20 Years Prior
A young man sits on a rocky outcropping overlooking a stunningly clear lake, its deep blue waters cradling a lone island on the far shore.
The young man wears a somber expression. The contrast between that sad face and his youthful features is striking. If you saw this boy with a smile, you would assume he was a carefree teenager with not a care in the world - but now, when seeing his expression, he seems like he has already lived a long and burdened life.
In his left hand is a necklace, that he continuously clasps and unclasps as he gazes out over the serene lake. Beside him on the rock rests an old book. The book looks ancient. With a faded cover and worn pages, one can barley make out some of the letters that say "-tivation Technique", the first half long since eroded.
He opens the locket again, but this time looking down at the photo inside with a melancholic expression. The picture is of a cheerful young boy and a wizened older woman. The boy has neatly trimmed dark brown hair and wears an oversized sport coat and slacks, clearly dressed for an occasion. The woman stands out with a wide floral hat that would make her stand out in any crowd, paired with a beautifully ornate baby blue dress.
Looking at this photo of himself and his grandmother the boy sighs, pushing his now long, shaggy hair out of his face.
"You know I really would've preferred the house over this weird book," he mutters. Reaching down, he picks up the worn book from beside him and he once again attempts to open its pages.
When he received this book from his grandmother's estate attorney it came with only a single message of explanation:
My dear sweet boy,
I know you're confused as to why I gave away all of my belongings. No matter what I say here, it won't make sense right now. Take this book to our spot at Crater Lake and open it. You won't find the answers you're looking for just yet, but you will be given an opportunity greater than anything I could have ever left behind.
With all my heart, I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you on this journey. But I hope, with time, you'll come to see that it was for the best.
In that moment of confusion while trying to make sense of her words, he immediately attempted to open the book, but it seemed as if the pages were glued shut. Before he could try harder and risk damaging its contents, the attorney quickly spoke up.
"Ah, your grandmother let me know that there is a... magnetic geo-lock on the book. It prevents the book from being opened anywhere except the location provided to you from the note."
The attorney's tone cared a level of uncertainty or unwillingness when describing the locking mechanism. As if he didn't know how to, or could not, explain the exact way the lock worked.
In the boy's grief, the unusual tone went completely over his head. He simply nodded, grabbed his bag, and stepped out of the office.
The book opens without resistance this time. Whatever so called "geo-lock" that was keeping that pages closed had it's conditions met. The boy was opening the book gingerly, afraid to damage one of the last things he had of his grandmother. However, unlike the book's outside, the pages inside were stark white and crisp.
A regal aura radiated from its pages. Even before reading a single word, the script itself could be called art. Each line flowed with elegant flourishes, weaving together to form a story that transcended language, something that could be felt even by someone who couldn't read.
The ink strokes seemed to battle and embrace all at once, clashing like warriors with quick but unyielding strikes. Every mark carried an unmistakable weight of intention, unlike anything the boy had ever encountered.
He was beginning to get lost in the intricate contours of the first page, but suddenly the book slammed shut.
Before he could even feel confused, the book dissolved in to a fine red powder. It rose in to the air, swirling around his head like a living mist. As it settled onto his skin, it felt unexpectedly nice. A warmth radiated through his body, feeling like drinking hot chocolate after walking home in a snow storm.
Knowledge from the book rushed into his mind.
The warmth and comfort was quickly replaced by a piercing pain in his mind. It felt like an ice pick was being pushed in to the back of his eye.
He let out a piercing scream that echoed across the sunken lake in front of him. A flock of birds erupted from the trees, not startled by the sound, but driven away by a wave of intangible red energy that seemed to injure their very souls.
The boy collapsed to the ground, completely limp. As he had passed out from the overwhelming pain and knowledge entering his mind.
---
Present Day
Juliya is in a panic. The last thing she had heard was David shouting that he found something, then she roughly slammed into the floor.
Groaning, she pushed herself off the ground and saw that all of the Materialized Qi[1] was gone. Even more shocking, she saw that David was unconscious at the lowest part this crater.
Immediately rushing into action to figure out what was going on with her husband, she flipped him on to his side. Then she grabbed one of his wrists and began to focus on his meridians and the Qi inside them.
While David had focused on the scouting and the physical aspects of his cultivation. Juliya had focused more on the medicinal and esoteric parts of Qi at their stage of cultivation.
