panicking he grasped at the only idea he had. The riddle said shaping, so shaping he would do. With his mind Jack reached outwards, grasping at the Qi that surrounded him. Quickly he got the Qi under his control and began to push it away from himself. But it didn¡¯t work. He could only control a very small part of the ocean of Qi and the remaining would pressure his to remain still.

    *Crack*

    Jack grimaced as, with a disgusting sound, his right arm broke. He didn¡¯t have much time anymore. Even now the pressure kept rising. Frantically he started to think. If he couldn¡¯t push the Qi back then he had to¡­

    With a new command a part of the Qi he had control over started to turn into a fine powder of dirt. Given that he was underground and the Qi was mostly of the Earth element this was the most easy. Immediately Jack felt the pressure lowering slightly, though it still felt like a mountain weighting down on him. Still, it was a success and so Jack reached out again with his mind.

    Batch after batch of Qi turned into dirt, covering the ground around Sam. And bit by bit the pressure lessened. It was only after several hours Jack finally stopped. The room around him was a mess. The dirt had risen to knee height. Panting in exhaustion Jack grinned victorious. The amount of Qi in the air had finally returned to normal levels.

    As if him stopping was a sign a deep rumbling echoed inside the room as the wall opposite of Jack started to open. Jack looked at the new opening frowning. While this test hadn¡¯t been overly complex, if he had hesitated too long or hadn¡¯t as much experience with magic, he would have certainly died. Even now he had suffered a broken arm. Should he really continue?

    But in the end he had no real choice in this matter. There was no exit after all. Stopping for a moment Jack tried to channel as much Qi as he could into his arm to at least be able to move it again. An hour later Jack made the first step inside the new hallway.

    The new hallway was identical to the last. Guided by the dim light of Sunstones Jack followed the hallway to a new room. But as soon as he looked inside of it he froze. A large runic formation was placed in the middle of the room. It wasn¡¯t activated for now, but he had a suspicion that this would change as soon as he stepped inside.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡®The second test. ¡®Form¡¯ was it?¡¯

    Jack tried to make out more details about the formation, but he was too far away. Grumbling to himself he decided that as soon as he got out of here he would start to train his eyes with a sight enhancing technique. But for now he could do nothing.

    Jack made a step inside the room and just like he had thought the formation activated. A giant ball of light, easily a metre in radius, appeared inside the formation, burning bright like the sun itself.

    *Thump*

    A beating sound echoed through the room as the sphere contracted, becoming brighter and brighter. Alarmed Jack took a step backwards, but his backside met just the newly risen wall behind him. He hadn¡¯t even noticed it springing up after entering.

    Luckily after a few moments the ball of light expanded back again. Jack narrowed his eyes. He wasn¡¯t sure, but it looked a bit smaller and brighter than before. And after a moment it contracted again. Worried Jack walked closer.

    Another expansion. This time Jack was sure, the ball hadn¡¯t reached the size it had before. And when it contracted it became even smaller than the first time. He blanched as he understood what he was looking at. That whole formation was a bomb, preparing itself to explode.

    Looking down at the formation Jack tried to understand what he was looking at. Quickly he started to curse. Whoever had made this thing had been an idiot, at least if the formation had been for something different than to explode. There were two separate formations that controlled the ball of light, one for the expansion and contraction, the other and weaker one for the containment of the ball.

    Don¡¯t create two formations on the same place or somewhere near each other. That was the fundamental rule for the creation of formations. If two formations were closer than ten metres to each other they would start to malfunction. If you were lucky the weaker one of the formations would simply stop working, but if you were unlucky the results were volatile. For that reason all formations had to be meticulously planned to include any smaller part within one. Fortresses or large cities would take sometimes centuries to be build, just because of this. And for the same reason Jack hadn¡¯t created more formations around his house after he created the space stabilising one. The defence formation was different because it was less of a true formation and more separate runes working together, but any real formation he would create inside his house would disturb the other one.

    And now he stood here, looking down at the two formations and trying to figure out how to fix them. The best would obviously be to somehow combine the two formations into one, but that would take far too long. And he didn¡¯t even know if that would solve the explosive part of the formation. The next best would be to erase the formation that contracted the ball, but that would have even worse consequences. What if he destabilized the whole thing accidentally?

    The only way that came to Jack¡¯s mind was to change the formation. Trying to ignore the ball of light that had by now halved in size Jack inspected the containing formation. He wasn¡¯t an expert in runes, but he could roughly guess that the formation would create a sphere around the ball that would be redirecting any energy back towards the inside.

    Jack had luck. A few of the runes were the same that were used in formations to create barriers and shields. He had already worked with them in the past. He reached out towards one of them and concentrated. The rune under his hand started to shiver as Jack used magic to change its form.

    For a moment nothing happened, then the barrier around the ball of light cracked at one point. A blazing torrent of light gushed forth from the break, scorching anything in its way. But, as Jack on the other side of the crack he was unharmed. For over a minute the light burned, then it began to vanish slowly, its source, the ball of light, empty. Seeing this Jack grinned.

    ¡®So much for test number two. Now it¡¯s only ¡®power¡¯ that is left¡¯

    Standing up Jack walked over to the hallway that had opened up again, just like the last time. Contrary to Jack¡¯s expectations this hallway didn¡¯t lead him to an empty room like the ones before. Instead what greeted his eyes was a giant cavern, easily 200 metres across. And in it stood the ugliest monster Jack had ever seen.

    It was humanoid, though Jack would hesitate to call it that. With a height of nearly 3 metres it towered over Jack. An ugly grin split its face, showing crooked and yellow teeth. Its grey skinned arms were each larger than Jack himself and ended in large claws. But the worst part of the monster was the smell. Jack didn¡¯t know why, and honestly he didn¡¯t even want to, but the monster smelled of decay, rot and disease coupled together with the worst breath he had ever smelled. It was bad enough that Jack wished that he could turn off his sense of smell just to not having to endure it any longer. Slowly the creature¡¯s head turned towards Jack.

    Instinctively Jack reached down for the knife at his side. But his hand grasped only into an empty pocket. Surprised Jack blinked. He was sure that he had the knife when he activated the manual, so why-?

    The moment of confusion was all the monster needed. With a thunderous roar it stormed towards Jack. Caught in surprise Jack couldn¡¯t react quick enough. And the monster ran into him.

    The force of the impact was enough to throw Jack to the side and against the wall. He felt as if all his bones were rattling inside of him. Groaning Jack shook his head and tried to concentrate. The monster on the other hand had its own problems. After it had hit Jack it couldn¡¯t stop quickly enough and had impacted the wall behind him. That however didn¡¯t stop it for long.

    With a new and even more enraged roar it turned towards Jack. Every step of its long legs brought it closer to him. But this time Jack was better prepared. In the last possible moment he dived to the side and the monster rushed past him.

    With a roll Jack caught his dive and landed back on his feet. Turning around to the monster he readied himself for the fight. He wouldn¡¯t die against such an abomination.

    Again the monster rushed at him. But this time Jack wouldn¡¯t evade it like he did before. A wave of Energy from his Dantian started to course through his body, giving a boost to his strength and speed as his body became absorbed it. When the monster closed in Jack waited until the very last moment, then he jumped. Not to the side but upwards.

    Jack shot upwards, too quick for the monster to react. Within a moment he was already higher than the creatures head and watched as it run beneath him. Then gravity remembered that it had a job to do, too and he began falling down again. Right on the monsters back. Grasping the monsters long, greasy hair with his left hand, Jack managed to hold on.

    Jack¡¯s right hand started to glow slightly as a new wave of Energy was rushing into it. Forming his hand into a fist he hit at the back of the creature¡¯s head.

    Only to groan in pain as his arm, still damaged from the first test broke again. Jack let out a curse. He had completely forgotten about that. The monster on the other hand was completely unharmed. It reached back, trying to grab hold of the insect at its back. Quickly Jack let go of the monster¡¯s hair and fell down back to the ground.

    ¡®Okay, physical attacks are out, good to know¡¯, trying to think of a plan Jack started to run away from the monster. With its large legs it was by far faster than any normal human, but Jack was a cultivator after all.

    ¡®Ok, let¡¯s try this¡¯, jack stopped running and turned around. Reaching out with his mind he cast grasped out at the Qi around him. A small bolt of fire began forming before it was launched at the monster. It was far weaker than it would normally, the Qi in the area being mostly of the earth element, but as soon as the monster saw the fire it froze in panic.

    The bolt of fire hit the creature square in the chest and the smell of charred flesh started to fill the air. When the flash of fire subsided Jack could see a large patch of burned skin on the monster¡¯s chest. It wasn¡¯t much, but he had hurt it. Quickly he began casting another bolt of fire.

    Seeing this, the monster let out an enraged roar and started to rush to him, intending to stop the magic. But it was too slow. The new bolt was launched at it when it was still a few steps away from Jack. Unluckily - for the creature ¨C the bolt hit it at its right shoulder, exactly where a strand of its long hair was. In the blink of an eye the greasy material was aflame. A howl of pain came from the creature¡¯s throat.

    However the creature didn¡¯t slow down. Driven by a mad intent to squash the person who had harmed it like that, it rushed at Jack, even quicker than before. Jack cursed and dove to the side, but one of the arms of the creature hit him in the side.

    Jack groaned as the large claws scratched over his side, causing a large wound to open. With the experience of thousands of battles he pushed the pain away and concentrated on survival. Casting another bolt of fire Jack turned around. But what he saw let him freeze.

    The creature was burning. Its whole body was covered in blazing flames and the sizzling of burning flesh could be heard. But still it tried to get to Jack. A 3 meters tall figure covered in flames was running towards him, uncaring for its own wounds. It was the stuff of nightmares.

    Thirty metres were between the monster and Jack. The creature managed to cover ten within a second. Jack¡¯s eyes widened and he launched the fireball. It hit the creature¡¯s leg, causing it to stagger, but it couldn¡¯t be stopped. With an unearthly roar of rage and pain it continued its mad rush.

    Jack dove to the side, groaning as his broken arm brushed heavily against the ground, but saving his life as the monster rushed past him. He didn¡¯t know if it was the flames obstructing its view or the madness clouding its mind, but even though the monster had missed him it didn¡¯t stop running. Only a hundred metres further, when it finally impacted the wall of the cavern did it stop. With a pained growl the creature fell to the ground, still covered in flames. And then it stilled, never to move again.

    Slowly Jack walked over to the burning corpse and looked down at the remains of his adversary. He had done it, he had won. A feeling of relief came over him, just to be replaced with pain as his injured side and arm began calling for attention. Weakly he let himself fall to the ground and closed his eyes. He had won this test, so he should be allowed to rest for a moment, right?

    Or had he? Suddenly Jack frowned, that last one, how was it a test of power? Maybe he should have killed the monster in another way?

    In the end Jack could only shrug. Yes, maybe he didn¡¯t complete the challenge as it was intended. But he had beaten the monster, so he should at least be able to get out of here, right? He opened his eyes, expecting to see the cavernous room with the still burning monster and a new hallway that would hopefully lead him to an exit.

    Instead he found himself back floating inside the darkness. Unsettled by the sudden shift in his surroundings Jack looked around warily. But there was just the darkness, nothing-

    There was something in front of him. Obstructed by the darkness Jack could make out faintly the shape of a person. A 3 metres tall person, with four arms and horns that sprung forth from its head. Jack gulped. Whatever that thing was, it was definitely not a human.

    As if it had sensed Jack¡¯s view, the being in front of him opened its eyes. An ice blue light pierced through the darkness and into Jack¡¯s very soul. Jack froze, unable to move even if he wanted to. The gaze stayed on him for a few moments, as if it was searching for something, then the eyes closed again. Before Jack could relax though, a deep voice could be heard from the being.

    ¡°Young one. You have done well in these challenges. Though you haven¡¯t beaten one in the intended way, we shall accept it. The first path shall be opened to you. Use this wisely¡±

    The deep and ancient voice was infused with power and Jack felt his whole being shivering from it alone. He was like an ant in front of this being. Instinctively he bowed slightly and the creature understood it as an acknowledgement. A wide grin split its face in two, showing glistening white fangs.

    ¡°Good, then return back to your home. We shall await your return. Don¡¯t let us wait too long.¡±

    The creature made a gesture with one of its hands. The world around Jack started to flicker for a moment, then he was back in his room, sitting on his bed. His wounds were gone and when he checked the time not even a minute had passed since he had started the challenge. It was as if he had never been away at all.

    ---

    Even after Jack had vanished the being kept looking where he had been standing, a wide grin spread over its face. For a while it didn¡¯t move, but then its shoulders started to tremble. A low chuckle came out of the creature¡¯s mouth, becoming louder and louder until it turned into a roaring laughter. A hint of madness was hidden inside of it.

    ¡°Bwahaha! Finally! The prison has been broken. HaHa. And by one of them no less¡±

    The laugher echoed within the darkness for hours.

 Chapter 15: Netherflame Cultivation

    Having his injuries from the challenge healed Jack was eager to test out his new cultivation method. Sitting on his bed he started to concentrate and a moment later his consciousness was back inside his Dantian, the manual of ¡®The blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ in front of him.

    Carefully Jack sent out a small sliver of Qi into the small crystal hidden inside the manual, just like he did to start the challenge. But this time, instead of getting absorbed the Qi managed to make a small connection between his consciousness and the crystal.

    Jack let out a groan as a torrent of information flooded his mind. The correct flow of Qi, how to refine it, and how to store it, all this became engraved into him. Pained Jack grimaced as a pounding headache came over him. He hated this way to transmit information.

    After a few minutes the headache finally subsided and Jack could start looking at his new manual. A small book started to appear before his consciousness, its cover made from black leather and golden flames stitched on it. This book was nothing more than a representation of the knowledge he had just gained, it had no true physical form. It was only an illusion to help him understanding what had just been transmitted within his head.

    With a thought the book opened and Jack started reading. After the first page a small frown started to form on his face and, by the end of the book it had only grown deeper. With a sigh Jack closed the book, as soon as he had read the last page and leaned back, thinking.

