Chapter 83: Cultivation
Things were calming down… relatively.
People were adjusting to living in Adsagsona.
A new world order was germinating with Lucas at its nucleus.
[Twist of Fate] had finally been paid off after taking a shot to the nuts and getting robbed.
And now, they had a solid plan to tackle the upcoming trial.
Naturally, a plan in its early stages was highly subject to change, but that was for others to deal with. Zayn only had to worry about doing what he was told.
His main focus still lay in locating disasters, but with how disastrous the results of blindly walking into people had proven to be, he’d eventually shifted his focus to cultivation — ‘the xianxia special.’
Sitting on the side of his bed in the inn, Zayn whispered:
“Status…”
🌑🌑🌑
Zayn Gatlin
Age: 22 | Gender: Male
Contractor: [ – – – ]
[Aether Core]
[Rank: Nascent] – (Progression: 6.2%)
[Tasks]
[Defend the Town of Adsagsona From the Incoming Monster Invasion] – (Time until attack: 117:51:23 hours)
[Hunt Disasters] – {Failure: Human Extinction} — (Disasters identified – Cynthia Vespertine, Shin Hae-Ryung, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, ???) – (Disasters Slain: 1/16)
[???]
[Skills]
[Fall of Babel]
[Second Chance]
[Relics]
[Adsagsona’s Diary]
[Twist of Fate]
[Afflictions]
[???] – (Progression: 0.01%)
[Memory Suppression] – (Memory fragments recovered: 1/12)
🌑🌑🌑
‘Seems I saw two more…’
“Tch.”
His Aether Core had naturally acquired some Aether just from him existing, but, quite apparently, simply waiting and doing nothing was a slow and pathetic method. It had been five days, and his progression had only increased by 0.2%.
Scooting back to the center of the bed, Zayn drew his legs into an odd position.
Having taken off his shoes, he pressed his bare feet together. At the same time, he pressed his hands flat against one another as if he were praying.
After taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes.
While the natural next step would have been to acclimate himself to the properties and functions of Aether, he’d had that knowledge injected into his brain when he gained the Memory Fragment.
With that knowledge already ingrained in him, his understanding and ability to manipulate Aether were far beyond what they should have been at this stage. He could freely draw upon the Aether stored within his body.
From the Aether Core, he withdrew a steady stream and guided it through a circuit around his entire body.
It traveled from near his heart, up through one arm and across the connection formed by his pressed palms, then down the other. From there, he guided it through his midsection and into his legs, across the point where his feet touched, then back up through his body and along his spine. It passed through his head before finally returning to the Aether Core, completing the circuit.
But circulating Aether wasn’t perfectly efficient. Much like ATP served as an expendable source of energy within the body, manipulating Aether required spending a portion of the very Aether being manipulated. Maintaining control, directing its path, and keeping the circuit stable all consumed small amounts along the way.
So there was always some loss by the time the Aether completed a full cycle.
But that was okay.
Zayn didn’t know how much time had elapsed, but he continued this monotonous task. He did it and did it until the muscle memory from his last life began to overtake his theoretical understanding of the process.
At some point, it became almost unconscious.
With that initial stage set…
Zayn drew his hands apart by only a fraction. One couldn’t even thread a finger through the gap he’d created between his palms.
Then…
As Zayn forcefully extended the channel of Aether outside his body, through that narrow gap, and back inside, the flow dragged along tiny amounts of the Aether drifting through the surrounding air.
The instant that foreign Aether entered the circuit, tiny shocks rattled his concentration, making the flow many times harder to control. As it began its first cycle, Zayn pushed his palms together, closing the gap.
As long as Zayn kept cycling his Aether, the foreign Aether he trapped wouldn’t escape.
It was almost like a blood transfusion, in a way.
Much of that foreign Aether would ‘die’ — either escaping the circuit or losing its connection to the Aether dragging it along before ultimately being expelled from his body — but whatever managed to remain would gradually assimilate into his own, restructuring itself until it matched the nature of his Aether.
And that…
That was exactly what Zayn did for a few hours straight.
Part his hands, draw in another clump of Aether, trap it, cycle it until it assimilated, then repeat.
Until eventually, he slumped back onto the bed, his mind entirely exhausted.
“Aether Core…”
[Aether Core]
[Rank: Nascent] – (Progression: 6.33%)
‘0.13%’
It didn’t seem like much for the effort required, but being able to grow one’s strength from the safety of their ‘home’ was a great boon.
The only problem was that if such a method was widespread, many would cling to it exclusively out of simple fear. It was a little damnable, but it would be best to keep the method to himself.
Besides, trying not to be ‘damnable’ after what he’d done was damnable in and of itself.
If he was going to play the villain, he had to act the part.
A sudden voice sounded from the other side of the room.
“Bro, I didn’t want to disturb you… but what the fuck were you doing?”
‘Ah, he must have come in when I was locked in concentration.’
Zayn looked over at Maks, huffed a few times, then said:
“Meditating… why?”
Maks’s head shot back before he said:
“What type of meditation has you sweating and looking like you’re about to shit yourself? Like, seriously, scrunching up your face and the occasional grunt…”
“Oh… it, uh… doing that while meditating helps me relieve stress…?”
“Why’d you say that like it was a question?!”
Zayn drew his head back and shrugged.
At that, Maks sighed, looked at his open palms, and simply said:
“Well, if it works, it works… To be honest, I should probably be doing something similar.”