Throughout her limited training with the NLS she had spent most of her time with the medics of the sect. She learned about meridians and how 99% of humans have them damaged in some way, a direct result of the traumatic, forced awakening of the entire population.
With that being the case, she had become quite adept at identifying issues with meridians and disruptions in Qi flow. Unfortunately this did not mean she knew how to fix the meridians. If that was the case David wouldn't be limping and Juliya would be the richest person in the north eastern United States.
Instead, she could tell people which parts of their bodies were compromised and warn them to avoid channeling Qi through those areas. That knowledge alone had saved lives.
With a practiced ease, she focused her senses and scanned David's body. What she saw shocked her.
It wasn't a problem that was shocking her, but the absence of problems.
Normally, when she read someone's meridians she had to fight with the Qi like she was a bicyclist in heavy traffic, bobbing and weaving between obstacles and damage without being thrown off. This time she felt as if she was in a tube on a lazy river, each turn made with grace and ease.
Eventually she had mapped all of his meridians, including his leg which had been damaged 5 years ago, and all of his meridians were in pristine health.
This did not ease her worry. Regardless of his body's health, after thirty minutes of careful investigation of his body she still could not identify the cause of his unconsciousness.
Then she felt it.
His Qi began to surge and his body temperature began to rise. She immediately severed her connection.
She had never felt something like that, but she knew she needed to get David to someone more skilled than her. Now.
---
Inside of David's mind was a different story. Maybe just as confusing, but definitely more relaxing.
David's body felt weightless as he drifted in a calm void. Small clouds of blue Qi drifted around him, caressing his skin like a soft silk sheet that he wanted to wrap himself in.
The message was still in front of his proverbial eyes as he struggled to come to terms with what he was seeing.
"What is that?" he asked, his tone surprisingly calm.
"No way... no way, no way, no way." He attempted to swat away the text in front of him, but he couldn't move his arms. When looking down to see if he was bound he realized that he had no arms. Or a body. Or anything physical at all!
"Ok, Ok, Ok. Crazy stuff is normal now. I get that. BUT SYSTEMS?" His thoughts raced as he tried to recall everything he knew about system web novels, manhwa, and manga he had ever read.
"Ok, there is Nano Robot, Um, Shadow Slave... no wait, Sunless Slave."
He began to get lost in thought, thinking of everything he has read, before the text in front of him changed.
System Message: "My interface has been based off of your memories. I have taken a presentation that is conductive to the assignment at hand."
David's nonexistent eyes narrowed.
"You've seen my memories? All of my memories?"
The system message changed once again.
System Message: "I only concern myself with ways to help with cultivation and repairing those damaged.
Please note: your current task is of the utmost importance. Deviating from it may result in penalties"
David paused, absorbing the message, his mind flashed back to the first message he saw.
"You want me to fix the cultivation techniques of 7 BILLION people?" he shouted incredulously. "That is the entire planet! I didn't ask for this, I just thought a treasure like that rock might heal my meridians!"
System Message: "That task has no time limit. However, periodic reviews will be conducted at designated checkpoints. Rewards may be given.
Please say or think 'Quest Window' to see details."
David groaned, exasperated.
"Of course there's a quest window," he muttered, "But at least there is rewards."
Then, reluctantly but hopeful, he thought the words "Quest Window".
The glowing blue screen in front of him grew and the text rapidly changed to fill the new screen.
Quest Window - 1 Active Quest
| Quest Content: Correct all deviated cultivators: 0 / 7,456,141,421
| Quest Time Limit: None
| Quest Reward: Based on Performance
| Quest Failure Punishment: Death
David's jaw fell open. Well it would have if he had one right now. The best he could do was make an odd groaning sound as he read the last line.
"I COULD DIE?", he shouted again even more riled up.
Below the Quest Window a new message appeared.
System Message: "The failure condition will only be met if the host, you, actively decide to stop partaking in the quest."
David again made the groaning sound, "Ok so I am trapped against my will? I must do this or you'll kill me?"
The message did not change.
David grumbled, "Oh not so chatty now, are we?"
Sitting in silence for a moment David eventually spoke again. In a more even tone he asked, "What about these checkpoints? Let alone fixing the planet I don't even know how to fix myself."
System Message: "Current checkpoints are as follows:
1. Obtain system (Complete)
Checkpoint 1 reward: Healed meridians. Basic knowledge of meridian repair.