    Whoever had made this manual had created one of the most obscure cultivation methods Jack had ever seen. It had taken aspects of at least half a dozen different cultivation styles and mixed them together. How did that even work?

    Another problem was the fact that the manual was incomplete. He only had the first part. That would help him to reach the foundation realm without any problem, but once he got there it wouldn¡¯t help any further as the refining wouldn¡¯t be efficient enough for the bigger amounts of Qi. He would need the second part for that. Sadly he knew where he had to go to get it.

    ¡®¡®Don¡¯t let us wait too long¡¯, why does that sound like a threat more than anything else?¡¯, thinking back at the being he met in the shadows  Jack shuddered. He had no idea what that being had been, but if he could he would never meet it again. Sadly it looked as if he hadn¡¯t a choice in this matter. And what had that creature been anyway? Some kind of guardian for the cultivation method?

    Shaking his head Jack focused his mind back on track. Even though this cultivation method was¡­ unusual, it was quite powerful. It would refine the Qi into a very pure version and that even in a reasonable time. The only lacking point was the fact that it wouldn¡¯t create a special ability besides the access to the Netherflame element. Whatever that was, the manual wouldn¡¯t give a description besides ¡®pitch black flames that burn in the darkness of the Nether¡¯. Still, with a name like this it promised to be powerful. So he had decided that he would definitely cultivate it.

    Carefully Jack took a part of the Qi inside of his Dantian and formed it into a small ball, barely the size of a fist. It was barely enough for a first try, but it still was almost a fifth of his current Qi and he didn¡¯t dare to use more than that. The risk to lose control was simply too great. Slowly he moved the Qi ball out of his Dantian and into one of his Spiritual Veins.

    Jack began to hurry the ball forward. First it simply followed the Spiritual Vein but then Jack started to concentrate more. Slowly the edges of the ball started to turn hazy as a fine mist of Qi started to leak out of the ball and fused with the Spiritual Vein around it, forming a soft glowing coat of Qi on its surface. Soon the ball, now a bit smaller in size, arrived at a crossroad between two Veins. In accordance with the manual Jack nudged the ball to the side to take the diverging path.

    The ball followed Spiritual Vein after Spiritual Vein, always guided by Jack¡¯s will. The Qi it left behind coated the Veins surface and glowed slightly as the ball continued to shrink further. But as the ball shrunk it started to glow a bit stronger than before. It was the natural refining of the body that would always happen when Qi was moved through Spiritual Veins. Jack grinned slightly. It was normally at best a side effect of using the cultivation method, but for ¡®The blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ it was a very important part.

    Soon Jack started frowning in concentration. The small ball of refined Qi was becoming more and more unstable the more it Qi it lost, threatening to break apart. Small ripples formed on its exterior as Jack¡¯s will tried to stabilise it.

    Sweat began to form on Jack¡¯s forehead as the ball proceeded on its way. Spiritual Vein after Spiritual Vein got passed and the strain to keep the ball of Qi together became more and more. But slowly a pattern could be seen in the movements of the ball. Looking at it from the outside Jack could see the Spiritual Veins that had been passed and coated with Qi forming an intrinsic symbol, not unlike a Celtic rune just in three dimensions and not just two.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    As the symbol continued to grow, Jack could feel small reactions coming from the Qi coating the Spiritual Veins. Slowly it began to change from its pale white colour to a murky grey that quickly became darker and darker. A small shiver run through Jack¡¯s body as it sensed something other growing within him.

    An hour later Jack finally guided the ball, now barely the size of a marble, back into his Dantian. In the same moment the ball crossed the threshold between Dantian and the rest of his body Jack twitched as, with a wave of power, the symbol within him became completed. A dark glow started to spread from it and the Qi that formed it turned black.

    Jack made an exhausted grin. He had no idea who had thought about building a rune within his Spiritual Veins to purify Qi, but it was as effective as it was insane. He didn¡¯t even want to imagine how many people died because they made a single mistake during its creation, only for the rune become unstable and ripping them apart from the inside.

    Breathing deeply Jack tried to push away his exhaustion and started with the second phase of the cultivation method. Slowly the ball of Qi floated into the middle of his Dantian, guided by Jack¡¯s will. As soon as it arrived it burst apart in an explosion of light.

    If this had happened while the ball was still inside the Spiritual Veins the cultivation method would have failed. At best Jack would have been in a lot of pain, at worst he would have been permanently injured or even crippled. But now, within his Dantian, the explosion had enough place to expand harmlessly.

    What remained of the ball was a white glowing nebula of Qi that floated aimlessly inside his Dantian. Now for the harder part. Carefully Jack extended his will into the nebula and started to move the Qi. Slowly the nebula started spinning and forming a vortex. As the vortex grew it started to suck the Qi around it closer. Bit by bit the attraction increased, but strangely the only Qi that was influenced by it was the former nebula. The other, still unrefined Qi that was inside the Dantian remained floating inside a small puddle some distance away.

    As the vortex continued to grow it soon absorbed the entire nebula inside of it. But that wasn¡¯t enough to stop its endless hunger. The attraction from the vortex grew and grew until finally¡­

    *snap

    With a snapping sound the Qi coating Jack¡¯s Spiritual Veins got torn from its resting place and sucked towards his Dantian. A torrent of pitch black Qi began to flow until it reached the spinning vortex. Greedily the vortex began absorbing the black Qi around it. Slowly its colour changed, until it became the same deep black like the Qi had before.

    A shiver run through the vortex as it absorbed the rest of the black Qi and for a moment the attracting force lessened before it returned again. But a few moments later it happened again, a sign of the growing instability in the vortex. And finally, when almost all of the black Qi was absorbed, the vortex sputtered a last time before it collapsed into itself, just like a star would collapse to a black hole.

    Within a moment all the Qi that was stored in the vortex were pulled into the middle of it, clashing inside an area no larger than the point of a needle. As the mass of Qi gathered it began to pressure itself more and more until it finally happened. A part of the Qi solidified. It was a strange, pitch black crystal, so small that it was almost impossible to see it, but as soon as it was created the rest of the Qi began fusing to it, causing it to grow rapidly.

    Jack watched as the crystal grew. First it was just a small sphere, but quickly small tendrils began forming on the sides. These tendrils began branching off again, spreading further and further until he could finally recognize the form. It was the same rune that had been formed by his Spiritual Veins, just a lot smaller being just the size of a small coin. And yet it was filled with a much more dense energy compared to the rest of Jack¡¯s Qi.

    Jack sighed in relief. He had finished the initial circulation of his cultivation manual, so the hardest part was over. Now he would simply have to feed the rune with more refined Qi and it would continue to grow on its own.

    Deciding to give it a try, Jack sent out a new part of his Qi towards his Spiritual Veins. Almost autonomous the Qi took the same path the ball of Qi had taken not too long before. Quickly it became refined and soon returned to the Dantian. As if guided by an unseen force the refined Qi flew over to the rune and stopped right next to it. Strands of pure white Qi began to come loose and flew over to the rune where they quickly became integrated inside the structure before they turned into the same black colour as the rest. The rune began dispersing the new Qi inside of it and grew a miniscule amount.

    But not all of the Qi got directly absorbed. As soon as a few strands of Qi had been absorbed, the suction of the rune stopped. It was as if the rune had decided that it wasn¡¯t hungry anymore and needed time to digest its meal. Instead the cloud of Qi settled down around the rune. But even if it wasn¡¯t absorbed, the proximity to the rune began to change it. Quickly the white cloud turned into a black haze that floated around the rune.

    Jack nodded to himself. Just like the manual had said, the rune would continue to grow. There was a limit to that however, though it would take a long time to reach it. And then he would have to go back to meet that creature.

    Shivering Jack returned to his testing. After a moment of concentration a small part of the black haze split from the rune and flew out of the Dantian. Following the Spiritual Veins it quickly reached Jack¡¯s hand before it left his body altogether.

    Jack opened his eyes. There, over his open palm floated a small pitch black flame. It was so black it seemed to absorb the light around it. Looking at it gave a strange feeling of warmth that was fused with a coldness that chilled to the bone. A grin crept on Jack¡¯s face.

    ¡®So this is the Netherflame. Interesting.¡¯

    But the grin vanished a moment later and turned into a frown. Something about the flames was strange. Trying to get a better look he moved his head closer to the flames.

    The flames were darker than the night sky, but there was something off about them. When Jack focussed on the edges of the flames he would sometimes see a flicker of colour. A deep green, so weak he had almost missed it.

    Confused Jack scratched the back of his head. The manual didn¡¯t mention anything about that. According to it the flames should be simply black, no other colours whatsoever. Maybe he made a mistake that resulted in the element changing? Either way, he would have to test the flames soon.

    ¡®I should search a better place for that¡¯ he thought as he looked around. He had almost forgotten that he was still inside his room, this clearly wasn¡¯t a place where he should make experiments with fire.

    Just when he wanted to extinguish the flame he noticed something strange. The black parts of the flame looked just like a normal flame from afar, but if he looked closer he could see thin tendrils that were moving inside of it, wriggling and twisting with each flicker of the flame. Involuntarily Jack had to think back at the tendrils that held him while he was floating in the darkness before the challenge. Was this the same?

    Frowning at the many unanswered questions Jack decided to go to sleep soon. He would test his flames tomorrow. Hopefully he would get some answers this way.

 Chapter 16: Flames

    The next day Jack waited impatient for school to finally end. Rin¡¯s continued glares didn¡¯t help as time seemed to slow down to a crawl. When it was finally time and the bell rung to signal the end of the lesson, Jack was among the first to rush out of the classroom. Quickly he left the bleak school building.

    When he stepped outside a cold gust of autumn wind caused Jack¡¯s clothes to flutter, but he ignored it. With decisive steps he continued onwards.

    On his way he could, once again, feel someone watching him. A frown appeared on Jack¡¯s face. If he wanted to test his new flame then it would be better if he wasn¡¯t watched. He wanted to keep it secret for as long as possible. Jack kept walking, following the way he would normally take towards his home.

    Ten minutes later he passed by a large fence, separating the sidewalk from a small garden. On the other side of the garden Jack could see the parallel street. Qi rushed down into Jack¡¯s feet and effortlessly he jumped over the 3 metres tall fence. A few steps and another fence later he was on the other street.

    Looking behind Jack could see his pursuer, frantically speaking inside a small telephone while looking at him. Giving the man a last smirk, Jack turned around and began running.

    Jack¡¯s Qi enhanced legs carried him through the streets far faster than a normal person would be able to do. Still he would be much slower than any car and so he decided to change his way. He left the street and entered a small forest.

    Keeping himself away from the streets and any potential pursuers Jack quickly crossed through the forest until he reached his goal, a small hill inside the forest. Here the trees weren¡¯t as dense, but it was far enough away from the streets to not be seen easily. And he had a fantastic view over the city, at least the parts he could see between the trees.

    After he had placed his backpack on the ground, Jack sat down on a small rock boulder and started to concentrate. He only needed a moment to summon a small flame into his right hand.

    Curious Jack watched the small flame. Just like yesterday its black form appeared to suck in the light around it. And just like before there was a green shimmer around the edges of the flame, a lonely bit of colour before the darkness.

    Wondering what exactly the green colour meant Jack started to manipulate the flame, moving the energy within it. Immediately he started to frown. Controlling the flame was a lot harder than he thought it would be. He could move the energy inside of it, yes, but it was moving sluggishly and even the easiest movement costed a lot more energy than it should have. The flame was resisting his controls. But that was something Jack couldn¡¯t accept, no matter what he needed to be able to use this flame.

    Gritting his teeth Jack reached inside his Dantian, towards the hazy fog floating around his lone rune. As the energy left the fog it turned a bit translucent, but its colour remained as black as it had been before. Quickly the energy floated through his Spiritual Veins and into his hand where it fused with the flame dancing over it.

    Now armed with more energy Jack started to press through the resistance. Flickering the flame begun to move, shrink and grow according to his will, slow at first, but he soon got used to the resistance. The energy he needed became less and less and the speed increased.

    But Jack still wasn¡¯t content with it. Even though he had managed to control the flame he still could feel the resistance inside of it. He would never be able to use the true power of flame if he had to fight it every time he used it. So he had to extinguish the core of the resistance as soon as possible.

    Stretching out his senses into the flame Jack tried to find the reason for the resistance. But he couldn¡¯t find anything unusual, the flames were working just fine. That is until he reached out for the outer edges of the flames, where the black flame changed into green. Suddenly Jack felt a strange barrier, separating the two different coloured areas. A quick manipulation of the flames later and Jack was sure that it was this barrier that made controlling the flames so hard. It was like a stone inside a gear, blocking it from moving.

    Thinking for a moment Jack decided that the easiest way to get rid of the barrier was to split the black parts of the fire from the green ones. Concentrating at the green parts Jack started to pull as hard as he could. Different from before the resistance he felt wasn¡¯t sluggish, no it was more as if he tried to rip apart something solid. Drops of sweat began to form on Jack¡¯s face as he forced his way through the resistance.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Finally he had success. The green part of the flame started moving and, after a moment of hesitation, separated from the black parts. It formed a second, much smaller flame, flickering as if it would vanish any second. Quickly Jack used a bit more energy to stabilise it, this time from the still unrefined Qi inside of him. Using the energy from the already refined Qi around the rune would most likely turn the flame back.

    After a last flicker the green flame finally stabilised. Barely the size of a candle flame it shone with a dim yet vibrant green light. Looking at it Jack felt reminded of the young green leaves that began to fill the trees during spring, full of vitality and life.

    ¡®hmm, I wonder if¡­¡¯

    Reaching for his backpack Jack carefully watched the flames, not wanting to risk them going out of control. With his free hand he opened the backpack and searched inside for a few moments before he finally pulled out his knife.

    Jack grimaced as he cut a small wound into his right arm. A small trickle of blood flew out of the wound, but it wasn¡¯t too severe. Still, it wasn¡¯t pleasant.

    ¡®now then, let¡¯s see if it works¡¯

    With a mental command the green flame began moving towards the wound. Interestingly, no matter how close it came to him, Jack couldn¡¯t feel any heat coming from the flame. When the flame touched it, the flame suddenly began shrinking as if it was absorbed by the wound. After a few moments the whole flame had vanished, showing a much smaller the wound. Seeing this Jack grinned. The flame truly had healing abilities!

