《Laws of the Soul》


 Light

    Ken rolled out of bed and quickly reached for his water on the bedside table and downed it. He got out of bed in the pitch black predawn. He unlocked the door, and exited his room.  The stars shined overhead, as he sat on the stoop of his tiny, two room log cabin. After finishing off his steel water bottle, He stood up, and started doing a light calisthenics routine. When the sun had finally risen Ken was washing his sweat off in the nearby stream and watching the sunrise.


    The hermit lifestyle agreed with Ken. He still got lonely, but that¡¯s what pets were for! Out here, he had a storage shed full of food, and with all his needs met, he could do whatever he wanted, without a soul in the world to bother him. Even though he didn¡¯t have running water, and had to shit in a hole, a few solar panels and the newest satellite data device was enough to have access to the only invention of the modern age he actually cared about: the internet.


    With a laptop and internet access, combined with the great outdoors, Ken could never be truly bored, which with the skills he had developed over the years, was the main danger he faced at this point. With the combined knowledge of the 22nd century world at his fingertips he was able to keep his mind stimulated, for as long as it would last. It wouldn¡¯t be that long.


    Although Ken was only twenty four, and supposed to be in the prime of his life, he lived under the looming shadow of a rapidly advancing neurodegenerative disorder.  Doctors had told him he wouldn¡¯t make it past thirty, and should have a caretaker in case his seizures got worse, blah blah blah. Not happening.


    Ken sat peacefully in the clearing behind his cabin, admiring the sunset with another day of peaceful study behind him, but was astounded by a strange sight on the horizon. A wave of opalescent light was covering the sky to the north, and rapidly approaching. He wasn''t even able to finish hastily dressing before the light slammed into him, and he blacked out.


    Congratulations! Planet: Earth has reached the First Domain!


    During the 1 USTI adaptation period, Earth¡¯s qi density will rise from .00034 USQI to 10 USQI!


    All beings of Consciousness Level 1 and above will enter closed cultivation during this period.


    Ken was shocked at the words appearing in his mind. He was sitting in a small room with glowing white walls, in his birthday suit. This kind of shit only happens in books. Where am I? What is a USTI? What the fuck is a Consciousness Level?


    You have entered Earth¡¯s Mind Palace.


    USTI is an acronym for Universal Standard Time Increment. This period of time is roughly equivalent to 90 days of the Earth calendar.


    Consciousness Level is a measure of an organism¡¯s progression in the 3 pillars of cultivation: Body Mind and Soul. Organisms achieve Consciousness Level 1 when they show the ability to cultivate any of the Three Pillars regardless of progress or aptitude. Subsequent Consciousness Levels are calculated as: (Pillar Cultivation Level / 3 + 1).


    Ken understood that whoever was sending these messages could read his mind as it had answered all his mental questions in order. He focused on slowing his breathing and calming down. He needed to be able to think clearly. After meditating for a few minutes, thinking of nothing besides his breathing, he started asking questions again.


    Who are you, and why are you speaking to me?


    I am the Earth Information System. I am a construct of Earth¡¯s mind energy. I was created to assist Earth in cultivating. Fostering the Primordial Savage race is one of the crowning achievements of Earth¡¯s cultivation journey, and thus I am here to assist you with information.


    Ken took another minute to calm himself down after that one. He breathed in and out rhymically, and his mind once again fully focused. Ken felt an inspiration strike, as it often had for him while meditating.


    Who am I?This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Personal Status: Ken Enderson


    (Consciousness) Level: 3 (Soul: 3 Mind: 2 Body: 1)


    Race: Primordial Savage


    BE ADVISED: Your genetic variance is 2 standard deviations from the mean genetics of your race. Because of your extreme mutations, certain normal range racial capabilities may have effects that differ from the normal range up to the Anomaly range.


    Qi Domain : Base (Adaptation)


    Skills: Marksmanship-(Novice 3) Visualization (Novice 2) Hunting- (Novice 2) Meditation-(Novice 2) Foraging-(Novice 1)


    Talents: Language (Uncultivated)


    Gift: Insight


    To update or view this information again think ¡°Personal Status¡±


    Before Ken could spew out another boat load of questions, EIS spoke again. This time the mechanical voice spoke louder, and it was imbued with something that felt to Ken like emotion.


    BE ADVISED!


    Ken blinked, his eyes burning as soft white glow of the strange rooms walls transformed into glaring sunlight. He was sitting on a goddamn pyramid in the middle of the desert, and from his quick look around, so was the entire world. The walls of the little white room had been overlaid with some kind of scene. He felt he wasn¡¯t really in the desert, and more that he was in some kind of virtual reality.


    Ken looked around and drank in his surroundings. Ken and everyone on his ¡°step¡± of the pyramid, were sitting lotus style knee to knee with about a foot in between them, and he could see through the gaps to catch a glimpse of his surroundings. Around the pyramid on all sides that he could see, there were people. Elbow to elbow, like an ocean sized can of sardines, stood¡­ everyone. Ken heard a loud cough, and whipped his head around towards the top of the pyramid. Immediately several things stood out to him. He was on the third step from the top, and the two steps between him and the top were not packed together at all. He could see about two dozen people on the step above him, although there were probably more on the other side, out of sight. However, on the final step before the flat area at the top, there were only two people that he could see. A man and a woman who looked to be of asian descent, besides their elevation, what stood out to Ken was that they weren¡¯t sitting in the lotus position, but rather that they were kneeling and bowing with their foreheads touching the ground. At the top of the pyramid stood a being that looked somewhat human. Except he was almost eight feet tall, looked to be about a thousand pounds of muscle, and was hairier than any human had any right to be.


    ¡°Primordial Savage¡± Ken thought, then the being spoke. Well, he didn¡¯t really speak, he just stood there smiling but Ken felt meaning flowing into his mind, the same way he felt it with EIS.


    ¡°Greetings citizens of Earth and welcome to universal society. I am L¡¯Raksha one of the nine leaders of our race. I am here to give information before you enter Celestial Closed Cultivation. As your planet cultivates through the First Domain and beyond, your way of life will change drastically because of the amount of qi in the planet¡¯s core and atmosphere. Throughout the universe, Celestial Closed Cultivation caused by a planet or star¡¯s breakthrough is a watershed moment for the races living in its vicinity. Your increment of closed cultivation is a precious gift to you from Earth. During this time every being will gain benefits relevant to them. The old will gain vitality, the sick will be healed. The talented young cultivators will gain valuable knowledge and training, and even the untalented may have a chance to grasp Pillars. This is all to prepare you for what awaits you when you leave: a new world.¡±


    ¡°Earth will give you whatever resources it can to help you survive, but still the new world bears new dangers. The flora and fauna of Earth, both conscious and base, will be changed by Qi. Previous basic infrastructure will not survive these changes, and many will lose what they had once considered their entire way of life. Citizens of Earth, you must stand up and face these new challenges. You must explore your world once again, and you must cultivate. However, you are not alone, although universal society cannot assist your planet in the physical realm, we hope that by spreading information about cultivation, that we can show you a glimpse of the infinite possibilities that lay at your feet.¡±


    ¡°The Great Universal Societies are groups of beings from all races and paths of life that come together to pursue a certain path of cultivation. If you are interested in, or wish to join a Society, ask your planetary information system for more information. Entrance is not free, or easy, but if you succeed you will gain a wealth of knowledge to help you thrive in this new world.¡±


    ¡°Last but not least, Citizens of Earth, look to the pyramids. Look and be amazed at the potential of our race! These are the cultivators of Earth!¡±


    The giant ape man laughed, Ken was fully focused on retaining all the information that had been given. He had a million questions to ask EIS. He was also expecting the giant to laugh like a superhero villain, and less like Santa Claus.  L¡¯Raksha seemed filled with mirth and genuine delight as he gazed down at the pyramid and continued his speech.


    ¡°Those on the pyramids have reached at least the first level of a pillar of cultivation without access to qi or a planetary information system. In the old world they may have been doctors, scientists, soldiers, athletes, or engineers.  In this new world, they will be able to cultivate to new heights, and propel this world forward. Citizens of Earth, these fellow members of our race are not above you, they are before you. May you follow in their footsteps, yet find your own path. Cultivate and grow, and bring glory to Earth!¡±

 Insight

    Throughout his entire life, Ken had been a loner, and had struggled to connect with others because he perceived everyone to be so different from himself. From a very young age Ken had found himself able to perceive a tiny shred of what he later started to call souls. Humans along with many other flora and fauna of earth had them. If he remained in the vicinity of organisms with souls, he started to be able to perceive them, and then to understand them. Ken theorized that this had somehow allowed his mind to develop at an astounding rate because as a child his brain was not only being stimulated by his physical senses, but also by a feed of information constantly streaming in about the souls around him. Ken was able to sense his surroundings fluidly at one year old, and by two he was speaking fluently and learning how to read.


    His parents were shocked when they had started realizing Ken¡¯s intelligence and had him tested by geneticists, who discovered multiple rare gene mutations that had altered his entire body, especially his nervous system. The genetic researchers extrapolated that Ken¡¯s body would grow to maturity in half the time of a normal human and his brain, spinal cord and nerves would end up around 10% larger than the average person. It seemed a miracle to Ken¡¯s parents, and they knew their son was going to be someone special. Ken, on the other hand, had always known he was different. If he was in a being¡¯s presence long enough, he began to catch fleeting glimpses of their souls: the very essence of who they are. They were nothing like him.


    It had taken him only a few months to come to the conclusion that there was a vast gulf between the essence of his being and the essence of the similarly shaped beings around him. He had only observed two types of beings: animate, and inanimate. Inanimate objects'' essence were mostly extremely tiny and static. Animate objects that could actively influence their surroundings, had souls that varied unimaginably from each other. Every single one he perceived was unique, which caused him endless fascination. The other larger beings who shared his shape had the closest souls in size to his own. He had observed these beings closely, as there were four of them, his family, that interacted with him often. As he grew older, and his understanding deepened, Ken was filled with horror.


    These beings around him acted against their very essence. Within their souls, their essence and uniqueness was waiting to be expressed in reality, to sense others and connect with them, and to grow and cultivate. They were blind, deaf, and numb; crippled creatures flailing in anguish as they injured themselves without being able to feel it at all. It was terrifying to be around. All Ken¡¯s observations and understandings of the nature of these beings filled him with dread. They suppressed their souls purposefully, forbidding them from expressing themselves even in the face of the repercussions of such an action: pain and regret. As he grew, Ken¡¯s mind and soul became unable to take the strain of experiencing so much pain around him. Ken felt his soul becoming burdened down by his perception, and as his understanding grew so did the weight. Ken¡¯s existence was not that of a bright eyed young genius exploring the world. Ken could sum up the entire first 9 years as struggling to survive.


    As the weight on Ken¡¯s soul grew and his body and nervous system exploded in their development, he experienced constant pain. When he was three years old, he was placed in an isolated ward and a medically induced coma. Even when shut off from his mind and body, Ken¡¯s soul maintained its awareness, continuing to observe himself, the staff and the rare visitor. The weight grew. He became filled with feelings of helplessness. In the back of his mind, he became aware that he could make a single action, a mere flex of his will to reconnect his soul to his mind, and use the mind to suppress himself. He had observed the other beings do it to not just their almost non existent perception, but also their very essence. His soul was stronger than anything he had perceived but his soul¡¯s constant strain and growth had put pressure on his body to evolve to even continue existing. Ken never acted on these thoughts. Even though his perception caused him constant pain, the very thought of turning it off terrified him too much to consider it for more than a moment. The pain he felt was nothing compared to the terrors around him. Even if he removed his perception he would still carry with him his understanding. He would just carry it blindly. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    After spending years on life support while machines fed his developing body, and struggling to survive the pressure and pain, Ken¡¯s dim consciousness had felt something change. The weight on his soul slowly decreased, and then started to rapidly drop. A few weeks before he turned nine, Ken reached something he later understood was called a bottleneck. With his surroundings remaining relatively sparse and static for years, his soul seemed to have comprehended all it could from them. When the weight of new understanding stopped increasing, his soul continued to struggle and grow while its opponent had stagnated. He was winning. He was growing. Ken started to feel things that he had not since his earliest memories: elation, along with something new: euphoria. Only a few days later, Ken¡¯s soul surged with power. Ken found his resistance against the ¡°weight¡± of his perception had risen dramatically, and the level of detail he could perceive had been slightly increased. However the most remarkable changes were happening to his mind and body. When his soul had reached a new level, it had reconnected to his body and mind and was beginning to guide them in their growth. Ken¡¯s stunted and weak body began to transform.


    ¡ª


    Ken snapped out of the trance that had caused him to briefly relive the first nine years of his life and found himself in a square room. He estimated about 20 meters wall to wall. The walls, floor and ceiling all glowed with a dim white light. He felt a small but strange tickling, almost itchy feeling in his head and he understood that this was his connection to EIS. Ken sat down on the ground where he stood and started thinking, and staring at the wall. In what felt like the span of a few minutes, his understanding of the world and even himself had been massively changed. He spent a few seconds entertaining the idea that he was dreaming or under the influence of something and would wake up with the world going back to normal, before he threw those thoughts away. Oddly enough, it was not the wall of light or the vivid sensations he felt that convinced him this was all real. It was L¡¯Raksha.


    Ken¡¯s entire life was based around his soul ¡°Insight¡± as EIS had called it. He perceived his soul and the essence of those around him. He tried to understand how his soul worked. If an action benefited his soul he tried to repeat it, and if it harmed him he avoided it. He had encountered many beings in his 24 years of life, and he had never seen one with a soul healthier or more powerful than his, until today.


    The two kneeling on the top stair had had an equal level of ¡°soul health¡± as he did which was already a first for him. On top of that their souls were more powerful than his, and he could tell that they had a level of control and poise that he couldn¡¯t understand. L¡¯Raksha was something different. Sensing him with Insight had made him feel like he was looking at the sun. Not a glaring light that burned his eyes, but the concept of a sun is what he felt. L¡¯Raksha¡¯s soul radiated life so powerfully that Ken thought it was sufficient to bring life warmth to an entire solar system. It was a power so outside of Ken¡¯s ability to understand, that he understood that such a thing could not come from his subconscious. The incomprehensible couldn¡¯t be imagined, only experienced.


    Ken reviewed everything that had happened so far in his mind. Ever since he awakened when he was 9 years old, he had lived for one singular purpose, to nurture his soul, and he had never regretted that choice. He quickly thought of the questions he needed to ask. L¡¯Raksha had shown him what was possible. Ken had not been able to progress his soul in over 6 years. Now thanks to CCC he had a chance at what had been his life''s goal: to reach higher levels of soul cultivation, but it wouldn¡¯t mean anything if he failed to survive in the new world.

