Lone Cultivator In Another World

Physics, Chemistry and World literature – these were the subjects Michael worked on that evening. Seeing as EIS was an international school, every student had the required World Lit class and could take his country's literature as an elective.

Few did so. For example, Michael's electives consisted of economics, business development and PR management. Not the most exciting stuff, but they were necessary for his ventures.

Elective courses or master-classes were taught by various professors who lived at EIS outside of normal school schedule. This way, there were barely any age requirements, and grades were optional.

After an hour of homework, Michael couldn't hold back any longer. He called up the shop's interface to take a look at the new abilities. There was a Body tab in the shop right next to the Mind tab. It had two new abilities, and they were available, so the cultivator got excited for a second. Then, came the disappointment.

"Glory, are you kidding me? Is this the Alarm Clock thing all over again?"

"Host is not being kidded."

"That can't be a word… Don't distract me! How does this help me become stronger?!" The feeling of accomplishment faded, replaced by tiredness.

"Cultivators are perfect beings. Certain things are expected."

"But… but… come on!" he waved his hands, as if arguing with an invisible person.

The first one was called Inability to Sweat. It relied on Cultivator Body's resistance to temperatures to remove perspiration.

The second one – Pleasant Body Fragrance. It made sure Michael wouldn't stink. Something many teenage boys dreamed of, but not him.

"Thank you, Glory," Michael caught on. "I see now what you're trying to do. I can save time by not showering, right?"

"Dirt can still acc.u.mulate on host's skin."

It looked like showers were still a must.

"Forget about it. I'll check the library instead to see if I can buy a skill."

A new interface appeared before him, very similar to the shop's. There was only one tab for now, titled Martial techniques. Michael clicked on it with his mind, and a sub-menu unfolded, with letters from F to A.

"Glory, some help? What are these letters for?"

"The World Tree uses unified grading system for treasures, skills, abilities and more. F is lowest grade, while SSS is highest. S-grade abilities and skills are unavailable because of host's low cultivation."

"So, since you called LZD1 a D-grade disease, it wasn't even that powerful? I'd like to see an S-graded disease sometime."

With a few hundred glory points in the bank, Michael decided to start small and accessed the F-rank techniques first. 'Since they are suggested by Glory, they must be good,' he thought. The price tag ranged from 10 to 90 points, which was great. But their names…

"Glory," Michael sighed in exasperation, "What lousy technique is this?"

The cheapest technique at the top of the list was called "Willowtown preschool's authorial punching routine "Sunny pancake."

He massaged his brow for a minute and grinned, "Why the hell not? Give me that!"

The intake of knowledge felt similar to the brain being rewired like before. Except, this time, with his memory strengthened by countless abilities, Michael's mind allocated a place for the "Sunny pancake," where it minimized itself comfortably. Such was the benefit of the Mind Enhancement stage.

Following the instructions that came with the technique, Michael spread his legs wide on the floor and lowered his center of gravity. It looked like a simplified horse stance from Kung Fu. Then, he exhaled as his fists bombarded the air.

"Haa! Haa!"

It took him only two minutes to adopt the knowledge and turn it into his own. With this, Michael could beat any preschooler assuming they would just stand opposite one another and exchange punches.

"I see. Unlike before, I have to spend time on studying the movements. Buying a skill isn't enough, there's training involved. Doesn't that mean I might not even comprehend the complicated ones?"

E-grade included standalone moves like falling, kicking, locking joints. They were explained in great detail, but a practitioner can only go so far without combining his techniques.

D-grade had sport-oriented martial arts like judo or aikido. C-grade was more aggressive overall, with Muay Thai, Silat and Krav Maga. Michael disagreed with that distinction but kept his opinion to himself.

Higher-graded techniques also had more levels. If simple falling could be upgraded three times, then Russian sambo – nine times. Prices rose by one order of magnitude with each grade, meaning the cheapest E-grade technique cost a hundred points, but the cheapest D-grade – a thousand.

But what really interested Michael were A- and B-grades. They were far more esoteric than the cheaper techniques and involved the use of Life Force.

A-grade boasted names like "Heavenly Buddha palm," "Hundred moves as one" and "Flaming Golden Body." B-grade had those too, but they seemed less impressive, such as "Iron Shirt" or "Twelve animal styles."

"Glory, why can't I see any Skills here? I was looking forward to them."

"Host is unable to use Psionic or Martial Skills due to their high requirements in Mental Power and Life Force."

"Isn't 400 a high amount?"

"No."

Michael clutched his heart theatrically, imitating great pain.

"All right. Why are all these techniques from Earth though? I expected something more… magical, you know?"

"Martial techniques below S-grade are supplied by the infofield and priced in accordance with the World Tree cultivation standards of power."

Michael's grumbling went on until he noticed a familiar name among B-grade techniques.

[Tai Chi. Comprehensive martial art that relies on extensive use of Life Force. Specialties: pressure points, internal damage, attack nullification, Life Force application. 12 levels. Cost: 0 glory points.]

Finally, a pleasant surprise! Not only was the art dear to Michael's heart, it also cost nothing!

The cultivator eagerly bought it. Then, no new knowledge appeared.

"Crap. It was free because I already know a lot. Such a personalized approach, Glory! Have you decided to work harder so that I leave a good review?"

After buying another couple of levels for free, the price of level four jumped to 6,000 points. Michael didn't have enough, but he only needed a day to collect that much.

"If D-grade techniques range from a thousand to several thousand, then a decent B-grade at full price would be… some hundred thousand!? I hope all twelve levels cost the same, otherwise I might spend my whole life slaving away to learn some Tai Chi!"

Michael left the library, stared at the wall for ten minutes, then gave up, facepalmed and bought Pleasant Body Fragrance and Inability to Sweat.

"Glory, what if I play sports or fight? Wouldn't girls find my glistening, sweaty muscles attractive?" he joked.

"…Host has weird tastes."

"Whaah? You little… Not me, them! Not me! Argh, arguing with you is like filling a sieve with water, I will only look stupid."

The cultivator controlled his breathing and sank his consciousness into his body. The milky-white substance that had concentrated in his head before, spread in his limbs after he reached 2-stage.

With a little experimenting, it became clear that Michael couldn't control both internal energy and glory points at the same time. He could only operate one of them and had to let it go when he grasped another.

'What a cruel joke. I had to use up my glory points to notice the existence of internal energy and breakthrough to 2-stage. But if I had advanced in level earlier, then every star of the 2-stage would have reduced the price of curing LZD1 through immunity to diseases. In the end, I followed the most arduous path.'

The expression was true, there was no medicine for regret. Fortunately, though Michael had spent so much points to get rid of the disease, it only slowed his cultivation by a few months. Compared to the longevity of cultivators – a negligible amount.

He blinked a few times. Even after such a long day, he didn't feel tired because of Mental Freshness and had to use an ability to fall asleep. Still, it was dark outside, and he could always cultivate in his sleep. Lucid Dreaming allowed to do it with halved efficiency.

Michael cleared the pile of magazines from his bed. They were all the same issue of a local gossip publication. On page 6, his life story was presented in detail: his Russian origins, enrolling at EIS and making tens of millions through mobile games. The article ended with an advice for young girls to bide their time – even emancipated, Michael was only fifteen.

The next day, the school received thirty copies of the issue with letters asking for the genius's autograph and enclosed photos of teenage girls in seductive poses. Luckily, they were decent enough not to pose for them n.a.k.e.d.

"Do I sign them and send them back?" young cultivator lamented.

YouTube followers, he was comfortable with. Swiss teenage gold-diggers, not so much.

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