    That would be useful in the future. For a cultivator getting seriously wounded was something that would happen sooner or later. So having a form of healing available - mostly in form of potions or pills ¨C was necessary to ensure survive. Healing magic and techniques were a lot rarer, so much so that in some cultures healers were the most respected individuals and not the warriors. And all forms of healing techniques were accompanied by the same feeling of vitality his flames had, making it easy to identify.

    Still, the fact that his flame had healing abilities was strange. Together with the difference in colour it made Jack almost think that he had two completely separate flames within himself. That in itself wouldn¡¯t be too strange, but he had no idea where the flame had come from. The black came from the cultivation of the ¡®Blazes of the Netherflame¡¯, but the other? No matter how much he thought about it Jack didn¡¯t have any idea how he got it.

    In the end Jack could only shrug and move on with his test. He turned towards the pitch black flame still hovering over his right hand. Now that there wasn¡¯t any other colour the sheer darkness coming from it turned a lot more oppressive. And, just like yesterday Jack could see small tendrils of darkness moving inside of the flames. Compared to then they had grown a bit, becoming as long as his thumb. Jack shuddered seeing it, some part of his mind was screaming at him that these tendrils were unnatural, something that couldn¡¯t ¨C Shouldn¡¯t exist.

    With great effort he pushed down the feeling. He wasn¡¯t even sure why he felt this way about the tendrils, as far as he could see they were simply incorporated darkness. That in itself was rare, but nothing too unusual in his old world and it was definitely nothing he would react with an instinctive aversion to.

    When he had finally calmed down Jack began to manipulate the black flame. Surprisingly now that the healing flames had been purged from it, the black flames became a lot easier to control. There wasn¡¯t any hint of the sluggish feeling any longer and the flames moved readily to his every command. At least as long as he didn¡¯t do anything too complicated.

    Jack looked at his flames that he had twisted into a pretzel- like form, his current limit.Any more and he would need to expend ever more energy just to keep the form stabilised, though that was something that would improve with his cultivation and familiarity with the flames.

    And to increase his familiarity with the flames he would have to figure out what they could actually do. Looking around Jack quickly found a dead branch lying on the ground. Its dry wood was perfect for what he had in mind. With a twist of his wrist he threw the flame towards the branch.

    Disappointingly the flame wasn¡¯t the disintegration variant Jack had expected from something called ¡®Netherflame¡¯. Instead when it made contact with the branch it simply burned the wood, just like a normal flame would have. It wasn¡¯t even especially hot or anything, just a normal flame with a strange colour. And it was only the original flame that had this colour, the flames that came directly from the branch were completely normal.

    Disappointed Jack almost wanted to recall the flame back into his hand when he suddenly noticed something. While the flame wasn¡¯t especially fast, it had already burned the parts of the branch closest to it, turning it into ashes. And yet it still continued burning without anything to fuel it.

    Curious Jack grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it into the flame. Nothing, not even a flicker. Encouraged by that Jack threw more and more dirt, but the flame didn¡¯t react to it and kept burning. Finally Jack even took a bottle of water from his backpack and emptied over the flame just to get no reaction.

    ¡®Interesting, it just keeps burning¡­ Maybe it¡¯s inextinguishable?¡¯

    Inextinguishable flames weren¡¯t as rare as one would believe. At least as long as you used the mortal definition of the term ¡®inextinguishable¡¯. Quite a lot of flames were safe against suffocation or water and would continue to burn when disturbed. Those few ones which were truly inextinguishable even against supernatural means were a lot rarer. Sadly Jack didn¡¯t have the means to test which of the two kinds his flames would fall under.

    However he was willing to bet that his flames were truly inextinguishable. Didn¡¯t the manual of ¡®Blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ say that these flames were burning even within the Nether itself? The Nether was a place ¨C if you could call something that was nowhere and everywhere between the worlds a place ¨C where no flame would be able to burn. At least if they weren¡¯t inextinguishable.

    With a sigh Jack let the flame vanish. Inextinguishable or not, he was still disappointed. He had hoped that the flames would be something he could use as a weapon, but they simply were too weak for that. And what if he was against something that couldn¡¯t be hurt by fire? His flames would be useless.

    Leaning back tired and exhausted from the usage of his flames, Jack looked through the trees. Outside of the forest he could see the city and all the people who lived their lives, not knowing what would come soon enough.

    A low chuckle came out of Jack¡¯s mouth as he realized for the first time that was starting to feel guilty for what he did. Sure, some might argue that bringing the apocalypse was a good reason to feel guilty, but it was also true that everyone that was impacted by it were mortals. And cultivators like Jack had been before didn¡¯t really care for mortals, their life was simply too short for that.

    ¡®Guess my time here has influenced me more than I thought¡¯

    Only hours later, when the sun had already set Jack left the hill and went home.

 Chapter 17: Troubles

    A week had passed since Jack had made his first experiment with his new flames. An entire week where he had went every day to the hill to train until the sun began to set and he was too exhausted to continue.

    Sadly in all this time he hadn¡¯t been able to find out more about the black flames. They remained simply inextinguishable though Jack felt that there was more to them than that. He had however made some progress with his healing flames. After some tries he had learned that his current limits were quite narrow. Shallow cuts and scratches would be healed effortlessly while deeper cuts would change to be less severe, but anymore and the flame became useless as its power would be spread too thin to actually do something. And he couldn¡¯t summon enough of the flame to change that, even if he used the maximum he could access before losing control, the flame wouldn¡¯t grow bigger than his thumb and the effects didn¡¯t increase much either.

    What had changed the most however was his actual ability to use the flames. After all this training he was able to shape them much quicker and for less energy. An important improvement if he ever got into a fight.

    Sadly because he kept spending so much time outside his cultivation hadn¡¯t grown by much. He had managed to refine all his Qi with the ¡®Blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ and the rune had nearly doubled in size, being now as big as a large marble after it had to expand its web like tendrils in a sphere around itself, but there was no way to tell when he would finally reach the third level of the Qi gathering realm. Once more Jack cursed his large Dantian and the insane amounts of Qi he needed for each level.

    And then there was the last, completely unintended consequence of his training, this one being easily the most sever of them.

    ¡°Could you please get away from me?¡±

    With an exasperated sigh Jack turned towards Rin. Somehow she had managed to switch her place in class to the one on Jack¡¯s right side and was watching his every move with an intensity that was honestly disturbing. She even tried to follow him after school, but with a small usage of his Qi he had always managed to get away from her.

    The only one even more disturbed by her attention than Jack was Sam. He who was still sitting on his left kept glaring at Rin. Jack didn¡¯t understand why he did it, but it annoyed him to no end. And now he was caught between the two of them and was tired of it.

    As if he was feeling that Jack was thinking about him Sam used this moment to ask him a question.

    ¡°Jack, can you come home with me after school? Grandfather said he had to talk with you and that it was urgent¡±

    ¡®Right, Sam had said last week that he wanted to talk to me. I wonder why? I guess I can make a small break in my training¡¯

    Jack nodded and a smile formed on Sam¡¯s face. Only to turn into a frown as he looked over Jack¡¯s shoulder. Turning around Jack looked into Rin¡¯s eyes that were focused on the two of them and he knew immediately that they would have an unwanted follower this time. Jack sighed.

    ---

    The training hall was just as it had been the first time Jack had visited it. An old, almost decrypt gym that looked as if it had been abandoned years ago.

    ¡°¡­¡± Silently Rin looked at the building and Jack could almost feel her judging its state. And Jack wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed it. Out of the corner of his eye he could feel Sam¡¯s gaze became colder. The hall had been his home since he was a child, so he didn¡¯t like it if people judged it for its appearance.

    Upon entering Jack quickly went to search for the old man, Rin and Sam followed behind. As it was still the middle of the day the hall was empty. Compared to the afternoons the silence was deafening and each of their steps echoed through the wide room. Quickly Jack¡¯s steps guided him to the door in the back of the hall.

    The old man was in his office. As always when Jack came to it he was surprised how tidy it was. The desk was devoid of papers and so clean he could see the light reflect on it. Small cabinets behind his seat were filled with documents, each marked in a neat handwriting and sorted by date. Honestly it felt a bit creepy to Jack who was used to sharing his desk with half a month worth of books and homework.

    The old man lifted his eyebrow curiously as he noticed Rin following Jack, but he immediately returned to a calm grin.

    ¡°Can I please speak alone with Jack? Sam, young lady?¡±

    Sam nodded and left the room. After a hesitant look at Jack, Rin followed him out. With a serious look on his face the old man turned to Jack.

    ¡°Jack, I got a letter from your grandfather. He and your grandmother are coming back¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Confused Jack looked at the old man. It was interesting that his grandparents finally decided to come visiting, especially since he had never seen before, but was that something that needed calling him here?

    A frown crept on the old man¡¯s face as he sensed Jack¡¯s confusion.

    ¡°Jack, what do you know about your grandparents?¡±

    ¡°Not much¡±, Jack admitted, ¡°my parents didn¡¯t talk much about them even if I asked. I barely know their names¡±

    With a sigh the old man leaned back into his chair. He mumbled a small curse, barely loud enough for Jack to hear it with his cultivation enhanced hearing.

    ¡°Dammit, Daniel, do you truly hate your father so much?¡±

    He turned back towards Jack, a small frown on his face.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much I should tell you about them, given that your parents don¡¯t want you to know. What I however can tell you is that trouble keeps following them on the foot¡±

    Jack frowned, that certainly didn¡¯t sound good.

    ¡°Can you tell me at least something?¡±

    The old man thought for a moment.

    ¡°Well, I guess a bit won¡¯t do any harm. Let¡¯s see, back when your grandfather and I were still children we¡­¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ---

    POV: Rin

    Rin watched as the door to the office closed. She didn¡¯t like to let the demon out of her view, but she didn¡¯t have any choice right now. Something about that old man was making her nervous. There wasn¡¯t Spiritual Energy around him, so he at least wasn¡¯t a demon, but her senses said undoubtedly that he was dangerous.

    At least the room didn¡¯t have another exit, so she would be able to see when the demon left it. Not that that made her any less worried. The demon had shown that it was able to escape its watchers without any problem. Even she herself had to admit defeat before its speed. But at least I class she could now keep a close eye on it, now that she had changed seats.

    She looked over to Sam. The boy was still glaring at her like he had ever since she had changed her place to get closer to the demon. She didn¡¯t understand him. Why was he always looking at her like this?

    Rin hesitated for a moment. The boy was close to the demon, so if she could befriend him she might be able to get him to talk about its secrets.

    ¡°Erm, I believe we haven¡¯t talked so far. My name is ¨C¡°

    ¡°I know who you are¡±, Sam cut her off. Rin¡¯s eye twitched at the rude tone. Still, she tried to continue.

    ¡°Can we please ¨C¡°

    ¡°No, we can¡¯t. Listen, when I first saw how you looked at Jack, I thought you would be interested in him and had simply problems to show it. But when I observed you more, it became clear that you have some sort of grudge against him. I don¡¯t know why or when it happened, but I won¡¯t help you against my friend. Goodbye¡±

    With this he turned around and started to walk away. Enraged Rin looked after him. Why wouldn¡¯t he listen to her? His friend wasn¡¯t even a human to begin with! Before she knew it she was behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

    ¡°Listen here you-¡°

    Rin stopped talking as Sam, for the first time, really looked at her. Sure, he had glared at her before, but it was nothing compared to now. His eyes were filled with a soul searing intensity that made a shudder run over Rin¡¯s back. Startled she let go and jumped back. Instinctively her hand reached down to the metal rod on her side. It was the hilt of her sword and she could use it to summon it. A small thought and she would be armed, ready to fight of the boy in front of her.

    But in the last moment she controlled herself. Summoning her sword here would have consequences for her, but even more for the boy. He was innocent, just a boy who made the wrong being his friend, it would be wrong to pull him even deeper inside by showing something like magically pulling swords from the air.

    Suddenly the boy started to grin, a deranged grin that made him look slightly insane. It made Rin shrink back.

    ¡°Want to spar? Just that you know, I won¡¯t accept a ¡®no¡¯ as an answer¡±

    As Sam lifted his arms and went into a fighting stance Rin thought that maybe she should have summoned the sword after all.

    ---

    Back to Jack

    ¡°¡­And then we simply covered it all up as an accident. Ha, those idiots were never seen again in the city¡± The old man concluded his story laughing. Jack wasn¡¯t really sure what he should think about it, the story of his grandfather and the old man fighting a small crime ring was certainly interesting, but it was still a frightening thought that a pair of teenagers was somehow able to win 20 to 2. At least now he could guess what the old man had meant when he called his grandfather someone who attracted trouble. But there was something that interested him now even more than before.

    ¡°If you two were so close, why are you here and don¡¯t live near him?¡±

    ¡°Well, that is simple. Markus doesn¡¯t live anywhere. He¡¯s traveling the world, creating trouble everywhere he goes. I don¡¯t believe he has lived in one place more than a few years a time since he left his home. I on the other hand grew tired of it after a while. I settled down and had children and before I knew I was old¡±

    Jack snorted. The old man might look old, but he certainly was stronger than most people even in the prime of their lives. Even the cane he had was only for punitive uses and not because he needed it. An absentminded grin was on the old man¡¯s face as he continued, still lost in thought.

    ¡°Markus would visit me often back then and when he got a wife that shared his wandering tendencies they even build a house in this town and settled down for a few years. Our families were very close. We even had an agreement that his child would marry my son. Sadly he only had Daniel as his child, so we had to bury that plan. And with Daniel¡¯s dislike of his father we can¡¯t even marry our grandchildren¡±

    ¡°Not to mention that Sam is a boy, too, so it wouldn¡¯t work either¡±, Jack commented with a grin.