2. Fix 10 defective cultivation techniques (InProgress 0/10)
Checkpoint 2 reward: Based on performance
3. Open a Sect to widen your reach (In Progress)
Checkpoint 3 reward: Employee functionality unlocked"
David really wanted to stay flippant of this system. It had basically forced him to work until he died!
However, seeing that the reward for just obtaining the system was fixing his meridians, a smile attempted to creep across his face.
It failed of course because he has no face right now, but the feeling was there.
"What do you mean knowledge of meridian repair? I don't feel like I know mo-" In the middle of his sentence his entire being began to ache.
He attempted to double over as it felt like a wave of exhaustion, nausea, and pain hit him all at once.
The feeling also came with knowledge. Knowledge that he was promised by the system.
Hundreds of textbooks, research papers, and presentations filled his mind. They were all written in a different language - one he had never seen before - but in this moment he was able to understand.
As he had previously hypothesized, Qi is a natural thing that exists in the world, and meridians are conduits for which that Qi flows. The state that the world was abruptly brought to was the second stage in ascension, the Qi Sensing Stage.
This revealed an even larger nugget of information. One that seemingly everyone understood, but no one knew why: everyone skipped a stage. The Body Tempering Stage.
Knowledge of this stage also flooded his mind. It involved constant physical turmoil. Decades of training to prepare your body for the challenge of handling Qi.
In his visions, he saw countless examples of what happens if you ascend too early and all of them are present on Earth!
He finally understood! Whatever natural disaster hit Earth not only awakened humanity, it also caused the entire population to fall in to a state of Qi Deviation almost instantly.
He learned that when ascending from the Body Tempering Stage to the Qi Sensing Stage prematurely the chance of death is 30%, which roughly matches what happened 5 years ago. In addition even if you survive you are almost guaranteed to become crippled for life without outside intervention.
There was also information that when ascending past the Qi Sensing Stage to the next, the chances of death if you have incomplete cultivation are almost 80%. However, any time David tried to focus more on what that next stage was he felt a mental block. He came to understand that the limit on this knowledge come from the "basic" in "basic knowledge of meridian repair" in his reward.
The pain started to lessen, but not completely go away, as the amount of information lessened.
Just because there was less information doesn't mean it was any less important though.
He began to view a single document that burned itself in to his mind.
Qi Deviation - Causes and Solutions
The singular focus to this document indicated to David that this would be the main part of the reward. The script seemed to be just as alien as everything else so he gave up on trying to pin point the country of origin.
It started by explaining that Qi Deviation and almost permanent damage to meridians can occur in cultivators in many ways. Interrupting someone's break through to a next realm, injuring someone's meridians while they are circulating their Qi, and-the most important for David-when someone prematurely enters the realm beyond them.
An explanation continued for specifically the third point:
To prematurely enter the next stage of cultivation, is to cheat the Will of the Universe. The path to ascension is not something that can be circumvented or avoided, it is something that is set in stone and is static by nature.
Many great and noble families will give their heirs incredible treasures to speed up their cultivation or increase their internal capacity of Qi, but only the foolish will attempt to by pass the Will.
There are treasures that exist in nature that run contrary to the Will. They are rare and often time's in an entire realm not a single one can be found. However, when one is found, what accompanies it's use is mayhem beyond bounds.
To avoid going off the topic of this paper I will refrain from speaking on the uses of these treasures that do something other than increase cultivation forcefully. Instead I will explain that the use of these treasures is blasphemy to the highest degree.
The paper went on to explain in detail what happens with premature ascension and David related it to what has happened on Earth.
Juliya and many others hearing voices is not because of PTSD or trauma. It is because she is actually hearing the spirits of the land and her mind has not been tempered enough to handle the overwhelming new sense.
David and many others having their meridians collapse or blow out is because of the massive influx of Qi that ruptured their virgin meridians. This is because during the awakening they had come into contact with Qi for the first time.
There were many more things that were explained to David such as repercussions for trying to go to the next stage with already damaged meridians, but they seemed to have the same mental blockage.
Instead David focused intensely in the next section.
Repair your meridians or start from scratch - a discussion on feasibility
It went on to explain that unless you have access to incredible treasures or an equally incredible doctor then you were better off starting your cultivation from scratch.
David was stunned. People have been trying to undo this ascension since day one. It killed hundreds of millions of people, and this author was speaking about it as if it was a simple regrettable decision.
