Lin stared at the orb, not knowing what to do with it. He tried to pick it up, but his hand went straight through and the orb disappeared upon touching his hand.
"Bai? Are you here?"
Lin called for the fox, testing whether he could speak to it while inside the space. When no one answered, he figured it wasn't possible snd decided to postpone his questions for later.
In the meantime, Lin continued killing any animal he encountered in the field. Every creature seemed to be some type of monster. They all shared the same red eyes and pointed teeth despite their resemblance to ordinary animals from Earth.
Naturally, the more Lin used the sword, the more he understood it. He would experiment with his stance and grip, noting which techniques were more efficient as he swept the area.
The state of the corpses gradually improved, showing his ever so slight progress. Instead of gruesome and jagged tearing of flesh, the attacks slowly started to show cleaner and more precise slices at the vital points.
Every monster he killed would leave behind a black orb and Lin would make it disappear by waving his hand through it. More and more monsters were slaughtered, and time passed quickly. In what felt like no time at all, 6:00 am arrived and Lin woke up promptly.
Black light shone in his face as Lin saw nearly 100 black orbs cover his room.
"Bai, what do I do with these orbs?" Lin asked, still groggy but feeling well rested.
[Grab one and crush it in your hands.]
Bai answered clearly.
Following its instructions, Lin squeezed one that was on his lap and a surge of qi immediately rushed through his fingertips into his dantean.
[Now crush nine more and then cultivate them.]
Bai continued.
Lin crushed 9 more orbs until his dantean started feeling bloated, almost as if he had just eaten an incredibly large meal. Having done what Bai directed, Lin immediately adjusted his body into the lotus position, but it was very uncomfortable due to his lack of flexibility.
Seeing its host's disgruntled expression, Bai spoke up.
[You can just do it while lying down. There's no right position for cultivation.]
Lin nodded and laid back down. That was when he belatedly realized that he didn't know how to cultivate, so he awkwardly asked Bai for guidance.
[Okay. One would usually choose which place they want to cultivate, but you first need to establish your foundation before any of that.]
Bai started.
[First, sense the qi in your dantian.]
Lin closed his eyes and focused on his dantean. He wasn't entirely sure what the fox meant, but he decided to at least try before complaining.
Surprisingly, Lin quickly began to sense the prickly and warm feeling typical when feeling qi. He suddenly was looking at a black space with glowing particles floating in sparse concentrations.
[Good. Seems like you're seeing the projection of your dantean. Now start leading the particles you see together. Imagine the floating towards each other and will them to combine.]
Bai's voice echoed in his mind.
Hao Lin followed what Bai told him, concentration evident on his face. He struggled to control the elusive particles, but remained composed and patient, silently guiding them to one point in the dark space.
Slowly but surely, the qi began to follow his will.
After an hour that felt like five minutes, the particles were finally concentrated in one spot. Lin willed them to combine and they slowly merged until a black, irregular blob of qi was formed.
Slowly opening his eyes to the bright sunlight filtering through the windows, Lin sat up with a satisfied expression.
[Good job! That was MUCH quicker than average! That shows that you have innate talent! Of course, that's exactly why we picked you.]
Bai enthusiastically congratulated him for setting his foundation.
"Haha. Isn't that just because of my special ability?"
[You might think that, but cultivation is mental. It has nothing to do with your constitution.]
After Xue Bai said that, multiple system notifications suddenly popped up in front of Lin.
~100/100 foundation reached!
Level 1 —> level 2!
+1 to all stats!
+2 BAP~
~200/200 foundation reached!
Level 2 —> level 3!
+2 to all stats!
+4 BAP~
~300/300 foundation reached!
Level 3 —> level 4!
+3 to all stats!
+6 BAP~
~400/400 foundation reached!
Level 4 —> level 5!
+4 to all stats!
+8 BAP~
"Woah! That's a lot!"
Lin was surprised to see how much progress he had made. It was only one night, yet he had advanced so much!
[And that's only with black orbs! There are other orbs of different color that give even more progress.
As you can probably see, black orbs give a numerical value of 100. Then, there are brown orbs that give 200, red orbs that give 350, orange orbs that give 600, yellow orbs that give 1,000, green orbs that give 5,000, white orbs that give 10,000, and transparent orbs that give 15,000.
Furthermore, after certain level thresholds, the orbs will have even more value.]
Bai elaborated with excitement.
"Wow… That's a lot…"
[Well, you don't really need to memorize it so don't worry.]
Lin shrugged in response before opening his status window with anticipation.
————————————————————
Name: Hao Lin
Age: 14
Race: Human-panzela mix
Level: 5
Vitality: 11
Stamina: 11
Agility: 11
Strength: 11
BAP: 25
Foundation: 0/500
Perception: MAX
Titles: NONE
Skills: NONE
————————————————————
Lin looked at the stats in satisfaction. However, he didn't know the value of the numbers, so he was eager to figure out the change.
But before that, he distributed his blank attribute points carefully. He put 9 in agility, 7 in vitality, 5 in stamina, and 4 in strength.
Lin prioritized agility and vitality for pure survival. Your mobility could be the factor separating life and death, so having speed and flexibility was essential. Additionally, the ability to stay alive and endure even major injuries was necessary to escape and stay conscious in dire situations.
Lin was the type of person who made decisions with the future in mind. He always made sure any decision he made would either benefit him in the future, or at the very least not cause complications.