    The old man blinked in surprise. ¡°Obviously Sam wouldn¡¯t work, but he isn¡¯t my only grandchild, you know?¡±

    ¡°Wait a moment, you mean you have a granddaughter?¡±

    ¡°Sure I have. She is only a year younger than Sam. I¡¯m surprised you have never heard about her.¡±

    ¡°So, is she anything like Sam?¡±, Jack asked curiously. Why had he never heard that the old man had a granddaughter before?

    ¡°Like Sam?¡±, the old man smiled. ¡°Well, I guess you could say that the two of them are similar. It¡¯s just that she has quite the temper. Believe me, if you ever see her enraged you will beg for -¡±

    A crashing sound cut him off as the wall behind Jack exploded. Jack jumped up and twirled around, only to see a leg pushing through the wall. That sounded more imposing than it was, as the wall was merely a few centimetres thick. Still, it was an impressive sight.

    ¡°- mercy. Sam! Don¡¯t destroy the building, we can¡¯t effort the repair costs as they are already!¡±

    ¡°Sorry grandpa, things got a bit out of hand here¡±, Sam¡¯s voice came through the hole. He sounded¡­ excited? The leg got pulled out of the wall and Jack could see the training hall again. A few new indentions had formed and Jack wondered for a moment how he hadn¡¯t noticed anything before.

    But that thought vanished as his view fell on Rin. She looked as if she had seen hell. Her clothes were tattered and bruises covered her whole body. What surprised Jack the most thought were her eyes. She looked as if she would start to cry any moment.

    As if she was sensing that he looked at her she turned her head away and walked away with stiff steps. A few moments later Jack heard the door of the hall opening and then closing. Rin had left.

    ---

    After Jack had said goodbye to Sam he finally started to walk home. For a moment he had thought about going to train instead, but it was too late for that, when he would reach the hill it would start to get dark.

    Slowly he walked through the streets. He could feel the cold winds and knew that it would soon get even colder, but with Jack¡¯s cultivation he wasn¡¯t bothered by it. And even if he would freeze it was almost impossible for him to be infected by mortal illnesses.

    When Jack reached the street in front of his home he noticed for the first time that there was something amiss. A small crowd had gathered in front of his home and just as he was watching an ambulance left with howling sirens.

    Jack paled. Before he knew it he ran as fast as he could towards the house, even going as far as infusing Qi inside his legs to be faster. The worry that something had happened to his parents drowned out every other thought. He had already lost his parents once in his old life and he definitely didn¡¯t want to experience it again.

    It was only when Jack saw his mother standing inside the garden that he calmed down a bit. That is until he saw the state she was in. Her normally carefully styled hair was disturbed and on her clothes were red stains. Blood. Her eyes were red and she looked as if she had cried.

    ¡°Mom!¡±

    Jack¡¯s mother looked up as he called out to her. Quickly he waved his way to through the crowd before he stopped right next to her. Immediately his mother clutched Jack into her arms as if she was trying to find a hold. Jack could feel her sobbing. He wanted to help her calm down, but he had to know what happened here. Luckily his mother let go a moment later and distanced herself a bit.

    ¡°What happened, mom? Was dad¡­¡±

    His mother shook her head.

    ¡°It was Larry¡±

    ¡®Who the hell is Larry?¡¯ Confused Jack looked at his mother. He was sure he had never heard of someone with that name. But she simply continued.

    ¡°I had just left for a moment to go into the house, then I heard him scream¡± She visibly shuddered at the memory. ¡°I run back and he was there lying on the ground writhing in pain. The blood¡­ god there was so much blood¡­ and his arm¡­¡±

    She trailed of, her face a nauseous green and a haunted look in her eyes as she looked over to the side where a big pool of blood covered the ground. Frowning Jack looked at it. Whoever this Larry was with this much blood loss there was a good chance that he had died. But how?

    Jack¡¯s first suspect was Rin or someone from her organisation, but he immediately let go of that thought. When Rin had first met him and threatened him in school she had stopped because there were children nearby. Would someone like that attack someone innocent? Obviously not.

    Suddenly a stray thought came to Jack and he cursed mentally. He had completely forgotten about it, but what about the cat? Already before the crack had opened up he had suspicions that she was absorbing Qi, but now several weeks had passed where the house had been filled with Qi. Had she finally become a monster ready to kill humans?

    Trying to find something to prove his suspicions Jack walked over to the pool of blood. He could hear his mother telling him to stay away, but he ignored it for the moment.

    ¡®Hmm¡­ Strange, it looks to clean for a monster attack. Just straight lines of blood outwards and no ripped of pieces of flesh¡­¡¯

    Looking at it, Jack concluded that it probably no monster attack either. Maybe it had been something mundane? After all mortals get hurt all the time. Still, it was near the house, so his protection should have ¨C

    Jack stopped his thoughts as his eyes widened. A terrible suspicion welled up inside of him. He looked to the side towards one of the bushes next to the entryway. Behind it he had buried one of the runes of the defence formations.

    And true to his fears the bush had lost several branches, cut with surgically precision. It was the trail of a wind blade. He thought back to what his mother had said. She had left this Larry alone for a moment and that was probably the moment in which the man stepped inside the formation. And true to how he had created it his formation had detected the intruder and neutralised him.

    A feeling of guilt welled up inside of Jack. He had made a terrible mistake. He should have guessed that some innocent people would come inside the formation without being accompanied by his parents. But he had simply set everyone who entered unsupervised as a target.

    Jack got pulled out of his stupor as a pair of policemen came to him and lead him away from the crime scene. He hadn¡¯t even noticed them arriving. Thankfully the policemen were quite understanding with him and one of them guided him carefully towards the house, obviously thinking that he was in a state of shock upon seeing the blood.

    Slowly Jack walked back into his room. He barely had closed the door behind him as the phone on his desk started to ring. Hesitating for a moment Jack accepted the call. Rin¡¯s voice came from the speaker.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you did it, but I know you are responsible for this demon! You almost killed that man. The next time I see you will be the last time.¡±

    With the slamming sound the call ended. Jack stared at the phone for a moment, then his face distorted in an angry grimace.

    ¡°FUCK¡±

    Yelling out he threw the phone against the wall where it shattered into countless parts and left a small indention.

    He hated feeling guilty like this. Because of him someone innocent had lost his ¨C

    Jack¡¯s thoughts stopped abruptly. Did Rin say just now that he had almost killed that man? That meant he was still alive, though he was probably severely wounded.

    With a new resolve Jack balled his fist. Yes, he had made a terrible mistake, but he wouldn¡¯t sit here and do nothing. He would help that man, no matter what.

 Chapter 18: Last preparations

    While Jack had decided to help the man he had hurt due to his mistake, he first had to make sure that the situation didn¡¯t get any worse than it already was. Quickly he left his room and walked into the garden. In front of a small stone he crouched down. Reaching out he pulled out the small stone that held the controlling rune to the defensive formation. He let out a relieved sigh. Without the controlling rune the formation was disabled. So no one else would get hurt if they stepped into it. Jack stood up again and walked back towards his room.

    As much as Jack wanted to rush immediately over to the hospital to help the man he knew that he couldn¡¯t help him right now. Not only was he probably still being treated by doctors, no, his wounds were quite severe given the blood he had lost. Jack¡¯s healing flames wouldn¡¯t be able to heal something like that. If his cultivation was higher he would be able to increase the power of the flames, but he hadn¡¯t time to cultivate right now. No, if he wanted to help the man he would have to create something more powerful.

    Jack¡¯s view focused on the plants that covered the board in front of his window. Ever since his failed attempt at alchemy he had gathered and cared for them, it was time that he got something from it.

    With a slight movement of energy he activated a technique to analyse plants as he laid his hand on the plant next to him. Slowly the energy moved from his hand into the plant, a small bush with red coloured flower petals. It entered through its bark and reached deep into the core of the plant before it started to return to Jack.

    Jack closed his eyes as he tried to understand what the technique told him. Minutes passed before he finally began to understand. It was a great amount of information, but most of it had been useless. Information about the texture of the plants bark, the flow of liquid through its stem and other topics Jack didn¡¯t really care for.

    But in the end he managed to find what he was looking for, the medical properties of the plant. It was hidden in the roots and could relieve exhaustion and refill stamina. Not really what he was looking for, but it was a start. He wanted to stop the analysis, but before he was able to do that he found another medical property. This one was in the leaves and would, if used correctly temporarily increase strength by a small amount. A small smile appeared on Jack¡¯s face. Plants with twin medical properties were rare, so what were the chances that the first one he tested was one. It must be his lucky day, or so he thought.

    That is until he found a third one, hidden deep within the plant. A surprised look appeared on Jack¡¯s face. What the- ? A fourth one quickly pulled his attention away, though this one was weak and almost unnoticeable.

    A frown on his face Jack leaned back as he tried to figure out what he had just found. Plants with four medical properties were almost unheard of. And to actually work with them was even harder as you had to extract the properties first instead of simply using the whole plant like you could with normal herbs.

    Quickly Jack began to check the other plants. To his surprise most of them had at least two medical properties. One he found had even a total of six, something he had never thought possible before. Jack didn¡¯t know why the plants had so many properties, but honestly he didn¡¯t care either. It would make things a lot more complicated, but at least he knew now why his first attempt at alchemy had failed so miserably.

    Thinking over the problem for a moment Jack decided that he would try to extract the medical properties. He stood up and walked over to one of the closets on the wall. He had to search in the depths of it for some time until he finally found what he was looking for. An old, dusty chemistry set his parents had once gifted to him. He had never really used it, but now it would be useful. Jack opened it and took out a few vials.

    Carefully Jack selected the plants that had the properties he needed, recovery and healing, while having the least amount of other properties. As soon as he had made his selection he began with the extraction.

    Medical properties were in fact nothing more than a special form of Qi. Plants would absorb the Qi around them and infuse it into their bodies where it would become refined. Just like monsters, plants didn¡¯t need any cultivation manuals to do this, instead their body was actively refining the Qi on its own.

    Carefully he guided his energy into the first plant, a small blue flower which could be used to help a wound to recover. The energy slithered inside towards the small blue flower petals where the medical property was the most concentrated. Once it was there Jack used the energy to grab the Qi inside of it and started to pull.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Quickly the Qi filled liquid started to leave the flower and floated in a pale glowing ball the size of an orange over Jack¡¯s hand. Narrowing his eyes Jack looked for any impurities inside the Qi. And only a few moments later he had found them. Small dots of Qi where it wasn¡¯t part of the medical property he wanted, but either part of the flowers normal Qi or even those of other, unwanted medical property. With a thought Jack separated the impurities from the rest.

    The result was a marble sized ball of milky white liquid floating over his palm. Carefully Jack guided it in a small bottle before he turned to the next plant.

    Three plants later Jack had finally all he needed. All the liquid he had extracted was gathered in small bottles in front of him.

    For the next part Jack borrowed a pot from the kitchen, chuckling as he remembered with nostalgia at his first try with alchemy. Carefully Jack filled the liquid from the first bottle inside of the pot, then half of that from the second. He didn¡¯t need any further process than that, as the Qi had already been extracted from the plants. The only part where he had to be careful was the combination of the different parts. After all not every liquid had to be included to the same amount.

    Jack summoned a small flame and positioned it under the pot. Quickly the liquid started to boil. As it boiled the colour started to change bit by bit until the milky liquid had become completely transparent.

    With a mental command Jack extinguished the flame and waited until the liquid had stopped boiling. Afterwards he filled a quarter of the next bottle inside before he grabbed the last bottle and emptied it inside the pot. Immediately the liquid changed to a bright red colour. Seeing this Jack grinned. Almost ready.

    Reigniting the flame Jack heated the pot again. Quickly the liquid began boiling, but Jack continued to wait. Slowly the liquid began to become darker and darker. But then, suddenly the colour began changing to a dark green one. Immediately Jack cut off the flame.

    Jack looked at the green coloured liquid inside the pot. Truth be told he if he had any other way to help the man he would rather use it. Giving an alchemical potion to a mortal was risky at best. The reason was the same as why no one produced weapons that gave Qi to their owners like Rin¡¯s did. Qi was dangerous for anybody that absorbed it, especially for mortals. And an alchemical potion had some Qi inside of it, though it wasn¡¯t much. As such it was recommended that no one should drink more than a potion a day, anymore and the consequences would be dire. That was the reason why healing techniques were more popular as they didn¡¯t have the same restrictions. But on the other hand, even the weakest alchemical potion would be enough to heal severe wounds whereas healers had to become more powerful to do the same.

    Carefully Jack filled the vials. He barely managed to fill three of them before liquid was exhausted, but it was definitely enough to help the man. He placed the vials back on the table before he stretched. The whole process had taken nearly an hour to complete and he felt stiff from sitting still for so long. Standing up he walked to the window and looked outside. The crowd outside had dispersed. Jack could still see a few stragglers, one of them looking like a journalist, but most had gone away.

    Deciding that he should look if his mother was better now, Jack left his room. But all he found was a small message lying on the kitchen table. His mother had accompanied the police back to give a testimony as a witness. Jack¡¯s father would drive her back later, so he was alone for a few more hours.

    Jack returned to his room. Now that he had the means to actually help the man he wanted to walk of immediately, but he held back. There was still one last thing he had to do.

    Jack pulled the knife from his pocket. Thoughtfully he looked down at it. Rin already knew that he was responsible for what had happened to the man, so it wasn¡¯t farfetched to think that he was now even closer observed than before. And as soon as he made his way to the hospital Rin would know. Maybe she would even think that he wanted to take care of the man for good or something silly like that. Either way she would probably try to stop or even kill him. So he would need a weapon to defend himself.

    Jack opened his desk. After a few minutes of searching he finally found what he was looking for. An old nail. He placed the knife on the desk and grabbed it tighter to make sure it wouldn¡¯t be able to move, then he started.

    Carefully Jack scratched a small rune into the hilt of the knife. The hard wood resisted, but in the end Jack had carved a small rune of durability into it. Next came a small prick with the nail into his finger to get some blood. Cautiously Jack distributed the blood into the rune.

    When he was ready Jack moved his consciousness into his Dantian. There his black rune remained floating. He hesitated for a moment, then he split of a very small part of it. Immediately a searing pain coursed through his body. It was, however only for a moment and the rune quickly shifted to correct the missing parts.

