Lone Cultivator In Another World

Michael entered his dorm room and threw the schoolbag on the bed, right on the pile of magazines with his name.

'Finally, I have enough to get rid of this goddamn disease once and for all!'

Many things happened over the course of these last four months. Michael and Anna turned fifteen, catching up to Sofia. In their group, Dimitri was the youngest, and his birthday was coming up.

Michael grew by about two inches, devotedly sticking to average height. His eyes' color was still greenish-blue, leaning towards the color of sea waves, somewhere in between.

The biggest change was in his business ventures. Few in school knew of it, but Michael studied economics like a man possessed, and his powerful mind helped a lot. Since December 2008, he used the economic crisis to his advantage, investing both in large firms like Goldman Sachs and small businesses, mostly boutiques and cafes.

One of his favorite deals was the purchase of 2% of Starbucks's shares. It didn't give Michael real authority over the company's operations, but he had the right to influence them and helped the company navigate through the crisis.

With Dimitri's overseeing, Michael outsourced programmers to work on Angry Birds 2 and Kingdom Rush, a tower defense game created by Ironhide Game Studio in his old world. As for Dimitri, he dedicated himself to developing an app for taxi cabs and ride sharing.

Michael got the idea from Uber, but he didn't consider it stealing. In a way, he was a person from the future, blessed with foresight and knowledge. Adopting others' ideas is only stealing when someone has already come up with the same thing, and in this world, no one had.

Same with Angry Birds and Kingdom Rush, he reworked them in a unique way, tweaking the balance and features like no normal human could. The new and original Angry Birds game required more interaction with various on-screen elements and allowed players to get creative. This meant straying from the path that made the game popular in another world, so its high acclaim here was all due to Michael's changes and additions.

However, his achievements in cultivation were bleak. Or, rather, there were none.

After his breakthrough to 1-stage, 10-star, Glory suggested buying a set of cultivation methods. It cost a mere hundred points, so Michael bought it without a thought. He hoped the shift from relaxation techniques signified an increase in power. To this day, he didn't know for sure because he hadn't managed to raise his level.

The cultivation method required the use of special internal energy that was contained in Michael's body, transferring it from limb to limb in a very specific order and manner. Without the knowledge of this method, a cultivator would be lost like a blind man in a labyrinth, walking for a lifetime without finding a way out.

But this internal energy, there wasn't a drop of it anywhere! Michael begged Splendid Glory for help, meditated, turned to those old relaxation techniques, even tried to supplant internal energy with glory points – nothing worked!

Without advancing in cultivation, many paths were blocked for Michael. He could never heal Anna's mother, face Leon head on or travel to his old world.

Four months is a long time. The cultivator turned to eastern philosophies and esoteric mantras. Tried tens of meditations, cleansing rituals and prayers, anything to increase his understanding of his own body.

'Yoga? Useless!'

'Zen Buddhism? What is the sound of one hand clapping? Me slapping you on the face, how would I know?'

'And what is this, lesser demon summoning? Answers any questions? F.u.c.k off!'

In the end, Michael gave up somewhat. Even so, he was blessed with an extraordinary mind and enhanced reflexes, not to mention glory points' usefulness paired up with Flawed Healing technique. And today was the day to use them all up.

'Finally, after four months of bitter efforts, I will fulfill my dream! 827,000 points!'

LZD1 kept getting worse and now required even more to be healed completely.

Michael sat in the center of the room and controlled his breathing. He was very familiar with his old relaxation techniques at this point, using them to perfect his state of mind.

"Glory. Open the shop. Disorders tab. LZD1 – Cure!" his voice broke into a shout.

Then, the immense ball of light concentrated in his brain diffused into millions of threads and spread throughout his body. These sparkling threads pierced through every organ, every cell, every molecule. Michael's body felt lighter, his thoughts cleared up. Before that moment, he never knew just how much the disease weighed on him, limited his abilities and chained his movements.

"Host, D-grade genetic disease LZD1 is cured. 100% success."

In that emotional moment, Michael pumped his fists up in the air. The ailment that ruined his old life, gone! The shackles on his potential, destroyed!

"I feel like I've been reborn! Status!"

[Name: Michael North (Mikhail Severniy)]

[Age: 35-15]

[Cultivation: 1-stage, 10-star]

[Mental Power: 362]

[Life Force: 66]

[Energy Field (locked)]

[True Soul (locked)]

"It's true! After I reached 10-star, my Mental Power was only 347, and my Life Force was 62! LZD1 actually decreased them by 15 and 4, despicable little parasite!"

Michael tried to stand up, but suddenly something at the edge of his awareness called out to him. He was afraid of missing something connected to LZD1, so he assumed the pose for meditation and entered the semi-conscious state again. He scanned his body, looking for abnormalities, until he found something.

In his head, there was a bland misty milk-like substance, floating around like thick smoke. Michael had never seen it before because the glory points' light was too bright, and it eclipsed the existence of the smoke.

"Glory, what is this?" he asked warily.

"Host has found internal energy."

"Was it hidden from my sight because of glory points?" There was already another ball of light forming, and Michael used it to touch the milky smoke. However, they passed through each other as if they belonged to different planes of existence.

"This is pretty complicated," complained Michael. There was something else inside his body now other than glory points! Will he be torn apart one day by a rainbow made up of seven entities?

But the anticipation of 2-stage distracted him from such thoughts. The cultivator touched the smoke with his mind. Just like glory points, it immediately submitted and moved however Michael wished it to. Remembering the cultivation method, he led the smoke all the way through his body, and once he completed one full circle, three notifications sounded in his mind.

"Ding! Host, congratulations on reaching cultivation 2-stage, 1-star. You are now full-fledged cultivator. There are new abilities in the shop."

"Ding! Library opened. Host can use the library to purchase techniques and Skills."

"Ding! Customization menu is unlocked."

Michael wasn't in a hurry to familiarize himself with the new interface. Instead, he wanted to learn more about the second stage and its features.

"Glory, can you explain what the 2-stage is about?"

"Cultivation 2-stage is called Body Transformation. With host's mind prepared for intake of energy and information, 2-stage centers on bodily energy. Body Transformation stage abilities increase host's body toughness, strength, explosive power and immunity to diseases."

"How many stars does it have?"

"There are ten stars in Body Transformation stage."

"What is the third stage called?" probed Michael.

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low."

"As expected, I need to advance first. Glory, here's a question. Mind Enhancement centered on mental energy, and this stage is all about bodily energy. Are these the same as Mental Power and Life Force?"

"Host is correct," the program answered after some thought.

After curing LZD1, Michael had practically no glory points left. Hence, he saved himself some heartache by deciding to wait for an hour. Seeing those wonderful new abilities and not being able to afford them was too painful.

Meanwhile, he would do his homework and shoot a video or two.

"Status, please."

[Name: Michael North (Mikhail Severniy)]

[Age: 35-15]

[Cultivation: 2-stage, 1-star]

[Mental Power: 400]

[Life Force: 100]

[Energy Field (locked)]

[True Soul (locked)]

The breakthrough's benefits were incredible, but after four months of despair, Michael wasn't satisfied with only this. He calmed down his appetite with Control over Emotions and patiently emptied his schoolbag.

One hour. He would probably have at least 300 points by the end of it. Then, he would buy whatever he could afford.

.