 Assessing the Situation

    Ken asked the most important question he could think of.


    ¡°EIS as I am now, what is my projected life expectancy after CCC ends?¡±


    Your age is 73 USTI. Estimated life expectancy previous to world breakthrough: 90 USTI. Estimated life expectancy posthumously to world breakthrough assuming no further cultivation: 200 USTI. Estimated life expectancy posthumously to world breakthrough assuming a continuation of cultivation to the best of your ability: 10000+ USTI.


    Ken grimaced. I would have died before 30, but now I have time. 10000 USTI was 2500 years. Ken wasn¡¯t truly surprised at the number. Just as the sun did not form overnight, beings such as L¡¯Raksha must be far older than he could imagine, and he wasn¡¯t deluded enough to imagine himself reaching that level. He had too much in front of him to focus on. Cultivating his soul was his goal all along, whatever he had to do to give him enough time to do that he would do it. He hoped that whatever he had to do to increase his lifespan wouldn''t conflict with his soul cultivation or else it would all be pointless.


    ¡°EIS how can I increase my soul cultivation?¡±


    Current soul cultivation has reached the peak of Base Layer. To ascend the barrier and reach the First Domain, all Core Pillars must reach the peak of the Base Layer.


    My body and mind are holding me back. Ken thought. In the past 6 years he had been bottlenecked, he had tried training his mind and body, because he felt it had a positive and reinforcing effect on his soul, but he had quickly reached bottle necks there as well, stalling his progress again.


    ¡°What is the most time efficient way to further cultivate my mind and body?¡±


    Qi Cultivation. Just as growing the soul overflows, empowering the mind and body, so does Qi Cultivation overflow, empowering all three of the Core Pillars. Additionally, the higher density of Qi in your surroundings allows for incredibly effective new ways of targeted body and mind training.


    ¡°Besides cultivating the Qi and Core pillars, are there any other skills or training that you would recommend to help improve my chances to survive and cultivate successfully?¡± Ken asked. Before he dove into learning about Qi cultivation, he wanted to make sure he covered his bases so to speak.


    You have a Talent for Language. Cultivating your Talent has positive benefits to soul cultivation. Depending on the specific details of your Talent, a vast array of benefits may or may not be received.


    Be Advised. Cultivation of a Talent can only be beneficial, it is the safest and most reliable way for almost all beings to cultivate. It is also a long and arduous journey to reach the peaks of mastery.


    Ken frowned. He had seen that line on his description but he had glossed over it. Ken had learned language fast but it was because his brain was more advanced, not exactly a personal talent. He had learned it at about the same rate as any other skill he had. It didn''t seem any easier or harder than others. To Ken language was just a tool to communicate, and a bad one at that. If someone had a healthy soul, and could sense other beings, there was no need to talk. You could just sense and understand one another.


    Could you understand a being such as L¡¯Raksha with just your Insight alone? You should aspire to one day reach such an exalted level.


    Ken grimaced at the obvious hole in his quick conclusions. Although he felt he had a decent understanding of his own soul, he had almost zero experience interacting with other healthy souls, at least human ones. He wanted to understand more about souls in general instead of just making assumptions based on his own experience. He was lost. He had stopped progressing for years, and despite his constant research, he still didn¡¯t understand what he needed to do next.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°EIS, I know what I want to do but I''ll admit I¡¯m completely lost on how and where to start. Can you help me create some kind of structured training plan?¡±


    There was a slight pause, and then Ken smiled at what he saw.


    Ken Enderson


    Personal Goal: Reach the First Domain of Soul


    Current Priority: Reach the Peak of the Saturating Stage


    Suggested Schedule:


    Period 1: Eight hours of sleep


    Period 2: Twenty hours of qi cultivation


    Period 3: Two hours of body cultivation


    Cycle until the Priority Task is complete.


    Do you intend to begin a training cycle?


    Ken chuckled. He was going to be locked away from his cabin, his land, and his pets for three whole months. He¡¯d experienced periods of isolation in his life, probably more than most, but finally being able to actually progress? It was worth it. Plus, now that he understood what the Pillars of Cultivation actually were, he had a much clearer understanding of what Consciousness Level 1 actually was and honestly it was an incredibly low bar. To be level one you only had to show the ability to cultivate a pillar. From what he could tell from his view of the world from the pyramid, most people didn''t cultivate at all, or if they did they never reached the first level of any pillar. But Ken¡¯s thoughts were not really concerned with humans at the moment, he was thinking of his pets.


    ¡°EIS, have Sunshine and Rain reached Consciousness Level 1 and also gone into CCC?¡±


    That is correct, but expect them to leave CCC considerably changed. Earth intends for all beings capable of reaching Consciousness Level 1 to have the opportunity to grow and cultivate.


    Ken was of course relieved that his two cuties wouldn''t be running around in the woods with possibly mutating plants and critters by themselves. Ken smiled as he pictured exploring the new world with them. He couldn''t wait. However this topic brought up so many interesting questions he couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°EIS, how much of Earth''s flora and fauna actually managed to enter CCC?


    Global Status Report: Earth


    Consciousness Level: 4 (Soul: 3 Mind: 4 Body: 3)


    Qi Domain: Base (Adaptation)


    Number of Unique Species: 15.6 Million


    Number of Unique Conscious Species: 2154


    Number of First Domain Races: 2 (Primordial Savage, Primordial Wanderer)


    Planetary Mission: Reach the First Domain of Qi before Earth does to gain a reward.


    To update or view this information again, think ¡°Planetary Status¡±


    As always answers lead to more questions. What the hell is a Primordial Wanderer?


    Primordial Wanderers are commonly referred to as elephants.


    Ken realized that he had never actually seen an elephant in person. The moment he realized that some animals had souls, was the moment he knew that he could never enter a zoo and remain sane because of his Insight, not to mention the crowds of people. Being able to see the suffering of others was terrifying and he was not about to torture himself. He had also never left the continent of North America and thus never met an elephant.


    Once I find my feet in the new world I would definitely like to meet an Elephant. But that was a goal for the future, and Ken realized that with all this information he had access to, he could get lost on tangents for days. I need to be progressing.


    ¡°EIS please start a training cycle.¡±


    Commencing training cycle period 1: 8 hours of sleep


    You are very sleepy.


    Ken blacked out instantly.

 Revelations

    Ken jolted awake with a surge of raw adrenaline. He immediately leaped to his feet and surveyed his surroundings as the events of the previous day flooded back to him.


    Commencing training cycle period 2: 20 hours of Qi Cultivation


    Use your Qi Sense and intent to draw the surrounding Qi into your three Apertures. Fill your three reservoirs and allow Qi to overflow, and cleanse your being.


    Be Advised. As a practitioner of Meditation you will undoubtedly find it easier to use your Qi sense and intent, while adhering to your preferred meditation practices.


    Ken frowned. His preferred meditation practice was shooting a bow. He looked around the white room about the size of his cabin. Yeah not happening here. Ken also realized he was naked. He didn''t really know what to feel about that. Ken wore a lot of clothes usually because he lived in the middle of the woods and clothes protected his body. Well there¡¯s no one here and I assume I''m supposed to be perfectly safe here. Normal introspective meditation sounded like a great idea. He needed to process yesterday''s events and have his head stop spinning. He sat on the ground and closed his eyes, stilling himself.


    The world is undergoing transformation by Qi. I and every other conscious being of Earth is in some kind of different closed off space learning to cultivate before we are introduced to the new world. When I leave this place I will probably have to rebuild the house. Uhg, but I can progress again! Hmm, after I get out of here I definitely want to try to interact with other cultivators of my level and see how it goes. There are other humans out there with healthy flourishing souls. I felt them on the pyramid, and there were many pyramids in the distance. I gave up on humanity too early. I didn¡¯t look hard enough.


    Ken found himself longing for social connection in a deeper way than he ever had. Ever since he was two years old and gained his Insight, he had almost instinctively kept himself from interacting with other humans especially in person. He had had a period of time when he was 18 and finally a legal adult, where he sought out areas with huge amounts of people, and tried to sense as many people as he could before he just couldn''t go on. He was hoping to find a healthy soul like him, but never did. That experience of stretching his Insight in both his duration and complexity is what allowed him to reach what EIS called the third level of soul cultivation.


    At the first level, which he gained at the age of two, the range of his Insight was about 3 meters. When he reached the second level at age nine, the range expanded to about 10 meters. A month or so after his 18th birthday, He was walking through a mall ¡°scouting¡±. As the mall started getting progressively more and more crowded Ken began to feel overwhelmed, and decided to call it, but as he headed for the exit he started to feel strangely euphoric. The souls of others around him began to quiet, and for a moment, he felt as if he was the only being that existed. He broke third to the third level, and the range of his Insight expanded rapidly. When it reached fifty meters, Ken started having seizures, and it quickly grew to twice even that size. Seized by a raw survival instinct Ken did something he had never done before in his entire life, he withdrew his Insight.


    As Ken stopped seizing he assessed himself. He had a pounding headache, and his heart was pounding. He felt blind scared and alone, but otherwise his body and mind seemed fine. Ken scrambled to his feet and bolted for the fire exit ignoring all the people around him. He ran out of the building and out of the parking lot in a panic. His Insight was now somewhere around 100 meters and it had grown noticeably more sensitive than the previous level. Holding it in felt oppressive. Ken kept it suppressed and ran. He realized that he would now have to live in a way where he could spend the majority of his time in a space in which there were no other people in a 100 meter circle around him. Ken ran away from the mall and kept running. He recognized that even with his Insight suppressed he could feel the directions around him that had the highest concentration of souls. Ken ran in the opposite direction until nightfall. When had reached a wooded area outside the city limits of his hometown, he collapsed in exhaustion and finally released his insight. The relief he felt, when there were no souls in range, was palpable, and he broke down weeping.


    Ken wiped his tears on his naked forearm. He sighed and opened his eyes to stare at the blurry white room. He remembered the day he had given up on interacting with humanity; the day he had given up finding other people like him. Ken thought about how he would remember this moment and the events of yesterday. He had a chance to at least live into old age, he could advance, and one of his greatest fears had been proven to be baseless. Life was looking up.


    Ken quieted his mind and stilled his body as much as possible, which meant lying face up on the floor with his hands by his side. When he felt he had reached an adequate state of calm, he did as EIS instructed and tried to sense the qi around him. It wasn¡¯t hard. Once he started trying it was like a switch was flipped in his mind and his awareness of the dense cloud of qi he was sitting in went from subconscious to conscious. Ken could sense qi both internally and externally, however no matter how much he tried he couldn¡¯t do both at once. He immediately wanted to experiment with this new sense, however he knew he had a propensity to go off on tangents, so he reigned his mind back into focus on sensing his apertures which, he guessed, were internal.


    Ken examined his entire being in as much detail as he could using his qi sense. He had to go over himself three times before he had a clear picture of what was going on, and it was a lot more complicated than he thought. Ken¡¯s first observation was that his qi density in his body was at least one hundred times lower than the cloud outside of his body, which made sensing the little qi that was there next to impossible for him, but that dense qi outside was flowing into him without any direction at all. It was this ¡°flow¡± that he could sense. Qi was invading his body from every avenue available, not just the three apertures, although they were the most obvious. The greatest flow of qi was coming in at three clearly identifiable points, each at different rates. The first point was dead center of mass, about four inches directly below his sternum, and it was guzzling qi at a markedly higher rate than the others. The second point was in the center of his forehead, and the third was his heart. The first two points seemed relatively straightforward in their operation, as Qi from outside funneled into them. In his external qi sense he could barely make out small vortices hovering directly atop these two points.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    His heart aperture was not so simple. At first the only thing Ken could sense was that the qi in the vicinity of his heart was much denser, but after several rounds of observation, he came to the conclusion that his entire respiratory and circulatory systems as well as multiple other organs were working in sync to bring qi to his heart aperture. Qi seemed to be flowing into his body through his skin and gradually shifting to conglomerate at his heart. Ken also observed distinct waves of qi bathing him internally that originated from his lungs. It appeared he was simply breathing in large amounts of qi and Ken observed the air exiting his lungs had its qi density approximately halved.


    Now that he had at least a basic understanding of what was happening around his apertures, Ken turned his perception external, and willed the surrounding qi to flow into his body. This only increased the flow rate marginally so he started to get creative. Ken''s previous meditation experience guided him towards visualization as a means to improve the effects of this exercise. Ken tried out different visualizations and observed the qi flows, trying everything he could think of that would mimic a substance (qi) draining into a container (him). His first thought was of a toilet flushing: a luxury he had not had access to in a long time, but it proved a poor meditation technique. Eventually he settled on a gravity well. Although they were technically invisible, their effects were not, so he visualized them. It worked great, at least for his stomach aperture, which he was certain should be called a dantain. He wasn¡¯t quite ready to start labeling things based off of some cultivation novels he¡¯d read, but stomach aperture just sounded wrong. While the gravity well visualization considerably improved the amount of qi that was entering his dantain, when Ken tried to apply it to his other apertures, there were obvious issues.


    Visualization didn''t seem to improve the flow of qi to his heart no matter what he imagined. Even when willing the qi to flow away from him, his will only marginally moved the qi just like his very first observations. His skin and lungs continued to push qi towards his heart whether he liked it or not. Ken realized he needed a new approach and it wasn¡¯t hard to come up with one that worked, as it was a common enough facet of meditation and many physical activities. Ken needed a breathing technique. Ken decided to temporarily ignore the qi coming in through his skin. When compared to the qi being absorbed through his lungs his skin was introducing a noticeable but still marginal amount, not to mention the fact that modulating his breathing was infinitely easier than his pore dilation. Ken knew his biology, so he understood that breathing was almost always going to be the fastest and most efficient option of bringing a substance into the bloodstream if it was feasible. Ken disregarded direct injection as he was pretty sure that wasn¡¯t on the table, although maybe it would be if he got out of here, who knows?


    Ken¡¯s mind aperture was a different story. Gravity well visualization worked, sort of. It markedly increased the qi flowing towards the aperture, but not into it. It seemed that his mind aperture was bottlenecked internally and once the flow rate had been maxed out, excess qi merely washed over his face and head. Interesting. Ken decided to grab the low hanging fruit that was his breathing technique before he started looking for internal bottlenecks. Since the qi he had observed behaved similarly to an aerosol, Ken theorized that hyperventilation followed by a period of holding his breath before exhaling, should work to increase the qi flow to his heart. Lying perfectly still on the floor, Ken visualized a gravity well around his dantain, and breathed according to his theorized pattern, which worked like a charm. There were definitely optimizations he could make to the ratio and duration of his hyperventilation and holding of breath, but the theory was solid. It was also impossible to experiment with variations on the breathing technique while also concentrating his visualization properly, so he dropped the mental image and tweaked it until he was satisfied.