    Quickly Jack guided the black Qi towards the rune on the knife. Greedily it absorbed the Qi and slowly the rune began changing. Different from before when he had infused unrefined Qi into a formation, this one didn¡¯t start to glow with light. Instead shadows began to gather around the rune, becoming darker and darker the more the rune was filled.

    Finally, when the rune was completely filled Jack stopped to infuse Qi into it. The pitiful rest of the Qi that was left got returned to his Dantian where it became once again part of the rune. The rune however started to activate now that it was full. The shadows that had gathered around it got sucked inside as the rune changed the Qi inside of it to increase the durability of the knife it was placed on. In the end all shadows vanished and only the knife remained with the dark rune on its hilt.

    A moment the rune remained like this, then dark tendrils started to spread forth from the rune. They first spread through the entire hilt before they jumped over to the blade, forming a fine web of black tendrils inside the metal. Jack could sense the blade strengthening around them, becoming infused with Qi.

    Now even Rin¡¯s sword wouldn¡¯t be able to cut through it like it did before. And even if it did, he would be able to send his energy into the rune to temporarily increase its effect. After a last admiring look at his new knife Jack hid it inside his pocket. Finally he was ready to go. Quickly Jack left the house and started to walk towards the hospital.

 Chapter 19: Corruption

    Quietly Jack looked at the hospital. It was the same he had been born in, a large ugly slab of concrete rising to the sky. Every other time Jack would have stopped to make fun of this world and their preference for ugly buildings, at least for public ones, but today was different. Nervously Jack grabbed the knife in his pocket. Chances were good that he would have to use it today.

    To get into the hospital was the easiest part. Jack simply walked inside as if he was visiting someone. The bigger problem was to actually find the man. Sadly Jack couldn¡¯t use his Qi senses, as the area was still a void zone and he would risk losing his cultivation again, just like he did after he was born. Instead he had to use more mundane means. He waited for an unsupervised moment, then he borrowed a computer for a moment. A short inquiry later and he found out what he needed. The man he hurt, a Larry Sanders, 27 years old, was currently placed in room 5.372. His operation had just ended and the man was luckily out of mortal danger. Jack let out a sigh of relieve when he read this.

    A moment later he frowned as he read more. The man had lost his arm during the attack. That was bad, his potions, weak as they were wouldn¡¯t be able to heal something like that. With a sigh Jack shook his head. He had no way to increase the strength of the potions either, the plants he had used were already the strongest he had, even though they were weak by the standards of his old world. And special techniques to increase the potency of the potions by using his Qi were something he wouldn¡¯t be able to use, not with his low cultivation. Even if he could, stronger potions would have bigger side effects, especially to mortals. Either way, he had to give up on being able to heal the man completely and had to accept his limits. He would simply heal him as good as possible.

    Still, Jack couldn¡¯t just walk towards the man, with the doctors and nurses around he wouldn¡¯t get even inside the room, not to mention get him to drink the potion. He would have to wait until they all left. Quickly Jack found a small, rarely used storage room on the third floor and hid inside.

    After several hours and a close encounter with a nurse, barging unannounced into the room, it finally started to get quieter outside. Jack waited for another couple of minutes before he walked towards the door and looked carefully outside. The long hallway was empty and through the large windows fell moonlight. It was later than Jack had thought and for a moment he was worried that his parents might have already returned only to find him missing. Especially after what happened earlier they would be worried sick.

    ¡®Even more reason to get this over quickly. Let¡¯s see¡­ 5.372, that means it is two floors over me¡¯

    Jack walked down the hallway until he reached a small stairway. Just a few minutes later he stood on the plastic floor of the 5<sup>th</sup> floor. The hallway was as empty as those of the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor had been. With quiet steps Jack walked along the row of doors until he came to the one he had searched for. Jack reached out and turned the handle.

    Suddenly a shudder run over Jack¡¯s back. Instinctively he jumped backwards. Not a moment too soon as with a metallic shriek the door split right where he had stood earlier. A fancy looking broadsword, covered in small runes, had pierced through it from the inside.

    With a curse Jack pulled out his knife. Its dark tendrils seemed to pulse as if in anticipation of a fight. With a grinding sound the sword vanished back inside as the door opened slowly. A small smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes was on Rin¡¯s face as she stepped out of the room, showing the empty chamber behind her. Larry wasn¡¯t here. The pale moonlight from the windows illuminated her body, yet her face was barely visible, only her eyes were burning with righteous fury.

    ¡°I knew you would come to end what you have started, demon. But this will be the end of you. Didn¡¯t you think it was strange that no one was here, not even a night watch? Or did you not care? Either way, today you will die¡±

    Threatening she lifted her sword and the runes covering it flared to life as Qi started to course through them before being send to Rin herself. Jack could only shake his head at her theatrics. Clearly she couldn¡¯t be reasoned with. He grabbed his knife tighter.

    It was Rin who moved first. With a shout she jumped forward, her sword carving a glowing path in the twilight of the hallway.

    Quickly Jack lifted his knife, his own weapon a dark flash, and parried the strike. Sparks flew as the two weapons clashed, lighting up the dark hallway around them. Jack cursed as his hand became numb. Rin with the Qi of her sword cursing through her body was a bit stronger than himself.

    ¡®Well, it¡¯s not as if I can¡¯t change that¡¯

    Qi began to course through Jack¡¯s body. The numbness in his hand vanished and he felt himself getting stronger. What surprised him however was the look on Rin¡¯s face as she noticed the change. It was filled with disgust and rage.

    ¡°Demon¡±

    A single word came over her lips, but it was spoken with such contempt that even Jack was taken aback. Suddenly he understood that it was probably the Qi inside of him that made Rin so hostile against him. But before he could say anything Rin moved again.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Again the sword flashed through the air towards Jack¡¯s neck, but with the Qi inside Jack¡¯s body, hastening his senses, it looked as if the sword was moving much slower than before. Effortlessly he leaned backwards, evading the slash.

    Enraged Rin gritted her teeth and swung her sword again, trying to move faster. The runes on the sword started to glow brighter as Rin slashed at Jack again and again, forming a bright pattern of glowing paths into the air. Jack continued to evade, but a look of worry crept into his eyes.

    With each moment Rin was getting faster. Looking closer Jack noticed the glow of the runes slowly spreading to her hands. His eyes widened as he recognized the signs. Rin was getting corrupted by the sword¡¯s Qi.

    Being distracted Jack almost didn¡¯t notice another slash aimed at him. In the last moment he reacted, barely managing to parry it. He winced as the sword opened a small scratch on his arm. In the moonlight the small trickle of blood looked almost as if it was black.

    Rin¡¯s face twisted into a satisfied grin before she continued her assault, becoming faster and faster. Jack couldn¡¯t evade everything any longer. Sparks began to fill the air as he started to parry the attacks. He couldn¡¯t even start to attack on his own.

    Quickly Jack noticed his knife showing signs of strain. Small cracks and cuts began forming. Even with the rune, it was only enchanted with the Qi of a Qi gathering cultivator, much weaker than whatever had been used to make the sword. Hurriedly Jack sent more Qi into the rune, strengthening it enough to hold off the worst damages.

    As the fight continued Rin¡¯s movements became more and more aggressive. Jack could see anxiety inside her eyes. Obviously he wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed the starting corruption and she wanted to end the fight as soon as possible. Jack felt himself getting pressured, but simultaneously it loosened her defence. Jack crouched under a fast, horizontal slash and made a step forward, closer to Rin.

    He could see her eyes widen. Now he was too close for her to hit him with her sword. His knife however didn¡¯t share the same problem.

    The knife flashed with a dark light as it drew a line of blood over Rin¡¯s sword arm. With a pained yelp she jerked back, but Jack didn¡¯t stop. A new wave of Qi was channelled through his body, strengthening himself to the limit his body could endure. Resolute to end this fight he focussed all his strength and his arm pierced through the air. With a sickening crunch his fist crashed into Rin¡¯s face.

    Stunned Rin stumbled backwards, holding her bleeding nose with a hand. Jack hesitated for a moment, then he shook his head slightly. Despite the hostility she showed he didn¡¯t want to kill her or even hurt her if he didn¡¯t have to.

    ¡°Stop this madness, Rin! The sword has already started to corrupt you! If you continue you will lose yourself to it¡±

    Rin¡¯s eyes widened at his words, a look of surprise filling them. But the next moment it was replaced with rage.

    ¡°How dare you!¡±

    With a roar Rin slashed forward, completely unperturbed by the wound he had made on her arm, her sword glistening with light.  Startled Jack only barely managed to parry the attack. He hadn¡¯t expected her to react like this.

    ¡®Okay, then it¡¯s the hard way¡¯

    A new wave of Qi burst forth from Jack¡¯s Dantian. Guided by Jack it flew to the knife, but this time it wasn¡¯t absorbed by the rune. Instead it started to form a sharp edge on the knife¡¯s blade. It was hazy, as if formed from thin shadows and when Jack lifted the knife against Rin¡¯s sword it left behind a path of dark mist.

    Again sparks flew as the two weapons clashed, but this time something had changed. A small cut had appeared on Rin¡¯s blade. In exchange, the edge on the knife had vanished again, all its energy spent to create it, but after a moment it reappeared again as Jack created it anew. Rin noticed something was amiss. Looking downwards at her sword she saw the small cut and stilled.

    For a moment Jack hoped that she would stop now, worried about her weapon, but that hope shattered as Rin¡¯s face twisted into an incarnation of hatred. With an animalistic growl Rin threw herself at Jack. Faster than he could react her hand reached out, carving a path of burning pain over Jack¡¯s face.

    Jack jumped back, distancing himself from her. He had to blink as something dripped into his eye. Lifting his hand he whipped it away, staining his hand in a dark red. He looked at Rin. Her hands had changed, her fingernails replaced by short claws. Small strands of coarse fur covered her hands.

    A frown appeared on Jack¡¯s face. He didn¡¯t know how much time she still had, but the Qi corruption had started to affect her now. As long as her mind remained she would be able to turn back, but he had to hurry to end this fight or it would be dangerous. For both of them.

    ---

    Rin knew her time was running out. She was using too much of the swords powers and it had started to change her. She knew that if she didn¡¯t stop she would turn into a demon herself. She knew¡­ and yet she didn¡¯t stop, couldn¡¯t stop, not if she was already so close to killing the demon in front of her.

    He bled, was hurt. His blood was on her claws and soon it would cover the ground- Rin paused. Since when did she have claws?

    A quick look down confirmed her worries. She had changed even farther than before. She- She had to stop this, cutting off the connection to her sword and¡­ But wouldn¡¯t that be exactly what the demon had told her? This disgusting being had warned her, mocking her with the fact that all her power was nothing more than the sword in her hand, a power that would make her fall into the same kind of being it was already.

    The warning words of her uncle came to her mind, forbidding her to act out against the demon. It was too much of an unknown, something was strange about it, and so on. And every of her tries to convince him to do something had been ignored. In the end she had to sneak out of the house alone.

    Rin¡¯s grasp on her sword tightened. She would get this demons head. To show her uncle that there was nothing to fear about it. She would simply do it before she could change any further. Yes, that was the best way.

    Deep inside of her something started to grin manically, its form hazy and made out of pale Qi.

    ¡®Yes, let¡¯s kill¡¯

    ---

    Jack¡¯s view focused on the sword in Rin¡¯s hand. This thing was the source of her power and the corruption that came from it. If only he could get it away from her she would be helpless. But his former efforts, while successful were much too slow. He needed another way to get it away from her.

    Once again Jack cursed the lack of Qi in this world. As a cultivator he was more used to fight using magic and techniques, which were now useless as the pain of ejecting the Qi from his body would slow him down too much. Luckily he could use the energy of the Qi directly when he influenced something in contact to his skin like the knife, otherwise he would be in deep troubles. He wasn¡¯t like those sword freaks that were living their whole lives for their weapons and would have thrived in a world like this. Now however he deeply wished that he had trained at least sometimes with the knife instead of stumbling into a fight without a clue of how to use the thing.

    A simple plan began to form in his mind and quickly Jack rushed forwards. Letting out a roar Rin jumped forward and slashed at him. With an explosion of sparks Jack parried.

    He closed in on Rin, but with an enraged growl she let go of the sword with one hand and clawed at Jack. A slight smile formed on his face.

    ¡®As I thought¡¯

    Avoiding the claw Jack made a step to the side. Aiming at Rin¡¯s sword arm he pierced his knife forward. Rin tried to pull her arm back, but she was too slow. The knife pierced into her wrist with a force that would have made it penetrate a normal human¡¯s body effortlessly.

    Sadly Rin wasn¡¯t exactly human anymore. The knife managed to pierce a few centimetres into her skin, then it got stuck. With an enraged howl Rin swung her arm against Jack and he was thrown backwards.

    Jack flew through the air for several metres before he crashed on the ground, the plastic floor hard as stone. With a quick roll he was back on his feet. Opposite of him Rin pulled out his knife out of her wrist. For a moment she looked down on it, then she snorted and threw it away. Her eyes, having changed their colour to a bright yellow and looking inhumane, focused on Jack and a crooked smile appeared on her face.

    ¡®Ah, fuck¡¯

 Chapter 20: Breaking Point

    He had fucked up, Jack had to admit that as he watched Rin. Losing his knife was only the last in a long series of completely avoidable mishaps. To begin with, this whole misunderstanding of him being a demon could have been avoided if he had just talked to Rin. But no, he just had to break into her home without thinking, it was as if he was begging for the situation to get even worse. Not to mention all the other times he simply rushed mindlessly into problems. He was an ancient cultivator, he should behave like it and not like some damned teenager!

    But that was something for later. Jack quickly banished the thoughts creeping into his mind. Right now he had bigger problems at hand than that. Cautious he looked at Rin.

    With an animalistic howl Rin jumped forward. Being weapon less Jack didn¡¯t even try to fight against her. Even if he tried to use Qi to defend himself, she would rip through him with her sword.

    Jack¡¯s eyes flickered over to the floor where Rin had thrown his knife, but he immediately dismissed the idea of trying to get it. Rin was still between him and the knife.