Although, there would always be unavoidable circumstances, but he was a thorough person who avoided overthinking about things outside of his control. Still, he explored every possibility before making a decision.
That was one of his core qualities other than his exceptional memory.
Lin scanned around him, unsure of what to do with all the remaining orbs.
[Oh! Think 'collect' and the system will automatically store what you intend to collect. You can then think 'inventory' to look at what the system has stored.]
Bai was quite observant and quickly understood what his host needed to know.
'Collect.'
The orbs surrounding him zapped into nothingness. After his bedroom was cleared, Lin got out of bed and started preparing for the day.
When he was done getting ready, he went out to the dining room where the rest of his family was already seated.
After eating breakfast, his mom drove him to school and dropped him off. Lin went through his educational classes and lunch. When it was time for his cultivation classes, he started walking to the galaxy gym.
He reached the gym and approached the front desk. He asked the clerk for a trial class for sword fighting.
"Ok, sir. Let me check the schedules of our sword fighting instructors."
She said, typing on the keyboard. After a few moments, the lady looked up and spoke again.
"Mr. Yan is free in an hour at 2:00 pm. I'll notify him of your trial. You can go to the pavilion by the weapon training field at 2 o'clock and he'll meet you there."
Lin nodded and headed towards the standard gym. He planned on testing out his abilities after his level up.
When he reached the room, he went straight to the weights. He decided to try picking up each weight in order from lightest to heaviest.
Starting with the 20 pound weight, Lin lifted it with ease. It felt like a palm sized stone in his hand, leaving him momentarily stunned. His excitement grew as he continued to pick up each weight with little to no struggle. Then, he reached the 0.5 ton weight, which took more effort. And when he picked up the 0.6 ton weight he knew it was his limit.
This exceeded his expectations! Lifting half a ton was just a pipe dream in his past life, yet now he could lift 0.6 tons without even tearing a muscle.
Now feeling quite confident, Lin walked to the treadmills on one side of the room and started testing his speed. He started with 20 mph, running without even breaking a sweat. Even when he turned it up to 30 mph, it was still too easy.
'I'm already running faster than the fastest a human had ever ran 7,000 years ago! And easily at that!' He thought with amazement.
He set the treadmill to 40 mph, running it with albeit a slight struggle, but it still wasn't high enough. He kept raising the speed all the way until 60 mph where he was finally feeling it.
He ran at that pace for 15 minutes until he was exhausted. Taking a break, Lin dwelled over how good his stamina was considering the fact that he ran at his limit for over a quarter of an hour.
After sitting for a while, Lin checked the time. It was almost two, so he made his way towards the pavilion the clerk had informed him about. When he arrived, he noticed a lean man emitting an unfathomable aura.
When the individual saw him, he waved him over. It looked as if Lin was jogging, yet he had covered the distance in less than 3 seconds.
"Hello. You must be Hao Lin?" The man inquired in a deep voice.
"Yes, that's me. And you are Mr. Yan, correct?" Lin responded.
"Yep. Now follow me."
Having said that, Mr. Yan walked to a sword rack on the field.
"Go ahead and grab a sword and test it. Befitting balances of weight, shape, and size vary from person to person, so find one you're comfortable with, first."
Lin approached the rack and took out a sword, only to immediately feel uncomfortable with it. He moved on to another sword and that one felt slightly better, so he swung it a few times only to put it back. This continued until he found a sword that he could train with.
"Good. Now show me how you hold the sword." Seeing that Hao Lin had chosen a sword, Mr. Yan began his instruction.
Nodding, Lin stood in the stance that he found most efficient for him last night. The instructor scrutinized his posture and gave pointers on how to fix the stance.
As Lin followed what the man said, he found the position more comfortable. Mr. Yan then told him to swing the sword, so he did and the instructor gave more comments on his grip, arm positions, and the shifting of his body.
"Your movements look stiff. Try moving your waist and shifting your weight as you swing… grip the handle harder… your shoulders are too stiff…"
The instructor continued addressing mistakes and telling him how to fix them. Finally, the man was satisfied.
"Perfect! Now remember what your doing. Engrave it into your brain. Get used to your movements and continue swinging like I told you."
Lin continued to swing the sword, focused on the sensations he felt with each movement. Around ten minutes, Mr. Yan finally told him to stop.
"Alright, now pay attention. I'll show you a defensive stance."
The man went into the stance with a sword in his hand, gesturing for Lin to follow. Lin copied what he saw and was once again corrected by the instructor.
Hao Lin concentrated fully and memorized every feeling and detail in his sword technique. Soon, when the instructor was satisfied, he decided to teach Lin how to deflect and defend sword strikes.
Standing in front of Lin in an offensive stance, Mr. Yan struck his sword at Lin's side. Lin moved his sword swiftly to defend, just barely blocking the swing.
"Your reaction speed is impressive for a beginner."
Mr. Yan praised generously, yet he didn't cease swinging at Lin. The boy blocked, deflected, and redirected the sword swings constantly until he was too tired to continue.
"The lesson is over. You can ask for one more trial lesson or you can choose this course for scheduled classes. It was nice meeting you and I hope you decide to book my classes."
Mr. Yan quickly said goodbye before meeting another person at the pavilion.
Exhausted, Lin decided to go straight home. Entering his home at 4:30, he greeted his mom who was cooking dinner.
Then, he went to take a shower, washing all the sweat and dirt from his sore body.