    Ken thought about his mental bottleneck. He wondered if it was even realistic to consider adding more onto what already was a difficult meditation practice. Although he was experienced in simultaneous breathing techniques and visualization as well as simultaneous visualization and actions such as archery, he was skeptical of his ability to do three things at once. With enough familiarity, a breathing technique could be used almost subconsciously, opening up brainpower for something else, but 2 conscious actions was pushing into almost superhuman territory. I¡¯ll probably be able to do it at higher levels of cultivation.


    Ken decided that his techniques were probably as good as they were going to get, at least for today, and began to cultivate in earnest. It was¡­ boring. The reason Ken enjoyed archery more than some standard meditation practices was that he found it far more engaging to be focused while moving his body as opposed to staying still. Ken tried performing his technique while running around in circles but he couldn¡¯t maintain enough focus to avoid occasionally running into one of the walls, which were stupidly hard to see. After failing miserably with running, Ken tried the complete opposite, and went back to laying still while trying to slow his thoughts down as much as possible. He hoped to enter a more trance like state to decrease his perception of time. It was another massive dud. His breathing technique had his juiced up blood pounding through his body and he felt filled with energy. He felt too energized to just lay on the ground, and felt even a bit stir-crazy. I miss Sunshine and Rain. Ken thought as he wondered about his rambunctious animal companions. He returned to reality and sighed. Lying on the ground clearly wasn''t going to work so Ken tried something he thought of as a middle ground between rest and active exertion: Passive exertion aka yoga.


    Ken found he could complete his techniques in some basic poses without much issue and continued to do so until his focus was broken by a message.


    Commencing training cycle period 3: 2 hours of Body Cultivation


    Sense the surrounding qi, and mimic it to the best of your ability.


    When he turned his qi sense on the environment, Ken quickly spotted a shimmering silver and vaguely human shaped blob of qi performing a quad stretch. Ken followed along as the figure performed a full body stretching and basic calisthenics routine. After a short break, the figure began running. Ken hesitantly copied the movements and was astonished to find that despite all his senses telling him he was jogging forward, he failed to reach the wall of his room he had so easily bounced off of before. As his qi sense was a true sixth sense, and not based on vision, Ken was able to close his eyes and imagine he was on one of his normal daily runs with Sunshine and Rain. The dense mist and the silver figure didn''t stop his immersions into daydreams. When the figure slowed down to a walk, and then dissipated, Ken knew what was coming next.


    Training cycle is complete.


    Cultivation realm changes: NA


    Do you intend to begin a training cycle?


    Yes


    Commencing training cycle period 1: Eight hours of sleep


    You are very sleepy.

 Breakthrough

    After awakening, Ken didn¡¯t waste time and began cultivating in his yoga poses. Qi continued to pour endlessly into his dantain and the density of qi in his heart kept increasing, but he couldn''t observe any other changes until it was ¡°yard time¡± again. Ken trained for fourteen cycles before he experienced any change. Oddly enough the change was not centered around his dantain or his heart. In the middle of his forehead, Ken could feel a strange pressure building. He had to feel up his forehead several times before he was convinced it was just a feeling and that physically he was fine. The feeling continued to grow for five more cycles and on the dawn of his twentieth cycle, Ken became aware of a similar yet different sensation coming from his heart. Although the sensations weren¡¯t exactly comfortable, they didn¡¯t feel harmful either, leading Ken to hope he was on the right track.


    Ken trained steadfastly cycle after cycle. The pressure in his heart built up far quicker than the one on his forehead, and at the beginning of the twenty third cycle, the pressure in his heart began to overflow, causing rich qi to begin to circulate in his veins, and eventually reach every cell in his body.


    While practicing his posing for the twenty-seventh meditation period, Ken experienced a full body muscle spasm that put him on his ass, right before a wave of dizziness and a gentle relief of the pressure on his forehead. Unlike when the pressure at his heart was resolved, Ken didn''t feel any different. The only way he knew that something had actually changed, was that EIS told him.


    BE ADVISED: You, Mind Body and Soul, have expressed an attribute: Perception


    You have cultivated an aura mark: Third Eye of Insight


    Ken slapped his hand to his forehead immediately, and was both relieved and strangely disappointed to find his perfectly normal skin. Qi sensing didn''t spot any differences and he didn¡¯t feel anything abnormal. Aside from the ¡°be advised¡± in all caps this seemed like a good thing, so Ken continued to train while closely observing himself for changes. He realized that his mind aperture seemed to be taking in qi faster and faster until it stopped at a flow that was similar to his dantain although slightly lesser. After his evening run, Ken received a new addition to the final evening message from EIS.


    Cultivation realm changes: Mind (Base 2->3)


    After three more training cycles Ken was notified that he had completed the Cleansing stage of Qi and entered the Saturation Stage. His training was altered. While the thirty hour days continued, he spent four hours less meditating and instead filled those hours with exercises that grew progressively more challenging and straining. On the thirty second cycle, his body rose from Base 1 to 2. By this point he had begun to observe a mild pressure building up in his dantain, which took ten further training cycles to mature.


    Upon awakening from his forty second slumber in his little white room Ken observed that the pressure he was under had multiplied, as he was not only feeling it in his dantain, but also in twenty nine other points in his body. There were five points on each leg and arm, as well as ten spread across his torso and head: thirty total. Three of the final ten, were his apertures. As the pressure continued to build, Ken didn''t bother with the usual poses, and just lay on the ground and performed his techniques to the best of his ability. A mere hour passed before Ken started to experience dramatic changes.


    The thirty pressure points began to tremble and Ken began to feel the pressure relieve, along with the most mind altering full body euphoria he had ever felt in his entire life. For a moment he felt as if everything wrong in his life had been righted and an intense pleasure jolted through his body. His entire being shifted. Ken observed the qi both within and without his body simultaneously for the first time. At the thirty separate points in his body, there were thirty little gravity wells of varying sizes, all drawing in qi that swirled around in vortices. He marveled at his new perception until he was startled by an interruption.


    Congratulations! You have reached the First Domain of Qi! You have entered the Drawing Stage of Qi.


    Current Priority: Reach the Peak of the Base Layer in Body


    Suggested Schedule:


    Period 1: Eight hours of sleep


    Period 2: Twelve hours of body cultivation


    Period 3: Ten hours of talent cultivation


    Do you intend to begin a training cycle?


    I need to get my body up to the level of my mind, and soul before I can break through. Ken thought. Ken stared at the last line. He remembered the language talent. He had very mixed feelings about that talent. Communication with other people had been a struggle for him his entire life, to the point he had decided to forgo it entirely. To think he was supposedly talented at such a thing. Despite the fact that EIS hadn¡¯t led him astray so far, and he had felt himself begin to improve rapidly and reach new ground, he was skeptical. Ken definitely was going to try it skeptic or not, because it was highly recommended. From what EIS had said it was impossible to be detrimental, and at the worst it was a waste of time, his main priority was improving his body cultivation while he was in this qi rich environment. That said twelve hours of body cultivation was plenty enough to mess him up. Even in a place like this, Ken understood that he could only take so much, so he decided to trust EIS¡¯s recommendations and started a new training cycle immediately.


    Ken was panting as he sat down after twelve hours of insane physical training. He had followed along with the silver blob to complete an increasingly esoteric physical regime. After a full hour of flexibility training, he had been led through what he could only call a reflexes and perception test, where he had to touch glowing orbs of silver qi that appeared around him. After some time he had moved on to explosive strength movements. He had tried to follow the silver shape as closely as possible but performing some of the movements was still beyond him. The shape was able to go from a push up to standing in one explosive movement, and was beginning to do flips and explosive twists that were entering the realm of advanced gymnasts. Ken tried the best that he could. It helped that falling in this place wasn¡¯t painful at all, so he felt free to give his absolute full effort without worrying about injuring himself.


    BE ADVISED: You, Mind Body and Soul, have expressed an attribute: Endurance


    You have cultivated an aura mark: Perserverer


    Commencing training cycle period 3: Ten hours of Talent Cultivation


    Be Advised. To cultivate is to comprehend, experience, and express.


    Sense the surrounding qi, and comprehend to the best of your ability.


    As Ken viewed the surrounding qi, silver words began forming in the cloud in front of him. They continued to generate, and fell away after he had read them, so he read at a slow deliberate pace. He had to consciously stop himself from reading as fast as he could, because the subject matter was fascinating to him.


    On the Capabilities of  Beings


    Since the origin of the universe, beings capable of cultivation have existed. Any being capable of cultivation, should not be underestimated. The capabilities of beings are myriad, and to comprehend them all is to understand the universe and its origins, impossible to mere mortals such as I.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    But still I seek to bring down such lofty knowledge to my level. For mortals and immortals alike to comprehend some part of truth I may expound can only be my karmic gain. Thus I seek to share the observations of a wanderer of this universe.


    All conscious beings of the universe are unique. There are no two perfectly alike. Because of Chaos, there can be no true law without exception. Therefore to seek to define laws and rules of existence is folly, and yet still I persist. To comprehend Chaos, and seek order despite It, is the goal of all the Societies and all true scholars.


    Through much study and dispute, there are five main aspects of a being that can offer valuable perspective of a being''s capability, to the degree that they are comprehended.


    The matter of beings is not unique, as matter is the presence of Order in the universe, and its types are widely understood. For example, a gaseous being may have capabilities impossible for most solid beings.


    The energy of beings is not unique, as energy is the presence of Order in the universe and all beings contain Qi, the most fundamental aspect of the universe. For example, a being of sufficient energy, may be able to transform its very matter, changing its capabilities greatly.


    The body of beings is unique, and is determined by a myriad of factors. The body is the form of a being, and comprehending it will offer information on a being''s capabilities. The forms of beings are not inherently beneficial, and possess both strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the universe, there exists no being of perfect form.


    The mind of beings is unique, and is determined by a myriad of factors. The mind is the function of a being, and comprehending it will offer information on a being''s capabilities. The functions of beings are not inherently beneficial, and possess both strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the universe, there exists no being of perfect function.


    The soul of beings is unique, and is determined by a myriad of factors. The soul is the meaning of a being, and comprehending it will offer information on a being''s  capabilities. The meanings of beings are often their most mysterious aspect. The study of soul and meaning is a topic of great interest even to the most enlightened of the universal societies, and much is unknown. Although it cannot be stated with absolute certainty, the universe itself is considered to express the only perfect meaning.


    These five aspects: matter, energy, body, mind and soul, are the known keys to understanding the capabilities of beings in the universe.


    Accompanying the five aspects, there exists five categorizations of capabilities that are reliable to aid in comprehension: Base capabilities, Skills, Talents, Gifts, and Aura.


    Beings of the uncultivated state, possess base capabilities according to their origin. It is the goal of many brilliant minds to understand the base capabilities of the beings around them. To understand the base capabilities of beings in a certain local, local sources are advised. When a being reaches a conscious state, its capabilities are increased. They continue to increase with each additional level, and the height that they can reach is unknown.


    All conscious beings can cultivate a myriad of Skills. Skills are capabilities that have been cultivated over time to a level of significance. Understanding the skills of a being will offer immense understanding of their aspects and capabilities both base and otherwise.


    All conscious beings possess and can cultivate singular or multiple Talents. Many talents are similar, but all are unique. Talents are considered an inherent part of consciousness, and how they come into being, and are determined is unknown. However, the talent of a being will always be within its capabilities to perform. Thus understanding a being''s Talent will offer immense knowledge of their aspects, base and otherwise.


    All conscious beings possess a Gift. The Gifts of beings are unique and most of their aspects are unknown. Gifts cannot be cultivated, but may be comprehended. Comprehending one¡¯s Gift will awaken it. All conscious and cultivating beings should attempt to contemplate and awaken their gift, as it is believed to offer understanding of one¡¯s own meaning. Further comprehension of one''s gift, as well the increase of the previous three aspects, may increase the control and relative power of a gift. A being''s Gift may often be misrepresented by an observer as a Talent or Skill, as it can be incredibly challenging to distinguish them. As the comprehension of one¡¯s own gift is difficult enough, the pursuit of the contemplation of others¡¯ is considered folly to mortals, and is relegated to immortals and beings of great timespan. Should you comprehend the Gift of a being, it may offer a deep understanding of previously unknown capabilities.


    All conscious beings can cultivate and express an Aura.  A being¡¯s aura is tied to its energy and matter, and is hidden until it is expressed, either partially or fully. Conscious beings cannot sense their own aura, and can express it both consciously and subconsciously. Because of the possibility of subconscious expression, observers of beings have found the study of Aura to be incredibly informative and reliable, second only to the study of base capabilities. Like Talents, Aura is considered to be an aspect of consciousness, and may grow in both intensity and complexity with consciousness level, although growth is not guaranteed or linear. Comprehending a being¡¯s Aura may offer information on their cultivation and their five aspects, even to the point of allowing an astute observer to experience glimpses of events from a being''s past. Aura is an intricate piece of being¡¯s capabilities that can offer some of the deepest knowledge of beings to those able to comprehend it.


    The Study of the Five Aspects and the Five Categories is and perhaps will always be one of the main focuses of the great Societies which offer their tutelage to any aspiring students capable of proving themselves suitable to join one.


    Only with the perfect knowledge of existence can one achieve true Origination.


    Evarious Lemus, Director of the Nature Society- 2nd Age in the Era of Expansion


    Ken sat and contemplated the lecture he had just read. He had learned much during his time in CCC but this lecture was on a different level from his random tangents of questions to EIS and it answered questions he hadn''t even thought to ask. He had been notified about gaining two aura marks, and understood that some part of him was growing, but now he understood the reason he couldn¡¯t sense any changes: he was never meant to. His third eye was a representation of his perception not for himself to understand but for others. Ken hoped to gain more of these marks to represent his good qualities to others he met in the future. He had also learned a lot about his Gift. Of all his ¡°capabilities¡± he felt that this was the most significant one. He now understood more of the mechanics behind his gifts behavior. His gift had awakened at the same time as his consciousness, causing him to believe it was part of his base capabilities. Ken had immensely poor control over his Gift, because he had no idea how or why it did what it did. Insight allowed him to sense the essence of other beings, as the lecture called it their ¡°meaning¡±. But how on earth was he doing it? He had no clue it had just always been there, working.


    Due to the nature of his Gift, Ken had observed many beings with his Insight, and a lot of the statements in the lesson range true to his own experience. Although he wasn''t going to make any statements about the universe, Ken believed the statement that all conscious beings were unique. He also appreciated the well roundedness of the Five Aspects and Categories. Equipped with this new knowledge Ken¡¯s mind began making a multitude of connections. He began to analyze his memories of beings he had interacted with in the past and tried to guess their Skills, Talents and Gifts. Even his pets had them! New knowledge was clearly changing his perception. He realized that after learning about the Five Aspects and Categories, he wouldn¡¯t be able to ¡°unsee¡± them.