    And so Jack did the only thing he could. He turned around and ran. Behind him he could hear Rin starting to follow him. The plastic floor squeaked under her feet.

    Jack reached the end of the hallway, arriving in a small foyer. On one side were the elevators, on the other the entrance to the staircases. Suddenly Jack got an idea and he changed his way to the stairs. Behind him Rin¡¯s steps came closer.

    Jack run through the door into the stairway, but then he stumbled and nearly fell down. In the last moment he caught himself and continued down the stairs. Behind him Rin crashed into the slowly closing door, nearly tearing it from the angles. She didn¡¯t even slow down.

    Letting out a deep growl she stormed after Jack, taking the first step down the stairs- Only to lose her footing as her foot landed on a thin layer of ice covering the stair. With a yelp she flew down the stairs, missing Jack only narrowly, as he pressed himself against the wall, before she crashed into the wall on the other side of the stairway. The sword hit the ground with a metallic sound, but remained firmly in her hand.

    Jack cursed as he fought back the nauseous feeling of losing part of his cultivation that had caused him to stumble beforehand. He had hoped she would at least let go of the sword, that was why he had taken the risk to expel the Qi around him to create the ice. Now he had to improvise. Reaching out with his mind he manipulated the small cloud of Qi inside the stairway. A small bolt of condensed air appeared. Hesitating Jack looked down at Rin, an attack like this wouldn¡¯t do much with her enhanced toughness. He needed another way to attack her. Quickly he changed his target and the bolt shoot upwards into the ceiling.

    With a crack the bolt crashed into the ceiling. Cracks started to appear. Jack frowned for a moment. The Qi he had ejected was mostly of the fire element because of his cultivation in the ¡®Blazes of the Netherflame¡¯ cultivation method. Everything other than flames was weaker than normal.

    For a moment he hesitated, should he use his flames? They were the only magic he could have used beforehand as they were only a by-product of his cultivation method, but he hadn¡¯t used them in fear of killing Rin accidentally. But there was a part of him that urged him to do it anyway, to eliminate this threat to himself. This part however was buried far, far inside of himself, being something from his youth as he had fought other cultivators regularly. A long life and a reincarnation in a peaceful world had buried it ever since.

    ¡®Not that she does share that sentiment¡¯, Jack thought as he looked down at Rin who jumbled to get back on her feet again. Rage and hatred burned in her eyes, mixed with a hint of insanity. The corruption was spreading. Jack gritted his teeth. He would keep the flames as a last resort. Until then however¡­

    With a quick manipulation of the Qi around him another three bolts of condensed air formed and crashed into the ceiling. With a crack the thick concrete broke and fist sized fragments rained down. Rin let out a painful yelp as she got hit by one of them.

    Jack allowed himself a small smile, then he focused back at shooting more bolts. Down the stairs Rin still struggled to come back to her feet while evading the numerous fragments coming from above, but she was too slow. She had only managed to get back on one knee when a crack resounded in the stairway, even louder than any before. A large piece of concrete, easily the size of Jack himself, fell down from the ceiling.

    Rin looked up towards the piece and a smile formed on her face. The sword in her hands began burning in white light. It was bright enough to sting in Jack¡¯s eyes. Worried he began to back away upwards.

    With a roar Rin swung her sword. In her crouching stance it looked ridiculous, but its effect certainly wasn¡¯t. The light loosened, forming a large blade that shot upwards. It crashed into the still falling piece of concrete and exploded. Blinded Jack closed his eyes. When he opened them again the piece of concrete had vanished. With a curse on his lips he turned around and run back towards the fifth floor, jumping over the last remains of the ice that had already begun to melt.

    A loud howl came from behind Jack and he hastened his steps even farther, sending Qi directly into his legs. Quickly he arrived back in front of room 5.372 where the whole fight had started. Searching Jack¡¯s eyes wandered over the floor until a sole form on the hard plastic floor attracted his view.

    With a quick movement Jack grabbed his knife. A quick movement of Qi and the Qi blade sprung back to life as he sprung around. Rin stood on the other end of the hallway. Her breath was laborious and the soft moonlight showed tiny drops of sweat on her face. The last attack must have exhausted her. But in exchange the sudden stream of Qi had hastened her change. Her arms were, by now, completely covered in short, coarse fur. Small claws poked out from holes inside her shoes.

    After a moment where the two simply looked at each other, Rin opened her mouth to speak. Jack could see the serrated tips of sharp teeth glistening inside her mouth.

    ¡°D. e. mon¡­ kill¡±

    The strange and growling sound of Rin¡¯s voice let a shudder run down Jack¡¯s back. Rin was right on the border to loose herself completely, he could feel it. He hesitated for a moment, then he gritted his teeth. Now it was all or nothing. His previous tries to get the sword away from her were all for naught, same with the one to destroy it. But the later one had at least showed small results.

    Jack reached into his Dantian and grabbed every bit of Qi he could safely control. Then he took the rest until he was left with only his completely inert cultivation base. The stream of Qi flowed to the outside and Jack could only do his best to guide it towards the knife. On its way parts of it got lost, absorbed by his body, but a large amount of Qi still arrived at its destination.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The knife in Jack¡¯s vanished within a cloud of black shadows as Qi sprang forth from it. There was simply too much for Jack to control properly and so quite a bit got lost to the surroundings. Jack winced as the nauseating feeling within him got stronger and a deep exhaustion began forming. He had to end this fight now. After the Qi finally settled the blade of Qi had changed into a pitch black colour. Gone were the shadows that formed it, instead it had the same small tendrils of darkness inside of it his Netherflame was made of. And just like the Netherflame something about the blade just seemed wrong, like something that didn¡¯t belong to this world.

    Rin¡¯s eyes were focused on the blade and for a moment Jack hoped that the feeling would be enough to hold her back, that some instinctual part of her was afraid of it. That hope was shattered a moment later.

    With an animalistic howl Rin threw herself forward, her sword burning in glistening light. With a ripping sound her clothes started to tear, unable to accommodate her changed shape under the strain. Jack grimaced, then he leapt forward, his knife nothing more than a mass of darkness as it cut through the air.

    With an explosion of light and darkness the two weapons met in the air between the two opponents.

    For a moment it looked as if Jack had parried like he had before, but then Rin¡¯s sword passed by the knife and hit him in the shoulder, making him groan in pain.

    With a screeching noise the knife scratched over the sword, carving a long scratch down its length. Apart from that the sword was fine. But Jack had targeted carefully. The scratch had carved right through one of the small runes that were covering the sword.

    The runes had actually been made from a special alloy and were the hardest part of the sword when it had been created, almost impossible to become destroyed. But countless years of storing and channelling Qi had caused the strange material to become more and more instable. And so the knife, enhanced merely by the Qi blade of a mundane Qi gatherer, cut through the runes.

    With a pained gasp Jack stumbled back, holding his bleeding shoulder. Yet his sight never left Rin. She looked confused at her sword and the large scar jagging its surface. Slowly the glow of the sword dimmed and Jack let out a slight grin. The Qi should now slowly leave the sword, leaving behind an empty husk. And as soon as Rin had lost access to the Qi the fight was as good as-

    *CRACK*

    With a deafening crack the scratch on the sword widened as a giant torrent of Qi burst forth from it. A moment the rest of the sword hold out, then it too began to crack under the strain. Qi began to fill the air of the hallway.

    Jack blanched. That certainly hadn¡¯t been planned. That amount of Qi was much more than he had thought given that it was able to actually destroy the sword. Stretching out his senses he paled even further. This amount of Qi was even more than he had ever had in his old life. How could a mere sword hold this amount of Qi, in a world without Qi no less?

    Sadly Jack didn¡¯t have the time to answer his questions. A loud growl woke him from his thoughts. Rin looked at him, a wild look in her eyes. The fur on her body had spread even further until even her face was covered, giving her the appearance of a bipedal wolf. But even worse were the small tendrils of Qi that had started to creep into her.

    Jack cursed. Obviously she could absorb the Qi from the sword even if it was in the air around here. He had to get it away from her right now. Mentally he reached out towards the Qi around Rin and tried to separate it from her, but the Qi resisted his command.

    Jack could feel his will trying to influence the Qi, but there was something else in there, another will. A will of a being far more ancient and savage than anything he had ever met. In front of it his efforts were nothing more than a child trying to poke it with a stick. Even worse, Rin didn¡¯t have the same problems. The Qi moved ever closer to her, forming a thick blanket he couldn¡¯t tear apart. Rin¡¯s eyes started to glow with an inner light as she absorbed more and more of the Qi.

    Jack cursed. If he hadn¡¯t used all his Qi in the last attack this would be much easier, but now he had almost no way to do anything against Rin¡¯s absorption of the Qi. Jack looked down at his knife. It had lost its Qi blade with the last attack, but it was still sharp enough to hurt Rin. If he could distract her she should stop her absorption. Hopefully.

    ---

    Rin was fighting a losing battle. She knew it. It was not her fight against the demon, but against the corruption inside of her. Even now she could feel it, like a voice pushing her to madness and destruction.

    And a part of her wanted to follow this voice.

    But an even bigger part was fighting back. Pictures of a burning house and corpses came to her mind. If she were to follow the voice wouldn¡¯t she end just like him? The very thought disgusted her.

    She hesitated. A short glance at the demon showed her that he was still standing there, fiddling with his knife. If she got rid of the voice, would she be still strong enough to kill him? Or would he kill her when she was weakened?

    ¡®Yes¡­ Use me. Kill him. Then everything will be fine¡¯

    She could feel the voice inside of herself getting stronger. Grimacing she pushed back, trying to stay in control of herself. But she could feel herself losing more and more of herself. This¡­ she didn¡¯t want to turn into a demon herself.

    Desperate she started probing inside of herself, searching for the origin of the voice. After a few moments she finally found it, hidden deep within her stomach. It was a glowing mass of Spiritual Energy, roughly shaped into a humanoid outline. Small tendrils sprung forth from it, grabbing hold inside her body like a cancerous and twisted organ.

    Unsure Rin looked at it. What- How could she silence something like this? It was impossible. At least the voice said that, but Rin didn¡¯t care for its words. Cautiously she got closer to the mass.

    As she got closer the voice in her mind got louder. She could feel the madness inside of it, a madness that promised power in exchange for sanity. Gritting her teeth Rin clung to her sense of self, fighting against the voice that tried to corrupt her.

    Bit by bit she got closer to the shape, fighting against the dark whispers inside her mind.

    Finally she reached it. She could feel the glowing mass. It felt warm, as if she was standing under the light of the morning sun. But more than that she could feel something inside the mass. It wasn¡¯t alive, no it had long since lost the right to call itself that way. It was more akin to an echo of what had once been a being of unimaginable power.

    Rin shuddered. She- She knew this feeling. Again her mind returned to the time she had lost everything. He had felt exactly like this, she was sure of it. Was she truly becoming him? For a moment she could almost see herself, having taken his place in the memory, her hands dripping with red blood.

    ¡°NO!¡±

    With a scream Rin reached out and grabbed the mass of light. She could feel it resisting, the ancient will inside trying to stop her, but she ignored it. This was her body, her mind and this- this invader, this parasite had no right to be inside of it.

    With an enormous effort she began to pull and the light started to move. It was slowly, but the small connections began straining. They stretched more and more, but it wasn¡¯t enough. With a last effort Rin tore the mass free and the small tendrils ripped apart.

    Taking hold of the light Rin pushed it to the outside, as fast as she could. Small pieces of it broke of, containing a bit of the will that had poisoned her, but she knew that they were too small to actually change her.

    Rin felt a wave of exhaustion coming over her. A moment she managed to resist, then the world went dark and she fell unconscious.

    ---

    Jack¡¯s view jumped back to Rin as he could feel a massive movement of Qi from inside of her. For a moment he thought about escaping. Whatever attack she would use that needed such an amount of Qi was far beyond anything he could defend against. But he was too slow.

    Rin raised her head to the sky and a deafening howl came from her throat. Around her windows started breaking as they couldn¡¯t endure the force behind the howl. Even the floor started cracking close to her.

    Then came the Qi. Like a glowing stream it gushed forth from Rin, shooting upwards. With a massive crack the ceiling broke, exposing the floor above them. And then came the next ceiling and the next, before the stream became too weak to pierce through the ceiling of the eight floor.

    Exhausted Rin slumped down, her Qi completely expulsed. And the Qi in the air had been dispersed by the howl, making it far too thin for her to replenish herself. Even the will that was behind the Qi got shaken and weakened.

    Surprised Jack looked at the sight in front of him. Had Rin truly managed to get rid of the Qi inside of her herself? That was¡­ Well, it wasn¡¯t impossible, but she had to have an insane amount of willpower to push back a corruption as strong as this.

    Rin looked up. Her view focused on Jack. He tensed. There was still rage and insanity within her eyes, albeit weaker than before. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. It wasn¡¯t simply weaker, it was as if it was¡­ unfocused? Anyway, he didn¡¯t have time to think more about it.

    With an inhuman looking movement Rin jumped. Jack¡¯s eyes widened as he saw the claws aiming for his throat. As if time had slowed down Jack could see them coming closer and closer, Rin¡¯s entire being focused on ending him. It was terrifying.

    And still there was a victorious smile on Jack¡¯s face. With a loud slapping sound a bolt of condensed air crashed into Rin¡¯s defenceless side. She had been too focused on Jack to even notice its existence. The bolt wasn¡¯t strong enough to do any harm, but the force of the impact threw her to the side and her claws missed Jack completely.

    Jack grinned. Even though Rin had distracted him with her howl beforehand he hadn¡¯t stopped influencing the Qi. Finally he had managed to pierce through the weakened will and gained control over a small part of it. It wasn¡¯t much, but at least he could now create air bolts again.

    With a growl Rin stood up, but now that the Qi that supported her run dry her movements had changed. She moved slower, even sluggish. Slowly she stumbled towards Jack.

    Jack lifted his hand. Calling upon the last remaining Qi in the air he created more and more bolts of condensed air. He managed to create 8 bolts before the Qi was depleted. With a mental command he shot the bolts.