As if someone had totaled their car and simply moved on to buy a new one.
For a moment, David was consumed by anger.
Then, that fury was cut short.
He was granted with a new revelation, and this time the pain was much worse.
He screamed into the void of his mind in absolute agony.
Juliya momentarily stopped tearing away at the fallen rubble from the tunnel and went to check on him.
She was horrified to see that he was crying blood and his nose was bleeding as well. Except instead of pure red blood it seemed tainted as if it was mixed with motor oil. A dark almost black crimson was leaking down his face. She quickly checked his meridians again and saw that it was more of the same except the Governing Vessel, the meridian that lead to the brain, was overflowing with Qi.
With nothing she could do she wiped his face clean and went back to the caved in tunnel and continued peeling back the stones.
David on the other hand became numb to the pain quickly. He focused on the information he was gaining and this time it wasn't simple documents or research papers. Instead it was a visualization of how to absorb every drop of Qi out of a person's body to reset their cultivation.
He had learned previously that Qi depravation was a dangerous thing for cultivators that could lead to an intense backlash that could cause death. However, this method seemed not to drain the meridians but turn them back to their virgin state.
If you uninflated a balloon it would have stretch marks all over it, but instead of simply letting the air out, you not only did that but simultaneously repaired each and every stretch mark on that balloon as it returned to it's base state.
David quickly realized that this process, while laborious - taking well over 5 hours per person, was indeed simple. The tone of the previous author suddenly made sense. If David had worked for his own Qi over decades and had to restart he would also be incredibly sad.
But that was not what happened! David got this Qi over night and he knew that if the meridians were restored to their base state anyone could cultivate properly! Starting in the Body Tempering Stage and finally to where he is now would hardly be an issue!
Accompanying this technique of undoing cultivation was also an incredibly stable cultivation breathing technique. He saw the path the Qi had to swirl around the body of the cultivator and was entranced by how much more sense it made then his current application of Qi.
By the way, his current application of Qi was like using a gun to trim his hair. Sure it could trim the hair but the damage it could do if he was even slightly off in his aim was immeasurable.
He was suddenly very grateful that he used his Shoulder Slam technique sparingly because seeing this proper breathing technique he saw just how close to death he was every time he used it.
He made a mental note to never use that Shoulder Slam technique again.
"Holy shit," he stammered, as the pain vanished as suddenly as it had come. It was as if it had never been there at all.
"That was... incredible."
In stunned silence, David continued to ponder this new information he had gained when he started to hear laborious grunting.
He squeezed his eyes tighter as he still felt he needed more time to properly understand this influx of information, but before long he realized his body was in a lot of pain again.
This caused David pause. His body was in pain, not his being.
With hesitation and caution he very consciously sent a command to his eyelids for them to open.
He was still somewhat feeling as if he was in the bodiless state he was in before.
What greeted him when they opened was a bright light that momentarily blinded him and forced him to close his eyes again. As he groaned in pain, the grunting he was hearing stopped and he heard someone clambering down rocks.
Juliya saw the groaning and squinting David and sighed with relief, "David! Are you okay?"
David opened his eyes again and saw his beautiful and still ash covered wife. "Hey sweety, yeah I'm fine. Its crazy, I think I just got a -", as he was about to utter the word "system", the same overwhelming pain from in his mind surged through his body as if preventing him from saying the word.
"Gah!" He let out a groan as he clutched his head.
"Are you okay? You need to lay back down." Juliya went from relieved and back to scared again as she saw her husband writhing in pain.
David held a hand up, "It's ok... I think I have some," he paused looking for the right word, "forbidden... information I obtained when I touched the meteor at the bottom of the crater."
Still on guard, Juliya gently probed. "The meteor at the bottom of the pool of Qi gave you an enlightenment? Is there anything you can say?"
David lingered for a moment and said in his mind, "System what can I tell her and how can I tell her everything? I don't like keeping secrets from my wife."
System Message: "Communicating with non-system hosts about the system is prohibited.
Any information obtained because of a reward can be shared freely - as long as information about the system is withheld.
To share additional information, the recipient must either be a system host themselves or officially registered as your underling within your system."
David frowned and said, "I'll tell you everything I can now, but to get the blocked information... I think I have to create my own sect."
[1] In Japanese this is pronounced "Ki"
In Chinese dialects this is pronounced "Chi"
Both are correct, but the NLS and it's members say "Chi"