    Congratulations! You have learned the Skill: Analyze (Novice 1) - Use your perception, knowledge, and mind energy, to analyze the capabilities of a being.


    Ken was reminded of his personal status, and prompted EIS to pull it up.


    Personal Status: Ken Enderson


    Level: 3 (Soul: 3 Mind: 3 Body: 2)


    Race: Primordial Savage


    Qi Domain : First - Drawing Stage


    Skills: Meditation-(Novice 3) Marksmanship-(Novice 3) Hunting- (Novice 2) Foraging-(Novice 1) Analyze (Novice 1)


    Talents: Language


    Gifts: Insight


    Aura Marks: Third Eye of Insight, Perserverer


    Personal Goal: Reach the First Domain of Soul


    ¡°To cultivate is to comprehend, experience, and express.¡± Ken thought long and hard about these words, and about his Talent it what it meant to cultivate language. From what information he had it seemed like talent cultivation was a long term endeavor, and he expected to spend a significant portion of time, possibly years, on the ¡°comprehend¡± part.


    Talent Cultivation Exercise: Learn Society Standard


    Sense the surrounding qi, and comprehend to the best of your ability.


    And so it begins. Ken chuckled. He had a feeling this was going to suck.

 Language

    It definitely sucked. Learning Society Standard was fucking hard. It was seemingly impossible. Comprehend to the best of my ability¡­ My ability is shit! Talent? What Talent? Ken thought as he finished his third, 10 hour session of mind-boggling study.


    Society Standard was a language created by a collaboration of experts from multiple Societies over most of an age, which Ken learned was roughly equivalent to 400,000 years. Even if he lived for 1,000 years he would never completely learn it but he quickly understood that it was not his goal to learn it all. This language was simply the most conclusive and effective language in the universe, and continuing to learn it no matter how little, would help him comprehend the concept of language, and hopefully understand his Talent.


    The Societys¡¯ goal when creating this language was to create a form of communication that worked for all beings that had reached the First Domain of Qi. As a by product Ken learned that reaching the First Domain of Qi wasn¡¯t really anything special on a universal scale, and although he was now superhuman when he compared himself now with that of a few months ago, babies born to First Domain races would often be born at the Cleansing stage, and reach the First Domain of Qi by the normal time of maturity for their race. Basically Society Standard was a universal language for First Domain races. One wasn¡¯t even qualified to begin learning this language until they reached the First Domain of QI, and differing levels of skill in this language was a prerequisite for joining a Great Society.


    Society Standard was not spoken at all, instead a communicating party wrote symbols of Qi in front of themselves, and the targeted party could ¡°listen¡± with their qi sense. To a being with no qi sense, it would simply appear as two parties existing within a certain vicinity of each other and not doing anything. Since qi sense was omni directional, you didn''t have to be looking at the other party or even be within earshot. If one¡¯s qi sense reached a large enough scale, it would be possible for a person on earth and a person on the moon, to have a normal conversation. Another fact that totally boggled Ken¡¯s mind, was learning that qi sense scaled inversely with qi density.  Increases in qi density meant that qi sense was more restricted, it made sense and wasn¡¯t the hard part to wrap his head around, until he learned that the most qi sparse regions of the universe were empty space. As in outer space. In outer space qi sense could be manipulated to stretch over unimaginable distances. Society Standard had freaking grammar rules that only came into play when communicating at distances of over 30 lightyears! Ken decided he could probably skip memorizing those.


    Ken continued to complete training cycles, building up his body, and filling up his mind with alien language. The work outs were enjoyable, and Ken felt his body growing in ways he hadn¡¯t even considered possible. At this point he could probably break a slew of world records for flexibility and endurance, and he was finding his ability to control his body exactly as he wished was very assuring. Studying SS  continued to be mentally overwhelming, but he remained interested. The only example he could think of comparing it too was ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. After studying it enough, he had an epiphany when he understood why this language had caught his interest. Simply by learning this language, but especially its concepts and rules, he was learning an incredible amount about the Great Societies. Language intrinsically held a great amount of information about the people that spoke it. By studying a language of Earth, one could learn about the customs, beliefs, and ideas of the people that spoke it, and the same was true for Society Standard. The more beings that communicated using a language, the more knowledge could be gleaned from it. Theoretically, if someone created a language that was able to be understood and used by every being in the universe, then it could be said that that person understood the universe entirely. Ken became determined to continue to give his best to the headache inducing lessons, because he felt the information he was gaining was incredibly valuable, and he had the feeling that after Celestial Closed Cultivation came to its end, he wouldn¡¯t have hours to sit around learning SS from EIS and practicing communicating with the silvery figure.


    Even though SS had ignited his interest, that never made it any less complicated or challenging to learn. Before CCC Ken had thought of talented people as people as geniuses of phenoms that raced ahead of others and set themselves apart with their outstanding abilities. However this image of talent was nothing like how EIS or the Great Societies saw it: A facet of reality that was tied to your consciousness. Since the concept of Language had marked his consciousness when it came into being, he was considered to have a talent for language. That was it. Somewhere in all that language could be, there was a part that had touched him, personally. To find that piece, that concept, and understand it, was to comprehend his talent. These new revelations caused Ken to curb his expectations even further. It was possible for him to live for thousands of years and never even comprehend the talent he had come into being with. The concept of language was just that huge. That being said, the more Ken learned the more he believed that learning SS was his best shot at comprehending his talent. It was lightyears ahead of anything else in its inclusivity and usefulness. Although it was apparently possible to have multiple Talents, he only had one, and he wasn¡¯t about to leave a whole Category of his capabilities to stagnate.


    Ken had begun his endeavor to cultivate his talent on his forty-third training cycle. If his calculations were correct then CCC would only last for seventy-two cycles. As the days ticked by, and Ken continued to make steady progress, he also began to feel an increasingly intense nervous excitement when he thought of entering the new world. Ken also occasionally checked himself out with internal qi sense, and found his qi density still increasing despite ignoring it in his training. Some of his thirty meridians had little strands of qi reaching out from them and drifting around aimlessly, but besides that there weren''t any major changes.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    As his body cultivation progressed further, Ken reveled in his sense of ease and harmony that he felt with his body. For the entirety of his life, his body had been the weakest link in his pillars, and now that it was approaching the level of his mind and soul, he could understand why it was a requirement to harmonize the Pillars before he could break through. His soul was his ¡°meaning¡± and tied to his continued conscious existence. Although there probably existed ways to force it to break through, it would no doubt come with some extreme negative consequences. His soul refused to break through in such a way. Ken had his doubts that this self imposed ¡°rule¡± was the same for other cultivators and didn''t expect that every First Domain cultivator had been forced to jump through the same hoops.


    On his fifty-seventh cycle in CCC, Ken reached the third level of Body, and received another new message.


    Congratulations! You have reached Level 4!


    It was honestly underwhelming. In his preconceptions leveling up involved fanfare and an instant increase in power, but Ken had come to view his Level as a simple tool for tracking his improvement. Reaching a new Level WAS significant, but its significance came from the growth he had undergone to reach a new level, not from gaining some new power in an instant.


    Another thirteen cycles passed before Ken reached true harmony with all his pillars at the peak of the base domain. Celestial Closed Cultivation would be over in just two more days. He had learned an incredible amount during this period and grown in ways he hadn¡¯t even fully understood.


    Under EIS¡¯s advisement, Ken spent the final two days resting,  meditating on his experiences, and planning for the future.


    As his time in CCC ticked down, Ken felt ready to face the new world. If he had to comment on his time spent here, he would simply say: ¡°It worked.¡± As far as he understood, the entire point of this whole period was to help individual beings ready themselves for the new world in ways most meaningful for them and Ken felt that EIS had done a terrific job. Not that it made him any less nervous, emotions were weird like that. Ken waited in contemplative silence, till he received a message from EIS.


    Congratulations! Planet: Earth has completed Celestial Closed Cultivation!


    Global Status Report: Earth


    Consciousness Level: 4 (Soul: 3 Mind: 4 Body: 3->4)


    Qi Domain: Base (Adaptation) -> First (Drawing Stage)


    Number of Unique Species: 15.6 Million -> 15.9 Million


    Number of Unique Conscious Species: 2154 -> 2731


    Number of First Domain Races: 2 -> 6 (Primordial Savage, Primordial Wanderer, Ancient Dark Scavenger, Ancient Depths Octopod, Ancient Finned Terror, Ancient Pack Hunter)


    Holy shit. Six.


    Congratulations! You have reached the First Domain of Qi before planet Earth!


    You were a cultivator of all three Pillars both before, and after the breakthrough of Earth


    BE ADVISED: You, Mind Body and Soul, have expressed an concept: Preeminent Cultivator


    You have cultivated an aura mark: Preeminent Cultivator


    Ken surveyed his surroundings with his external qi sight active. When he had blacked out and gone into the whirlwind of new experiences that had been CCC,  he was watching the sunset with his pets nearby. Now he was sitting in a small clearing. His perception started registering his surroundings when he froze in utter shock as he observed a symbol, written in qi floating at the edge of his qi sense range. It was one of the most basic beginner words in SS and it meant¡­


    ¡°DAD!¡±


    ¡°Sunshine?!¡±


    ¡°DAD!¡±


    Ken took a second to respond because he didn¡¯t know how to feel about calling his golden retriever ¡°son¡±, even though he had raised him from a few weeks after birth. He opted to use a more complicated symbol and hoped Sunny could understand. It translated to something like,


    ¡°Familial delight and closeness¡±


    Sunshine didn''t respond in SS and simply jumped on him, tail wagging and trying to lick his face. He was HEAVY. Damn boy what were they feeding you in CCC?!


    Ken spotted a dark shape moving through the trees on the edge of the clearing. Rain the tabby cat, now the size of a large dog, bounded into his qi sense range and started flashing SS qi symbols.


    ¡°The butler returns! Welcome back!¡±


    The giant tabby cat rubbed up against him. The new world was different, and he liked it.

 Interlude - Waking Up

    Maria awoke laying in a field of knee high grass. She was back. She was whole. She felt young again. The three months spent in the little white room had turned her from an 80 year old woman with dementia, waiting to die, into a version of herself she had never thought possible. She called up her personal status, confirming once again what she already knew.


    Personal Status: Maria Lizapeg


    Level: 3 (Soul: 1 Mind: 4 Body: 1)


    Race: Primordial Savage


    Qi Domain : Base - Saturating Stage


    Skills: Visualization (Novice 3) Mental Energy Manipulation (Novice 1) Meditation-(Novice 1)


    Talents: Architecture, Visualization


    Gift: Unknown


    Aura Marks: Weight of History


    She had opened her Mind Palace, and reached the First Domain of Mind. She had reclaimed everything the horrific disease had taken from her, and much much more. Her memory felt crystal clear, and her stream of thoughts was lively and energetic in a way that she knew it had never been before. Cultivation was amazing.


    The sound of murmuring voices brought her out of her thoughts so she sat up to take a look around. The field was crowded. Even standing up, she couldn¡¯t see through the sea of people. People were milling around talking to one another. Peacefully. The crowd of naked people were mostly overjoyed to see another person after three months in isolation, although it was a bit awkward. It was an incredibly comical sight to Maria, who imagined the world''s largest nudist festival was in full swing. Then she saw a man leap into the air. As she was only 5¡¯5¡± and couldn¡¯t see over the crowd, she could see this man, because his leap allowed him to travel in an arch that peaked at over 30ft in the air.


    ¡°First Domain of Body¡± Maria thought to herself. ¡°Right, I''m a psychic now.¡± Formed a mental image in her mind palace, and released it from her mind aperture. A silver strand of qi reached out from her head into the sky and formed a silver eye at the top of it. Maria turned the eye around in a circle, before retracting the qi back into her mind. Maria took a moment to review the images the eye had captured. The scene reminded her of her sight from the pyramid, where she had been towards the bottom and was able to clearly view the sea of people. She estimated at least a million humans were in the field. There was a massive river that split the plains a bit to the east, but besides that there was just endless grass and people as far as the eye could see. Although it wasn¡¯t as crowded as the desert had been and everyone had a few couple feet between them, it made Maria feel claustrophobic to be in such a huge crowd. Not knowing what else to do, she headed for the only landmark in sight, the river.


    Along the way she saw several more people leaping around the crowd sporadically.  She continued on her way not paying any mind until one of them landed almost directly in front of her, giving her a massive start.


    ¡°Hello my name is Daniel.¡± The man said. ¡°A bunch of us are trying to gather everyone who has reached the First Domain to the riverbank. We want to talk, share experiences and figure out what to do next. Everyone who has reached the First Domain is welcome to participate in the discussion.  We still haven''t found anyone who''s reached the First Domain of Soul and if we did we don''t know how to recognize them. Qi sight allows us to find those with a mind Palace or an awakened heart easily. If you''re interested, come to the riverbank there''s a large gravel bank where some of the others are gathering. If you see any one at the First Domain of body or mind please spread the word.


    Without giving Maria a chance to respond he simply leaped away and continued scanning his surroundings while flying through the air.  Maria blinked and thought about what he had said.  There''s no nothing else to do. I''m interested in what other people have experienced during CCC. I guess those of us who have progressed the farthest we''ll have to figure out how we''re all going to live. Logistics communication, everything''s gone, we''ll have to build it again. Maria headed towards the river deep in thought about what the infrastructure of the new world would be like; she would probably get to have a hand in making it after all.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Maria continued towards the river scanning the surrounding crowd with her qi sight. She found herself unable to determine the cultivation of others at a glance. Although she could tell that every single person she laid eyes on had some level of qi it was hard to tell how much. She knew that she was at the peak of the saturation stage. After that point she had found it near impossible to take in any more qi to her reservoirs.  she didn''t know what the First Domain of Qi would even look like or if she would be able to see it. How did he know I was in the first domain?  She thought as she continued walking. Maria saw Daniel talking to a young man and focused on him. He definitely had more qi than her if how his body looked in qi sight was a good reference for that. The qi coming off of him looked different than other people''s, more clumpy for lack of a better term. It was strange and Maria caught herself staring. She decided the quickest way to learn all this was just to go to the meeting and ask people. With so many people gathered together here they''re sure to be many others first domain cultivators. Maria didn''t really know anything about body or soul cultivation. Her main focus during CCC was making sure that her mind was whole again and regaining her ability to actually interact with her memory and function normally. All the qi that she had was a product of simple accumulation during rest and meditation.