    Rin let out a yelp of pain as the bolts slammed into her, throwing her backwards and into a wall. Now that the Qi was gone she wasn¡¯t as tough as before and the air bolts had actually managed to hurt her. With a last growl Rin stilled. Sighing in relief Jack sunk to the ground. He had won.

 Chapter 21: A talk in the dark

    Victorious Jack looked down at Rin¡¯s unconscious form lying on the ground next to him. Her body, still covered with fur and sporting large claws looked completely inhumane. He could only hope that the corruption had been stopped soon enough to keep her mind sane. Her body would recover soon, now that the Qi within it was gone. Already there were patches of fur shortening and giving way to the skin under it. Still, he couldn¡¯t be sure if there would be no aftereffects until she had completely recovered. And speaking of recovery¡­

    Jack winced as he moved his arm, trying to get a better look at the injury. His bloodied clothes obscured the view, but he knew the wound that Rin¡¯s sword had made was deep. Even as a cultivator he would need weeks, maybe months to recover from it. It would be impossible to hide something like this, his parents would get suspicious.

    With his uninjured hand Jack reached into his pocket and took one of the vials inside of it. The green coloured healing potion inside of it shook under the movement. It was only due to sheer luck that the vials hadn¡¯t shattered during the fight. With his thumb Jack removed the cork on top of it before he downed the green liquid with one gulp. He winced as a bitter taste filled his mouth, bad enough to make him feel nauseous.

    He gagged as he felt the slimy liquid running down his throat. Immediately his body heated up. It was as if liquid fire was flowing through his veins, a feeling almost too painful to comprehend. With a groan Jack tried to stay conscious, fighting back against the pain.

    After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, the pain started to subside and Jack started to relax. Slowly he lifted his right hand into his field of view, wincing as the movement intensified the pain back to the former levels. The hand was healed, all those small cuts and bruises he hadn¡¯t even noticed during the fight healed.

    Jack waited for a few moments for the pain to lessen again, then he carefully pulled back his sleeve. Just as he had expected, the wound on his arm was still there, too severe to be cured by the healing potion. Still, it showed signs of recovery. The outer edges had pulled back together and a dark clot of blood covered the wound.

    A soft sound made Jack stop his inspection. Rin had started shifting around, still not wholly conscious, but it wouldn¡¯t be long till she woke up. By now most of the fur had retracted and her hands had changed back from the claw like forms they had before. He wasn¡¯t sure if her teeth had done the same, but he definitely wouldn¡¯t touch her mouth to find out. He liked his hands, losing one to a bite wasn¡¯t something he wanted.

    Jack hesitated for a moment. Should he stay here? If she woke up and was still mad because of the corruption he would have trouble fighting back, with the aftereffects of the potion still hindering him. Or worse, what if she wasn¡¯t mad and simply decided to go after him anyway? Even before the corruption had started her behaviour hadn¡¯t been one he would call friendly anyway.

    Before Jack could decide Rin woke up. Slowly her eyes opened. Jack frowned as he saw that they were still changed in colour, changed from their former grey to a bright green. The pupil had even changed a bit in form, becoming more oval than round, as if they had started to become like a cat¡¯s eye.

    Weakly her eyes wandered around before her vision fell on Jack. A surprised look flashed over her face and she tried to sit up. Quickly Jack stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°You should be careful. Your body is still hurt from the corruption¡± ¡®And from all those bolts of air I shot into it¡¯

    The second part Jack left unsaid. Weakly Rin nodded and let herself sink back to the ground. Satisfied Jack nodded. By now even the last parts of the corruption had faded. Her eyes aside he couldn¡¯t see any hint of aftereffects from the corruption. Except¡­ maybe her ears were a bit sharper than before? Eh, not that important, she was sane as far as he could tell, so he wasn¡¯t needed here any longer.

    Slowly Jack stood up, wincing at a new burst of pain from his freshly recovered body. He hated the aftereffects of potions like these. Still, they were useful, at least if one was outside of danger, otherwise it was suicide to drink potions. Turning around he began to walk away from Rin.

    A tug on his trousers caused him to stop before he made more than a step. Looking back he saw Rin grasping at it with trembling fingers. Pain and exhaustion marred her face, but her green eyes shone with determination.

    ¡°Why?¡± A single word came over her lips. A moment she hesitated, biting her lips before she continued. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you kill me?¡±

    ¡°Because¡±, Jack said as he sat down on the ground next to her, ¡°I¡¯m not a demon, you know? The whole demon thing had been a huge misunderstanding¡± Seeing Rin starting to frown and open her mouth, he lifted his hand, interrupting her.

    ¡°I know, I may feel like a demon to you, but I¡¯m something different¡± A slight smile formed on Jack¡¯s face as he watched Rin¡¯s expression becoming confused.

    ¡°Hooh? And what are you, if I may ask?¡±

    Jack¡¯s head snapped around. A middle aged man stood a few steps behind him in the darkness of the hallway. Instantly Jack tensed. When had he arrived and why hadn¡¯t he noticed him before?

    The man made a step forward. Soft moonlight illuminated his face. Jack¡¯s eyes widened. The man resembled Rin a lot, the same shape of his eyebrows and the same steel grey eyes she had before the corruption.

    The man gave a small bow to Jack.

    ¡°Greetings, I¡¯m George Weiss, Rin¡¯s uncle and the leader of the local branch of the Demon Hunters. I¡¯m sorry for all the trouble she has caused¡±

    He turned towards Rin. A worried look flashed over his face as his view fell on her eyes, only to vanish a moment later as he saw that she didn¡¯t show any other aftereffects of the corruption. A slight frown formed on his face.

    ¡°You are in a lot of trouble young lady¡±

    He turned back to Jack.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that Rin has decided alone to act against you. My orders were to stand down for the moment and only to observe the situation. So, again I¡¯m sorry for her behaviour¡±

    Jack¡¯s eyes narrowed. Rin had acted alone and no one had noticed it beforehand? Moreover, her uncle conveniently appeared just a few minutes after their fight had ended? It would be hard to find anything more suspicious. Jack couldn¡¯t trust the man.

    Slowly Jack stood up, his eyes never leaving the man, observing any movement. But George remained calm. A slight smile was on his face, as if he was amused by Jack¡¯s antics. In the end Jack relented and asked:

    ¡°You said you observed me. To see if I¡¯m a demon?¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°We were unsure if you were one or not. To many differences to the simple minded monsters that are the demons and yet you smell of Spiritual Energy. And that brings me back to my question. If you¡¯re not a demon, what are you?¡±

    George¡¯s sharp eyes pierced into Jack. Unfazed Jack looked back. Still, internally he was trying to gauge how much he should tell. He had to get the demon misunderstanding out of the world, but it wouldn¡¯t do to tell everything. Not until he knew if he could trust the man.

    ¡°I¡¯m just a normal human¡±, he finally replied with a shrug. ¡°Though I am able to absorb Qi- Spiritual Energy ¡° He corrected his mistake quickly.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    A look of confusion crossed George¡¯s face.

    ¡°Absorb the Spiritual Energy without becoming a demon? How is that possible?¡±

    Jack let out a slight grin. ¡°Well¡±, he drew out the word, ¡°I could teach you, but I would have a few requirements. First off, I want your guarantee that you won¡¯t act against me, my family or my friends, be it directly or through the use of others. ¡±

    George nodded slowly ¡°I can¡¯t give any promises about the rest of the demon hunters, but as long as you don¡¯t attack us I think we can agree, that at least my branch won¡¯t harm anyone close to you. What else?¡±

    ¡°Second, I want her¡± Jack pointed at Rin.

    A frown appeared on the George¡¯s face. ¡°If you want to get revenge on her and kill her, I have to reject the offer. Same if you want some other compensation from her¡±

    Jack could see a slight blush on Rin¡¯s face as she heard the later part, but he ignored it. Instead he simply shook his head and replied:

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I want her for anything. I want her as my disciple. I will train her personally to absorb the Q- Spiritual Energy. I will only train her, no one else.  Afterwards she can teach the rest of you, I don¡¯t care.¡±

    Any other time Jack would have laughed about the look on Rin¡¯s face. It was pure confusion and bewilderment, as if she couldn¡¯t believe the words she had heard. Sadly George¡¯s reaction was the different. A look of doubt began to form on his face.

    ¡°She tried to kill you before and you still want to train her? Why?¡±

    Jack let out a weak grin. The man was right, Rin had tried to kill him and to be honest he hold a small grudge because of that, even if it was because a misunderstanding. But there was something a lot more important than that.

    ¡°She has the talent for it. I can see it. And I don¡¯t want to waste any more time than necessary by training more than one person¡±

    And indeed he could. Somewhere along the whole corruption something fundamentally inside of Rin had changed. Small Spiritual Veins had begun sprouting through her body. Compared to Jack¡¯s own they were lacking at best, but she would be able to cultivate normally. And given the threat of the sphere breaking and flooding the world with Qi and monsters he would use every help he could get. Hopefully it would take some time before she realized that no one else in her family would be able to cultivate without Spiritual Veins.

    Rin however had clearly a different opinion.

    ¡°Why should I become your disciple?! I¡¯m still not entirely convinced that you aren¡¯t a demon. This whole thing about absorbing Spiritual could simply be-¡°

    ¡°Rin!¡± A sharp exclamation of George interrupted her. His grey seemed to pierce into her. ¡°Be quiet for now¡±

    Jack hesitated for a moment before he continued.

    ¡°Now then, onto my third and last requirement. I will need your help in the future¡±

    Internally Jack grimaced at that. He didn¡¯t want to ask them for help, he didn¡¯t even trust these so called ¡®Demon Hunters¡¯, but he didn¡¯t have any choice. By now it was clear that they had at least some power in this city, and even beyond if George¡¯s words about him merely being a branch leader could be believed. If he could get them on his side it would be great for the future.

    George narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°Stop. I can understand that you want to keep your family safe. Even becoming Rin¡¯s teacher is at least somewhat understandable. But you wanting our help? Boy, you may try to hide it, but I can see that you don¡¯t trust me. Why would you want to have someone you don¡¯t trust behind you? And don¡¯t give me some stupid crap like ¡®keeping your enemies closer¡¯. I believe you are intelligent enough to understand that that is just a good way to get a knife into your back¡±

    Jack hesitated for a moment, then he sighed. That would take a while to explain.

    ---

    ¡°¡­ and the monsters will hunt down everyone. If we want to have any chance to make it out alive we will have to work together.¡±

    When Jack ended his explanation silence returned to the dark hallway. He had spent the last few minutes to explain everything. The crack, the returning of Qi and the dangers that would to come for humanity. With a few changes of course. He simply told that he found the crack inside the sphere because he happened to live right next to it. Pure coincidence, nothing more.

    The face of Rin¡¯s uncle was concerned, clearly he was worried by what he had heard. After a while he slowly nodded. ¡°I think I understand¡± He paused for a moment, before he continued ¡°I accept your offer¡±

    Jack noticed that Rin looked at her uncle uncertain. Clearly she wasn¡¯t comfortable with the idea of being his disciple, but at least she didn¡¯t openly protest like before.

    ¡°Anyway, I want to hear more about this calamity you described, but we should continue this talk later. While we have evacuated the hospital your fight was loud enough to alarm even the neighbours. The police is coming. We had slowed them down in the hope to clean up the scene, but¡± , he looked around, ¡°you have destroyed the place even more thoroughly than we expected. Anyway, it was a pleasure to talk to you, Jack. Rin, come, we are going home¡±

    Reaching down he helped Rin standing up. After a last nod towards Jack he turned around and left, Rin following behind him. They barely made it a few steps before Jack remembered something and he called out to Rin.

    ¡°Wait a moment!¡±

    Hastily he reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the vials with healing potion. With a few steps he stood next to Rin and pressed the vial into her hand.

    ¡°That is a healing potion. Please give it to Larry. Simply pour it over the wounds and they should recover. It won¡¯t work against lost members or wounds that are too serious, but it should help at least a bit¡±

    Curious Rin looked down on the potion before she put it into her pocket. She gave a slight nod to Jack, then she turned around and continued walking.

    Silently Jack watched Rin and her uncle leave. Just as they reached the end of the hallway, Rin turned her head a last time to look at Jack, her green eyes still confused at what had just happened. A moment later they walked around a corner and vanished from Jack¡¯s view.

    With a sigh Jack sunk back down to the ground. Agreeing to help Rin was risky, especially with her attitude towards him, but if she could gain enough strength she would at least be able to help protect the people. Not to mention that her whole attitude was because of a misunderstanding. And wasn¡¯t there a saying about keeping his friends close and his enemies closer?

    With a sigh Jack stopped the thought. He would have to wait and see how Rin would act in the future. Until then he could only try to get stronger himself. And the fight with Rin had given him a new way to do it.

    Jack looked around. The hallway was still baring the marks of the fight that had happened earlier. Large scratches marked the ground where Rin¡¯s claws had cut into it and the walls had cracks. But Jack looked past that. Beyond the mundane damages there was another change in the hallway. With the destruction of Rin¡¯s sword a large amount of Qi had been gushed out of it. All of this Qi was still there, though it got more and more dispersed as it got pulled away by the void zone. Still, a sizable amount was still within Jack¡¯s reach.

    Jack hesitated for a moment. If he cultivated this Qi it would be the same as using one of the swords, he would become corrupted by it, though he wouldn¡¯t be as easily affected as Rin was. Still, there was an undeniable danger from acting like this. And yet Jack was feeling torn. It was such a big amount of Qi, it would be a waste to simply let it disperse. Not to mention that it was even more concentrated than the Qi inside of his room, so he would be able to cultivate faster.

    In the end Jack sighed and closed his eyes. He had decided. No matter the danger, he had to become stronger. Quickly he began cultivating. Slowly the Qi around him began to fill his lungs, before it was absorbed into his Spiritual Veins and got send towards his Dantian.

    Immediately Jack noticed the difference between the Qi around him and the one he normally used to cultivate. Before the Qi had been gentle, easy to control and guide towards his Dantian. But now it was fighting, actively resisting every try to use it.

    Jack winced as the Qi began to send small tendrils outwards, clinging to his flesh as it tried to stop its movements. For a few moments the Qi stopped, but when he used a bit more force, the tendrils broke and the Qi started moving again. But what remained behind of the tendrils started to fuse with his flesh. Just like Rin before he began to show signs of corruption. Small strands of fur began forming on his body. Something began brushing against Jack¡¯s mind, muddling his thoughts. An ancient will trapped inside the Qi, still alive and yet dead for centuries.

    Still Jack focused on moving the Qi. After some struggles it finally had reached his Dantian. Different from normal Qi it wasn¡¯t a pale white cloud of fog, but a shade darker, moving sometimes without any order from Jack.

    Jack repeated the process again and again, absorbing more and more Qi. But the more Qi he gathered within him, the more restless it grew. It started to push against his controls, trying to escape and wreak havoc inside of him. Its form began to distort more, turning into a deformed ball the size of a small car riddled with dents and hills. So after a few more times he finally stopped.

    Carefully Jack began to split a part of the Qi from the main cloud. As if it was cut with a sword the cloud began splitting. But as Jack began to separate the parts, the cloud began to resist. The different parts tried their best to recombine, small tendrils formed between them and pulled them together, but Jack simply increased his efforts and after a few moments a large part split off.

    Slowly he guided the pieces out of his Dantian and into the Spiritual Veins that were used for his cultivation of the ¡°Blazes of the Netherflame¡±. Using it just like normal Qi he began to cultivate it.

    Slowly the Qi moved through the Veins, losing more and more of its mass while its colour changed towards the pure white of refined Qi. Its resistance began to falter until it finally stilled completely, the will inside of it completely depleted. Finally it returned back towards the Dantian where it fused with the rune that floated there. The rune grew by a bit and the black haze that surrounded it, almost depleted in the fight before, started to reappear. But simultaneously Jack felt a nauseous feeling welling up within him.

    Up until now all the Qi he had absorbed hadn¡¯t changed anything permanently for him. Just like with Rin he would have changed back soon, with only a small chance of long time effects. But with the integration of the Qi into the rune that had changed. A small part of him was now changed forever. Though that part would get shrink when he got stronger in the normal way, it would probably never completely vanish.

    Jack pushed the thought aside. It didn¡¯t matter for now. With another thought he grabbed more of the Qi, ripping it out of the cloud, despite its resistance. He had to make the best out of this chance, no matter what!

    Quickly he cultivated more and more of the Qi. Bit by bit the cloud of foreign Qi inside of him shrunk. Simultaneously the rune grew more and more. Finally, as the cloud was nearly completely spent the rune¡¯s growth suddenly came to a halt. A slightly shimmering layer had formed around it, constricting it in its advancement.

    Jack let out a grin. He was at the border to the next level. Just a small push and he would become a 3<sup>rd</sup> level Qi gathering cultivator.

    Jack concentrated and the black haze around the rune started to move. It formed itself into a small, needle-like shape. Another thought and the needle poked into the shimmering barrier. Just like last time the small effort was already enough to destroy the barrier. The shimmer around the rune vanished and Jack had reached the next level.

    But different from last time his Qi didn¡¯t stay idle at the change. A strong suction force suddenly sprung forth from the rune, pulling the Qi around it to itself. It didn¡¯t matter if it was the black haze around it or the foreign Qi, everything got pulled closer and closer.

    Without any refining the Qi began to fuse with the rune. Upon fusing the rune started to refine its new parts by itself and in just a few moments the size of the rune nearly doubled. But this growth wasn¡¯t sustainable. When the rune had reached 3 times its former size- now it looked like a small ball that could be held within an open palm- the Qi around it finally became depleted and the growth stopped. Still, Jack had made a huge leap towards the next level.

    With a slight grin on his face Jack opened his eyes. If there was anyone else around they would have seen a dark light shining for a moment from within his eyes, casting his face in warped shadows.

    Satisfied Jack stood up and stretched. Overall he was happy with this evening. He had have to fight, yes, but afterwards he had managed to clear the misunderstanding, made a first attempt at an alliance and had even managed to breakthrough to the next level in his cultivation.

    But he should stop when he was ahead. Already he could hear the noise of sirens coming from outside of the hospital. Just like Rin¡¯s uncle had warned, someone had heard the commotion from the fight and had alarmed the police. And Jack definitely didn¡¯t want to get caught here.

    Still smiling Jack vanished within the darkness, heading home.

 Sorry, no chapter today

    ------------------------------

    I am sorry, but as I said in the title today there will be no chapter. The chapter is only half finished for now and completely unedited(uni and work simply take way too much time and motivation) and I don''t have the time today to write the rest of it, as I have to attend a meeting at work. So yeah, there will be no chapter published today, but I will try to finish it by sunday. Again, I''m sorry and I hope it doesn''t bother you too much.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ------------------------------

 Chapter 22: A normal morning

    Carefully Jack lifted the knife. His grip tightened as he carefully aimed his next cut, not daring to even imagine what would happen if he missed. A glowing Qi blade formed over the edge of the knife as he began to move it. Slowly the knife neared its target, curving in its path, cutting everything in its way until-

    ¡°Argh-¡°

    Cursing Jack pulled the knife away. A few drops of blood glittered in the light of the Qi. Jack let out a grimaced, then he raised the knife again.

    ¡®I really need to find a better way to shave myself than this¡¯

    Scowling Jack looked into the small mirror in front of him. A dense beard covered the lower part of his face, having suddenly grown overnight. An annoying side effect of the foreign Qi he had absorbed yesterday. At least it was limited to his face and not on the rest of his body.

    Either way, it made shaving a hassle. Mostly because these new beard was tough. When he first had tried to use his normal razor the poor thing had turned dull after the first few streaks. Silently grumbling he began to move the knife again.

    ¡°Fucking corruption. Why can¡¯t it give me something useful for once? I- Ah, shit!¡±

    ---

    Many curses (and cuts) later Jack had finally managed to remove the beard and was sitting together with his parents, eating breakfast. It was one of the few times that he could see them. It was almost as if they were working longer with each passing year. Nowadays they were only home to sleep and eat.

    A large headline in his father¡¯s newspaper caught Jack¡¯s eye. Curious he leaned closer and began to read.

    ¡°Hospital closed down due to gas leak¡±

    Jack snorted. A gas leak? Seriously? They hadn¡¯t a better excuse than that? Still, it was already impressive that Rin¡¯s uncle could manipulate the media like this.

    A frown appeared on Jack¡¯s face. That made the man even more dangerous than before. Public opinion could be a terrific weapon if it was used right.

    Quickly Jack read the rest of the article, but it was quite generic. A few sentences about the bad building standard, warnings about implications for the citizens a rough estimate for the costs of the repair. Nothing more. Disappointed Jack stopped reading.

    When Jack looked up from the article he noticed his mother looking at him intently.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you seem a bit off today. Everything alright in school?

    Jack blinked. She had noticed that he had changed? He thought quickly.

    ¡°Everything is alright. I had a few problems with one of my classmates, but it was just a small misunderstanding. We talked about it and she has calmed down, so everything is fine.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the whole truth, but as close as he dared to. His mother seemed to accept it, but her eyes narrowed as she heard the last sentence.

    ¡°A girl it is? Is there any chance that we will meet her in the future?¡±

    Jack thought for a moment. If he truly wanted to train Rin she would have to come here anyway.

    ¡°Yes, she will come here soon. We want to try to study together¡±

    ¡°Studying? ¡­Alright, but please introduce her to me before you do anything, alright?¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Sure¡±

    Jack shrugged. It wasn¡¯t as if it would do him any harm to introduce Rin to his parents. Quickly he returned to eating his breakfast.

    ---

    The lights were still off when Jack arrived in his classroom. Because of his increase in cultivation he had needed a lot less time for the way to his school, so he was a few minutes early. And now he had to wait for the others to arrive. A sigh came over Jack¡¯s lips. If he didn¡¯t have to keep appearance for his parents he could have simply stayed for a few minutes longer at home, a new book in his hands before he came here.

    One after another the rest of Jack¡¯s classmates began to arrive. Sam was one of the last, quickly sitting down on his place next to Jack. Jack greeted him absentmindly.

    Seeing Sam had reminded him of something. Now that he would teach Rin how to cultivate, he would have to talk to Sam. After all he was his friend, it would be best if he learned to cultivate, too. But he had no idea how he should tell him that he was an ancient cultivator in his past life without sounding like he had lost his mind. Jack kept thinking, but he couldn¡¯t find a way.

    Finally the teacher arrived and the class could start. But just a few seconds after the teacher had begun speaking the door opened again and Rin came into the room.

    The class became quiet. Most were simply staring. Rin¡¯s face was literally covered in black and blue bruises. A guilty feeling welled up inside of Jack, but he supressed it quickly. It had been self-defence after all.

    ¡°Miss Weiss, what happened to you?¡±, concerned the teacher broke the silence.

    ¡°I fell down the stairs. Don¡¯t worry, it looks worse than it is¡±

    Jack grimaced. That was her explanation? Seriously?

    ¡®Who would believe something like this! First a gas leak, now falling down the stairs? Those guys have to be the worst liars on the planet! Who would even believe something like that?¡¯

    Contrary to Jack¡¯s thoughts the teacher nodded slowly before he continued as if that explanation made perfectly sense.

    ¡°Alright, then please sit down. If it hurts to much you can go home¡±

    Rin gave him a short nod, then she walked to her seat next to Jack. She ignored the curious looks of their classmates.

    Jack¡¯s gaze wandered about Rin. He couldn¡¯t see any of the changes from the corruption. Her long blonde hair kept her now slightly longer ears well hidden, though Jack could sometimes see them poking to the outside. What surprised him the most were her eyes. Instead of the vivid green they had after the corruption, they were now back to their usual grey. For a moment Jack even thought that he had been wrong and the change hadn¡¯t been permanent after all and had reverted later. But then his eyes narrowed and he looked closer. There was a small, transparent shape inside Rin¡¯s eye. She was wearing contact lenses. It worked quit well, if Jack hadn¡¯t known of the changes he wouldn¡¯t have been able to spot any difference to before.

    With a slight groan Rin sat down and the class continued normally. Well, almost too normally. Different from before Rin didn¡¯t even glance at him for more than a few moments, nothing compared to her usual glare. It was enough that even Sam noticed that something was off. Curious he looked over to Rin.

    The lesson continued uninterrupted. But as soon as it had ended Rin turned towards Jack.

    ¡°We need to talk¡± She casted a quick glance over the gathered students. ¡°Outside¡±

    Grimacing slightly she stood up. A moment she swayed, then she stabilize and began to walk towards the door. Jack let out a sigh before he followed her. Curious Sam looked after them.

    Rin led Jack into a deserted hallway. She hesitated for a moment, as if she had to convince herself to act, then she turned towards Jack and bowed slightly.

    ¡°Thank you for that vial¡±

    Her voice was pressed. Clearly she was still reluctant to trust him. But Jack was fine with that. In fact, if she would have started to trust him immediately after the misunderstanding between them he would have either thought that she was strange or lying. After all humans relied a lot on their first impression and hers was as bad as it could get, no matter how wrong.

    Jack nodded shortly. ¡°It was the least I could do. After all, I was truly the reason for his wounds¡±

    ¡°But that isn¡¯t the reason why you have called me here, right?¡±

    Rin shook her head. Again she hesitated.

    ¡°I-¡° She paused for a moment. ¡°I want to start learning how to absorb Spiritual Energy¡±

    Slowly Jack nodded. ¡°Alright. Then after school is over you can come home with me. Then we can start¡±

    A frown appeared on Rin¡¯s face. ¡°Home? As in to the place you live? Why would we go there?¡±

    ¡°You will understand when we get there¡±, Jack said with a cryptic smile on his face.

    Rin looked doubtfully.

    ---

    Finally school ended. As if they were chased by wild monsters most of the students rushed outside, nearly trampling each other in their haste. On the other side Jack slowly packed his backpack before he looked over to Rin. There was a look of insecurity on her face.

    ¡°Well then let¡¯s go¡± With an encouraging smile Jack stood up. With a nod Rin turned to follow him, but then a voice from behind made Jack stop.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Jack turned around. Sam was standing behind him, looking curious.

    Jack hesitated for a moment, but then he shook his head. If he would tell him now it would only lead to confusion.

    ¡°We are just going to-¡°

    *Ring*

    Jack stopped as a shrill ringing tone interrupted him. Quickly he grabbed his cellphone from his pocket.

    ¡®Dad? What does he want from me?¡¯

    He accepted the call.

    ¡°Dad. What is-¡°

    ¡°Jack, don¡¯t come home today. Stay with Sam if you can. We have a slight emergency here, so please stay away¡±

    A moment later the call ended. With a frown Jack looked down on his phone, then he pushed it back into his pocket and turned towards the door. An emergency and he shouldn¡¯t come home? If it was something truly dangerous he had to help them.

    The sound of steps could be heard behind him and a moment later Sam was next to him, a worried look on his face. Obviously he had heard at least some of the call and decided to accompany him. Rin followed behind, her steps almost soundless as she trailed behind the duo.

    For a moment Jack frowned. He didn¡¯t know what the emergency his father had spoken about was. It could be dangerous for the two to accompany him. But then he shook his head. He would take every help he could get.

    A slight grin formed on Jack¡¯s face before vanishing quickly, replaced by a calm determination. At least he wasn¡¯t alone right now. His steps quickened as he stepped outside the school building heading for his home.

    ----

    In a completely different part of the city stood an old hospital. It¡¯s corridors were empty and its doors shut with yellow police band. It was completely deserted. Or at least by humans that is.

    Deep within the dark recesses of the building, hidden in corners and behind drawers there was life. Small animals like spiders and flies, sometimes even rats were living here their simple life. But with the torrent of Qi this changed.

    Slowly, one by one the animals began changing as they basked in the Qi filled air. Rats swelled to the size of a football, spider began spinning webs stronger than steel and the buzzing of giant flies began disturbing the silence.

    But that was all inconsequential for what was to come. Slowly the Qi seeped deeper into the ground, leaving behind the changed hospital.