    Although she had done a lot of meditation as it was a very constructive activity when it came to self-guided mental healing. She felt very lucky that she was able to finish constructing the mine Palace before her time had been up. The super dense qi had been extremely helpful. The surrounding qi was currently less than one tenth of the density that it had been in CCC. It would have taken her months to construct the palace in this environment, maybe even longer, as the real world had all manner of distractions. Having a large block of uninterrupted time to focus on healing and improvement had been a remarkable gift. Maria found it hard to imagine what other people''s experience in CCC was like. Perhaps no to CCC experiences were equal as everyone had their own individual needs and desires to work towards fulfilling.


    What had been an incredible experience, now almost felt like a dream. The constant background during CCC had made her perception of time funny. That combined without the need for eating or any other normal necessities made it feel like it wasn''t real, even though she knew it was.  Apparently qi was enough for the body to subsist on for a long time, especially in high concentrations. No doubt this would be a huge boon in a world that held 8 billion people and had lost all its previous infrastructure.  Deaths from starvation would be minimized at least.


    Maria pushed away negative thoughts as she finally reached the river and found the massive gravel shoal. She could see people on the other side of the river but it was at least 200 meters across. She figured a first domain body cultivator wouldn''t have any trouble swimming it despite its rapid flow. She made her way down the rocky path to the shoal and towards the small group of people sitting at its center. As she approached an old man covered in tattoos spoke to her without getting up or even opening his eyes.


    ¡°Join us in meditation, as we wait for more to arrive, when the sun is fully overhead, we¡¯ll start.¡±


    Marina stared intently at the man but chose a seat on a rock that was slightly removed from the group and sat down.  She didn''t mind waiting,  although she wondered who the old man was. The qi surrounding him didn''t seem any different from hers to her senses. There had to be some way to see mind and soul cultivation. Judging people''s capabilities seemed like an important subject of research. A way of confirming what someone¡¯s cultivation was would be important technology.


    Maria thought about how much the world has changed. What would people do now if there was no need for food? Most people would not really need to do anything. Just being somewhere where the climate was temperate and you had access to qi, one was free to do whatever they wanted without fearing of dying to the elements or starvation. Some of the most fundamental ties that bound civilization together in the old world was the need for food and shelter. With sufficient intelligence and resources, it became more efficient to join together as a group to find food and shelter together as well as protecting oneself from predators. If the need for food and shelter disappeared Maria wondered what people would do with their time. Even in the modern era, most people spent their time working to provide for themselves. Now all they needed to do was keep breathing and they were basically fine. Although she assumed most people would rather not sleep in a field or on open ground it probably wouldn''t be dangerous, just uncomfortable. People would still want things. Maria firmly believed it was human nature to want to better one¡¯s own environment and that of the people around them. They would desire certain comforts and luxuries, but they were starting from nothing. To regain some of the comforts and technologies of modernity there was massive work to be done. They were starting from the stone age but with knowledge from the information age so hopefully it wouldn''t take them as long to get it back, as it had to make it there the first time.


    Maria pondered on the priorities of life in the new world. Sustenance, shelter and protection from predators were still a priority, especially to children and those with lower cultivation levels. Besides those, Maria felt the most important goal was to not forget the knowledge of the old world. Scientists and engineers needed to be found and their knowledge preserved for the future. Some knowledge of more advanced or niche technologies was sure to be lost, but she was determined to preserve the knowledge and lessons of the past and not let the thousands of years of prior human civilization be lost to time. She was a historian after all, it was her responsibility.

 The Woods

    Ken hugged his animal companions close and stared at the woods. He was overcome with the feeling of deja vu. They were familiar but remarkably changed. The nearby stream, his cabin, and the multiple other structures he had made such as an outdoor kitchen and the latrine were all gone. The trees were different too. They were still the same firs, spruces and pines with a few others thrown in; only far larger than they were previously, twice as big at least. The most stark difference was the climate. Ken was used to dry and cold weather. It was totally backwards now the thick fog clinging to the damp forest floor and a mild but comfortable heat was in the air. If not for a strange lumpy mound in the exact place where his cabin had once been, it would have been hard to convince himself he was in the same place at all.


    Sunshine and Rain seemed content to lay against him as he kneeled in the grass. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ve been through a lot. Were they always intelligent enough to communicate, and just didn¡¯t have a functioning language, or did cultivation increase their intelligence? Ken felt emotional. Although he knew for a fact that they had souls, he had always viewed them as his pets, which now just felt weird. They could talk, and undoubtedly had their own desires and personalities. How were they any different from him? To call them pets now was not something he was comfortable with. They¡¯re my kids? Adopted? It seemed like that was good enough for now. Ken was interested to understand more about their experiences in CCC, but all three of them needed time to get their bearings, and figure out the next steps they needed to take. Ken had a sudden thought, and tried to analyze the kids, using the five aspects and categories. Even though these two were beings that Ken was more familiar with than most, he was surprised when the feedback from his mental efforts resulted in two relatively complete status sheets.


    Personal Status: Sunshine Enderson


    Level: 3 (Soul: 2 Mind: 1 Body: 3)


    Race: Ancient Pack Hunter


    Qi Domain : First- Drawing Stage


    Skills: Tracking (Novice 1)


    Talents: Unknown


    Gift: Extrasensory Perception


    Aura Marks: Unrestrained


    Personal Status: Rain Enderson


    Level: 3 (Soul: 2 Mind: 2 Body: 3)


    Race: Ancient Pack Hunter


    Qi Domain : First- Drawing Stage


    Skills: Hunting (Novice 3) Meditation (Novice 2) Analyze (Novice 1)


    Talents: Visualization


    Gift: Unknown


    Aura Marks: Stealth, Predator


    Besides their status, mass and base capabilities mattered a lot. Rain weighed maybe 60 pounds max, and sunny about 100. Even though they both had a level three body cultivation, their raw strength could by no means overpower him. Although he wanted them to grow and cultivate to the height of their potential, it was reassuring to Ken that he was not going to suddenly find himself on the menu for all manner of cultivating wildlife. There was still one creature that Ken had to be absolutely wary of, and that was bears. He shivered at the thought of running into a high level bear.


    Ken felt the distinct absence of his bow, knife, and axe which he never left his cabin without. Not to mention he was butt naked. He knew how to skin an animal and make rawhide, but that was a far cry from clothing, and would take at least a week. His old process might not even work at all with the insane amount of moisture in the air, requiring him to make a room with a fireplace to dry out the hides. Additionally he doubted his ability to kill anything worth making leather out of with his bare hands. Bears. He needed a weapon.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Ken got up and walked over to the ruins of his old home and began pulling away chunks of sod with his hands revealing some rotted logs. Sunshine was eager to help in the excavation process while Rain was content with watching silently. The half of his cabin that had previously held his stores of dried meat and forage was almost totally disintegrated. It was the kind of decomposition he would have expected to find after years, not months. The other side of his cabin had somehow seemed to age disparately with some logs remaining intact.


    Ken¡¯s first find was his cast iron pan. It was covered in rust and pitted, but if he scoured it with sand it was most likely functional. Worst case scenario it was still metal, and could be broken and sharpened into a cutting tool or melted down. He found his cast iron cooking pot as well, with a similar amount of rust. While hefting it out of the dirt and rotting wood, Ken marveled at his new strength. The large pot including the lid weighed at least thirty pounds, but it felt effortless to lift. Ken had lugged this pot between the stream to his cabin hundreds of times as the two gallon capacity was enough water for him and his animals to drink for the day. He reckoned he was two to three times as strong. The progressive ramping of his physical training during CCC had him constantly struggling, but now with a benchmark to measure against, he was astonished at how he had grown.


    His success at finding useful items in the ruin of his house gave him hope. He scoured the remainder of the room as he and Sunny made short work of the ruin mound. When Ken unearthed a four foot long leather case he held his breath in expectation. It looked new. The leather case looked exactly like the last time he¡¯d seen it, and it was clean. Ken only had one answer: Qi. He had found that the vast majority of his belongings had decayed into scrap, so the fact that the case shed the dirt on its cover as he pulled it out seemed par for the course. Ken opened the case and subconsciously used Analyze.


    Artifact Status- Maclura Pomifera Recurve Bow (Relic)


    Level: 2 (Soul: 1 Mind: 0 Body: 4)


    Qi Domain : Base - Saturating Stage


    Skills: Meditation-(Novice 1) Marksmanship (Novice 1)


    Talents: Unknown


    Gift: Unknown


    Aura Marks: Resilient,  Infant Nascent Soul


    Ken gaped at the status. Bows can cultivate too?! He realized how little he knew about the world of cultivation. In the back of his mind he had been pondering as he dug through his old home: rebuild or relocate? Rebuilding his house and facilities here would take months for his previous self, and even with his enhanced body, without modern or even archaic tools it would take longer. Somehow seeing his bow helped him make the decision. The world was so different from what he knew. It was time to explore again. His hermit life had to end, because the new world would pass him by. How much would his understanding of life, and existence change as he learned and experienced new things? It was a thought that made him nervous. Change had a way of getting under his skin. It would be so easy to live and cultivate quietly in the woods for many years. Ken had no perception of his new capabilities. His body, mind, and soul had undergone massive changes, and he had access to qi. Besides filling himself with energy, he had no idea of what he could actually do with qi. He needed to re explore his capabilities, and that of the world around him.


    The bow was brilliant, and the case held seven arrows, and implements for cleaning. It was his most valuable and prized possession. More than that, it was assurance that he and his would not starve, which removed a weight from his shoulders he didn¡¯t even know he was carrying. A woof from Sunny broke him out of his trance, and he looked over to see that the golden retriever was holding a steel ax head in his mouth that had a remarkably low amount of rust. Analyze didn''t work, but Ken didn¡¯t mind it. The difference between having access to a metal blade, and having to make due with a piece of sharp rock, was life changing.


    ¡°Good Boy!¡±


    Sunny wagged his tail furiously and dropped the steel in Ken¡¯s hand. After securing food, and making a handle for the ax, he would set off following the stream as far south as he could. The entirety of civilization lay south of him, and if he traveled far enough he would eventually end up in what used to be the midwestern USA, where he was born. Along the way he would need to learn more about himself and try to figure out how to continue his training and cultivation in the absence of a personal trainer, as well as help his pets however he could.


    With a mission clearly defined, Ken grasped the ax head.


    It¡¯s time to hunt.

 Preparations

    Ken walked through the dense forest of pines and spruces and examined his surroundings. The vegetation was visibly altered when compared with his memories and Ken found several plants he couldn¡¯t even identify which amazed him. His qi perception revealed that the fauna¡¯s saturation of qi varied widely: from nearly imperceptible, to striking levels. He had no clue what caused such variation, as even after a decent exploration, he couldn¡¯t spot any patterns. Ken halted his journey when he came across his target. A perfectly sized pine branch with a solid amount of qi. Ken confidently scaled the tree. Even though it was made additionally challenging by the ax head grasped in his left hand, he reached the perfect branch and took a minute to find a position with good leverage. His awkward hacks with the ax head separated the limb easily. Body cultivation is amazing! Ken laughed as Sunny grabbed the branch and paraded it around as if he had done something.


    Making sure to avoid the silly beast below, Ken dropped the metal chunk to the ground and scampered back to the forest floor. After winning a tug of war match Ken obtained the branch no worse for wear. The ax head had retained its edge well, and easily and he was able to make short work of carving a rough handle. It was a rush job, but it would get work done. The fresh pine wood exuded a thick and incredibly sticky sap. After securing the head on the handle, Ken rubbed sand into the sap, removing splinters and creating a better gripping surface. He created a belt from vines with a loop to hold the ax, and gathered his bow, arrows, and cookware. Sunshine and rain followed him when he left the clearing and began methodically searching for food.


    The first area he checked was the forest south of his small clearing in between his clearing and the stream. He noted the various strange plant species, and the higher density of trees. Despite the flourishing of the plants, the animals were strangely absent. The only creatures Ken spotted were insects, and small birds. Ken didn''t see a single sign of the normal small mammals that normally  were prolific in the area. Ken found a few unknown berry bushes, and put the berries into his pot. He didn''t have high hopes for them, since the birds seemed to avoid them, but he knew how to handle unidentified foods.


    He quickly moved to the vicinity of the stream and walked along it for several miles. Sunny led the way diligently sniffing and exploring, while Rain checked in from her prowling intermittently. Overall, their behavior seemed unchanged from the past. After the first greeting his companions had reverted to their normal behavior, and so had Ken. It felt amazing to be with them, and out trekking through nature. Ken felt a keen sense of belonging. Their enhanced abilities to communicate with him only brought them closer, but they had understood each other for years already.


    After walking about five miles, Ken stopped by a small pool in the stream. He had spotted another fish, and this was a good spot. So far, besides his berries and fish, he hadn¡¯t spotted a single thing worth eating. It was worrying. The forest used to have signs of all types of mammals, mice, moles, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, elk, deer, bears. The largest animal he had seen, besides his friends of course, was a fish. Where the hell are all the animals? Ken stood on the river bank and watched the fish. If food was this scarce the water would be his lifeline.


    While scanning the waters, Ken spotted Rain further downstream. She was crouched on top of a log that protruded into the water. Ken smiled. His Analyze skill had rated his and Rains hunting skills on the same level, which honestly didn''t surprise him at all. She was a menace. Well the race is on. Ken thought approaching the stream slowly and readying an arrow.  He had to be judicious with his shot. If he missed, and hit a rock in the bed, it could ruin his arrow, and he only had seven. Every one is precious. Ken had chosen this spot because the streambed was mostly clay with fewer rocks. Spotting his prey and finding a shot was natural for him, and Ken let his muscle memory guide him through the shot. The fifteen yards between him and the fish made missing impossible. A splash startled him, and the fish darted away. Ken looked over to see Rain swimming back to his log with a fish in his mouth. Damn. Ken watched the cat drop the fish on the shore and tenderize it a bit before chowing down with a smug expression. He went back to finding his own meal. By midday, he had caught two decent sized trout and Sunny had somehow caught and consumed a large frog.


    Ken quickly gathered wood and made a fire on the shore to cook his fish. Once he had that going he turned to the berries. He crushed one of the small magenta orbs between two rocks and dabbed a small dot of it on the back of his wrist. After waiting for a few minutes and not feeling any sensations, he washed it off. Ken repeated the test with two more berries before moving on to placing a small dot of berry juice on his tongue and swiftly spit it out. Ken ate his fish quickly and gave some to Sunny before continuing his journey south towards the stream. At this point he was no longer denying the fact that he wasn¡¯t going back. There was nothing tying him to isolation or that small clearing. Ken was going on a journey south, one that would probably last a long time. He was as prepared as he was going to be.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    With his belly full Ken set his pace and continued downstream. As he walked he would intermittently sample the berries. He incrementally increased the time he held the bits of berry in his mouth, and eventually swallowed a piece. Further testing would wait till the morning. If Ken had no adverse effects, he would eat a whole berry in the morning. If by tomorrow evening, he continued to have no negative effects from eating them he would consider them safe to consume in small amounts. It was a rough test, and imperfect, but it was the best he could do. He couldn¡¯t ignore potential food sources with food so scarce, and he chose to trust in the resiliency of his level three body.


    When the sky began to darken enough to start impairing his vision, Ken simply picked a spot and sat down. He had thus far seen nothing that would lead him to think he couldn¡¯t sleep on the forest floor in total safety. The fish he had eaten this afternoon had sustained him throughout the day, and he didn''t feel the least bit hungry. He didn¡¯t really feel tired either. He had spent three months living according to thirty hour days full of intense focus and exertion. Hiking through the forest with his dog felt like a vacation. Ken¡¯s sleep had been definitely assisted by EIS during closed cultivation, it took a while for him to fall asleep on his own.


    Ken awoke in darkness. His qi sense showed nothing troubling in his surroundings and he felt his awakening was natural. Although the darkness was off putting, he felt awake and refreshed. Sunny was still sleeping beside him and Rain was undoubtedly out terrorizing something. He didn¡¯t feel like trying to navigate in the dark, so he turned his focus inward and examined himself. His three main apertures and twenty seven additional meridians drew a small but noticeable amount of qi continually without conscious effort. The qi was dispersed into his entire body primarily through blood vessels. Ken examined his meridians. They had very limited uniformity and varying sizes, but Ken went over each one hoping to gain some familiarity with his new inner workings.


    The most uniform and symmetrical meridians resided in his limbs. He had two meridians in each forearm. They were both inside the wider part of his forearm close to the elbow, and they had formed a connection. A small tendril of qi reached out from each meridian and formed a small knot where they met. Second tendril reached from each of his forearm meridians towards the closest meridian group in Ken''s upper arm. The tendrils only reached slightly past his elbow, but he could tell from his limited observation that eventually all his meridians would connect together.


    The two meridians in his upper arm had already reached each other and the larger meridian in the middle of his shoulder forming an acute triangle. Two tendrils traveling down towards those originating from his forearm were close to forming a connection uniting his entire arm just above the elbow.


    The meridian layout of his legs closely resembled that of his arm, with two meridians in close proximity in his upper calf, and another triangle formed by the two meridians in his upper thighs and one slightly above each hip joint. They were larger than those in his arms, and more spread out, but similarly close to completing all their connections. His shoulder meridians were both sending tendrils to the sizable meridian at the base of his skull that he determined was embedded in his brain stem. The only remaining qi node was in the center of his forehead, his mind aperture. It connected solely to his brain stem meridian, and had the thickest connection knot in his entire body residing in the center of his head. His brain stem would eventually connect to not only his mind and shoulder apertures, but also the one at the base of his throat.


    His torso held eight meridians: base of throat, heart, lungs, upper spine, dantain, liver, lower spine, and one near each kidney. His dantain was attempting to form a connection to every node in his torso as well as the two in his hips, and the only one that remained untied was the longest tendril that was headed past the connections with his heart, lungs, and upper spine and continued towards his neck. It was noteworthy, because it was the only qi tendril to bypass closer connections to directly connect to another node, as all his other meridians, had not created tendrils that reached past other nodes to contact others. Overall his connections were close to being completed, with only his throat meridian having no established connections, although in the future it would create direct connections with his brainstem, upper spine, heart, lungs, and dantian.


    Ken practiced the yoga poses accompanied by his visualization and breathing techniques until the sun rose. Although he didn¡¯t cause any new connections to be formed, he could feel the tendrils making progress. It was only a matter of time. His soul and Insight were a different story it seemed. Keeping his soul isolated in a stagnant environment had not done much for his progress towards his personal goal. Although he had removed the blockages that were once holding him back, he had a keen awareness that no amount of qi cultivation or physical exercise would help him break through the barrier of the First Domain of Soul. He needed¡­ something else.


    Ken stood up and stretched. He popped a berry into his mouth and chewed slowly before swallowing. Not feeling any particular sensations he roused Sunshine from his beauty sleep, and made a chirping sound that would alert Rain if she was in earshot. He gathered his things and continued his journey, opting for a brisk job over yesterday''s purposeful hike.


    The day''s journey following the river took him past the previous location of the closest town. Either its location had somehow shifted, a possibility Ken wasn¡¯t ready to dismiss, or it had been indiscriminately erased. Ken couldn¡¯t find a single sign of previous habitation by anything larger than a sparrow. Dense empty forests remained unbroken by any signs of civilization. Ken felt the hubris at the huge amount of time he had spent avoiding people, and the fact that as soon as he went looking for them, there wasn¡¯t a soul to be found.

 Travels

    Ken and company continued journeying for several days until the landscape began to change. He observed the qi density increasing the further south he traveled, and eventually the stream he was following fed into a large pond. The terrain past the expanse of water turned hilly, and Ken spotted his first specimen of megafauna, a large bird of some kind circling a hill far in the distance. Ken had continued to catch and eat fish and drink from the stream every day before he slept in the evening, despite not even feeling the slightest pinch of hunger or thirst. He only required around five hours of sleep each night, and spent an equal amount of time meditating in the dark each day. Sunshine and Rain were perfectly happy with the traveling lifestyle. In the back of his mind Ken was reminded of the fact that neither him, nor either of his companions had excreted waste at any point. He didn¡¯t even sweat any more. It was mildly worrying, even though he had not experienced any of the symptoms of the internal build up of waste, causing him to assume that it had something to do with his level of qi saturation. Ken had yet to encounter anything that had signs of a similar amount of qi to himself or his fellows, who all remained at the Drawing Stage.


    Ken¡¯s connections had continued growing, and visibly increased in size and length overnight as he slept. His connections were all complete besides the lynch pin of the entire system, his throat meridian which still had no connections. Its tendrils progressed at a snail''s pace, although Ken could tell that first connection would soon be made, as a result of the constant progress made by the thick tendril coming from his dantian. Despite being the furthest away, his dantain had the richest qi and its tendril had already crossed the majority of the distance to its goal of uniting his body''s qi network.


    Although his internal situation was progressing well, he was faced with logistics problems in the outside world. To continue traveling south towards the increasing qi density and hopefully people, He would have to leave the lifeline he had traveled with for almost a week, and his food source: the water. He¡¯d finished the berries days ago, and had yet to spot any more obvious foragables. He could pre-cook fish and carry it around for a few hours journey at most before it would be sketchy to eat which wasn¡¯t an even remotely reasonable food safety net. Spotting the large bird in the distance gave him hope. The diet of most large predatory birds was mostly edible by humans, and if it was a carrion feeder, that was even better, as it meant the local ecosystem was producing enough waste to sustain large organisms. However, Ken wasn¡¯t willing to bet his ability to eat on one bird sighting. Additionally, the hills would make traveling markedly more strenuous, possibly requiring him to eat more than previously acceptable.


    To this end Ken decided to stay in the vicinity of the pond while conducting experiments to determine his body''s needs. He performed strenuous exercise during the day, scaling nearby cliffs and hills, running, and various bodyweight exercises and continued his normal rest and meditation at night. He didn''t forget to set aside some time to practice speaking society standard with his animal tag-a-longs. Ken trained vigorously for an entire week without food or water before feeling mild hunger pains on the eighth morning. He also observed that the overnight growth of his qi channels had noticeably slowed during his abstinence. Based on these findings, he decided to take a day of rest, and eat well, before heading into the hills. If he managed to travel for three days without finding a relevant food source, he would have to backtrack here, regroup, and find an alternative.


    After a day of rest, and discussing the plans with Sunshine and Rain, who had limited thoughts on the matter and were more concerned with finding something different to eat besides fish, they continued on, traversing the hills at a steady pace. Ken had to admit that with his new bodily prowess, running over the hills and valleys was quite a pleasant change, and the constantly shifting scenery was delightful. Over the first two days of travel, the hills grew in size gradually, eventually coming to the base of a mountain range visible in the distance. The new environment housed a greater variety of animal life, and on the third day, Ken spotted evidence of wild mice, a raccoon-like paw print, and a small nest of grass snakes.


    Ken awakened in the predawn darkness to find the corpse of a rabbit with half of its head missing, still warm, and lying inches away from his face. No doubt the work of Rain, huntress extraordinaire. Although the delivery method left much to be desired, after he got over his fright, he was thankful for the food. He surmised that Rain definitely didn''t want to go back because of his own inadequacy at hunting and had decided to make sure it wasn¡¯t an issue.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Ken cut the remnant of the rabbit''s head off and buried it in the ground before hanging it up to drain the blood. Prepping the carcass and cooking would have to wait until light, so Ken passed the time in his normal meditation. He had an itch to practice his shooting, but he had only seven broadheads, and shooting them into a tree for practice was wasteful idiocy. He could technically carve some blunted target arrows if he had access to something to use for fletching, but making straight wooden arrows with only an ax was sure to be horrifically tedious. Plus he would have to carry them with him and his hands were already full. Ken considered himself more experienced at wilderness survival and traversal than most, but he had never gone in naked without even a bag. It was a logistical nightmare.


    The smell of blood failed to distract him from his normal meditations, which were cut short before sunrise by an uncomfortably warm scratchy lump in his throat. His final unattached meridian had finally connected to his dantain, and indirectly the rest of his torso and legs qi network. The sensations seemed to be a consequence of this connection, and the increasingly powerful flow of qi from his dantain. Ken watched in awe as the remaining unconnected tendrils trailing off of his throat meridian surged in growth and latched onto their counterparts from the surrounding nodes.


    By the time the sun had fully risen, qi was flowing through Ken¡¯s body in a richer, and more robust way than ever before. Ken accessed his status to see if his cultivation stage had progressed.


    Personal Status: Ken Enderson


    Level: 4 (Soul: 3 Mind: 3 Body: 3)


    Race: Primordial Savage


    Qi Domain : First - Refining Stage


    Skills: Meditation-(Intermediate 1) Marksmanship-(Novice 3) Hunting- (Novice 2) Foraging-(Novice 1) Analyze (Novice 1)


    Talents: Language


    Gifts: Insight


    Aura Marks: Third Eye of Insight, Perserverer, Preeminent


    Personal Goal: Reach the First Domain of Soul


    His qi stage was now designated as Refining and somewhere along the way he had increased the level of his meditation skill. He felt he had gained some clues as to the way to progress through this stage, from observing the connection between his mind and brain stem meridians. This connection was far thicker, and uniform with only a slight bulge showing where the knot in the middle of his head was formed. Ken theorized that eventually he would need to develop all his qi channels to a sufficient level. His reservoirs held massive amounts of energy, and as of yet he had absolutely no idea how to use it. While his body drew a decent amount to supplement its processes subconsciously, his experiments at expelling his internal qi, or manipulating the surrounding qi had ended in disappointment. Expelling his qi was impossible, and his external manipulations were limited to pulling the atmospheric qi into his dantain, or just letting it flow in subconsciously. Watching the qi flow through his channels gave him plenty of new ideas.


    Once the uncomfortable sensations from his throat faded, Ken focused solely on drawing as much qi as he could into his dantain in a steady stream. Now that his main reservoir had a deeper connection to the rest of his nodes, the amount of qi he was able to draw into himself increased markedly. The flowrate of the qi in his body quickened, and Ken observed it carefully. Without his intervention, his body¡¯s qi would circulate throughout all his meridians and channels, slowly dispersing into his body imperceptibly, maintained by his constant subconscious draw.


    Using his newly increased capabilities to draw qi from the environment started a build up of pressure in every single node. The unpleasant warm itching sensation returned, and quickly engulfed his entire being. Ken stopped after only a few minutes when his channels and meridians grew so uncomfortable he lost his focus. Ken purposely slowed his breathing, and distracted himself by preparing the food Rain had generously provided, as his qi network wound down.


    Ken counted the experiment a tentative success. It seemed at some point due to the subconscious qi flow into his body, his channels and meridians would naturally adapt. It would no doubt be slower than if he stressed the system and goaded it into adapting further and more rapidly. Injuring himself was a concern, and he would have to keep a close eye on his qi network to make sure there were no worrying abnormalities. It seemed like a good avenue for training his meditation and focus, as that had been the limiting factor of his first trail run.


    After eating and sharing his food with a slobbering good boy, Ken felt recovered enough to carry on. With his pot and pan stacked in one arm, and his bow and arrows carried by his other, he continued his journey south, and towards the daunting mountain range.

 Contact

    As the altitude continued to increase, Ken had to push himself harder and harder to cover the same amount of ground. The air was thinning faster than the qi was increasing, causing more fatigue and hunger for him and his companions. Thankfully, these changes were accompanied by increased signs of megafauna, and that meant food. Ken observed the huge dark colored birds a few more times but never close enough to identify them. When Ken failed to find prey for more than two days, Rain would bring something. After traveling for four more days in the foothills the woods continued to thin. The desire to not wake up next to headless animal corpses helped Ken reach a new level of motivation to find his own food.  The eight foot rattlesnake she had gifted a couple days ago had particularly rattled him.


    While taking a midday rest break, Ken spotted movements in his peripheral vision, and slowly turned his head, focusing, and snatched up his bow and arrows. It was a small herd of mountain goats. While he had been resting, they had appeared over the crest, and were scaling down the cliff he was about to climb, coming towards him at an angle. He slowly turned to keep the herd in sight, and when they reached a part of the cliffside where he had the best shot, he stood up. The goats flinched when they saw him and burst into movement. Ken¡¯s arrow was already in the air. Even at forty yards, he could tell he had missed the perfect kill shot, but it didn¡¯t matter. The shot made the goat lose its footing and roll down the steep grade before being caught on a ledge.


    Ken climbed his way up to his kill and spotted Sunshine and Rain running over from the top most ledge, drawn over by the commotion. Hauling the carcass to the top of the ridge was grueling, the corpse must have weighed at least 300 pounds, and he had carried it up a steep incline. He had first thought he¡¯d have to drain and clean the carcass first, and then carry it up the remainder of the incline in pieces, but when he had lifted it he couldn''t believe how light it felt.


    Once he reached the hilltop and located a suitable place to set up camp, Ken moved with a purpose. This goat was a huge lucky break for him. He would reach the main mountain range in another day of travel and would need to try to find the best place to pass. High in the mountains food would be scarce, and how long traversing them would take was unknown. If he could dry some of this goat meat, and carry it with him, the trio would be able to eat enough to avoid starvation for a couple weeks.


    Ken drained the body, gutted it, and left it to hang while he built up a fire. He skinned the goat and put one of the hindquarters of the fire to start roasting. He butchered the rest of the goat, as best he could with his clumsy and poorly sharpened ax blade. By the time the huge leg of meat had finished roasting he had already arranged a large portion of the meat on makeshift drying racks around the fire. While Sunny and Rain feasted on the remaining meat, Ken constructed a rough shelter around the fire. It was little more than a pile of evergreen branches with the hide draped over the top. After removing the roast leg, and rearranging the fire and drying racks, he attacked the meat. It was unseasoned, and unevenly cooked, but it was the first real red meat he¡¯d eaten in what felt like an eternity.


    After he ate as much meat as he could stomach, he removed the hide from its place over the fire and scraped the inner side with a stone, removing as much of the remaining bits of flesh and fat as he could. Using this kind of rough drying method, the hide would no doubt dry unevenly. It wouldn''t last very long and pieces of it would no doubt rot and need to be removed. In the end he would be left with at most a few decent pieces that managed to cure properly, but every bit that survived was useful, and he would have at least something to carry his dried meat in for his upcoming expedition. After replacing the hide on its place high over the fire, Ken sat down and took a breather. The meat would need at least a full day to properly dry, and the hide longer, although he would probably leave after only two days. Even dried, the meat would eventually spoil from his imperfect methods. He was now on a schedule. Ken gathered enough firewood to keep the fire going and prepared the fire to burn for a few hours. He fell asleep easily warmed by the fire and with a full stomach. Ken was exhausted, but he still had a deep feeling of accomplishment.


    Ken spent the following day gathering wood, feeding the fire, and occasionally turning the meat to try to get it as evenly cooked as possible. He also went to the highest point nearby, to try to get a better look at the mountain range he was facing. He spotted several promising looking gaps in the range, but they were preliminary guesses at best. He would have to get much closer if he wanted to be able to find a decent path but he at least had a general direction to check out. Ken also spotted several of the large black birds flying together in the distance. He returned to camp to tend to the fire, and meditated while he waited for the meat to dry.


    He continued his practice of applying pressure to his meridians and channels to help encourage their growth. It took him several hours to recover from each session, and inspect his qi network thoroughly to look for signs of damage. After a couple rounds, he felt the process was working, though he doubted its efficiency. It wasn¡¯t a technique Ken could work on while traveling, especially if he was low on food, but it didn¡¯t seem to be hurting him permanently.


    Ken awoke from his second night on the hilltop and checked his makeshift drying hut for the last time. He would let the fire continue to burn out while he meditated. Ken didn¡¯t strain his meridians either, opting to train normally. Once dawn broke, he could break camp and set a pace towards the mountains. He was itching to get started, but could go nowhere in the dark.


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    The dawn seemed to take longer than usual to come, thanks to Ken¡¯s impatience. When the sky started to light up, Ken already had everything packed up in a bundle, using vine to tie the skin around the meat, and strap it to his back. As he called for his companions, he noticed a strange clicking sound coming from the cliff behind his campsite, and walked over cautiously to investigate. Before he could reach the cliff''s edge, he heard a huge rush of air from overhead and dove under a tree with low hanging branches for cover.


    When Ken whipped around, with an arrow ready, he was stunned into silence. A massive crow was observing him intently from ten yards away. It was three feet tall, and its feather glistened with an opalescent sheen, however the most startling feature of the dark bird was the gold women''s bracelet that was hanging around its neck.


    Ken held his fire, and glanced up at the sky where he found at least two dozen more giant crows circling. Backup. He could hear his backup rushing through the trees in the distance and barking. When he snapped his head back to his closest visitor, he found himself staring at a message hanging in the air, written in perfect Society Standard.


    ¡°Are you a human?! You must be a human!¡±


    Ken stared at the oversized crow with a tentative expression. He read all the crows with Insight. They seemed¡­ fine. They had been inside his detection range for a while, and it was his physical senses that had alerted him to their presence first. He had no idea how they had escaped his soul perception, which had a range of about half a mile. They were the first souled beings Ken had interacted with in a long time, besides Sunshine and Rain. Ken made a mental note to explore his gift again before breaking out of his thoughts to respond to the bird, who was still waiting for an answer.


    ¡°Yes, I am human.¡±


    ¡°Excellent! Human, are there more of you? We have been looking for humans but they¡¯re all gone! No humans for miles and miles¡­¡±


    The bird seemed genuinely depressed at the lack of humans, which Ken couldn¡¯t really understand. Yes, he was also looking for more humans, but he was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t for the same reasons as this guy. Ken shook his head.


    ¡°I¡¯m also looking for more humans, but so far I haven''t found any. I was planning to try to cross the mountains to look for them. Do you know where I can cross them?¡±


    The conversation was interrupted by two galloping furballs crashing into the camp.


    The crow stared open mouthed at the two quadrupeds and exclaimed.


    ¡°Pack hunters with a human! It''s just a perfect roosting story now isn¡¯t it. How adorable. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Eldest Brother Gangster the 43rd! Pleased to meet you.¡±


    It was Ken''s turn to stare open mouthed. He read the qi characters twice to make sure he wasn¡¯t missing anything before he burst out laughing. When he regained his composure he heard Rain making a weird noise, while Sunshine mostly just looked impressed, but happy that everyone was having fun.


    Ken and co all introduced themselves and there was an awkward pause while Ken tried to figure out what to say to the bird, and how to continue the conversation. Living alone for years was not really conducive to good small talk and socialization skills.


    ¡°You from around here?¡± Ken wrote quickly while cringing inwardly. He really didn''t know what else to say.


    ¡°Yes the communal roost is close. We were attracted by the delicious bounty left over from your kill. It will feed my brothers for a long time. You must come and visit the elders at the roost. They have tasked us and others with searching for humans. Since you are proof that my gang is the first to find them, you must come with us!¡±


    ¡°Why are you so interested in finding humans?¡± Ken asked, still confused by the crows enthusiasm


    ¡°Why? To receive the blessing of eternal life of course!¡±


    ¡°Uhh. As a human I have to say, I¡¯ve never heard of any human that can give a blessing of eternal life¡­¡±


    The crow that proclaimed himself Gangster peered at Ken attentively.


    ¡°Hmph, special humans can of course give the blessing of eternal life, or else my dad wouldn¡¯t be alive at almost one hundred years old. Just because you are not special, doesn¡¯t mean everyone else isn¡¯t.¡±


    Well, that stings. Ken thought to himself.


    ¡°If I come with you and meet your elders, can you show me the way across the mountains?¡± Ken wrote, trying to bring the conversation back to more comfortable territory.


    ¡°Well we will soon be going to the jungle, which is on the other side of the mountains, so you can tag along if the elders are ok with it.¡±


    Ken was skeptical of his ability to ¡°tag along¡± on a journey with airborne creatures, but he decided that was a problem for another day.


    ¡°Well, I was getting ready to leave, can you point me in the right direction?¡±

 Goals

    Ken grabbed his few things and followed his strange new guide deeper into the foothills and towards the mountains. Just as Ken had thought, they were less than a day''s travel away, and they soon could see a dark circle of birds flying in the distance. After crossing a particularly large rise Ken laid eyes on the ¡°roost¡±.


    Ken was familiar with trees of all kinds, and especially those that grew on the North American continent. The tree was a total anomaly. It also looked pretty dead. The massive scraggly brown tree had more crows on it than leaves. Ken surmised that growing straight out of a limestone tree would do that to a tree, except for the tree¡¯s glaring, massive size. The tree was a colossal feature, housing at least two hundred oversized crows. On a second glance Ken spotted non-crow avians, most conspicuous of all: a six foot tall bald eagle, sitting near the top. He gulped at the sight of the bird, feeling a strange presence from it that gave him a distinct predatory vibe.


    Gangster alighted next to him and pointed with a wing at a non-descript crack in the cliff face.


    ¡°There is the enclave of the elders. It is a special place. If you enter too slowly, you will never make it to the center. As you cannot fly, my suggestion would be to run as fast as you can.¡±


    Ken glanced at the bird. He seemed completely serious. Sprinting as fast as he could into a dark cave sounded like the makings of a broken leg speedrun. However Ken had traveled with Gangster, and seen him with Insight, so he knew the crow was an honest and straightforward guy, despite the seemingly sketchy advice. Ken jogged down the steep hill towards the cave. Sketchy or not, having the help of a crow to cross the mountains was worth a lot, when the alternative was rolling the dice with random exploration.


    When Ken entered the cave at a sprint, he felt like he¡¯d passed through some kind of film. The qi density had almost doubled, and as he exited the short cave into a humongous cavern it continued to rise. At the center of the cavern was a leafless tree no higher than six feet. Its bark was golden, and had thick blue veins running through it. Blue cracks on the cavern floor spread to the base of the tree for hundreds of meters covering the entire base of the covering and crawling halfway up the walls.


    The entire room was like an amphitheater pulsing with blue light. Ken ran down the sloped crater-like floor of the cavern towards the tree. He could feel the qi density increasing. When he was still two hundred yards away from the tree, the qi density had already passed the level of CCC. More than ten times the level of the land outside of the cave. It kept increasing until Ken stumbled and keeled over. He tried to crawl forward, but found himself unable to move.


    Ken blacked out. But there was something leftover. The recent events that Ken had experienced flashed through him. He had met a crow named Gangster. He had laughed. He could not remember the last time he had laughed before that moment. His laughter had done something: to him, Sunny, Rain, Gangster. It had unleashed some part of him and it had connected to the world around him. He had made a sound. The sound had power. Sound is a vibration traveling through matter. Sound is energy, and energy is the Universe.


    Ken became aware of his body again. He was lying stretched out on the stone floor, his face pressed against the ground. Qi was pouring into every cell in his body. It was forcing into every pore, and all his meridians and apertures. Ken felt as if his entire body was being crushed. As his meridians and channels became full, they started to stretch. Then the qi coming through his pores entered his qi network and Ken felt as if he had been lit on fire. Ken felt horrific pain, and at the same time a strange euphoria. He began to feel extremely strange sensations. One arm suddenly felt bigger than the other, and then his legs felt as if they had shrunk to half their normal size. He felt his head disconnect from his body as his neck disappeared. He felt bugs crawling underneath the scalp of his disconnected skull before they crawled into his eye sockets and devoured his eyes. Ken screamed and twitched on the floor.


    The Law of Silence is a Law of Peace. Silence is to mute one''s expression on the Universe.


    The Law of Sound is a Law of Dominance. Sound is to express one¡¯s energy on the Universe.


    The words seem to sooth Ken, and he felt the madness edging on his consciousness recede. He repeated the words over and over in his mind. The fire receded as well, and he realized he could feel his body. Ken stood up.


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    He was standing ten meters away from the golden tree. Amongst its bare branches, twelve crows were sitting. Ken¡¯s Insight was already feeding him information from the tree and the crows. The tree''s soul was like that of a newborn baby: pure and unformed. Its consciousness had not awakened and it had not begun its journey of cultivation, but he had no doubts that it would. The crows were old and powerful. The oldest among them had lived over three times his own twenty-four years of existence. The crows were dripping with qi. It was pouring off of them and into the tree, then flowing back into their apertures from the air.


    Ken bowed, being as respectful as he could.


    ¡°I greet the Elders.¡± He didn¡¯t know what else to say so he just waited, while observing with his qi sense.


    ¡°Hmmm. My offspring has found a human it seems.¡± One of the crows spoke.


    ¡°Indeed. Are you alright young human? The qi aura of the tree is a gift, but it must be acquired through trial. You should stabilize your cultivation before you do anything else.¡±


    Ken turned his qi sense internal and was so stunned that he sat back down immediately. There was too much to take in.


    His entire body was covered in qi channels. A complicated maze of channels ran through every muscle organ and bone in his body. Even his skin was laced with gentle blue, glowing channels. They were only barely visible to his eyes, but his entire body lit up like a Christmas tree in his qi sight.


    The growth of these qi channels had put him through immense suffering. His body had been stressed by the pressure of the surrounding qi and the transformation of his qi network. However, now that his body had adapted, it was using the very qi that hurt it to recover, and the rate he was drawing qi had increased dramatically. He only realized how much his body had been trembling when it stopped. His heart rate and breathing slowed. Ken meditated for a while, and when he felt truly well once again he stood up. Then he had a thought and checked his status.


    Personal Status: Ken Enderson


    Level: 4 (Soul: 3->4 Mind: 3 Body: 3->4)


    Race: Primordial Savage


    Qi Domain : First - Drawing->Condensing Stage


    Skills: Meditation-(Intermediate 1->3) Marksmanship-(Novice 3) Hunting- (Novice 2) Foraging-(Novice 1) Analyze (Novice 1)


    Talents: Language


    Gifts: Insight


    Aura Marks: Third Eye of Insight, Perserverer, Preeminent


    Personal Goal: Complete


    Ken gazed up at the crows thanking Gangster in his heart. He had transformed. He had been given an incredible gift by the crows, and he would definitely remember this.


    ¡°Thank you for allowing me in this place, elders.¡± Ken said bowing once again.


    ¡°Our race has lived alongside Savages, Wanderers, and Pack Hunters since ancient times. The breakthrough of Earth is a boon to all races and great change should not see us forget the past. One of the young gangs will guide you through the mountains, and if they wish, follow you in search of your people. You should not linger here, as it would be harmful, but go in peace human.¡±


    Ken bowed his head slightly once more and left the cavern. He could feel the truth of the elder crows words. His qi reserves had been empty and were now filling rapidly. He did not want to stress his channels again while they were still recovering. When he exited the cave, he felt relieved. While he was technically operable, he still felt incredibly weak.


    He glanced around, and found Sunshine and Rain and a dozen crows sitting around a fire.


    ¡°Dad, you''re back! I missed you!¡± Sunny leaped onto Ken.


    Ken hugged Sunny back.


    ¡°I missed you too buddy.¡±


    ¡°He was very worried about you. I¡¯ve never seen someone spend such a long time in the enclave besides the elders.¡± Gangster spoke from the circle.


    ¡°I was only in there for like ten minutes though?¡± Ken said with a frown.


    All the creatures around the fire looked at him with strange expressions. It was Rain that broke the silence.


    ¡°Silly servant. You were in there for months! Did you fall asleep?! If you¡¯re going to sleep for so long, who will take care of me?¡±


    Ken decided not to bring up Rain''s obvious ability to take care of herself.


    ¡°Wait months?!¡±

 Interlude - History

    The history of the universe is recounted in Eras, and Ages. Only the Universal Will can determine the Era, while her children dedicate themselves to recording the Ages. For those lucky few to whom the universe is willing to spill its secrets owe it to future generations to preserve their knowledge.


    When the universe was born; the Primordial Era began. The universe expressed itself, and all manner of beings were brought into existence. Celestial beings formed and brought forth the Primordial Races. For nine Ages the universe cycled.


    When the Primordial Races expanded outside of the celestial beings that birthed them; the Era of Strife began. The Primordial Races interacted with one another and brought forth the Ancient Races. For seven Ages the universe cycled.


    When an alliance of nineteen Primordial Races swore to the Universal Will and created the Three Pillars Society; the Era of Expansion began. Beings of the universe gathered together and brought forth the Great Societys. For five Ages the universe cycled.


    When Kul Hknarlut became the first being to ascend to the Origination Stage and create a celestial being; the Era of Origination began. Beings of the universe cultivated to the Origination Stage and brought forth the Holy Domain. For three Ages the universe cycled.


    When the Empress Supreme Karma became the first being to ascend to the Origination Stage and create an origin universe; the Era of Karma began.


    Trepidus Nislit , Director of the History Society- 1st Age in the Era of Karma


    Maria exited her lucid dream, remembering the words she had seen in CCC. She rose and stretched her body. As more time passed, Maria found herself unceasingly amazed by cultivation and the way the world had changed. Every morning she woke up, feeling refreshed and clear-headed, Maria thanked the universe that could be alive during this time, to experience it for herself. Walking over to the fire, Maria began her morning ritual, and brewed herself a cup of mint tea. She walked out of her front door, and sat down on her favorite rock, enjoying the view she had become privy too for the last month, and would be for the foreseeable future.


    She sat near the edge of a fifty foot cliff, that rimmed a massive depression in the earth. The massive dent in the earth was surrounded by cliffs on all sides and had a radius of around ten miles making it impossible to see all the way across from any direction. However from any place on the surrounding cliffs, one could see a massive river that divided the rolling plains beneath. At the center of the massive circular plane was a lake that the river flowed through. A lake that had not been there four months ago. The lake was surrounded by a city that over one million humans called home. The other half of the two million souls that appeared in the circle after exiting CCC lived in villages in the surrounding plains, the edge, or the jungle beyond it. Every single one of them: a cultivator. It had only taken six months to transform the entire region into a flourishing city state. It was Maria¡¯s self imposed responsibility to record history in the making and the flourishing of a new civilization of cultivators.


    Over the first month after leaving CCC, the cultivators gathered, conversed, and came to a consensus to rebuild civilization in the circular valley. A gathering of over one thousand first domain cultivators, Maria included, concurred amongst themselves to elect leaders, and form a council of different experts from every domain. They divided themselves into the Harvester Guild, the Logistics Guild, the Builders Guild, the Culture Guild, the Wellness Guild, the Cultivation Guild and the Authority Guild. The elected Heads, and Vice-Heads of the guilds worked together with the rest to create laws, and eventually an entire social structure.


    The world has changed, so will its civilizations. With the advent of qi, and a population entirely made up of cultivators, many aspects of modern societies from the old world were altered, while the spirit remained the same. All beings have the desire to live, and cultivate. By banding together in groups, and collaborating, a greater effect can be achieved than the sum of its parts.


    Although qi consumption had replaced the need to obtain energy from food in all cultivators of the Saturation Stage and above, the body still needed to consume some mass, equal to about one ounce of food a day. A collaboration between several geniuses of the Harvester and Wellness Guilds, created a meal pill by combining common nutrient rich seeds from the surrounding jungle and infusing them with qi. It became the primary sustenance for over a million people, being entirely sufficient to sustain most cultivators for a day. Body cultivators, pregnant women, and people recovering from injuries needed to eat more, depending on various factors, but the Harvester¡¯s Guild brought in meat, fish, and various edible plants from the surrounding environment every day.


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    The Builders Guild, using the vast natural resources of the jungle, and clay deposits from the river, had constructed a metropolis in mere months. Qi manipulation allowed even the most base materials to transcend their previous old-world limits. The city¡¯s packed dirt roads were harder than concrete, and unified enough to take minimal damage from precipitation. Sun dried bricks made of river clay and dried grasses from the plains, and resilient qi strengthened wood from the jungle was all the Builder¡¯s Guild had needed to catapult civilization from pre-stone age into something resembling the late feudal era, without a single scrap of metal. The harvesting of clay by an entire city of people had widened the river and created an artificial lake.


    From Maria¡¯s vantage point on the cliffs, she could see rafts of logs lashed together with vines, careening off the waterfall, where the river flowed over the northern cliffs, and floating towards the city. Several groups had already begun to build boats capable of traversing the tunnel that the river had created to flow out of the valley in the south. Following the river south eventually found the jungle transitioning to a brackish swamp, and although yet unlocated, a sea or ocean was sure to be discovered sooner or later. Although Maria had initially been very involved with the creation and establishment of the Culture Guild, the hustle and bustle of the city was overwhelming for her. These days she spent most of her time cultivating, and transcribing a brief recounting of world history into Society Standard.


    The successes of the Unity Republic had been remarkable to witness. While the introduction of qi into humanity didn¡¯t remove inequality, or stop powerful people from wielding their advantages against others, the extreme abundance of resources, drastically reduced basic needs, and increased capabilities of the citizens, created a perfect storm. The average person only needed to work two to three days of the week, to provide for their basic shelter clothing and sustenance, along with a few small luxuries. While some citizens preferred to produce more, and grow wealth, start business and gain influence in the guilds, many others spent a large portion of their time in cultivation and training. Thus the standard of living, the skills and capabilities of the citizens, and the morality of the city state, continued to grow in tandem. It was an incredibly virtuous cycle. As humans cultivated, so did society. Maria theorized that a sufficient supply of metals could catapult the technology level into that of the 1900¡¯s within a decade, and beyond, only god knew. Eventually humans would once again reach the technology level of the Pre-Change world, but they would also have qi. The main reasons that inter-system space travel was unachievable was the short lifespan of humans and amount of resources they would need to survive, which had both been massively slashed.  The possibilities were endless.


    Maria broke out of her musings. Her thoughts had become lightning fast, and more and more often she found her mind wandering in different directions. I need to remain focused. She opened a rough leather book, and began inscribing symbols with her mental energy. Once she had completed transcribing all the books in her mind palace she would almost certainly obtain an aura mark. Free from her task, she would be set up to let her creativity wonder. She would create and cultivate freely and try to figure out her plans for the future. She was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching. A young girl in her late teens was approaching at a jog wearing a ceramic badge on her tunic that designated a First Domain member of the Logistics Guild. The girl came to a spot ten feet away from her and spoke.


    ¡°An emergency council meeting has been called Miss Lipzeg. It will begin at midday.¡±


    Maria made a stern face. ¡°What emergency?¡±


    The young woman sighed dramatically. ¡°One of the full First Domain explorer teams from my guild returned an hour ago. They were presumed dead when they failed to return from their mission by the appointed time some three weeks ago. They were caught in a flash flood in the swamps, became lost, but survived the process. They discovered bog iron deposits, the ocean, and two different settlements.¡±


    Maria¡¯s jaw dropped, her mind spinning.


    ¡°Please head to city hall immediately. Pardon me, I have to deliver this message three more times.¡± The messenger turned and ran past Maria along the cliff''s edge causing the historian to lapse into thought.


    Maria gathered up a bag of her things, and secured it to her back. Gathering a running start she leapt off the fifty foot precipice in front of her house. Expelling qi from several meridians in a controlled stream, she condensed the air beneath her outstretched body, and began gliding through the air. After her glide had stabilized, she used a different set of meridians to release targeted bursts of qi that superheated the air several yards beneath herself. The hot air gusts lifted the condensed air Maria was laying on further into the air, drastically prolonging her glide. She was only able to perform the hot air burst one more time before her qi channels began to feel fatigued and she brought herself down, landing gracefully. Although she felt her technique highly improvable she had still managed to cover at least half a mile, and mostly in the right direction although she was off by several degrees. Maria jogged towards the city lost in thought. The future was approaching at a break-neck speed. Even with her level five mind cultivation, she was clueless as to what it would hold.

 Heights

    Ken sat on a stone looking off of a cliff. The crows leading him through the mountain were resting, and for the first time in a long while, he was not meditating to receive qi. He was simply quieting himself and thinking. The goal he had been on for the past almost seven years of his life had been completed. He had lived for four months in ten minutes, and now had new qi channels all over his body. The entire day spent traveling with the crows hadn¡¯t been hard. He felt absolutely full of energy and vigor, so much that it was almost hard to concentrate. His body, soul, and qi, had all advanced together. His mind was now lagging behind, and Ken could feel it. The immense dissonance he had been feeling the entire day became clearer. Ken felt as though the thoughts he was having fell into place as he began to make sense of what had and was happening to him: imbalance.


    Ken had lived his entire life without having a balanced cultivation between the three pillars. For most of his life, his soul was the dominant aspect, because from an early age it had received the stimulation of his Insight. EIS had told him that in order to break through to the First Domain of Soul, he would need to have all three pillars in balance. The cultivation of qi, and the constant changing in his cultivation levels had been a crazy ride. His body and particular, had risen an entire domain. He was changing so rapidly he couldn¡¯t keep up. His body, mind, and soul had all reached previously unforeseen levels of power but he wasn¡¯t doing anything different. He felt the need to explore all his new capabilities. There was also qi, of which he held a startling amount, that so far he had only used to moderately enhance his body''s basic processes. He knew it was capable of far more than that. It was an energy that suffused the world and bent to his will. If he could learn to control it and utilize more creatively the benefits would be endless.


    The goal of enhancing his soul had been with him for so long. It had become an all consuming goal, and he had failed to see the forest for the trees in some aspects. He had a vast amount of resources and power at his fingertips, but he had failed to bring them to bear in any meaningful way so far. The main part of what he had gained that he had truly utilized was his knowledge of Society Standard. All his body and qi training that had taken up the majority of his all encompassing schedule in CCC had been vastly unused so far. It was only after having such a massive breakthrough that he was able to see how much he had been holding back.


    He was still climbing and hiking through the mountains like a normal person, before his meeting with the crows. Now with his first domain body, and new qi networks Ken opened his mind to what he was capable of. His body had become incredibly resilient and strong. His muscles and organs could be injected with energy controlled by his will, which should allow extreme superhuman explosive movement, and endurance. He could move so fast that he could stimulate his nervous system to adapt and become more efficient. This would likely be the key to reaching the First Domain of Mind, and achieving balance once more.


    Besides improvements to his physical behavior, Ken also felt as if he should be able to effect change in the world around him with both his qi and his soul. His qi was so much denser than his surroundings that it made him feel a gentle pressure from his qi network at all times. It made him constantly aware of the fine line where He ended and the world began. If he eased open any of his apertures or channels, he was sure qi would come bursting out into his surroundings. Ken eased open the end of a tiny vein on the point of his index finger and watched as a small puff of qi exited his finger. When he closed the channel the qi dissipated rapidly, with a decent portion of it being reabsorbed back into his pores that when closed to the outside, were still drawing in qi automatically. He experimented with altering the ¡°spray pattern¡± of the qi he ejected, and found if he focused, he could easily control the qi with his will, having it move to whatever pattern he imagined, as long as it stayed within about ten yards from him.


    Ten yards was a very familiar range. It was the same range as his qi sight, and it was also the same range as his Insight, which Ken had figured out after experimenting with the crows. Previous to meeting them, the only other creatures Ken had interacted with had been Sunshine and Rain, and the mountain goats. He never got close enough to sense the mountain goats with Insight because he hadn¡¯t realized his gift had changed at all. He was surprised that his Insight had not discovered the goats, or the crows, until they were within close range. Both occasions his physical senses had alerted him to the nearby creatures before his Insight, which was a novel experience for Ken. He could only conclude that ever since he left CCC his Insight had been operating in a greatly reduced radius which brought up the reason that Ken had never noticed it until now: Sunshine and Rain. Despite the apparently reduced area of effect of Insight, it still worked on his longtime companions even when they were far outside of his new range. Something to make note of and test for the future.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Ken also hadn¡¯t forgotten the words he had heard whispered to him while he was suffering in the elders¡¯ cave. They were marked in his mind and unforgettable: The Law of Silence and the Law of Sound. He had no idea why he had heard them, or what they truly meant, but the very words felt important and weighty in his mind. He would have to spend more time meditating and trying to understand those two concepts, as they were obviously important to him in some way.


    Then, there was his soul. Ken had spent most of the time he had been carried by the crows sensing his soul and trying to understand the changes he had undergone. His soul now also made him feel a distinct pressure on his very being. It was very distinct from the pressure of his qi, which felt like the world was pulling him very slightly in every direction. The pressure of his soul felt the opposite, like his soul was gently pushing the world back in every direction, proclaiming his right to be individual and separate from the world. It was very comfortable for Ken. He had always felt different, but he had not found that his being different could be so powerful, and soothing. The pressure he exerted with his soul, and the fact that the world around him seemed to give way to it, filled him with a feeling of deep satisfaction. He felt acknowledged, and seen by the world. It didn''t matter that he was alone, sitting on a mountain side without a soul in sight. His very essence was being acknowledged by the world.


    In his relief, Ken began to experience insights into his own self. He became aware that he had been subconsciously seeking some kind of acceptance, from others, and especially from other humans. Human society had let him down. He had been forced to leave and live in solitude, and although he had made the most of it, he still felt that he had to prove himself. He felt the desire to show humans that he was valuable and prove himself worthy of being accepted. Even though the acceptance of other humans had never been a reason why he was isolated, he still felt this desire. His new breakthrough changed his perceptions. Ken for the first time felt something that filled that desire for approval he didn¡¯t know he had been looking for, and it was so good.


    Ken roused from his thoughts to open his eyes and view the world. Vast jungles stretched out in front of him, covered in a dense cloud layer. Ken looked down. He was floating in the atmosphere with the cloud covered mountains stretched beneath him. He had ascended at least a half mile above the highest peaks that barely pierced the clouds. He couldn¡¯t see the camp or the mountain he had just been on. Ken¡¯s mind began to panic, but he maintained his place in the air, unmoving. It took him at least a minute to calm himself down, and sort out how he had gotten in this situation. The pressure of his soul seemed to be pushing against the earth in a very physical way. It was resisting the earth''s gravity field, and he was floating into the atmosphere.


    Once he realized what was happening he was able to take control of this pressure and bend it to his will once again. As he played with his pressure, and began to return to the ground, he began to notice the strain using his soul in this way had been causing him. It was definitely not an activity he could do for long periods of time. I must have started subconsciously increasing the pressure while meditating and was lost in my thoughts, and oblivious to the effects it was having around me. I¡¯ve been gaining power so quickly that I¡¯ve truly lost touch with my own capabilities. While the situation was definitely frightening, Ken¡¯s fear was quickly overcome by excitement in curiosity. I can fucking FLY. What else am I missing?